New Back Room Staff

[pauliewalnuts]

Funny, was only talking about him the other day as a mate of mine used to play with him for a pub team in Tamworth, he said he used to be a real handful and a big boozer before disappearing overnight when his pro club heard of his antics.

Who cares if he used to wind us up, though, it was decades ago and he was a 20 something twat.

Wasn't he the keeper in that Blues side which was one of the dirtiest, nastiest sides football has seen for decades?

Mark Dennis, Pat Van Den Hauwe, Hopkins, Blake, all those horrible scumbags?

[PeterWithe]

Funny, was only talking about him the other day as a mate of mine used to play with him for a pub team in Tamworth, he said he used to be a real handful and a big boozer before disappearing overnight when his pro club heard of his antics.

Who cares if he used to wind us up, though, it was decades ago and he was a 20 something twat.

Wasn't he the keeper in that Blues side which was one of the dirtiest, nastiest sides football has seen for decades?

Mark Dennis, Pat Van Den Hauwe, Hopkins, Blake, all those horrible scumbags?

I didn't say I did care that he used to wind us up, we were all a bit dafter 20 years ago.

He was indeed the keeper in that side, one of SHA's best ever and the winners of the prestigious Atari-six-a-side competition, I think it was played on the same night we won the European Super Cup against Barcelona *ends sneer mode*

[pauliewalnuts]

Sorry, PW, know I was replying to you but it was actually a general point rather than aimed at you.

[supertom]

As long as he does a good job I'm not too bothered. Doubt we'll ever hear anything of him. It's not exactly a high profile role. If he's specifically concentrating on keepers, he's certainly got the credentials to do that. I know we're solid at the moment but Given is 37 with 1 year left, and Guzan is 30 now, so he's probably got 3-4 years left as first choice. Maybe more. Steer is still a bit of an unknown quantity. Whether he makes it at this level remains to be seen, so we may well be looking for 1-2 young stoppers in the next year or two.

[Holte L2]

I'd like to see us upgrade on Guzan.

[Ron Manager]

Iv'e remembered something else about Coton while we were out shopping. I think he had some heart trouble a few years ago. I hope he is fully fit now to coach properly. Never played for England, but quite a few (me included) thought he should have.

[Dave P]

Was it Coton in goal for Man City when he had a worldy of a game when they knocked us out of the FA Cup in about 1994 ?

[OCD]

Everyone's assuming that he's scouting for a first team goalkeeper. He might be but we have multiple age groups that he could be scouting for too. It's been a while since we found a young keeper that came through the ranks and become a first choice.

[pauliewalnuts]

Iv'e remembered something else about Coton while we were out shopping. I think he had some heart trouble a few years ago. I hope he is fully fit now to coach properly. Never played for England, but quite a few (me included) thought he should have.

He's coming as a scout, not to coach.

I would imagine lots of scouts are effectively part time or supply their services on a consultancy basis, as they surely can't find enough to fill a full working week in scouting keepers. Mind you, this is football ....

[curiousorange]

There was a magazine I used to read back in the 90's called Total Sport, one issue of which had an article about Robert Hopkins and the dirty Nose side of the 1980s. One of the pictures was of Tony Coton attending a court appearance dressed in his training gear.

[Ron Manager]

There was a magazine I used to read back in the 90's called Total Sport, one issue of which had an article about Robert Hopkins and the dirty Nose side of the 1980s. One of the pictures was of Tony Coton attending a court appearance dressed in his training gear.

In court while at Watford too. Sir Graham got him off.

[Toronto Villa]

Ciaran Cosgrave appointed as Sports Psychologist.

With all of these appointments in key areas we are starting to look and feel like a proper PL football club that wants to operate at the right end of the table. It starts with players, but the manager having a proper team is critical. Sherwood appears to be putting together a very good staff to help him.

[Steve R]

There's some names being trotted out here - Dennis, van den Hauwe, Hopkins, Blake. We didn't even get as far as Savage.

If ever someone were to pick an all-time Scrotes XI, Small Heath would be heavily represented.

[paul_e]

Ciaran Cosgrave appointed as Sports Psychologist.

With all of these appointments in key areas we are starting to look and feel like a proper PL football club that wants to operate at the right end of the table. It starts with players, but the manager having a proper team is critical. Sherwood appears to be putting together a very good staff to help him.

Thank f**k for that, I've been wanting the club to have a full time sports psychologist for years, the mental aspect of the game is, in my opinion, what has stopped our good kids going on to become good villa players, we've just lost them in that 18-21 period and whilst a large number have gone on to make it as footballers not many have achieved what they should've (I'm looking firmly in the direction of Blackpool here).

[Dante Lavelli]

Ciaran Cosgrave appointed as Sports Psychologist.

With all of these appointments in key areas we are starting to look and feel like a proper PL football club that wants to operate at the right end of the table. It starts with players, but the manager having a proper team is critical. Sherwood appears to be putting together a very good staff to help him.

Thank f**k for that, I've been wanting the club to have a full time sports psychologist for years, the mental aspect of the game is, in my opinion, what has stopped our good kids going on to become good villa players, we've just lost them in that 18-21 period and whilst a large number have gone on to make it as footballers not many have achieved what they should've (I'm looking firmly in the direction of Blackpool here).

I agree with that Paul, especially when the outlay is probably a decent player's weekly wage.  If he makes every player feel 5% better/happier/more confident then he will have paid for himself many times over.  I assume that this is a Sherwood driven appointment and therefore he has ideas on how to integrate the new guy and implement his ideas.

As an aside, Sherwood has quickly built up a massive team of staff which seems to be a complete about turn compared to the conditions which Lambert was asked to manage.  Does this suggest that a takeover is in the pipeline?