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11 minutes ago, Lord Pityme said:

So what is he coming in to do? Sit around and look important!

Your the man that likes to tell us all which is normally wrong. Don't take that the wrong way it is a discussion forum. Reading what role Gus will play quoted by Gordon Scott is not too hard to understand. However feel free to speculate as I wrote it is a football forum. 

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40 minutes ago, Doakes said:

A few crazy comments in this thread. From watching Oran's interview, he was pretty transparent in saying that his knowledge of the Scottish game is "limited", and will need a little help with that. 

From Oran's POV, someone like Gus will have that knowledge, and be able to take a back seat and guide him into his new role. The important decisions will of course be made by Kearney. 

Useful article I found ;

 

Dan Parnell (right): "There has been some confusion about the role. I think a big reason is the title, which can shift from Director of Football to Technical Director to Performance Director. Many profess to know exactly what a Sporting Director should do, but often the specification is designed and developed ‘on the job’. 

There remains no definition of the Sporting Director in academic literature. The following offering aims to give an insight into how the role should work.

 

Dr Dan Parnell from MMU

Dr Dan Parnell from MMU

The Sporting Director is the person responsible for the overall performance of the various sporting departments, which include first team, Under-21s, academy, scouting, medical and sport science. This responsibility ties hand-in-hand with the Sporting Director’s role, which is to develop and deliver the strategic plan towards achieving success in the club’s sporting aims. The Sporting Director should report directly to the Owner and/or Chief Executive Officer.

The key priorities for the Sporting Director are:

  • Support the first team and head coach
  • Maintain and manage a positive working relationship with the owner
  • Employ the best people within budget as department heads
  • Oversee the implementation of the club’s DNA and identity a suitable playing philosophy across all teams, from first team to Academy.
  • Implement and maintain a scouting network
  • Manage the movement of players in and out of the club
  • Oversee the academy and development teams (extending to community foundations for talent identification)
  • Oversee the performance departments including medical and sport science
  • Oversee the training ground

The Sporting Director is the custodian of the club’s sporting performance and must have:

  • Football industry knowledge
  • Business and financial acumen
  • Ability to lead and develop a high performance culture
  • Ability to develop and deliver a strategy both strategically and operationally
  • Understanding of - and the ability to deliver - good governance
  • Ability to manage change and innovation
  • Ability to manage research (monitor and evaluate) on relevant performance measures

They are the person employed by the owner or board to be the guardian of the club’s future, to protect their investment and bring on-field success through effective leadership and decision making in the short, medium and long-term."

This job sounds easy, where do you apply ?? 

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47 minutes ago, Drew said:

If the TD is to have an oversight of recruitment, then it is reasonable to assume that it will directly impact on the youth academy, Ian.

You're right, though, none of us are clear at present as to what the job - and its responsibilities - will consist of.

Gordon would do well to come out with his chairman's update. I'm looking forward to Friday night to see how the players respond. Don't think we will win but to see a fighting spirit would be a step forward. 

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Gus has been about the leagues for a few years now and there can't be too much he doesn't know about the Scottish Leagues and players .If he is only advising /taking the pressure of Oran then I think this is actually a good move by GLS and TF, Oran is going to need the help that this new role will provide IMO.

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2 hours ago, Lord Pityme said:

A great victory that night indeed. However taking it in the rounds Mowbray fielded FIVE strikers that night to try and save his ass. It backfired. And if it was just one match, or one or two issues i would agree with you. But his time has been and gone now. Hence why, with all that great experience you laud him for, he's been relegated to the bottom league.

he had a good run, but he's a negative influence from a bygone era.

Whereas you are an ongoing negative influence!  :D

Edited by smcc
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3 hours ago, MenstrieSaint said:

at present St Mirren as a club are divided , the Stubbs signings and those that were part of the promotion team ? Is Gus such a good guy that he will help unite things , or will he take sides ?

Add to the fact that its likely Oran Kearney might sign a couple of players from Northern Ireland , theres potential for more splits and division if these guys aren,t up to standard straight away . 

would Gus support the current manager , or just let things unsettle behind his back , so he can step up. 

Gus in my opinion would be a bad choice .

I also have huge concerns about the amount of money we are paying for non playing staff . 

Plenty of instances of DOF undermining managers in recent years, but Gus`s days of managing St Mirren are long gone, there`s no way Gus will ever be a permanent manager of the club again, he`s had his day in that department, so at least from that point of view Oran wont have to be looking over his shoulder every 2 mins, This is a new position that Gordon is creating so to criticise anyone before they even start the job not knowing what his responsibilities are is just ridiculous, at least wait till he recommends we sign ALAN GOW  FFS  

But as a poster has stated,  if Gus does comes back in or whoever ?  I think its important that we all know what the role covers,   

Edited by portmahomack saint
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I think the difficulty in trying to unite the fans with this type of appointment is that it is difficult for people to identify who exactly they would want as an alternative. 

When you try to think about what you want from someone filling the role:  good communicator, experienced, professional, contacts in the game, knowledge of the league and transfer market, someone who buys in to the club/community/youth, etc.  We would want someone to have experience, but to also be forward thinking and not a football dinosaur. With the ever-increasing importance of sports science, technology and technical ability - we wouldn't want a football dinosaur. 

The vast majority of those attributes, however, are what we also want a manager to have. 

Who would we want in that Technical Director seat?  

If we considered the age and experience of a Craig Brown type compared to the youth, inexperience, but forward thinking approach of an Ian Cathro, to be at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Who would we get to sit somewhere in the middle that ticks most of the boxes without wanting to be in the main hotseat?   I'm sure there are some options out there (ex. Saints and otherwise) - but who springs to mind? 

 

 

 

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Some utter guff on here about gus.

What young player did he release that went on to do better?

For every bad performance we got under him you were guaranteed a response in the next game also the championship winning season was just as good as the one under jack Ross.

He took us from bottom end of the championship to an established spl side I won’t say anything bad about the guy gave me some great memories that game away to Motherwell was one of the best I’ve ever been to.

I wouldn’t mind at all him coming back as first team coach or as assistant to Oran but I’m not a fan of these positions of director of football or whatever they want to call it undermines the manager imo.

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1 hour ago, DougJamie said:

This job sounds easy, where do you apply ?? 

I've read that post 5 times and it's just full of vague corporate bollocks.

What on earth does "support the first team and head coach" mean? It could literally mean anything.

It's hard to see how much of this differs from the manager's job. What do each of them do on a day to day basis without treading on each others territory?

Without a crystal clear description of the job and equally crystal clear lines of accountability there will be a power vacuum and problems will inevitably result.

Edited by oaksoft
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If the TD is to have an oversight of recruitment, then it is reasonable to assume that it will directly impact on the youth academy, Ian.
You're right, though, none of us are clear at present as to what the job - and its responsibilities - will consist of.

You can only play so many from the academy & that’s if they are good enough. Right now we need experience IMO
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6 minutes ago, ged62 said:


You can only play so many from the academy & that’s if they are good enough. Right now we need experience IMO

I don't disagree with that at all.As others have said, I imagine Gus' attitude to the youth set up might well have altered over the years.

 

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