Cathro Interview

[redjambo]

11 minutes ago, Barack said:

And get in the way of Malky’s vision for Scottish Football?  

 

You’re better off sending your own CV in, mate.

 

More chance.

 

For fun, I sent my CV in for the post of chief executive of the SFA once, despite my football management abilities only extending to managing an amateur team. I got a nice reply telling me that other candidates were more suitable. They ended up giving it to Gordon Smith. *******s.

[redjambo]

15 minutes ago, King prawn said:

That was an awkward read. Glad he's no where near the club.

 

Whatever his philosophy, it's embarrassing that a Hearts team were emptied out of a competition that included Peterhead, Elgin and Dunfermline.

 

If Jon Daly can see the players are unfit then surely this 'mastermind' should have recognised that too.

 

Fitness wouldn't have mattered that much to him. They key thing he wanted was that players bought in to "His Plan", that they understood what he wanted to do.

 

Cathro's football management was akin to an army in battle with not very fit soldiers announcing themselves to the enemy by sending them tactical sheets of exactly how they are going to fight them in battle, using techniques not particularly suited to its soldiers (who have been brought up and trained to fight in certain traditional ways), allowing the enemy to easily adjust their tactics accordingly.

 

I've probably taken that analogy too far, but we were on a hiding to nothing.

 

As another poster mentioned above, if Cathro hadn't had Robbie's previous point count to play with, we would have probably been relegated.

 

[NANOJAMBO]

4 hours ago, Enzo Chiefo said:

Nano, he was there for half a season. I agree that his record was poor. However, to blame him for any current problems is nonsense. What was it that he did in 5 months that now needs so long to repair? Our signing policy has been woeful for several years now. That's not Cathro's fault. Our problems last season stemmed from our poor pre-season preparations, messing Neil Alexander about, and lashing out money on expensive misfits. We were also horsed out of Europe by a Maltese team ffs. Cathro brought in some duds as did Neilson and as has Levein.  He was also responsible for bringing in Lafferty, Goncalves and Berra and lost Souttar to injury and Patterson to Cardiff. A bit of perspective is required and people are being hoodwinked by Neilson' s last game in charge. Cathro did no more damage than finishing 5th, which incidentally is looking like the best we can hope for this season too.

No perspective needed on the fact he is the worst Hearts manager in my 50 years as a supporter. Our poor pre season was down to him - he was in charge and apparently sacrificed fitness over tactics. For the record , I hoped he would succeed but the LC ties showed differently. I'm out of this one. 

[Auld Reekin']

"...if a player believes that what you are saying makes sense, can help the team and help him be better for the team and for himself, then that's it. They will decide whether they value you or not."

 

And there we have the problem in a nutshell - clearly, the players neither believed nor valued what he was telling them. (Or maybe they just weren't able to understand it!)

 

[NANOJAMBO]

10 hours ago, rudi must stay said:

Odd guy. Passionate, but odd

This. Cathro has some kind of behavioural problem, his speech  just doesn't flow naturally/normally , it's like a foreigner has had his interview translated into English , so it lacks the feel of emotion/empathy.  I don't say this to have a go at the guy, I really do think there is an underlying problem. 

[Muirhead]

I thought CL was naive on this one.  The boy has a reputation for having some innovative thinking on the game but it’s light years from where Scottish football is.  To make such a leap requires leadership skills that he clearly doesn’t possess.  His back room team therefore should have contained experience, great communicators and people aligned to his thinking.  We didn’t give him that.  An experienced man beside him would’ve ensured we took small steps at a time towards his philosophy rather than one giant leap which abandoned the basics of fitness and how to compete.  It also would’ve meant gradually acquiring the players to fit the philosophy rather than a complete squad revamp in one go.  not even an experienced manager with maximum charisma could gel a team with 9 new signings each window.  

 

I think we saw an opportunity which could have been a step in the right direction long term but as a club didn’t execute well at all. A management team is just that - a team of people who compliment each other’s skills .  We employed someone with some great skills but also with huge gaps and we didn’t build a back room team to plug those gaps 

[MacDonald Jardine]

1 hour ago, Geoff Kilpatrick said:

I don't think it is revisionist. Rather, we knew that Levein thought highly of him and that his box soccer school was helping to develop players at youth level. The reality, however, was somewhat different but because arseholes like Boyd were so against him from Day 1, we as fans gave him more latitude than he deserved because proving wankers like Boyd wrong would have been even sweeter.

I remember a fair amount of doubt being expressed at his appointment. 

As external criticism increased so did support for him.

[Jammy T]

Said at it at the end of last season.

 

He needed 8 to 9 decent EPL standard players to come in to make ‘his way’ work.

 

To be honest the club should have recognised this looking back

[Mikey1874]

6 hours ago, Finlay James said:

 

That sums it up perfectly.  Coaching is great and essential with kids learning the game.

 

With full time professionals, being tactically astute bus most importantly, being someone that players want to follow is the vital ingredient of managing a club of our size.

 

Cathro just doesn't come near those qualities.  From what I hear, Cathro was very well liked and the players thought he was an immense coach but he couldn't communicate and it just didn't click.

 

We have the best manager in Scotland now though so we live and learn.

 

It is absolutely certain it didn't click. 

 

So that remains the main unanswered question for Ian Cathro. 

 

Maybe just needs to be more in the background as assistant.  

[tolcross lad]

I will never be able to work out how Levein came to appoint to Cathro.Levein had worked with him and must have come to the conclusion that this detached arrogant riddle talking novice could man manage players.It beats me. 

[Shedro]

1 minute ago, tolcross lad said:

I will never be able to work out how Levein came to appoint to Cathro.Levein had worked with him and must have come to the conclusion that this detached arrogant riddle talking novice could man manage players.It beats me. 

Because it gave Levein a big say/part in the running of the team without being in the firing line. 

[Bull's-eye]

Just now, Shedro said:

Because it gave Levein a big say/part in the running of the team without being in the firing line. 

[NANOJAMBO]

3 minutes ago, tolcross lad said:

I will never be able to work out how Levein came to appoint to Cathro.Levein had worked with him and must have come to the conclusion that this detached arrogant riddle talking novice could man manage players.It beats me. 

Agreed, but he did. AB won't make that mistake again ie letting CL rule the roost on new appointments.  And so we move on, albeit rather slowly. 

[redjambo]

8 minutes ago, Shedro said:

Because it gave Levein a big say/part in the running of the team without being in the firing line. 

 

You've already expressed that opinion, Shedro. It's fair to say that most people, including myself, would disagree with it.

 

If Craig had had a say in the running of the team then Cathro would have pointed that out. He didn't.

 

The results that we had during the Cathro era and the results (and set-up) we've had since are ample evidence that Cathro had control over team matters when he was manager.

 

So, and this is the first time I've used the emoticon (and don't take it personally):

 

[Shedro]

17 minutes ago, redjambo said:

 

You've already expressed that opinion, Shedro. It's fair to say that most people, including myself, would disagree with it.

 

If Craig had had a say in the running of the team then Cathro would have pointed that out. He didn't.

 

The results that we had during the Cathro era and the results (and set-up) we've had since are ample evidence that Cathro had control over team matters when he was manager.

 

So, and this is the first time I've used the emoticon (and don't take it personally):

 

Haha, first I've seen that emotion...(probably not the last either), either way Cathro it's not an avenue I'd like Hearts to turn down again. 

[redjambo]

Just now, Shedro said:

Haha, first I've seen that emotion...(probably not the last either), either way Cathro it's not an avenue I'd like Hearts to turn down again. 

 

One of the new emoticons that have just been added. Have a look, there are some crackers.

 

Anyway, yes, one experiment like that is enough.

 

[Lucille's Thirsty]

I had the upmost faith in Cathro if he was given time but the more and more it went on the more obvious it got that he was a disaster. It hurts my head listening to him. Imagine if we had kept him.

[tolcross lad]

32 minutes ago, Shedro said:

Because it gave Levein a big say/part in the running of the team without being in the firing line. 

I really dont know .My guess is that Levein lost the plot a bit or struggled to define his role as DOF whether that be recruitment policy,handling of players contracts or future head coach appointments or the amount of input he felt necessary for team affairs. 

I am much happier with his performance as a manager where there is little argument about who is responsible for what.

[Henroddy]

5 hours ago, Jamboelite said:

Its a ****ing rag and most who read it are morons...

 

its a hate filled rag playing to the dumb.

 

Anyhoo onto Cathro and his 14pages of saying nothing.

Calm down dear

[Mikey1874]

3 hours ago, sassenach said:

All this guff that keeps getting repeated about Valencia and Newcastle. So what?

 

Valencia is a huge club, even by world standards. They were ordinary while Cathro was there.

 

Newcastle is a one club city, with crowds of 50000 or more, and gets generally favourable media coverage. They should be a consistent top 6 club. They were relegated while Cathro was there.

 

So what indications were there that Cathro would prove to be some kind of footballing svengali?

 

Valencia were ordinary you say. Qualifying for Champions League is ordinary? So they do better than that? When?

[Thaw]

Frustrating interview, as others have said. He obviously hasn't just been completely rubbish at everything he's done in his career, but what, for example, was this 'something different' he did that attracted the attention of the guy who took him abroad? And if he wants to try and defend his leadership qualities, saying that he took the Hearts job because he chose the wrong people to (effectively) make the decision for him is a strange way to go about it.

 

 

[world_3]

6 hours ago, Jammy T said:

Said at it at the end of last season.

 

He needed 8 to 9 decent EPL standard players to come in to make ‘his way’ work.

 

To be honest the club should have recognised this looking back

 

Exactly this. Everybody wants to play like Barcelona, not happening though unless you've got Barcelona-standard players all the way through your first eleven.

[John Gentleman]

12 hours ago, Coco said:

Strange fellow and a bizarre management choice for Hearts.  This and his previous job advert in the American press and his interviews at Hearts all follow the same tread.  All my, I, mine as if he is the Way and the Truth in football.  Dining out on coaching a couple of players as children who have achieved little so far.

 

He's like one of these American evangelical preachers but without the charisma or the ability to construct a comprehensible sentence. Possesses a totally unwavering, uncompromising belief in his own abilities and beliefs fuelled by pure chutzpah.

As my old mother would have put it: "Fair fu' o' himself".