Megson to Villa, says Sun

29 January 2002

In what looks, on the face of it, to be a completely fabricated story, today's Sun claims that Albion manager Gary Megson is in line for the vacant job at neighbours Aston Villa. It bases this story on their view that Chairman Paul Thompson "launched an astonishing attack" on Megson in the matchday programme for the Leicester game, with the state of the Club's poor scouting system given as the reason for the criticism, and on a statement from Megson saying that he would "do a Steve Bruce" under certain circumstances.

However, it offers no quotes from Thompson or anyone at Villa, simply saying that Doug Ellis "is a big fan of Megson". It then goes on to quote Megon saying how small the current scouting system is, but naming some of the successes it has still managed to produce.

The BOING verdict on the story? It's Bollocks. Read the actual quotes from Thompson in the programme:

"The scouting system we have, isn't good enough. It needs to concentrate very much on the availability of players, their wage levels and their likely transfer fees. There's not much point going to look at players if you've not considered those issues - why run around looking at players who, for one reason or another, will never be available to this club. We need what I've called an integrated scouting system."

"The scouting system has to report to the board of directors, not the manager, because it needs input from all the people in the club. It has to be a system that the club is operating, not one that the manager is operating, because he doesn't have the financial knowledge of what the club can afford on wages and fees, unless he is told that by the board, and clearly that is constantly changing."

"The idea that the board gives a manager a budget that he works within is nonsensical these days, but nevertheless, it's the way that many unsuccessful clubs operate. A lot of the information is already published and just needs collating and a lot can be collected by chairman, chief executive, club secretary or finance director as well as the manager and the assistant manager and chief scout. That's why it must be integrated, so all the information from everyone is fed into the system."

"That is the next key project for the club, to try to make the scouting system better. It has to give us the names of every player, on an ongoing basis, of every player who might move to a First Division club in the next twelve months. Without that, there's too much pressure on the chairman of a First Division club for anybody with any ability to want to do the job properly. That pressure is there because it's not acceptable to a good businessman to be told by supporters that they should spend huge amounts of money on a player who is not worth that amount simply because the manager wants him. No sensible businessman would accept that pressure, so if supporters want good people with ability to run football clubs, then they need to accept that the club must be run in a proper manner."

"As a club, we've made a lot of progress now quite quickly because of the fact that we've made better decisions on the playing side because the board has had more input and because myself and the chief executive have handled the negotiations. But the scouting system is now the key to going on to the next level. Unless we can bring in this integrated scouting system with the full co-operation of the footballing side of the club, then we will not be able to go any further than the level we are currently at."

"The integrated scouting system is the key to the club's success."

It's clear from Thompson's comments that the lack of a good scouting system is something that the current administration have inherited from previous ones. And Megson's comments, that the only scouting system we have is "three mates plus his Dad" - i.e. the one that he brought with him when we arrived - confirms this. This isn't a criticism of Megson by Thompson, or a furious reaction from Megson - just two and two making five hundred.

Move along people, nothing to see here...

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  27 January 2002:  FA Cup R5: Home to Cheltenham

  23 January 2002:  The FA know the score!

  23 January 2002:  Peel's tribute to Astle

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