It's a good read (as the paper always is by the way!).
Here is a summary of the key points:
- he was a midfielder
- he was forced to retire as a professional footballer aged 27
- the injury occured on the training ground but it was a mistake by a surgeon that lead to eventual retirement
- he came through the ranks of the Manchester United Academy
- he has worked under three top British managers as a player / coach David Moyes (PNE), Sir Alex Ferguson (MUFC), Roy Hodgson (WBA)
- he has been coaching for seven years since his retirement as a player at The Hawthorns and the last five of those have been working with senior players
There are some good quotes in the article and of course the paper is still available to buy tomorrow if you want to read the whole thing.
In addition to the main article there is also a letter of praise for Portsmouth FC on making the appointment from a PNE fan. Plus Chris Dunlavy has written an article about the current 'trend' or 'vogue' (I'm not sure what it is) to appoint younger managers. Former Pompey player Eddie Howe (Burnley) and Karl Robinson (at MK Dons) are quoted as two other examples.
BlueThruAndThru
