Stewart Robertson - Interview

[RFC Eagle 4,888]

Just now, eskbankloyal said:

How does Ross Wilson fit into Southampton's system as he seems to be the leading candidate for the DoF role? 

He is Director of scouting. I'd guess thats reporting to Les Reed. Reeds role is much wider than looking at players. Wilson could be a good choice as he would understand the role Reed has.

[siddiqi_drinker 14,635]

2 minutes ago, eskbankloyal said:

DoF model works successfully everywhere other than Scotland because we are a daft backwater country. 

They clearly have a plan they wish to execute to make Rangers a 'modern club' so it's up to them to deliver it. Not sure they can but it seems to be the plan. 

Working reasonably well at hearts, though I concur with the footballing backwater bit.  A

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,607]

10 minutes ago, eskbankloyal said:

There not going to bring in a manager that's the whole point.

you know what i mean, i cannot see us appointing a good coach if he feels there is someone above him who could undermine him

 

5 minutes ago, eskbankloyal said:

DoF model works successfully everywhere other than Scotland because we are a daft backwater country. 

They clearly have a plan they wish to execute to make Rangers a 'modern club' so it's up to them to deliver it. Not sure they can but it seems to be the plan. 

twice we have tried to go all modern, and twice its went tits up, fact is scotland is dominated by money and a strong headed manager

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,607]

2 minutes ago, siddiqi_drinker said:

Working reasonably well at hearts, though I concur with the footballing backwater bit.  A

in what way, they couldnt finish best of the rest

[Bad Robot 21,294]

King oot

[Blueshoff 11,877]

So two big salaries on the wage bill. DoF and manager.

[To Be A Ranger 4,032]

So what role does the DoF do? Does he make signing's above the manager, recommend team selection or what? Or is he in charge of scouting, youth etc.

 

[siddiqi_drinker 14,635]

1 minute ago, Jimbeamjunior said:

in what way, they couldnt finish best of the rest

Was thinking more of what they have managed, from the Championship with fuck all money.  

 

 

 

 

[Young Bob 1,360]

2 minutes ago, siddiqi_drinker said:

Do you remember Ripping yarns, Eric Olthwaite, the boring little tit.  Kind of along those lines.

Cheers. I will be definetly listening to it later.

Not sure about this DoF but we need some ex players on the Board as I said in other thread. Not your John Brown types more your Souness types.

[The Ibrox Derry 8,932]

39 minutes ago, Courtyard Bear said:

A great example of talking without saying anything. 

Exactly, this guy seems very nervous in front of the camera, and to me that smells of inexperience.

[RFC Eagle 4,888]

1 minute ago, To Be A Ranger said:

So what role does the DoF do? Does he make signing's above the manager, recommend team selection or what? Or is he in charge of scouting, youth etc.

 

It depends on the job description. Some are just figureheads (Bobby Charlton) some just look at players (Damien Comoli) some look across the whole of the football set up from the youngest to the first team and look at coaches and ethos across the whole club (Les Reed).

[The Ibrox Derry 8,932]

3 minutes ago, Blueshoff said:

So two big salaries on the wage bill. DoF and manager.

This. The clowns haven't a clue, this board are only in this for self interest and ego development, nothing else.

[BCLoyal9 53]

Ronald was pretty emphatic about his brother not taking a job at this stage of the season. So, if the board are serious about getting a permanent manager in now instead of Summer, that would probably rule Frank de Boer out. 

Unless he had a change of heart...

[PRW. 5,631]

5 minutes ago, RFC Eagle said:

It depends on the job description. Some are just figureheads (Bobby Charlton) some just look at players (Damien Comoli) some look across the whole of the football set up from the youngest to the first team and look at coaches and ethos across the whole club (Les Reed).

Yep, definitely differs but seems ours is going to be along the Southampton/Les Reed line.

[STEPPS BOY 74,167]

A bit about Ross Wilsons roles..

 

Ross Wilson joined Southampton from Huddersfield Town

There have been dramas and difficult choices along the way, but Ross Wilson's journey has taken him to the summit of the British game.

If there was a moment when the sheer scale of his progress was emphasised, it might have been during the summer, when he met the Southampton manager Ronald Koeman for the first time.

"I was taken aback by Ronald because he's so low ego," the club's new director of scouting and recruitment reflects.

"He is a legend of the game."

Wilson has never played football to any significant level and graduated in social sciences at Strathclyde University. Yet he is representative of a growing trend in football, with clubs beginning to acknowledge that leading positions are not the sole domain of former players.

"There will be some clubs steeped in the tradition that you do need to have played the game, but fortunately the club's I've been at, the mindset has been very open," Wilson says.

Each stop on the road has been a reward for his ability, passion and intelligence, qualities that Southampton prized enough to take the 32-year-old to the Premier League from Huddersfield Town.

Beginning as a Bairn

Wilson started out at Falkirk, where in effect he stumbled into a career in football. A friend's father worked for the media department and needed reports on the under-18 team's games. There was no looking back, and particularly not after the first-team manager John Hughes decided that Wilson was a good fit for the club.

Falkirk's managerial and backroom team of season 2010-11: kitman Stephen Sproule, physio Kenny Cross, Lee Bullen, manager Steven Pressley, Ambassadors Club member Bob Worgan, technical director Alex Smith, goalkeeping coach Jim Preston, academy director Craig McPherson and director of football Ross Wilson

"At the end of that first season he said to me that they wanted to bring somebody in to do a player liaison role," Wilson recalls. "I just agreed, because that's what you did with Yogi.

"I was playing at it at the time, I never thought that 12 years later I'd still be in the industry. I only did that job that they created for six or seven months and then they created another one, and it took off from there. I loved it.

"What you see is what you get with Yogi, he's very straight talking, very direct, absolutely intense, driving you on all the time. You could go in the shower at 10 o'clock at night and come out and he's phoned you five times.

"It might be something that wasn't that important, but it was to him. If you give your opinion when he asks for it and you work hard, he's phenomenal."

Following a plan

Wilson did not enter football with a specific ambition, but his five years at Falkirk left him with a clear idea of where he wanted to go. Hughes left for Hibernian and wanted Wilson to join him, while another opportunity arose to work alongside John Park, Celtic's football development manager and chief scout. Wilson, though, had his sights set on England.

"To not go to Hibs with John was really tough," he admits. "There was a point where I thought he was never going to talk to me again. It just didn't fit for me at that time.

Wilson describes former Falkirk boss John Hughes, now at Inverness, as "phenomenal"

"How many times do you get the opportunity to join Celtic? Probably once. The success that John Park has had at Celtic in terms of player recruitment is huge. I'm close with John and he's been a huge influence on me as well. That was a big decision, but it was for the same reason, that I had something else in mind."

Instead, Wilson ended up at Watford. That decision initially seemed a misjudgement, after the man who hired him - Julian Winter - left when Wilson was four days into the job. Twenty-four hours later, the club was taken over, but Wilson embraced the upheaval as another opportunity to grow.

"You're sitting in the office thinking, 'God, I'm a guy from Falkirk, what am I doing here? They've just sacked the fellow who's brought me in and the club's been taken over'," he laughs.

"But I had a brilliant chairman in Graham Taylor, who gave incredible support. We had three different owners, but they never replaced the chief exec so I got a whole host of responsibilities that I probably wouldn't have got otherwise.

"After the final change in ownership [to the Pozzo family in 2012] I could have stayed and worked with an Italian technical director, but I went to Huddersfield, who had just won promotion from League One.

"Dean Hoyle [the chairman] is a Huddersfield supporter and he's ploughed £40m into the club. What he wanted to do was build the model that we had at Watford, a proper training ground, academy and scouting network. The club finished in three consecutive highest positions and made quite a lot of money in player trading."

Lured to Southampton and chasing Van Dijk

It was during lunch with Les Reed, Southampton's executive director, that Wilson was offered the chance to move to St Mary's. His role is to manage the scouting and recruitment of players, with the club's approach considered to be one of the most extensive and rewarding in the English top-flight.

Ross Wilson worked to bring Celtic defender Virgil van Dijk to Southampton

Among the first tasks was signing at least one centre-back for Koeman's starting line-up, which ended with the signing of Virgil van Dijk from Celtic for £13m.

"It's not rocket science," Wilson says. "I oversee the process and we have a team of scouts who are constantly looking at players within their territories. They know the attributes we're looking for at Southampton, which is part of our identity, so they know what a player needs to be able to do in each position.

"But alongside that we're speaking to agents, we're doing due diligence into their background, finding out about their character, speaking to people who have worked with them before. So it's just building that whole dossier, while the analysts are building a technical profile alongside that, looking at his statistics and comparing them with other targets.

"At any time we might have 20 in the mix for one position, then we narrow it down to three or four. I wouldn't say there were concerns [with Van Dijk's European performances]. We look all across Europe and we know what the market is telling us in terms of where the centre-backs are and the ones that fit Southampton."

Wilson has come a long way from writing match reports for Falkirk's under-18 team, but it has been a worthwhile journey.

[PRW. 5,631]

4 minutes ago, The Ibrox Derry said:

This. The clowns haven't a clue, this board are only in this for self interest and ego development, nothing else.

Awwww fuck off. Honestly man where do you start with this shite? So, so boring.

Such a moronic post.

[Guest Lloyd72]

1 minute ago, To Be A Ranger said:

So what role does the DoF do? Does he make signing's above the manager, recommend team selection or what? Or is he in charge of scouting, youth etc.

 

It can be moulded to suit whichever manager comes in but more or less he is in charge of the scouting and recruitment side of things also he sets up an infrastructure for the club which doesn't get affected when the manager leaves.. He doesn't pick the team.

[theclothmonster 1,716]

2 minutes ago, BCLoyal9 said:

Ronald was pretty emphatic about his brother not taking a job at this stage of the season. So, if the board are serious about getting a permanent manager in now instead of Summer, that would probably rule Frank de Boer out. 

Unless he had a change of heart...

He would lose 2M from Inter if he takes a job before the end of season

[The Ibrox Derry 8,932]

2 minutes ago, PRW. said:

Awwww fuck off. Honestly man where do you start with this shite? So, so boring.

Such a moronic post.

Tell me then what they are in it for? Go on, fill me with hope.

[dee9 3,974]

28 minutes ago, PRW. said:

I thought that was a really positive interview, enjoyed it.

Said what I wanted to hear with regards to moving Rangers forward and becoming a more modern club, building on the foundations already laid, improving the structure of the club, getting a director of football in to ensure continuity instead of ripping everything up and starting again with each new manager. 

The DOF could be an exciting one, if its the right appointment. By that I mean not just some ex manager or player, someone actually qualified to do the job. The names linked so far (Ross Wilson, Paul Mitchell and Stuart Webber) would be perfect. Guys with experience and plenty success in the youth and player recruitment departments.

 

Spot on mate. I was actually very impressed with the interview.

[PRW. 5,631]

3 minutes ago, The Ibrox Derry said:

Tell me then what they are in it for? Go on, fill me with hope.

Theres nae point mate, you're obviously a glass half empty guy and nobody goiny change that. 

Continue on with yer parade of rain.

[The Ibrox Derry 8,932]

Just now, PRW. said:

Theres nae point mate, you're obviously a glass half empty guy and nobody goiny change that. 

Continue on with yer parade of rain.

Well there no giving me, you or any of the fans much. Our glasses aren't exactly full and running over eh.

[Cobham 1,569]

I liked what he had to say and think a DoF would be a good move. There has to be an advantage to having a structure and philosophy running through the club from top to bottom that doesn't change when the manager changes. I think it's important though that the DoF doesn't interfere in first team matters such as formations and team selections and while he would have a say in player recruitment the final say should be down to the manager. As long as we appoint the correct people I think it all makes perfect sense. 

[Trialist 80]

Decent interview, albeit a holding statement. Don't expect anything soon, but we are on the case and we know what we want.

Fair enough.....As always the proof will come when we see who the DoF is and who the new coach is....plus how much wonga is available to spend on the team.

[WATP-FOREVER 5,231]

 

48 minutes ago, Jimbeamjunior said:

how can it be the right way to go? firstly thats 2 wages we will be paying, secondly, how many successful managers work under DoF?

to me it screams that we are gonna take on a completely underwhelming manager

 

41 minutes ago, Lloyd72 said:

Koeman and Pochettino at Southampton, Guardiola at City and Barca, Conte at Juve and Chelsea, Simeone at Atleti and RB Leipzig all use one.

Aye, apart from Koeman & Pochettino, Guardiola, Conte, Simeone.

Way to go - right DoF and tight manager and it will work.