Steve Walsh (Director of football)

[markjazzbassist]

Just now, Newty82 said:

I think most owners need to keep themselves out of the limelight and concentrate on the business end of things.

That Chinese guy at Aston Villa was doing my nut in all Summer. Proper loves the limelight.

they could plant new flowers at the training ground and there would be that dude on twitter "......MASSIVE announcement today....(emoji)"  talk about over the top, that guy is TMI

[Newty82]

3 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

they could plant new flowers at the training ground and there would be that dude on twitter "......MASSIVE announcement today....(emoji)"  talk about over the top, that guy is TMI

Haha. That's the one.

[markjazzbassist]

if the window is shit in january will everyone blame Rhino?

[Newty82]

2 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

if the window is shit in january will everyone blame Rhino?

Don't get it.

The last window wasn't shit. This is one of those blame leading questions with no real point or, at best, a badly hidden point.

[markjazzbassist]

Just now, Newty82 said:

Don't get it.

The last window wasn't shit. This is one of those blame leading questions with no real point or, at best, a badly hidden point.

my point is this, everyone says Walsh is merely a scout, all the signings were koeman's fault.  but i guarantee come january they will blame walsh (and not rhino) even though logically it makes no sense.  Either Walsh is culpable for the signings or he's not.  I think he is.

[Newty82]

2 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

my point is this, everyone says Walsh is merely a scout, all the signings were koeman's fault.  but i guarantee come january they will blame walsh (and not rhino) even though logically it makes no sense.  Either Walsh is culpable for the signings or he's not.  I think he is.

It's too late to go into this one, I'm ready to kip.

But you are pre meditating a scenario based on....not a lot!!! You don't know if Rhino will be in charge in Jan. Don't know who we will sign, if anyone.

Logically, your point makes no sense.

I've said all along, Walsh and Koeman work together.

Remember last season, Koeman in his interviews wasn't shy to point the finger at Walsh and Co over signings, was he? Or lack of signings. Now we made plenty, if they were nothing to do with Koeman, you think he's the type to not tell the world that someone else chose those players? 

They worked together.

[MC11]

Any chance of sacking this clown too? 

[Romey 1878]

Can we at least call him Unsworth if he gets the job?

[Bill]

I might call him David.

[Romey 1878]

8 minutes ago, Bill said:

I might call him David.

That’s fine too. Rhino just makes me think of a porn star or something  

[Newty82]

8 hours ago, Romey 1878 said:

Can we at least call him Unsworth if he gets the job?

Rhino Unsworth?

Sounds horny.

[DavisJD]

Steve Walsh has previously been interviewed outlining the process of scouting and recruiting. 

A big influence on the scouting is they type of player the manager likes, and Steve Walsh doesn’t have final or all say on those players scouted for recruiting.

[Bailey]

31 minutes ago, DavisJD said:

Steve Walsh has previously been interviewed outlining the process of scouting and recruiting. 

A big influence on the scouting is they type of player the manager likes, and Steve Walsh doesn’t have final or all say on those players scouted for recruiting.

Exactly. I am 90% certain that since Koeman came to the club Siggy, Klaasen, Martina, Schneiderlin, Rooney, Keane and probably Williams are all 'his' buys. 

Gana, DCL, Vlasic, Lookman, Sandro and all the other young lads bought for the U23s are Walshs.

Pickford is up in the air. I'd be certain Walsh wanted him and I imagine Koeman did too. 

The Koeman list have all been big price, high wage let downs. They are all pretty slow players but they are genuine footballers. 

The Walsh list is largely a group of young lads who have pace, energy and mobility but aren't the finished articles. Realistically that is the reason we brought him in. He isn't there to find the obvious signings, he is there to find diamonds in the rough. IMO he should be doing the same level of scouting for new managers as well. 

[Aidan]

Think I read somewhere that Mosh wanted Rooney in. Makes sense when you think of the marketing aspect of it all.

[Bailey]

4 minutes ago, Aidan Lewis said:

Think I read somewhere that Mosh wanted Rooney in. Makes sense when you think of the marketing aspect of it all.

He probably did but Koeman was all over the press saying that he wanted him.

[Paddock]

45 minutes ago, Bailey said:

Exactly. I am 90% certain that since Koeman came to the club Siggy, Klaasen, Martina, Schneiderlin, Rooney, Keane and probably Williams are all 'his' buys. 

Gana, DCL, Vlasic, Lookman, Sandro and all the other young lads bought for the U23s are Walshs.

Pickford is up in the air. I'd be certain Walsh wanted him and I imagine Koeman did too. 

The Koeman list have all been big price, high wage let downs. They are all pretty slow players but they are genuine footballers. 

The Walsh list is largely a group of young lads who have pace, energy and mobility but aren't the finished articles. Realistically that is the reason we brought him in. He isn't there to find the obvious signings, he is there to find diamonds in the rough. IMO he should be doing the same level of scouting for new managers as well. 

I completely agree, I think Koeman had the say on who came in and who didn’t. I think Washes job was to identify. If Koeman didn’t want them they wouldn’t be signed.

I may be way off the mark here but that’s how I see it and I think all the buys this summer were Koemans.

[c1982]

46 minutes ago, Bailey said:

He probably did but Koeman was all over the press saying that he wanted him.

Walsh wanted Rooney too - he said so when they did the all access at Finch Farm with Sky and the rumours were just starting.

[Newty82]

Let's put a spin on this...what if Walsh did put forward a number of left sided defenders and strikers but Koeman prefered to chase the others first?

Maybe that's also a reason for his sacking. That he dug his own grave, so to speak.

[evilweevil666]

11 minutes ago, Newty82 said:

Let's put a spin on this...what if Walsh did put forward a number of left sided defenders and strikers but Koeman prefered to chase the others first?

Maybe that's also a reason for his sacking. That he dug his own grave, so to speak.

 

4 hours ago, Bailey said:

Exactly. I am 90% certain that since Koeman came to the club Siggy, Klaasen, Martina, Schneiderlin, Rooney, Keane and probably Williams are all 'his' buys. 

Gana, DCL, Vlasic, Lookman, Sandro and all the other young lads bought for the U23s are Walshs.

Pickford is up in the air. I'd be certain Walsh wanted him and I imagine Koeman did too. 

The Koeman list have all been big price, high wage let downs. They are all pretty slow players but they are genuine footballers. 

The Walsh list is largely a group of young lads who have pace, energy and mobility but aren't the finished articles. Realistically that is the reason we brought him in. He isn't there to find the obvious signings, he is there to find diamonds in the rough. IMO he should be doing the same level of scouting for new managers as well. 

Why does Walsh automatically get the benefit of the doubt? He's found one genuine diamond in the rough in Kante and that's the sole extent of his pedigree. Koeman obviously played his part, but the biggest problem as a whole is the genuine lack of coherent plan. Everyone could see we brought in 3 players with the exact same weaknesses and position and did not strengthen in our biggest problem areas. The entire job of DoF should be to steer the overall strategy of the club so we can have better long term planning, and he's clearly failed on that account so far.

[Bailey]

3 hours ago, c1982 said:

Walsh wanted Rooney too - he said so when they did the all access at Finch Farm with Sky and the rumours were just starting.

 

3 hours ago, Paddock said:

I completely agree, I think Koeman had the say on who came in and who didn’t. I think Washes job was to identify. If Koeman didn’t want them they wouldn’t be signed.

I may be way off the mark here but that’s how I see it and I think all the buys this summer were Koemans.

Yeh exactly. I expect the Walsh ones were more punts that weren't expected to necessarily be straight into the starting 11, whereas Ron probably drew up a list and said I want these and some came in and some didnt. Giroud was probably on the list as well but he didnt get here.

7 minutes ago, Newty82 said:

Let's put a spin on this...what if Walsh did put forward a number of left sided defenders and strikers but Koeman prefered to chase the others first?

Maybe that's also a reason for his sacking. That he dug his own grave, so to speak.

 

I would be pretty confident that he did. Take Giroud for example. We had say 5 players on a shortlist for a target man, Giroud at the top, probably another high profile player and then and a couple of other  lesser known lads identified by the scouts. A couple from that list probably said no early on but Giroud's agent kept us on the line for a while as he was thinking about the offer and his role at Arsenal. I would expect Koeman to be wanting to go all out for Giroud which it seems we did but it didnt work, then when it came round to other targets it was probably too late because of one thing or another such as them signing somewhere else or the club not willing to let them leave without getting cover in themselves.

 

Sometimes you just cant get deals over the line but as plenty have said, Rom should have stayed until someone was in. Then again we had already signed Rooney & Sandro and had DCL in the wings so I dont see why we would bring in 4 players for one position as well as doing the same for players that can fill the number 10 role.

 

The whole strategy this summer was confused and we made a real mess of it. Hopefully we can learn from it next summer.

[Bailey]

4 minutes ago, evilweevil666 said:

 

Why does Walsh automatically get the benefit of the doubt? He's found one genuine diamond in the rough in Kante and that's the sole extent of his pedigree. Koeman obviously played his part, but the biggest problem as a whole is the genuine lack of coherent plan. Everyone could see we brought in 3 players with the exact same weaknesses and position and did not strengthen in our biggest problem areas. The entire job of DoF should be to steer the overall strategy of the club so we can have better long term planning, and he's clearly failed on that account so far.

No its not... Kante, Mahrez, Drogba, Zola, Vardy, Knockaert (at a lower level), Essien, Idrissa Gueye for us (at the very least) and plenty others.

I agree with the last bit, there was definitely a confused strategy, probably too many chefs having too much of a say. The heirachy above the manager and Walsh need to clearly outline what should and shouldn't happen. I imagine that will be easier with someone like Unsworth as I imagine its hard having a so called "super manager" in Koeman below an ex PE teacher in Walsh. I can imagine the board would much more inclined to listen to the former. Its the first time we have tried it so its no surprise that it hasnt gone right, but hopefully it will be much better in the future and we learn from this debacle.

 

[Newty82]

21 minutes ago, evilweevil666 said:

 

Why does Walsh automatically get the benefit of the doubt? He's found one genuine diamond in the rough in Kante and that's the sole extent of his pedigree. Koeman obviously played his part, but the biggest problem as a whole is the genuine lack of coherent plan. Everyone could see we brought in 3 players with the exact same weaknesses and position and did not strengthen in our biggest problem areas. The entire job of DoF should be to steer the overall strategy of the club so we can have better long term planning, and he's clearly failed on that account so far.

He's not getting benefit of doubt, questions are being asked to provoke conversation.

Although I disagree with what you are saying. For reasons mentioned previously.

[evilweevil666]

13 minutes ago, Bailey said:

No its not... Kante, Mahrez, Drogba, Zola, Vardy, Knockaert (at a lower level), Essien, Idrissa Gueye for us (at the very least) and plenty others.

I agree with the last bit, there was definitely a confused strategy, probably too many chefs having too much of a say. The heirachy above the manager and Walsh need to clearly outline what should and shouldn't happen. I imagine that will be easier with someone like Unsworth as I imagine its hard having a so called "super manager" in Koeman below an ex PE teacher in Walsh. I can imagine the board would much more inclined to listen to the former. Its the first time we have tried it so its no surprise that it hasnt gone right, but hopefully it will be much better in the future and we learn from this debacle.

 

You're right that I was maybe overly dismissive. I personally don't factor his success at Chelsea that highly, since I think the world of football scouting is much different now than then. Many more teams are active in analytics and a broader range of scouting. In general I'm worried Walsh is too old school and focused on "eye testing" to really take us up a level in the modern game. Even Vlasic, whom I think will turn out to be successful, was only brought in after we saw him play first hand against us. That doesn't give me a lot of faith that that kind of success is repeatable, unless we get lucky to face the kinds of players we need. That said, I probably underrate the Mahrez, Vardy, and Gana signings. The first two would surely add a lot to our squad.

I'm completely on board with the idea that there's a structural problem that was exacerbated with Koeman's ego and reputation. I'm just hesitant to assume Walsh wanted to do all the right things and was stopped by Koeman. Walsh may work out fine in the long term, but it's clear he also made some mistakes this summer. 

[Bailey]

4 minutes ago, evilweevil666 said:

You're right that I was maybe overly dismissive. I personally don't factor his success at Chelsea that highly, since I think the world of football scouting is much different now than then. Many more teams are active in analytics and a broader range of scouting. In general I'm worried Walsh is too old school and focused on "eye testing" to really take us up a level in the modern game. Even Vlasic, whom I think will turn out to be successful, was only brought in after we saw him play first hand against us. That doesn't give me a lot of faith that that kind of success is repeatable, unless we get lucky to face the kinds of players we need. That said, I probably underrate the Mahrez, Vardy, and Gana signings. The first two would surely add a lot to our squad.

I'm completely on board with the idea that there's a structural problem that was exacerbated with Koeman's ego and reputation. I'm just hesitant to assume Walsh wanted to do all the right things and was stopped by Koeman. Walsh may work out fine in the long term, but it's clear he also made some mistakes this summer. 

From what I have read is far from an "eye test" and he is a very detailed scout from everything to their ability, to the way they play and their personality.

 

I think the both of them probably butted heads, wanting to prove themselves and I could imagine that would result in the summer we had. I think they have two different styles and I doubt they both see the team the same way, so for that Walsh should take some blame too. I expect that Unsy and Walsh both want the same things and I would expect more of the younger, more mobile and direct players to play ahead of the better technicians.

[Romey 1878]

http://sportwitness.co.uk/steve-walsh-slammed-dutch-newspaper-inability-negotiating-enabled-chaos-everton/

[chicagoblue]

5 hours ago, Romey 1878 said:

http://sportwitness.co.uk/steve-walsh-slammed-dutch-newspaper-inability-negotiating-enabled-chaos-everton/

0 analysis in that article, just a re hash of what we've all known, ie Koeman wanted a forward and left sided defender but didn't get one. The article just assumes that was Walsh who failed (unless something is lost in translation and our Dutch friends, do we have any, can help out)

[sydneyneil]

At the end of the day, Steve Walsh's role is player recruitment (please correct me if I'm wrong!) and our recruitment has been dreadful. He is accountable. Koeman was sacked because of his tactical ineptitude, his inability to play players in their correct positions and his total lack of man management. Yes, if he was responsible for scouting/having the final say on transfers then add this into. However, Steve Walsh's job description is player recruitment. This is our biggest failure right now. Whoever we bring in to manage has the same shite. It is likely though that we will get a better tune out of them but many, as tonight, wont even feature. 

[Hafnia]

I can't see how Walsh is to blame.... it's abundantly clear that koeman never had the players onside...

Koeman clearly recruited klaasen - arguably the worst of the lot.

Koeman wanted siggurdson.... a waste of £45m.. May be he will be fine when he gets played in a steady position.

I'm not 100% convinced Walsh doesn't carry any blame but let's say this.... he is far from the main problem. 

[Shukes]

Recruitment has been good other than a couple of extras we wanted.

before the season started we were all raving how well it went.

because the team as a collective has been poor, we are trying to pick holes in everything. Is Siggy a poor player? What about Sandro? Keane? Pickford? It goes on. They are all decent players. 

We just haven’t played them, or any of our regulars in the correct team yet.

[pete0]

2 hours ago, Shukes said:

because the team as a collective has been poor, we are trying to pick holes in everything. Is Siggy a poor player? What about Sandro? Keane? Pickford? It goes on. They are all decent players. 

Pickford aside they have all been shit signings. Sandro's touch makes Rom look like Bergkamp, Sigurdssen watcher of shadows, can't read the play and is too slow to act once he does see what's happening.  Keane is possibly the only player Siguurdsen could take the piss out of. He's just so slow at everything, takes an extra touch, body language and back lift that high you see everything before he does it. Anyone involved in scouting him should be sacked. I can't think past they've took one look and said "He's tall, sign him up". There's not a footballer in there at all. 

You've not named Vlasic who looks the real deal, but I'd not credit the scouts for finding him by pure chance in a Europa qualifier.