Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Villa'Zawg on November 08, 2010, 12:38:35 PM
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"Houllier, who has been under fire from supporters for his negative tactics, is hiring former Newcastle United talent-spotter Jeff Vetere as his new chief scout.
Vetere was part of the controversial ‘Cockney Mafia’ at the Toon when he worked closely with Dennis Wise under Mike Ashley’s control.
Vetere brought in players for the Geordies during Kevin Keegan’s reign and has previously worked for Charlton. "
He was at Real Madrid for a short while before joining Newastle, anyone know anything about him?
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Would be interesting to see whom from Newcastle he bought in as they have got some good players at what seems the right money - except the Xisco kid !
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I'm struggling to think of a single decent Newcastle purchase over the last five years, to be honest.
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His name sounds like someone who has a nightly show on Blackpool pier, can't decide whether he sounds like a comedian, ventriloquist or magician. Hopefully as a scout he is more magician than comedian.
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Looks like this represents the shift towards a more world wide focus in scouting. Sounds good, but I hope we continue with our local structures as well, since these have produced, Agbonlahor, Albrighton, Bannan and G. Gardener in recent times.
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Gardner hasn't done anything yet.
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Let's hope he finds the next Shearer.
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Gardner hasn't done anything yet.
To be fair Pedro, he has been out injured for some time but he is the most exciting young prospect we have had in some time.
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I'm struggling to think of a single decent Newcastle purchase over the last five years, to be honest.
Habib Beye springs to mind ;)
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Jose Enrique looks like a very good player.
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Does he have a current passport?
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...The original Gardner made us £3m which aint bad.
Newcastle players that I can think of who may have been discovered by this fella:
Bassong - was signed for something like £300k and sold for close to £10m.
Nzogbia - bit of a shit but talented.
Guitierez (sp?) - looks half decent to me.
hmmmmm
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Bassong - was signed for something like £300k and sold for close to £10m.
Nzogbia - bit of a shit but talented.
Guitierez (sp?) - looks half decent to me.
My issue is we already have players at least as good as these. What we need is the next level up, so I want the scout that found the likes of Berbatov or Diarra.
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I agree, hence my "hhmmmmm" however - dons extreme optimist hat - it might be because he was at a struggling Newcastle that he could not attract a "Berbatov" (Leverkusen to Spurs yes, to Newcastle unlikely).
Villa will hopefully be a greater draw than Newcastle. Don't forget that Houllier also holds a huge amount of knowledge so between them they have the know how to unearth a gem.
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Also he is only the chief scout, and surely the players found by any scoutning network will depend on the team not the one individual. So it may be a completely different set up to that of Newcastle.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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/
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nile ranger has the touch of a kiddy fiddler...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Well good luck to him, hope he finds some gems.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Funnily enough, I signed this guy for Villa on the last version of Football Manager ::)
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"Now you need to have scouts that can travel", Houllier is quoted as saying in this TeamTalk (http://www.teamtalk.com/aston-villa/6498292/Houllier-unveils-scouting-overhaul) 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."
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Also some quotes from Vetere on the OS (http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2213953,00.html):
Houllier hails arrival of new chief scout Vetere
Boss hopes appointment of Jeff Vetere will help boost club's talent-spotting potential
By Dan Harrison
Gerard Houllier hopes the appointment of new chief scout Jeff Vetere will help cast Villa's talent-spotting net wider.
Houllier is delighted to secure the services of Vetere, who arrives with an impressive CV having worked at Real Madrid, Newcastle, West Ham and Charlton.
The Villa boss revealed a number of candidates were interviewed for the post, but the 44-year-old's multilingual skills and wide network of contacts stood out.
"He knows football inside out," said Houllier. "He's got a lot of people and a good network and can speak several languages because now you need to have scouts that can travel. He will work closely with me.
"I must say I was impressed because a lot of the people I interviewed were good, but the little details made all the difference."
Houllier is keen to improve the structure of Villa's player recruitment network in order to unearth hidden talents at home and abroad.
"We needed to have a structure and somebody who has got a network," added the manager.
"I'm not talking about the players that we know, but it is good to have someone who knows that this one is at the end of his contract, this one is available or we should have a look at this one.
"Initially I prefer to have English players, but English players are usually more expensive than the rest.
"If you look at some teams like Bolton and Blackburn they have players from everywhere in the world now, so you need to have networks practically in all continents."
Vetere was born in Luton to Italian parents and spent time as trainee at Luton Town before embarking on a semi-professional career in England and Spain.
After achieving his UEFA 'A' license, a low-key coaching career followed before he moved into scouting and player recruitment.
It is a job that has taken him all over the world, casting an eye on players for a variety of clubs.
Now he is relishing his new role as part of Houllier's backroom team, as well as expanding Villa's scouting network.
"It is fantastic to be at Aston Villa and I am very excited about working here," he said. "I have been here just over a week and I was at the Birmingham and the Fulham games.
"We have a good base of young players here through the academy who are pushing into the first team. It is a very good base that we can build on.
"We are in the process of setting up the overseas scouting system. It is an area that Villa can improve in.
"Even if you are going to sign English players, you need to know what the market is like abroad."
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"We are in the process of setting up the overseas scouting system. It is an area that Villa can improve in. "
Understatement of the century.
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"We are in the process of setting up the overseas scouting system. It is an area that Villa can improve in. "
Understatement of the century.
So from that statement, I can assume we never had one?
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"We are in the process of setting up the overseas scouting system. It is an area that Villa can improve in. "
Understatement of the century.
So from that statement, I can assume we never had one?
Exactly. Or at least we had one for a globe that ends at Glasgow.
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"Now you need to have scouts that can travel",
It's this sort of attention to detail we've been lacking.
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Vetere went on to say; "We found scouting reports from the last regime and they had to stop scouting at times because they got to some sandy bits which became very wet further out. The going was impossible. But now we realise that certain problems can be overcome by using specialist vehicles."
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Vetere went on to say; "We found scouting reports from the last regime and they had to stop scouting at times because they got to some sandy bits which became very wet further out. The going was impossible. But now we realise that certain problems can be overcome by using specialist vehicles."
Ian Storey Moore was last seen at Birmingham airport, wandering around the perimeter fence, pointing at planes and saying "FLYING METAL HORSE FLYING METAL HORSE" over and over again.
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Anybody know if Ian Storey Moore has joined up with MON in Saudi Arabia?
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Anybody know if Ian Storey Moore has joined up with MON in Saudi Arabia?
Don't think MON has even signed for them yet, has he?
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Anybody know if Ian Storey Moore has joined up with MON in Saudi Arabia?
Will he need to go over there, cant he just stay in the east end of Glasgow?
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However poor the new guy is, he could be a complete wnker he'll still be 300% better than Mon's drinking pal without question, so why people are looking to criticise him is beyond me, post Mon depression probably.
The guy comes with a decent reputation and a huge contact list so hopefully the days of only buying English because we were afraid they might talk a strange language have gone.
That alone ensures the guy gets my recommendation.
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Anybody know if Ian Storey Moore has joined up with MON in Saudi Arabia?
Don't think MON has even signed for them yet, has he?
He didn't even get the job. They changed their mind and gave it to some former Argentina international.
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Ian Storey Moore convinced O'Neill that if he went overseas, he'd fall off the edge.
He also wouldn't fly in a plane as he was convinced that such unnaturally high speeds would turn your internal organs to jelly.
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"Now you need to have scouts that can travel",
It's this sort of attention to detail we've been lacking.
Laughed out loud at this one!
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*bump*
Vetere has now left for Charlton, according to VT and the Daily Nazi.
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To be fair to Jeff, he did manage to spot the up and coming Robert Pires.
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He's gone to be Director of Football there, hopefully he's left us better than he found us but I don't know enough about scouting to hazard a guess as to whether this was possible in the short time he was with us.
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I've always been mystified as to why a Chief Scout shouldn't be a club appointment rather than that of the manager. That way if he leaves all his dossiers and knowledge of certain players remain with the clun and not just him/the manager.
I can understand that certain manager's want to retain certain scouts as they will either know what type of players the manager likes, or has a great track record of finding the desired player. But for the club to allow the stability, and knowledge, to simply walk away has always bewildered me.
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Is Ian Storey Moore still scouting for us ?
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I hoe we can keep in touch with Jeff so we can pick up players which he could recommend for Aston Villa who might not suit Charlton.
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Is Ian Storey Moore still scouting for us ?
I think he left with MoN.