Dave Fallows

[piscinin]

Not necessarily, if you were taking a cursory and cynical approach then yes, you could say that. But I think if you looked at the problems behind Heighway and Rafa e.g. two alternative philosophies, producing (in Rafa's eyes) the wrong players, two people working towards different aims, and you wanted to develop a coherent philosophy, a consistent way of playing that produces players of a particular type, playing a particular way then it isn't.

 

It is just a system so is always going to rely upon the people. The Academy is there for one reason and one reason only, and that is to produce players for the first, this is something I think Heighway forgot (certainly going by the bits that other people have told me about him), Segura looks after the Academy and the Reserves ensuring that they play the right way, ensuring the players are aware of the system and able to at least slot into the first team.

 

Cursory and cynical, eh? How about realistic? If they've any sense they'll know they've bet the house on Rodgers so they need to give him the same freedom Ferguson/Wenger/Benitez has/had, otherwise the two will drift apart and excuses will be made IMC&CO.

[Guest TK-421]

Non-domicile absentee owners, manager with 12 months PL experience, Huddersfield MD, ex Man City scout.

[Jose Jones]

It is just a system so is always going to rely upon the people. The Academy is there for one reason and one reason only, and that is to produce players for the first, this is something I think Heighway forgot (certainly going by the bits that other people have told me about him), Segura looks after the Academy and the Reserves ensuring that they play the right way, ensuring the players are aware of the system and able to at least slot into the first team.

 

I would say that the Academy is also there to provide the kids there with the best chance of achieving a career in football, even if it is not with us, or at least a balanced education that will help them in later life. Also to provide inspiration to local kids that will help foster relationships between the club and the commmunity.

Do these things right and then the best players should automatically flow through to the first team.

[WaltonRed]

One negative get you TK-maxx

[Whelan]

I would say that the Academy is also there to provide the kids there with the best chance of achieving a career in football, even if it is not with us, or at least a balanced education that will help them in later life. Also to provide inspiration to local kids that will help foster relationships between the club and the commmunity.

Do these things right and then the best players should automatically flow through to the first team.

 

Nope, sorry we don't spend millions each year to give kids a chance in the Academy. It is there to provide players for the first team and nothing else. The community engagement side is for the club as a whole, not via an Academy.

[Cij]

The appointment of Dave Fallows is an interesting development. Manchester City recently completely overhauled their scouting system and Fallows was an integral part of the new setup in his role as “Football Scouting and Recruitment Coordinator”. Fallows was second in command (Mike Riggs who headed up the Scouting Dept. was recently poached by QPR) and appears to have been involved in assigning scouts, filtering the reports that came back, preparing recommendations / presentations on the club’s targets, and compiling a database of scouted players.

 

Following the influx of Arab funds, City established an extensive international scouting network which is complemented by the ProScout7 database and video systems, a statistical database and video analysis tool that monitors 130,000 players from 130 countries. Liverpool and Swansea both use the same system and we recently extended its use to the Academy to create a database of every player’s long-term internal development. We also recently signed a partnership deal with OPTA (City are also OPTA clients).

 

It appears that Fallows may have been appointed directly by the club rather than on the recommendation of Brendan Rodgers and this represents a significant new departure. In the past each new managerial regime appointed its own Chief Scout who was inextricably linked to the manager – Gerrard Houllier / Alex Miller, Rafa Benitez / Eduardo Macia etc. Even when FSG tried to move away from this model by appointing Damien Comolli, the new Director of Football cherry-picked Steve Hitchen, Spurs’ French-based scout, as his Head Scout.

 

The traditional approach creates two major problems – there may be a perception (rightly or wrongly) that the scout is not providing a truly independent assessment of his boss’ preferred targets and the club will almost certainly lose the scout’s expertise if his boss is replaced. By appointing a suitably qualified candidate directly, FSG can ensure that any analysis furnished is independent and the scouting network will not break down if other senior personnel move on (which should also reduce compensation payments).

 

In the past there have been question marks about certain managers’ relationships with agents (*cough* Willie McKay *cough*) as well as the alleged use of unlicensed Italian agents. A direct appointment should provide the necessary checks and balances to avoid even the suggestion of impropriety. More importantly, we would never again face a situation where we are heading into the most important transfer period of the year without the proper infrastructure in place. Following Comolli’s appointment we disposed of a number of long serving scouts and, now that his connections have also gone, our scouting system has been decimated. Fallows will have quite a job on his hands to re-establish our network but at least he has recent experience of fulfilling such a task and is already familiar with our club’s systems.

 

Based on Ayre’s recent comments, I suspect that we will form a transfer committee comprising of Brendan Rodgers, Dave Fallows, the Head of our Medical Department, Michael Edwards (Head of Analytics) and somebody with their finger on the club’s financial pulse. I expect the club will pursue our new manager’s preferred targets but he will have to satisfy the other members of the committee / FSG that any acquisitions or disposals make objective sense. Hopefully this change will consign the spectre of Cheyrou, Diouf, Aquilani, Downing et al to the past and we can start to get real value for money.

[dirk grout]

The appointment of Dave Fallows is an interesting development. Manchester City recently completely overhauled their scouting system and Fallows was an integral part of the new setup in his role as “Football Scouting and Recruitment Coordinator”. Fallows was second in command (Mike Riggs who headed up the Scouting Dept. was recently poached by QPR) and appears to have been involved in assigning scouts, filtering the reports that came back, preparing recommendations / presentations on the club’s targets, and compiling a database of scouted players.

 

Following the influx of Arab funds, City established an extensive international scouting network which is complemented by the ProScout7 database and video systems, a statistical database and video analysis tool that monitors 130,000 players from 130 countries. Liverpool and Swansea both use the same system and we recently extended its use to the Academy to create a database of every player’s long-term internal development. We also recently signed a partnership deal with OPTA (City are also OPTA clients).

 

It appears that Fallows may have been appointed directly by the club rather than on the recommendation of Brendan Rodgers and this represents a significant new departure. In the past each new managerial regime appointed its own Chief Scout who was inextricably linked to the manager – Gerrard Houllier / Alex Miller, Rafa Benitez / Eduardo Macia etc. Even when FSG tried to move away from this model by appointing Damien Comolli, the new Director of Football cherry-picked Steve Hitchen, Spurs’ French-based scout, as his Head Scout.

 

The traditional approach creates two major problems – there may be a perception (rightly or wrongly) that the scout is not providing a truly independent assessment of his boss’ preferred targets and the club will almost certainly lose the scout’s expertise if his boss is replaced. By appointing a suitably qualified candidate directly, FSG can ensure that any analysis furnished is independent and the scouting network will not break down if other senior personnel move on (which should also reduce compensation payments).

 

In the past there have been question marks about certain managers’ relationships with agents (*cough* Willie McKay *cough*) as well as the alleged use of unlicensed Italian agents. A direct appointment should provide the necessary checks and balances to avoid even the suggestion of impropriety. More importantly, we would never again face a situation where we are heading into the most important transfer period of the year without the proper infrastructure in place. Following Comolli’s appointment we disposed of a number of long serving scouts and, now that his connections have also gone, our scouting system has been decimated. Fallows will have quite a job on his hands to re-establish our network but at least he has recent experience of fulfilling such a task and is already familiar with our club’s systems.

 

Based on Ayre’s recent comments, I suspect that we will form a transfer committee comprising of Brendan Rodgers, Dave Fallows, the Head of our Medical Department, Michael Edwards (Head of Analytics) and somebody with their finger on the club’s financial pulse. I expect the club will pursue our new manager’s preferred targets but he will have to satisfy the other members of the committee / FSG that any acquisitions or disposals make objective sense. Hopefully this change will consign the spectre of Cheyrou, Diouf, Aquilani, Downing et al to the past and we can start to get real value for money.

 

Liverpool have been with opta since rafa joined, well before city.

[piscinin]

 

It appears that Fallows may have been appointed directly by the club rather than on the recommendation of Brendan Rodgers and this represents a significant new departure. In the past each new managerial regime appointed its own Chief Scout who was inextricably linked to the manager – Gerrard Houllier / Alex Miller, Rafa Benitez / Eduardo Macia etc. Even when FSG tried to move away from this model by appointing Damien Comolli, the new Director of Football cherry-picked Steve Hitchen, Spurs’ French-based scout, as his Head Scout.

 

 

Why does it "appear" that they have bypassed rodgers?

[Cij]

Why does it "appear" that they have bypassed rodgers?

 

A journalist told me yesterday that Fallows was first approached prior to Brendan Rodgers' appointment - I haven't heard anything directly so that is why I presented it that way.

[piscinin]

A journalist told me yesterday that Fallows was first approached prior to Brendan Rodgers' appointment - I haven't heard anything directly so that is why I presented it that way.

 

Cheers, sounds like risky business on their part of they think they are going to work around Rodgers. Anyways this guy will be reporting to Rodgers, no? And sounds like a paper pusher so maybe it's not a big deal.

[WaltonRed]

I doubt very much Rodgers wouldnt of okayed it

[Razoray]

Nope, sorry we don't spend millions each year to give kids a chance in the Academy. It is there to provide players for the first team and nothing else. The community engagement side is for the club as a whole, not via an Academy.

 

I don't mean to seem pedantic but the Academy is also there to develop players who can be sold to lesser clubs to fund the Academy and other aspects of the club.

[zigackly]

So Brendan, we know you've only managed at a lower level and had one decent season with Swansea in the top flight, and have never won anything, but we like the cut of your jib, so we're going to offer you a salary beyond your wildest expectations to manage one of the most famous clubs in the world. Any questions?

 

Yes, who is running the scouting?

 

Well we have already approached Dave Fallows.

 

Right, take your job and stick it up your arse.

[Guest ShoePiss]

Has this fella started working for us yet? I read something about gardening leave. Is that why we're linked with every Swansea player?

[Guest San Don]

Has this fella started working for us yet? I read something about gardening leave. Is that why we're linked with every Swansea player?

 

Nope. Being reported he's on 6 months gardening leave before he can join us! WTF, just get it sorted.

[caracaracara]

Be hard for City to point point to 'breach of confidentiality' while he is on 'gardening league' as we are not exactly competing for the same players. So surely he will already be having input into this window's targets?

[WaltonRed]

anyone else would be on the phone to him or email

 

demento would of been meeting him in pubs and the pictures 'we never discussed players'

 

we're probably refusing to take his calls in case we get nicked!

[silverlining]

Has this fella started working for us yet? I read something about gardening leave. Is that why we're linked with every Swansea player?

 

No, we put him on gardening leave when his first list of "Strategic Transfer Targets For Project Liverpool" read:

 

1) Messi - avail for 150m and £300k a week

2) Ronaldo - avail for £120m and 400K a week

3) One of them young Brazilian lads - who cares?

4) Arsenal.