Jeff Vetere - new chief scout.

[Bosco81]

Do scouts go and watch who the manager tells them to watch, or do they get a bit of a free rein as to what to do.

What age is this guy scouting from or is that someone else's job to do the under 16s and below.

[Dante Lavelli]

From the guardian:

He may not be a household name within English football circles but Jeff Vetere is held in high regard at Spain's biggest club and could well prove to the most valuable of Newcastle United's latest batch of coaching recruits.

Staff at Real Madrid's Valdebebas HQ speak extremely highly of Newcastle's newest head of player recruitment, both personally and professionally. An Englishman who is fluent in Spanish, French and Italian, Vetere spent four months at Madrid under the technical director, Miguel Angel Portugal, and the club's director of international football, the former Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano goalkeeper Julen Lopetegui. His role was to help the Spanish club scout and sign the best talents across the world.

It was a glamorous role, particularly for a man whose playing career did not extend beyond being an apprentice at Luton Town and whose first serious coaching role was at non-league Rushden & Diamonds.

Vetere was brought to the Northamptonshire club by Brian Talbot soon after he became the manager there in 1997 to head up their newly established youth academy. Rushden were one of the first non-league sides to have such a set-up and Vetere, who Talbot had first heard of while managing the Maltese club side Marsaxlokk, was seen as having the credentials to develop and manage a potentially bright crop of young players.

Few players, however, emerged through Rushden's academy in the three years Vetere was there. The most notable was Andrew Burgess who has made more than 200 appearances for the club since 1999 and is now in his second spell there. But the midfielder speaks highly of the man who nurtured his career. "I was not surprised that Jeff [Vetere] ended up at Real Madrid because the guy is a walking encyclopedia of footballing knowledge," Burgess said. "Mention the name of any footballer and he will tell you who he has played for, how many goals he has scored and even what size boots he wears."

Vetere next moved to Charlton Athletic where his official role was overseas coordinator but day-to-day involvement included working with the youth team. The full-back Grant Basey, who broke into the first team last year at the age of 19, has credited Vetere with his development.

Having worked with him at Charlton, Alan Curbishley brought Vetere to West Ham in January last year to work as a part-time overseas scout. He was snapped up by Madrid at the end of the season and is now one of Newcastle's latest signings. Vetere, in turn, will be hoping to make some significant signings of his own.

[Bosco81]

Not the greatest CV in the world, only 4 months at Real Madrid, he would have only just worked out where the toilets and the canteen were.

[Dante Lavelli]

The more I find on google the better this signing sounds.  This is a NUFC blog, read the comments below they're pretty positive about Vetere, which is pretty impressive considering his "cockney mafia" associations.

Nile Ranger - excellent name - came on against Arsenal this weekend and skinned the Arsenal centre back resulting in his red card.

http://www.nufcblog.com/2010/02/11/reports-jeff-vetere-has-left-newcastle-good/

[pablopicasso_10]

nile ranger has the touch of a kiddy fiddler...

[Mazrim]

Houllier will still be in contact/have relations with all or most of the people he's worked with so far and especially the scouting types.
But its nice to have another guy onboard and one who looks like he might be allowed to travel.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Let hope he will bring in players who will interest Real Madrid and Barcelona regularly as we will make lot of transfer money like a certain Arsene Wenger.

[Countryside Villain]

This adds nothing, but in Football Manager 2011 my backroom staff are constantly recommending Vetere as an excellent addition to the club.  So he must be good.

[PaulWinch again]

Well good luck to him, hope he finds some gems.

[Dante Lavelli]

More good stuff from NUFC forums.  I'm not being overly selective here either.  The anti-Vetere people don't like him because of his "Cockney Mafia" associations rather than anything he actually did.  The possible exception being the Xciso (sp?) signing (although that appears to be a Jiminez signing rather than Vetere - his brother allegedly being the agent...).

I digress (again):

"You know this mackem guy Vic Halom... I had a little chat with him towards the end of last season. He spoke very kindly of Vetere, claiming he's a hard-working guy, very highly regarded in the game, that he rebuilt the Newcastle scouting setup from scratch.. etc.. I remember asking him about any concrete players, he refused to go into detail but said that the club have a detailed file for EVERY promising young player across Europe..."

We'll have a bit of that.

[Eigentor]

Well, it's difficult to know whether the new chief scout any good. But judging from his reputation, it seems like he actually exists, and that is a step forward.

[Mister E]

Do scouts go and watch who the manager tells them to watch, or do they get a bit of a free rein as to what to do.

What age is this guy scouting from or is that someone else's job to do the under 16s and below.

I think Mike Jones (head of Academy) has the responsibility for the local activity re U16's and below.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Scoutings easy, and no need for expensive jaunts across Europe.

Holyhead-Dublin ferry- unearth the next Paul Mcgrath.
Drive up to Belfast- unearth the next George Best.
Ferry to Liverpool- unearth the next Wayne Rooney.
Driving back down to Villa Park, drop into Dudley and unearth the next Duncan Edwards.

Sorted.

[enigma]

Funnily enough, I signed this guy for Villa on the last version of Football Manager 

[Eigentor]

"Now you need to have scouts that can travel", Houllier is quoted as saying in this TeamTalk interview.

Houllier unveils scouting overhaul


Gerard Houllier is poised to expand the scope of Aston Villa's recruitment system after appointing Jeff Vetere as the club's new chief scout.

Houllier wants Vetere, who previously worked at Newcastle and Real Madrid and speaks seven languages, to set up a worldwide network to help Villa search out the best young talent both at home and abroad.

"We need to have a structure and somebody who has got a network," Houllier explained.

"It is good to have someone who knows that 'this one is at the end of his contract' or 'this one is available' or 'we should have a look at this one'.

"Some other clubs are far more equipped in terms of personnel for that."

Houllier revealed the spiralling cost of English talent is forcing teams to look farther afield in their efforts to seek out new players.

"Initially I prefer to have English players, but English players are usually more expensive than the rest," he said.

"If you look at teams like Bolton and Blackburn, they have players from everywhere in the world now so you need to have networks practically in all continents."

Discussing the qualities Vetere will bring to his new role, Houllier said: "He knows football inside out, he's got a lot of people and a good network.

"He can speak seven languages and now you need to have scouts that can travel. He will work closely to me.

"A lot of the people I interviewed were good, but the little details made all the difference."