Coach rumour - Adrian Heath?

[WizardOfTheDribble]

A rumour on the Stoke City forum that the new coach will be Adrian Heath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Heath

[VioletCrown]

A rumour on the Stoke City forum that the new coach will be Adrian Heath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Heath

Doesn't seem like a very good choice for the players he's going to find around here or the name of the team. Unless English 1st division football has recently developed a latin flair.

However, it does seem like the sort of coach that a Stoke City owner would hire.

[Roma_Wolves]

Team From To Games Won Lost Drawn
Coventry 17-01-2007 19-02-2007 5 1 3 1
Coventry 06-01-2005 23-01-2005 3 1 2 0
Sheff Utd 15-06-1999 23-11-1999 22 7 10 5
Burnley 07-03-1996 27-06-1997 71 26 27 18

Not much of a record in management:
http://www.soccerbase.com/managers2.sd?managerid=9

[WizardOfTheDribble]

It's mentioned in the Times newspaper....


Aztex want Heath

Adrian Heath, the former Everton forward, is set to be confirmed as the manager of the Austin Aztex, the new American club. The former Burnley and Sheffield United manager, 47, has been out of work since losing his job as assistant manager of Coventry City in February last year. The Aztex, who have an affiliation with Stoke City, will start life in the country’s second tier in April next year.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article3406183.ece

[STXSoccer_dot_com]

On STXSoccer.com, posters rumor that the deal is set for Wolfgang Suhnholz to be the coach and Bobby Murphy his assistant. I hope the Heath rumor is true instead. Aztex need to be looking forward, not back - and recycling Wolfie, as much as I love him, is a bad move.

[VioletCrown]

On STXSoccer.com, posters rumor that the deal is set for Wolfgang Suhnholz to be the coach and Bobby Murphy his assistant. I hope the Heath rumor is true instead. Aztex need to be looking forward, not back - and recycling Wolfie, as much as I love him, is a bad move.

I agree that looking forward is a good thing... but I'm not convinced that looking at an English coach is looking forward in the right direction. Of course, I could be entirely wrong, and be looking backward myself, assuming that an English coach would rely too much on the kick and run. Which might be reasonable in the confines of House Park (San Jose employed it pretty well in their previous stadium), but I wonder how effective it'd be in July and August. I also wonder (again, assuming a style of play here) exactly how enthusiastic the local hispanics would be about the style an English coach would bring.

I know it's a delicate balance to thread. The same balance that MLS is working on, and seems to be getting closer to the mark. Not that I have an answer. But I do think we have plenty of coaches here in the US that are perfectly adequate. And probably less expensive.

[VioletCrown]

On STXSoccer.com, posters rumor that the deal is set for Wolfgang Suhnholz to be the coach and Bobby Murphy his assistant. I hope the Heath rumor is true instead. Aztex need to be looking forward, not back - and recycling Wolfie, as much as I love him, is a bad move.

Looked around some on that site, but haven't found the rumor. Could you post a link?

[Barbaro]

True.
Got this press release at 9pm tonight.

"Austin Aztex News Release
For Release on February 21 at 9.00am

Austin, TX – Austin Aztex Soccer Club today announced the appointment of Adrian Heath as Head Coach.

Heath has an outstanding track record in the game both as a player and as a Coach. He played professionally in Europe for over eighteen years, beginning his career with his hometown club Stoke City before moving onto play for Everton, Espanyol, Aston Villa & Manchester City. At Everton, Heath won two League Championships, the F.A. Cup and European Cup Winners Cup in a six year span; his performances for the club earned him a place in the Everton Hall of Fame.

Heath played for two seasons in Spain with Espanyol before returning to English soccer with Aston Villa and then Manchester City. He finished his playing career with Burnley.

After an illustrious playing career Heath turned his skills and attention to Coaching. He has Coached and been an Assistant Coach for more than twelve years, working at the likes of Sunderland AFC, Leeds United, Everton & Coventry City. He currently holds the highest available Coaching qualification, the UEFA Pro License.

Phil Rawlins, President of the Austin Aztex expressed his excitement about the appointment saying. ”I am absolutely delighted that Adrian has agreed to join the Aztex, he is an outstanding Coach and human being with an infectious enthusiasm for the game. Once he declared his interest, he was the only candidate we wanted. I have known Adrian for many years and followed his career closely; he has an eye for a good player which will be critical for us as we build our professional roster for the April 2009 kick-off. First and foremost he is a players Coach, with a great record of developing young players and producing winning teams.”

Heath said “I am overjoyed at the opportunity to Coach the Austin Aztex. I have had several offers recently to Coach in the English League but the chance to build something from scratch with Phil was just too tempting to turndown. I have followed US Soccer closely over the past few years and believe the game here is about to take-off and I want to be a part of that.”

[WizardOfTheDribble]

2 1/2 year deal apparently.

[chapulincolorado]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/images/2007/02/19/lcfc_cov_12a_315x420.jpg

Is this the man himself?

[Native Aztexan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/images/2007/02/19/lcfc_cov_12a_315x420.jpg

Is this the man himself?
Doesn't seem too excitement about it.

That facial expression has Tommy Lee Jones written all over it.

[TwoMeters]

True.
Got this press release at 9pm tonight.

"Austin Aztex News Release
For Release on February 21 at 9.00am

Hello and welcome, Aztexan. If anyone is wondering, btw, BigSoccer user "Aztexan" doesn't have anything to do with my blog, "The Aztexan (http://aztexan.net/)". I'm sure we both just thought of the same (rather obvious) name separately. ;-)

[VioletCrown]

Welcome to the club, Inchy! (now that he's officially ours, I'll stop "whinging";) and support him fully.

Looking forward to a 'meet the coach' event!

I wonder who's going to be overseeing the tryouts. I guess he can come over for a couple weekends without needing any permit.

[ButlerBob]

Here's the announcement from the USL site.

http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/228768.html


Here's a Q&A from the team site.

http://www.austinaztex.com/home/228058.html

[VioletCrown]

A comment from the Q&A:

I went to Spain, and I got to Play with Espanyol. My Spanish will be a bit rusty, but it will get better, which might come in handy.

I think it might.

...Maybe that's that British dry wit displaying itself.

One way or the other, the choice is starting to grow on me. If he can talk to the Spanish media here in town, then between the Chronicle and that, he'll have the market covered that will have any interest in dealing with the Aztex.

[Rooneys Hairline]

Sounds like he has a pretty solid pedigree and background. Surely he'll hire some people with local knowledge that can also help with the Spanish. We're lucky to have someone with this kind of experience IMHO.

[Northside Rovers]

You would have to be an idiot to ignore the Hispanic market in Austin - for players or fans.

The people running this team are not idiots. Just look at the team name.

[VioletCrown]

You would have to be an idiot to ignore the Hispanic market in Austin - for players or fans.

The people running this team are not idiots. Just look at the team name.

I'm starting to be convinced (though I find it a little odd that they had the coach announcement over in England). My reactions are knee-jerk, I know. It's just that I've followed the USL since the beginning of the Lone Stars, so I've seen far too many idiots involved with the USL.

...'Idiots' is your word. Now that I think about it, what I really mean is 'naive.' They're not idiots, they're just people that don't really realize what they're getting into.

It helps a lot that Rawlins is currently a soccer owner. So he has connections and experience in the sport. I'd like to see more people on the team with US sports experience (which is different from England sports management experience). But it's nice to read on his blog that he's talking to a lot of experienced people and adjusting his plans.

Something that is way smarter than a lot of other folks that have tried soccer in other cities.

[TwoMeters]

But it's nice to read on his blog that he's talking to a lot of experienced people and adjusting his plans.

Something that is way smarter than a lot of other folks that have tried soccer in other cities.
That's what I was especially happy to see: the openness to learn, and the willingness to change their plans. It's easy to imagine a much less flexible attitude, an attitude more of, "we know what we're doing, let's show them how it's done".

[VioletCrown]

Could Chapulin or some other Spanish speaker give us gringos the highlights of the Spanish version of the Aztex site Heath interview (http://www.austinaztex.com/home/227826.html)? It's clearly a little different, 'cause it ends with some question about Hugo Sanchez.