Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: PeterWithesShin on August 15, 2012, 04:17:13 PM
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http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2885487,00.html
Michael Henke - who was assistant manager to Ottmar Hitzfeld at Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich - has joined Villa as the club's new Head of European Scouting.
The experienced German will head up the club's European network in an overall structure that has been developed over the past two years.
Henke assumed responsibility for analysis and scouting at Bayern in 2008 when Hitzfeld was succeeded by Jurgen Klinsmann at the Bundesliga club and he is excited to be harnessing his vast experience in European football with a Barclays Premier club now managed by one of his former players, Paul Lambert.
"This is a similar role to one I held at Bayern when Klinsmann became manager and I am looking forward to working with the club and helping within the set-up already in place to identify players who will enhance the Villa team and the Villa squad," Henke said.
"Our objective will be to identify young players who have a good future and a good mentality. The Bundesliga, for example, has very good youth academies but our analysis of players will include other leagues, including the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, France, Spain and other countries. By definition, this is an extensive exercise.
"It is not only about good technique but it is also about the right character and what is required overall to be a successful player in the Premier League.
"It is not always about young, emerging talent either - also players with experience who will be motivated by the challenge and who we believe will bring the right qualities to Aston Villa and benefit the club.
"I visited the training ground at Bodymoor Heath several weeks ago and I'm very impressed by the set-up that is there - the academy, the facilities - all top-class.
"Of course, I also worked with Paul as a player at Borussia Dortmund and therefore I have known him for a long time.
"We share many of the same ideas about football. For instance, good organisation is paramount, as is an innate ethic which ensures that every player will work as hard as he can to achieve success.
"Paul has explained to me what type of qualities in particular that he will want most of all in the players we look at and clearly we will be looking at high quality in order to be able to compete well.
"I was able to be at the game in Werder Bremen on Saturday and I have been watching games already, including West Ham's recent games against Dresden and Cottbus with a view to looking at the opposition ahead of Villa's opening Premier League game on Saturday.
"I'm very much looking forward to working with Paul again and also with the club because Aston Villa is one of those old, traditional clubs in England. I can identify strongly with the club in terms of philosophy and commitment to quality and I very much hope to contribute to this."
Villa's domestic database of player analysis is overseen by Patrick Riley, with tools from Amisco being utilised for statistical background to enhance the club's knowledge in the recruitment process. Gareth Payne provides analysis of opposition players.
Henke's appointment and the arrival of players such as Karim El Ahmadi, Ron Vlaar and Brett Holman demonstrate the strong focus on the European market and new manager Lambert's determination to work with the club in enhancing key areas that will ensure long-term strength and development.
"It's great to have a man with Michael's experience and track record to come in to this role and I'm delighted that we've been able to bring him here," said Villa manager Paul Lambert.
"Michael has been successful with two great clubs in Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, working with Ottmar Hitzfeld and together bringing Champions League success and a succession of Bundesliga titles to both clubs.
"In the European game he has an unbelievable wealth of experience and an enviable network of contacts. It's a great thing for Aston Villa that we have been able to attract a man of his calibre to the club."
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Just seen that. Sounds like another step in the right direction.
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holy crap..this has taken far too long to become reality. Well done to the club...finally, because this is very important.
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Superb news
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Really encouraging - at last we seem to be getting a proper, professional scouting set up which will look beyond the confines of domestic leagues to unearth talent. Also good to see that they'll be looking at character not just technical ability.
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Sounds like a good appointment.
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top man in his field and a very good appointment.
well done Villa
UTV
the Doc
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Looking at the quotes, it's great to have some intelligence in the club.
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Could be signing some Germans too:-)
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I like the German element to it also. They have such a solid structure over there, especially with regard to how they bring through their players. If Lambert sees that in his dreams for us, then the future is certainly a good one. Finally there seems to be some sort of plan and long term thinking at the club. Long overdue.
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Sounds good. We've really been behind other clubs in the scouting department for too long, its good to see we're committed to improve and enhance our scouting capabilities across Europe.
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Yes, just had a text to confirm this. Good news and another reason why we need to keep one eye on the longer end game and not get too carried away if we lose, for example, to West Ham on Saturday. Not that it will stop me effing and blinding on the match thread of course when Carlton Cole knocks his fourth goal into the net...
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Great news.
Long term planning and thinking for the club/team starting to emerge.
Fab!
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As ever the proof of the pudding will be in the eating but I like what he has said there, reinforcing Lambert's view about players needing to have the right character.
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At fucking last! That is all
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As ever the proof of the pudding will be in the eating but I like what he has said there, reinforcing Lambert's view about players needing to have the right character.
I like the fact we seem to finally be waking up to the idea of planning and structure around the footballing side of the club, with value for money and types of footballer being targeted.
Now if he could spirit a left back and a striker out of the ether that would be dandy.
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Fantastic news, everything seems to be falling into place nicely on & off the pitch.
Feeling confident about the direction we're heading, vast contrast to last season!!
UTV
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Great news. Looks like we're entering the 21st century at last.
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Years behind other clubs,but better late than never. If the guy can pull a left back out of the hat before the end of August even better!!
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This is all a bit exciting isn't it?
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Fantastic appointment. We're certainly not settling for average any more. Randy going for a top, top manager in Lambert and a top, top scout in Henke?
What a time to be a Villa fan.
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Great news - things are falling into place nicely. Can we have the ticket prices, safe standing and German beers now too?
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Fantastic news.
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It was something they alluded to in the SCG meeting last night. A footballing structure in place so that if ever a manager resigns 5 days before the season, or has hear t problems during the season then the footballing side of the club isn't destroyed by their departure...
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Great news. Let's hope we unearth some Ozils, Mullers and Schweinsteigers!
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Some slightly better credentials than Ian Storey-Moore
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I would love to know which players he discovered :) I think we will be the English premiership version of Bayern Munich eventually.
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This is a key role. Hopefully he will be totally outside the coaching/management side.
A truly great scouting system shouldn't be based on the needs of the current coach/manager, but rather it should be a much more holistic system whereby we have a large number of options on the radar in every role .
The idea should always be that, a month or so before the window opens the manager will draft a shortlist of roles he wants to fill, along with attributes he wants in those players. The scouts should be able to return a report almost instantly detailing 2-3 options for every role. Then the manager and CEO start the process of contacting agents and clubs. If everything works most of the business is well in the pipeline by the time the window opens.
As much as I dislike the club, Man Utd have achieved great success over a long period of time by using almost exactly this approach.
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Very happy indeed! Great move by the club ;D
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As much as I dislike the club, Man Utd have achieved great success over a long period of time by using almost exactly this approach.
Apart from the quite obvious "ohh He's good, I want him" way they do a massive amount of their transfers see Young, Berbatov, Jones, Carrick, Rooney, Yorke, Valencia, Tevez, Cole, Van Nistelrooy + Many more.
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I thought we had employed the German film director for a moment .
But its not quite Michael Haneke
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Sounds very promising indeed. Could be the best signing of the Summer.
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Fantastic.
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As much as I dislike the club, Man Utd have achieved great success over a long period of time by using almost exactly this approach.
Apart from the quite obvious "ohh He's good, I want him" way they do a massive amount of their transfers see Young, Berbatov, Jones, Carrick, Rooney, Yorke, Valencia, Tevez, Cole, Van Nistelrooy + Many more.
All clubs will have signings like that, a scouting network isn't to find those players, that's why the manager should have no part of it.
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As much as I dislike the club, Man Utd have achieved great success over a long period of time by using almost exactly this approach.
Apart from the quite obvious "ohh He's good, I want him" way they do a massive amount of their transfers see Young, Berbatov, Jones, Carrick, Rooney, Yorke, Valencia, Tevez, Cole, Van Nistelrooy + Many more.
All clubs will have signings like that, a scouting network isn't to find those players, that's why the manager should have no part of it.
Fair Point.
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Another thing that was mentioned in the SCG was how Villa now identify potential transfer targets. They look players across the globe who meet certain criteria... ie age, number of games player per season (it wasn't mentioned, but I bet price comes into this too). This list is constantly evolving as you would expect. What is re-assuring is that when Lambert came in some of the names at the top of his wanted list were at the top of Villa's list.
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So when are we going to appoint Head of South America Scouting :)
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I would love to know which players he discovered :) I think we will be the English premiership version of Bayern Munich eventually.
Always bottling it in the finals of the European Cup to English sides? Fuck that...
Seriously though, if he does as good a job as Alan Carr's daddy has at Noocassil we'll be laughing.
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Sounds good, this is exactly the direction we should be heading.
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I think this is fantastic and great to see the club moving in the right direction. This could be our most important signing of the summer.
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As ever the proof of the pudding will be in the eating but I like what he has said there, reinforcing Lambert's view about players needing to have the right character.
A point he kept making last night.
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Just seen that. Sounds like another step in the right direction.
My thoughts entirely.
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This is about as far removed we could get from the days of MON.
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Young, Berbatov, Jones, Carrick, Rooney, Yorke, Valencia, Tevez, Cole, Van Nistelrooy
... Van Persie...
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Interesting in that Henke's career to date has mainly been made up of co-trainer positions, apart from that he was the sporting director at a smaller club for one season and statistical analyst at Bayern for one year.
Getting a coach who has worked with the two biggest clubs in Germany to be our scout seems like quite a big coup, anyone else think this might be leaning towards a kind of sporting director role?
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I thought Monty might have had an insight on this. Great news by the way, just the kind of thing I was hoping for.
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Very reassuring to hear. Clearly we've been crying out for something like this for some time. Fingers crossed the change to finding players for the EPL won't hinder his effectiveness.
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This is excellent news, seems we might be following the Wenger school of buy 'em young and cheap, and flog the failures to foot the bills...
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This is all music to my ears and long overdue.
Great stuff.
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I thought Monty might have had an insight on this. Great news by the way, just the kind of thing I was hoping for.
Well Henke doesn't have a background in scouting, so it's a bit of a surprise. And a welcome one.
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Yes all well and good but where will he unearth the value for money signings we have been used to:
Heskey
Sidwell
Beye
Shorey
Harewood
Maloney
Davies
:-\ the more i look at that list the more i could cry at the waste of money
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Yes all well and good but where will he unearth the value for money signings we have been used to:
Heskey
Sidwell
Beye
Shorey
Harewood
Maloney
Davies
:-\ the more i look at that list the more i could cry at the waste of money
Harsh on Maloney, he was a decent player for the price (was only 1m wasn't it), I remove him and replace him with a fellow scot who is still with us.
Agree on the rest, and we overpaid for warnock, coliins and reo-coker as well, got reasonable performances out of them at times but £20M+ for those 3 is insane.
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This is excellent news, seems we might be following the Wenger school of buy 'em young and cheap, and flog the failures to foot the bills...
And flog the successful ones to Man City/United or Chelsea, also to foot the bills...
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Very happy we have a man who's worked at the top and knows the european market good times.
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Harsh on Maloney, he was a decent player for the price (was only 1m wasn't it), I remove him and replace him with a fellow scot who is still with us.
And we made a profit on Maloney. So I'm not sure how he could be a waste of money.
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I hadn't realised the homesick Maloney was back playing in Scotland with Wigan Athletic.
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He scored quite a lot of crucial goals at the end of last season - including the winner against Man Utd.
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Seems good news, hope he does well and brings some good fresh tallent in
Maloney I believe was pissed off by mon when he played well, scored and lost his place next game
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Seems good news, hope he does well and brings some good fresh tallent in
Maloney I believe was pissed off by mon when he played well, scored and lost his place next game
plus was hardly a risk at price we paid. Just didn't appear to settle very well.
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I always thought Maloney didn't settle. A few years older and wiser he seems fine.