I've said Cross is good at writing and constructing modules for coach education. He has put the ideas of others into a form that is user friendly for coach educators and course participants.

Credit where credit is due.=d>

In a convo between him and me about the KNVB. Baan set the KNVB visit up. Cross was also supposed to set up similar visits from Brazilian and French national federation coaches. It didn't happen.

Some other coaches claim he is an integral part of an OBN.

Given this is your first post on 442, I'd surmise we may know you well. I wonder if this is another manifestation of a person who has been banned from 442 a few times?:lol:

Why don't you deconstruct the four points I raised a few posts ago?

There are so many people within the ranks of football who do not like the 433 , NC , playing out from the back and possession based football. It is of course their right to not agree with these philosophy's but they should speak up and resign. They should not hide in the shadows and pretend.

Well, I'll start by saying that I'm not Judy Free or whatever his previous monikers were, though I've read plenty of the back and forth between you two. Not interested in that - you make some valid points, as does he, but whatever. I don't think you would know who I am, and I certainly don't know who you are.

So Cross explicitly told you in the conversation he tried to keep KNVB coaches out of the country?

Some other coaches claim that he is fostering an OBN? That seems pretty tenuous to be levelling that at him based on that, but I'll leave it at that.

As to your four points - I don't doubt you have a greater knowledge of the hierarchy within the FFA structure than I do, and I'm not going to try and get into a dick-measuring competition. I don't know the division of responsibilities, nor whether it is his job to practically implement it, nor the KPIs that are set for Berger, Cross et al.

What I will say is I don't agree that assessing technical and tactical qualities in a current group of players is an adequate benchmark to be assessing him on. Since the implementation of the first NC, in what was a fairly basic form, was in 2009, players that would have gone through the discovery phase from the get-go would now be 11-12 years old. None of these players would have virtually any real tactical qualities.

It's why, in my opinion, criticisms of our younger national teams should not draw parallels between their poor performance and the NC. These players would have been between the ages of roughly 11-15 when it was first implemented.

One last thing - from what I've read of this forum (which is quite a bit, by and large I find it a useful and interesting resource) it seems your questioning of Cross' professional career as a player is in opposition to your usual criticism of former players being given high-ranking coaching positions. An OBN, if you will.

Edited by mercurial: 8/4/2014 08:56:38 PM

I have a feeling cross is one of those in the shadows.

me too :lol:

Good you are an independent voice.

What I'm arguing is that people who have a substantial period at the coalface, whether one is a former player come coach, or a person with a long standing record in coaching , irrespective of playing background, are both preferable to someone who hasn't done a lot of hands on coaching for the period of the FFA NC's inception. Unfortunately, Kelly Cross fits the bill.

On here I've read that Ian Ferguson had to re-sit his A Licence a few times. If he did, he wouldn't have enjoyed being reappraised by a FFA assessor with little professional coaching experience after he had recently taken Glory to a HAL final.

My profession sometimes involves someone with little credibility in the coalface, lecturing other professionals to tell them how to do the job. Curriculum experts can sometimes have been barely adequate professionals themselves. It is a problem if they have been. Their peers are sometimes reluctant to listen to them selling a message.

I can separate that a poor practitioner can still present new and effective methodology to augment wont's professional practice with more tools in the tool box, but some others need more convincing. That same message can inadvertently be sold more convincingly by a person with street cred - one who has been an effective performer in the field before entering the ranks of educating fellow professionals.

This is the problem I see with Kelly Cross being installed as the next TD. Many will question his lack of time at the coalface. Hence the position of TD could become denigrated because of the credentials, or lack of, of the incumbent in the position.

With the appointment of Berger as FFA TD, nobody in Australia could cogently argue he is in any way a charlatan. Few criticise the position, because the incumbent in Berger's tenure has been credible. A TD with a credible background must continue in FFA.

If you are a new member, welcome to the forum, Mercurial.:)

Given your knowledge of the 442 forum, you must have lurked for a long time without posting - about four years.:lol:

So far Ian has been fantastic with the young fury. Everything I have heard him say with my own ears has been spot on.

I'm just happy that Ange will have the major say in the decision making of our new technical director. He genuinely does what is best for Australian football and not what most ensures the security of his job. I think we can all agree that we like what Postecoglou is doing with the national team, so I'd be fully confident in him to make the correct call for the new TD.

While ive enjoyed your opinions on this matter dencentric and your knowledge of some of these blokes is quite impressive i still find myself wondering what happened with you.

Its not that long ago that you wouldnt hear a word against the FFA and NC now im seeing you a times questioning the direction of the FFA etc.

Care to elaborate?

I am very supportive of most of the coaching methodology of the FFA NC. I find it bizarre about the 'heading' issue though.

There are however, many paradoxes and contradictions within the FFA organisation operationally. I think I'm going to send a number of these concerns that I have to Han Berger. I'm assuming he won't respond. If he doesn't after a reasonable period of time, I'll post the concerns on here, which will answer your question. It is only fair for FFA to be given a chance to respond.

I think a few people who should be more diligent and responsible, are given far too much autonomy within the FFA organisation. They are not accountable enough to anyone for their actions. I'd like to think they would be formally rebuked, demoted or sacked in the profession I've worked in for most of my life.

I'm also trying to impartially compare it to the departments in my profession, to evaluate whether FFA's issues/problems are applicable to any bureaucracy.

FFA needs to be an effective operational organisation to induce support from its constituents.

in ange we trust

The FFA should scrape together every dollar they can find and throw it at Michel Sablon

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2411916/A-BELGIAN-BLUEPRINT-Story-Michel-Sablon-changed-Belgium-team-today.html

This is a good article as well.

http://www.thehardtackle.com/2013/belgium-where-does-all-the-world-class-talent-come-from/

Good thread Decentric. Lets hope the FFA make the right choice for the good progression of the game here.

I look forward to hearing your concerns

that would be crazy if we got someone involved in the recent Belgian football revolution

For me as I see it, we have appointed 2 TD's (our last 2) who adhere to the school of Cruyff, I think now to complement that, we should look too someone that knows how to promote creativity and 1v1.

To add to my last post....

I'm not sure about you, but I think Jupp Hynckes is an exceptional coach, I also enjoy the smaller form of our game footsal.
I loved how Hynckes had players rotate/swap during play, as I enjoy footsal for similar reasons, which brings me startingly to Ajax.
I have posted (now deleted) a few posts on Ajax youth set up, that does seem to promote versatility, which I think is great for player enjoyability, also for technical and tactical over all spread. Though I do think they prescribe to Cruyff a bit to much.
I think trends come and go, yet the basics still remain.

Back to Hynckes, he, as well as Klopp of Dortmund are famous for the now coined gengenpress, which in essance is just an agressive counter press. But what I loved about Hynckes was his promotion of creativity, player movement and versatility. It was more total football than total football.
Hynckes would have come accross Cruyff and like a theif stole from his mind what he thought usefull. But not as biblical text, why should he, no one should adhere to anything, but learn from experience and betters.

Back to footsal, players swap and change in attack and defence, they are to take the game in it's transitions as face value and move/play accordingly. A defensive player will shoot for goal as much as a striker and a striker will defend. I liked how Hynckes brought that to the 11v11.

Hynckes would be a brilliant TD, though I also think an Italian or Brazilian footsal coach would be good, to promote versatility, creativity and tachtical movement to compliment the 11v11, even to have a footsal focused course.

I am sorry to be long winded, just a thought.

I guess it is a question of what we need in a TD now. If the curriculum has been written do we need someone who is a fantastic skill-based coach to come in (which was more what I was getting at by suggesting Michel Sablon)? Or if the curriculum is there and complete do we need a leader to encourage/force/ram-down-non-complying-clubs throats the implementation of the curriculum?

If the creation has been completed then we need, for want of a better word, an 'administrator' to ensure it is practiced everywhere rather than a top technical coach.

However if the curriculum still needs to be improved - and some suggest it does, some don't, then maybe a top technical coach is needed. If this was the case then adding a different flavour to KNVB might be the way to go. If there is one criticism I have heard it is the over-emphasis on pass-and-move at the expense of direct 1-1 play, although others will say that it is all in there. While the Belgian revolution was based on Dutch ideology, they seem to have avoided this with the inclusion of a 'French'-style.

See the NC in the SAP section, 1v1s in ATTACK and DEFENCE are a big part going forward in the new technical revolution.

The thing is a lot of these guys coming through in the new system they haven't gone through the whole new system yet just partially, but from I'm seeing we are getting closer and closer to the last phase so a lot of these current guys are still not entirely reflective of the new technical reform that the FFA have made.

For example the latest batch in the Under 17s National Team were only 11 or 12 so we need to wait another 5 more years till we see the first genuine batch of the 'new' system, so i don't think we need a new National TD to make wholesale changes but we should be constantly evaluating there own methodology compared to the world's best practice in order to see what slight changes that need to be made etc.

Edited by Barca4life: 17/4/2014 08:13:35 PM

I think you are both on the money, the true evolution is still in its infancy but already good coaches are using the curriculum and adding there own philosophy within the framework which is helping to produce less predictable play and players. The new technical director will in my opinion have to continue the roll out and implementation of the curriculum especially ssg and sap but encourage and develop more varied tactical strategies at the elite level.

Have seen the under 17s play? how do rate them, are they technically and tactically an improvement than the previous age groups?

I have only seen the qld players over an extended period and the u17 joeys on tape so couldnt give an opinion but i am not expecting a significant improvement technically just better game awareness.

Lets hope its enough.

I think you would find Cruyff would not be impressed to have Bann or Berger associated with "his" school of thought on Football.

Cruyff's methodology is more akin to what you see from Guardiola.

Bann and Berger are Dutch School KNVB.

We could do well with a Neeskens appointment as TD, who should have been and wanted to be appointed NT coach after Huddink.

Edited by Arthur: 24/4/2014 11:38:46 AM

None of the Dutch TD have given us the skills test they promised. They have never been to Townsville and we only see the state TD at the beginning and end of his tenure.

Hmmm good to hear - When he was at Glory he was still building up his badges. He was around A-Licence, working on his Pro-Licence, if not, B to A even?! I'm not sure he ever completed his Pro-Licence in time before he departed Glory?

He must surely have his Pro-Licence by now? :-k

If so, it's pleasing to see the self-improvement from some of these so-called 'failed' former A-League coaches. We may be harsh during their tenures, but if they're continuing to improve, work on their game, find their niche/area of expertise or what not - can only be happy for them. One doesn't need to look to far for some examples in that regard - the likes of Ange and even, 'failed' Socceroos & Olyroos coach, Arnie.




x2 Though technically it's kind of bizarre and perhaps even a 'slight conflict of interest' in a way (technically? As the TD is the NT Coach's superior?) - but given the 'current conditions', things in their relative infancy, lack of clear successor or what not - combined with Ange's record and even 'proven character' and strong philosophy adhering to the wider vision etc... Indeed, we 'Have faith in Ange'! [-o<

Edited by GloryPerth: 28/4/2014 10:17:40 PM

IMO - We need someone who understands the Australian Psyche as well as possessing the skills to manage the difficult project of rolling out a NC across such a large country. It's also especially important that they can build and maintain a healthy relationship with the State TD's and ensure the level of quality being delivered at that level.

Berger did a fantastic job at delivering a National Curriculum, however outside of the NPL clubs (and maybe the tier below) - there are still too many coaches that haven't been educated in the NC, or chose not to believe in it.

Whoever takes on the role needs to understand the difficult challenge at the grass roots level in this country and ensure that the state member federations are maximizing the amount of time and information passed on to coaches.

Brut force and dictatorship seem to be the only method that works.

Haha, these things happen if you post on the sauce. But I thought Cyuff had some say in the knvb, or is that Ajax only?
Sorry :twisted: