Jason Dodd now back at the club

[wightman35]

It's not really clear to me what the job is, so I'm not sure if he's the right man or not.

 

I don't think his title is "manager" or "principal," "director" or even "head ....." of the academy so it could be that JD is only one cog in the wheel.

 

[farawaysaint]

I'll support Doddsy because i trust the new regime and I respect his first class playing career greatly.

[saint_ben]

I personally would love to see Dennis Rofe and/or Dave Merrington offered role(s) at the club! i had dennis as one of my academy coaches and i learnt loads from him!!! Such a legend in his shorts in any weather!!

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Exactly. It doesnt even say that its definately a coaching role, it could be more organisational.

 

Jason is a Saint through and through and its nice the new regime are recognising this. If they can bring in some top youth coaches to work alongside his enthusiasm then thats great for everyone!

 

Oh I'm quite enthusiastic too but I never even got a interview

 

I suspect were it not for his previous association with the Club Jason Dodd would not be among the favorites to land this position - what exactly are his qualifications to do this job anyway ?

 

This brings to mind an employer of mine who'd always hire family members in his business whenever possible regardless of their ability to do the job - with unfortunate results it must be said . In any organisation when a vacancy arises the best qualified person for the job should be employed to fill it - irrespective of their connections or history .

[Chez]

A good point well-made Chez, but EVEN Proust must have been a 40 year old ex-player at sometime, and Puckett is around 50 now, and like Stuart Henderson fairly good at what they do....but they won't go further.

 

There are certain types who do really well coaching youngsters; Stuart Gray and Steve Wigley come to mind, not to mention THE most successful youth coach in the club's history..Dave Merrington, all of whom failed to cut it when given the first team manager spot.

 

Time will tell but Doddsy has his chance to make a second career with Saints.

Let's hope for everyone's sake he does a good job.

 

actually the most successful youth development officer we ever had was Bob Higgins (he found and developed all the young players before handing the best of those Apprenteships/YTS forms which Dave then worked with) and he didn't play professional football at all.

 

Running an academy is a very tricky job. The person involved needs to offer a balance of administration, managerial, scouting, coaching and many more skills. Perhaps Dodd has all these inabundance, but in Prost we had one of the best in the business. If we are serious about investing in youth I'd like to have seen us invest in `the best' available experienced academy director rather than a Saints stallwort.

[ART]

What I can't accept in Dodd's appointment is that we had a far better option is appointing Michael Svensson. What's happened to the guy anyway? Or has he been overlooked because he was too close to Wotte's his name?

[Pancake]

What I can't accept in Dodd's appointment is that we had a far better option is appointing Michael Svensson. What's happened to the guy anyway? Or has he been overlooked because he was too close to Wotte's his name?

 

Did he interview better then Art? Was his CV better? Did he have better references?

 

Oh, you dont know! I assumed you were part of the panel that decided it based on your concrete statement above.

 

FFS.

[Saint 76er]

actually the most successful youth development officer we ever had was Bob Higgins (he found and developed all the young players before handing the best of those Apprenteships/YTS forms which Dave then worked with) and he didn't play professional football at all.

 

Running an academy is a very tricky job. The person involved needs to offer a balance of administration, managerial, scouting, coaching and many more skills. Perhaps Dodd has all these inabundance, but in Prost we had one of the best in the business. If we are serious about investing in youth I'd like to have seen us invest in `the best' available experienced academy director rather than a Saints stallwort.

 

Doddsy's somewhat mysterious appointment seems to have engendered considerable confusion about the Academy's operations.

 

However, to try and put a couple of things into perspective, firstly, surely Matt Crocker is in overall charge of the academy, not Dodd?

 

It is difficult to gauge exactly what role Jason will perform, as details are in short supply. However, as Dave Puckett is effectively the head coach and in charge of the u18's, I presume Doddsy will not be doing that.

 

It sounds like he has an operational role which may somewhat equate to chief scout as restructuring and identifying better talent was intimated at the time of his appointment. This is presumably a new position, not replacing anyone in particular, just a start in plugging the holes Lowe left behind in a once thriving set up.

 

FWIW, I believe Georges Prost was head coach (same role as Puckett) not in charge of the academy. He made such an impact because he was a damn good coach and skilled in the French way of youth development. Lowe did a good job in identifying him. However, the academy director then may well have been Huw Jennings, with Malcolm Elias bringing in the talent?

 

Clearly Cortese is looking to emulate the level of success the academy had in those days and the regeneration process appears to have begun. All Saints fans will wish this venture the greatest success...

[Isla Wight]

Is he on a piece of elastic ?

 

Anyone got a pair of scissors ?