Post by Golden_Boy™ on Jun 22, 2009 15:12:35 GMT -1
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes Watford appointing Malky Mackay is a great choice
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has backed Malky Mackay’s appointment as Watford manager describing it as a “great choice”.
There were eventually four candidates singled out for the Watford job but Mackay was the only one interviewed as chairman Jimmy Russo claimed his interview was “mind-blowing”
Russo said: “With Julian and Vince, I spoke to Malky straight after Brendan left because he was high up on the radar as far as I was concerned, in pole position. We had a long chat, about three hours, and then we invited him back for an interview, which we held north of Northamptonshire and we were really impressed and Graham [Taylor] was impressed. I liked what he said and what he believes in.
“Don’t forget that this is someone that I have been speaking to for five years so it is not somebody who could impress me just by giving me a load of stories because I know what he could do and what he was about.
“He was always polite and has a lot of integrity professionally. Also Alex Ferguson said that would be a great choice [after speaking to him following the appointment].”
But Russo was keen to stress that Mackay getting the Watford post was by no means a certainty.
He said: “We went through the list of 50 or 60 candidates and went through them properly. So we looked at where they have been, reputation, whether they have been sacked or not.
“I did speak to other parties as well so I don’t want people to think it was Malky’s from day one as that is not true. I did speak to another individual and other individuals indirectly that were available to see what they were looking for and what they could do for the club.
“My feeling was that we brought Malky in, interviewed him and at that point we made a unanimous decision between the board that we don’t want to bring someone down from Scotland, the south of England or the north of England knowing that he would not be getting the job, I don’t think that was right.”
The backroom staff is yet to be announced and there was speculation the board had asked Mackay to appoint a more experienced member of staff, such as Taylor’s former assistant John Ward.
Russo responded by saying: “No not at all. The same sort of questions were asked to Aidy Boothroyd at that time, Malky was quite clear on what he wanted and is even clearer on what he didn’t want. ‘This is where I want to be and this is what my team needs to be looking like’ and that is fine.”
He added: “That is Malky’s world. Sometimes [it takes time] if he is trying to get someone from a certain club with people being on holiday etcetera.
“What belongs to his world I do not want to interfere with. So I am not going to say to him that you need to bring in coach A because that is his world.
“I don’t want him saying to me in a year’s time that ‘you know that coach you recommended, well it hasn’t worked out’. The best thing is to say ‘this is your world, this is what you can spend and you choose the man you want.”
Watford will lose their Premier League parachute payments this summer and the club are trying to reduce their wage bill.
But Russo said: “There is a certain amount of money in the budget [for transfers] and Malky knows the sort of player he wants to bring in so there will be an element of trading to do this year.”
However, Russo has expressed his desire for the club to operate within its means and believes Watford’s promotion under Boothroyd shows that you do not need to spend large sums to achieve success.
He said: “I don’t believe that we have to be paying £18-20 million on wages a year on a business that turns over £10-11 million a year to bring success. Look at the Burnley story and look at the Watford story three years ago and that speaks volumes.
“As long as we have the right manager and he can get that little bit extra out of ordinary players then who knows what could happen, we could surprise some people. So it is not all doom and gloom, quite from it.”
Mackay has been handed a three-year contract, so has he been set any targets for next season by the board? “That would be totally unrealistic,” Russo said.
“What I said to him is, ‘look, we believe in you, just go out there and do the best you can’. There is no ‘get me into the playoffs’ only I guess, ‘don’t get me relegated’. But that would be unrealistic and unfair.
“What you don’t want to do is load the manager with even more pressure and expectation.
“We are Watford and we are trading through a difficult financial period. We have got some good players and we also have some players who don’t fit and we are still paying the price for some of the atrocious decisions made by the previous regieme on certain players’ wages that were paid.
“The level of expectancy on him is not high, just do your best. ”
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has backed Malky Mackay’s appointment as Watford manager describing it as a “great choice”.
There were eventually four candidates singled out for the Watford job but Mackay was the only one interviewed as chairman Jimmy Russo claimed his interview was “mind-blowing”
Russo said: “With Julian and Vince, I spoke to Malky straight after Brendan left because he was high up on the radar as far as I was concerned, in pole position. We had a long chat, about three hours, and then we invited him back for an interview, which we held north of Northamptonshire and we were really impressed and Graham [Taylor] was impressed. I liked what he said and what he believes in.
“Don’t forget that this is someone that I have been speaking to for five years so it is not somebody who could impress me just by giving me a load of stories because I know what he could do and what he was about.
“He was always polite and has a lot of integrity professionally. Also Alex Ferguson said that would be a great choice [after speaking to him following the appointment].”
But Russo was keen to stress that Mackay getting the Watford post was by no means a certainty.
He said: “We went through the list of 50 or 60 candidates and went through them properly. So we looked at where they have been, reputation, whether they have been sacked or not.
“I did speak to other parties as well so I don’t want people to think it was Malky’s from day one as that is not true. I did speak to another individual and other individuals indirectly that were available to see what they were looking for and what they could do for the club.
“My feeling was that we brought Malky in, interviewed him and at that point we made a unanimous decision between the board that we don’t want to bring someone down from Scotland, the south of England or the north of England knowing that he would not be getting the job, I don’t think that was right.”
The backroom staff is yet to be announced and there was speculation the board had asked Mackay to appoint a more experienced member of staff, such as Taylor’s former assistant John Ward.
Russo responded by saying: “No not at all. The same sort of questions were asked to Aidy Boothroyd at that time, Malky was quite clear on what he wanted and is even clearer on what he didn’t want. ‘This is where I want to be and this is what my team needs to be looking like’ and that is fine.”
He added: “That is Malky’s world. Sometimes [it takes time] if he is trying to get someone from a certain club with people being on holiday etcetera.
“What belongs to his world I do not want to interfere with. So I am not going to say to him that you need to bring in coach A because that is his world.
“I don’t want him saying to me in a year’s time that ‘you know that coach you recommended, well it hasn’t worked out’. The best thing is to say ‘this is your world, this is what you can spend and you choose the man you want.”
Watford will lose their Premier League parachute payments this summer and the club are trying to reduce their wage bill.
But Russo said: “There is a certain amount of money in the budget [for transfers] and Malky knows the sort of player he wants to bring in so there will be an element of trading to do this year.”
However, Russo has expressed his desire for the club to operate within its means and believes Watford’s promotion under Boothroyd shows that you do not need to spend large sums to achieve success.
He said: “I don’t believe that we have to be paying £18-20 million on wages a year on a business that turns over £10-11 million a year to bring success. Look at the Burnley story and look at the Watford story three years ago and that speaks volumes.
“As long as we have the right manager and he can get that little bit extra out of ordinary players then who knows what could happen, we could surprise some people. So it is not all doom and gloom, quite from it.”
Mackay has been handed a three-year contract, so has he been set any targets for next season by the board? “That would be totally unrealistic,” Russo said.
“What I said to him is, ‘look, we believe in you, just go out there and do the best you can’. There is no ‘get me into the playoffs’ only I guess, ‘don’t get me relegated’. But that would be unrealistic and unfair.
“What you don’t want to do is load the manager with even more pressure and expectation.
“We are Watford and we are trading through a difficult financial period. We have got some good players and we also have some players who don’t fit and we are still paying the price for some of the atrocious decisions made by the previous regieme on certain players’ wages that were paid.
“The level of expectancy on him is not high, just do your best. ”
