There is an epidemic in Scottish Football. An epidemic which has spread throughout the media commentators, press and TV pundits. An epidemic that has been rife within the fan bases of every club for a very long time. Archaism. We are haunted by dinosaurs. Society expects its older members to generally be much more attached to the old way of doing things, the tried and tested, the way things used to be. The young are expected to challenge the old guard’s way of thinking, offer new ideas and solutions to old problems, and more importantly offer new solutions to new problems. But Scottish football is not so. Scottish football, to take a step back and look at it from the outside, is ruled by the old way of thinking. This has come to the fore even more in the last few weeks with the appointment of Ian Cathro as Hearts manager.
A 30-year-old man who has never played the game professionally getting the Hearts job. OUTRAGE.
The papers were immediately overflowing with sanctimonious headlines and “opinion pieces” by mainstream hacks and former players. The airwaves screaming about Football Manager, laptops, and respect. Even current players like Kris Boyd were offering their two cents (the fact that he is even paid to write a column being the most incredible thing to come out of reading it for me).
Keith Jackson of the Daily Record declared the appointment a big gamble. “The danger is Cathro will lack credibility inside his own dressing room” Jackson wrote. Of course it’s fine to write about football, judge players and managers, and hold the footballing talking points in the palm of your hand as the head sports writer of a major newspaper, without having ever played the game professionally. Jackson arrogantly declared:
“ It would all be so simple if only it was played in theory. Or on HD digital tablets. Ian Cathro would have hipstered his way to six points from his first two matches as head coach at Hearts”
“Hipstered his way to six points” is the key phrase for me here. What a dismissive and frankly idiotic thing to say about Ian Cathro. First of all to use hipster as an insult is ridiculous. Football is basically run by hipster managers at the moment. Klopp, Simeone, Conte, Pochettino, Luis Enrique, PEP GUARDIOLA. All of them once the apple of the football hipster’s eye (although a few have now moved on to become ‘not as good as they used to be’ or to translate: successful). So Cathro is just a daft hipster that’s never kicked a ball.
Who’s next?
Craigan.
Steven Craigan said the appointment of Cathro was “brave” on BT sport, appearing to go along with Jackson’s idea that Hearts have taken some massive risk here by appointing a guy that has already coached in 4 different countries for Dundee United, Valencia, Rio Ave and Newcastle. At Rio Ave and Valencia he was the ASSISTANT MANAGER. But no Scottish football rejects all logic and reason. He’s never kicked a ball!!!
Now Boyd.
Boyd claimed Cathro couldn’t manage a team because he had “never experienced that environment”. He then backed up his nonsense on 5 live by saying that Cathro’s background was “developing kids”. Now this actually gets to my point (lucky you). This shows a complete ignorance of the matter at hand. YES Ian Cathro has worked as a development coach. But he has since been an assistant manager for 2 clubs, one of them being one of the biggest clubs in Europe. He has then also been a first team coach at one of the biggest clubs in England, Newcastle United. This man lives and breathes football. This man cares so much about football that he has spent his 20s doing coaching badges, travelling the world working and developing his own skills.
A young Scottish man with this commitment and drive should be applauded and encouraged by Scottish football. We should be opening our arms to him, listening to his ideas and finding out what he has to offer our game.
Cathro has received huge criticism for his interviews, referred to as bumbling by one pundit. But on the contrary, his interviews are a breath of fresh air. Every single game ends with a Mark McGhee, a Derek McInnes – name any Scottish ex player basically- churning out the clichés. Cathro actually tells you what he thought about the game, he articulates himself well, and makes an effort to give proper answers.
New ideas, fresh ways of doing things, actually talking about football instead of just clichés and football jargon.
A challenge to the old way, the dinosaurs and the established order. Scottish Football needs its prejudices and methods proved wrong – and Cathro is the man to do it.
The Scottish Football Hipster
Good thoughtful piece. You missed out Graham Spiers. He is honest enough about being a “doubter” and even wishes Cathro well so he says, but his comments are quite vindictive. He talks about “this Messiah who has come out of the East to show us how it’s done” I don’t recall Cathro or anyone at Hearts, or indeed any pundit saying this about Cathro. Not even Hearts fans. We’re just waiting and hoping it’s going to turn out as good as it looks like it might over the last 2 or 3 weeks. Very high hopes for the lad. (I can imagine a nighthood down the line but by then he’ll be at Man U.
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I think I’ll be doing a part 2 at some point so Spiers may feature then. I think the main thing is patience, the signs are there and as longs as Hearts fans can buy into his way of doing things (which seems to be happening) he’ll get the time.
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Thank you for calling out the cliche-ridden likes of McInnes and McGhee. Scottish Football is ridden with dinosaurs, from Managers, to media and the so called administrators and custodians of our game.
Cathro is a breath of fresh air.
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Good article and highlights the darkness that this small football nation hides in. Worth mentioning too the importance of fellow hipster Austin McPhee – any all accounts a meticulous student of data and stats , neverthe less ‘man’ enough to convince much older and more experienced players that both he and Cathro are worth listening to and playing for.
Only good will come of this.
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