"Pako" Ayestarán (Assistant Head Coach)

[Footy-Vill]

Welcome
Francisco Martín "Pako" Ayestarán Barandiarán the new Assistant Head Coach -confirmed.
59 years old.

[Monty]

Wow, that's a pretty big boy assistant manager.

[Footy-Vill]

We now have an experienced Assistant with quality, big match, and big player experience, as well as someone who has helped players develop.
In addition to previously working as an assistant to Emery at Valencia, he has Premier League experience as Rafael Benitez's No. 2 at Liverpool.
'Pako' was also Gary Neville's assistant at Valencia before taking over.
He also has managerial experience at a number of clubs.

[paul_e]

He's about as big an appointment as you can get, 200 games as a manager in his own right and more than 15 years as an assistant or coach. Mostly fitness focused as well which i think will be beneficial.

[Drummond]

Mostly fitness focused as well which i think will be beneficial.

You'd hope so with how little running we've been doing....the full benefit of which we won't see until next season..

[pauliewalnuts]

His tactics masterclass video

Some interesting comments about him.

[eamonn]

Pako will have Meatball McGinn racing round the Malvern hills next pre-season like a whippet.

[paul_e]

Mostly fitness focused as well which i think will be beneficial.

You'd hope so with how little running we've been doing....the full benefit of which we won't see until next season..

Exactly, I don't think our problems are caused by a lack of fitness but rather the lack of energy in our play is a consequence of what we were doing but there's a reason why almost every manager who joins a club mid-season focuses on fitness early on because it has a focusing effect. For this season though I disagree on how long it will take. 1-2 weeks off after Brighton (it won't be more because of the cardiff friendly) before getting most of the squad back in and training and working on fitness and technical skills will be pretty similar to a pre-season, especially with players coming back into the squad at different stages as they leave the world cup.

[Footy-Vill]

It's funny how things work out in football, because Pako used to be the assistant manager of Gerrard the player at Liverpool.

[villadelph]

Great little snippet from Crouch,

One of the things that I felt Rafa killed himself with was Pako Ayestaran. He was amazing. He just ran the club. He was involved in absolutely everything.

For whatever reason him and Rafa fell out, and I felt that it was to the detriment to the club really. He was so good, everyone liked him. He was brilliant at what he did, we respected him.

If he was harsh on us you'd accept it because it came from him. He fulfilled two or three different roles.

[kippaxvilla2]

Good some Of our lot need to hear a few uncomfortable truths.  That they’re not as good as they think they are and they need desire to win.

[LeeB]

Good some Of our lot need to hear a few uncomfortable truths.  That they’re not as good as they think they are and they need desire to win.

I don't think that's what they need at all, I think that's all they've had for the last 12 months.

[Toronto Villa]

Good some Of our lot need to hear a few uncomfortable truths.  That they’re not as good as they think they are and they need desire to win.

I don't think that's what they need at all, I think that's all they've had for the last 12 months.

Agreed. If anything they don’t need any more “he needs to look me in the eye” style of management. They need to believed in, built up mentally and coached to a high level.

[eamonn]

Great little snippet from Crouch,

One of the things that I felt Rafa killed himself with was Pako Ayestaran. He was amazing. He just ran the club. He was involved in absolutely everything.

For whatever reason him and Rafa fell out, and I felt that it was to the detriment to the club really. He was so good, everyone liked him. He was brilliant at what he did, we respected him.

If he was harsh on us you'd accept it because it came from him. He fulfilled two or three different roles.

As long as he ain't Micky Beale II (whistely emoji)

[Footy-Vill]

As manager at Maccabi Tel Aviv won a historic treble which had never been achieved in 80 years of Israeli football. The league and both domestic cups.
He talks about foundations at a football club being in place where he did have success' both as manager and assistant.

Certainly have a degree of that here with the right platform to go further.