Via The Mirror come reports that Liam Brady is to return to Arsenal, almost two years after leaving the club.
The Irishman had been Head of Youth Development since 1996, and announcing his departure at the time, Ivan Gazidis said, “Liam has a deep understanding of what it takes to discover and develop a talented youngster into someone who can perform at the highest level.
“He has made a massive contribution to Arsenal Football Club. It will be difficult to find a worthy successor but we will be looking for someone who can build on what Liam and his team have created.”
In January 2014 the club appointed Dutchman Andries Jonker, and although results at youth level haven’t always been stellar, there’s a sense that he was making some big changes behind the scenes.
Whether that was signing European wonderkids, ordering the latest in grass technology for training ground pitches, or speaking frankly about how the scouting system at the club had to be restructured, he’s been a busy man.
The Mirror says that Brady’s role will involve him overseeing “players being loaned out, the country’s best youngsters being recruited and also ensuring they stay at Arsenal.”
Whether that’s to augment Jonker’s work, or allow the Dutchman to focus on other things we’re not quite sure, but clearly they feel that something’s missing and Brady is the man to fill the gap.
After all, you could always use someone who could do this against Sp*rs around the place:
Beautiful goal and fantastic contribution to the ’79 Cup Final. Though I hope he hasn’t been chosen just for sentimental reasons.
Good luck Liam.
Cheers!
My old man’s favourite ever player. Also partly responsible for his worse week as an Arsenal fan in May 1980. Lost the FA Cup Final v West Ham on the Saturday, then lost Uefa Cup Final on Pens v Valencia midweek then sold Brady to Juventus!
Imagine if Twitter was around then? Would have been the mother of all meltdowns.
He’s everyones old mans favourite player ; )
Could watch that goal all day….
I stumbled across an article from last year about dennis saying he wants to come back as a coach. Feel proud to support a club which former players want to come back and impart. It helps motivate the youngsters and give them a different approach to things.imagine someone like Gideon being mentored by carzola and ozil and being coached by Dennis or see how Henry and Robert have helped Theo and d Francis improve their game
Well, @northbanklower said on twitter, it (Liam’s return) might suggest that Jonker might leave in the summer. It wouldn’t make sense to me, just after 2 years and replacing him with the Man he succeeded. As for youth teams it stands like this: – U21s: 5 games, 5 wins, 1st place even teams belowe played 6 games already. – U18s: 8 games, 4 wins, lost twice (v. Reading & Fulham, both away (4-1, 2-1 respectively), they’re 5th & 5 points behind Chelsea (1st). – UEFA Youth League: 2 games, 2 wins, 1st place. BUT LOOKE AT IT: 1st team lost… Read more »
Thank you for the video. Really loved it. 🙂
You do have to laugh at how slow the game was back then. Though Spurs were just as terrible as now, even in slow motion.
Now we’re talking legend!
What a goal that was….. Also, remember Mr. Bloggs when you wished harm on Aguero’s hamstrings on monday night, well I think your wish just came true.
Brady was my hero; I remember being gutted when he left.
That 79/80 season was horrible. Losing both cup finals then “The King” was sickening.
Klopp gone to Liverpool: what a missed opportunity. We should have snapped him up.
Klopp will be a Flopp at Liverpool. That’s my feeling.
To be honest, you might be right. The PL is dominated by money, and Liverpool don’t have the financial clout of the Big Four. Klopp is a great manager but he’ll find it hard to keep his best players. And the expectation up there is stupidly unrealistic.
He would have been a perfect fit for Arsenal, where he wouldn’t have had to sell players, and where he would have had the money to spend if he needed it. That’s why his appointment at Liverpool is a shame for both him and us.
“…Arsenal, where he wouldn’t have had to sell players…” Guess what? We were in this position not too long ago, but Wenger stayed put, got us in the top 4 throughout the period. The man really deserves more respect than he gets. Anyways I reckon he’ll get back to winning PL titles soon and possibly the CL when all his hard work over the years come together. Sorry about that small rant, I just think you, fatgooner tend to neglect these accomplishments of wenger and persist with you request for a new shiny manager that you think is better And… Read more »
We’ll never win the Premier League again under Wenger.
Even if you accept that Le Prof did well to keep us in the top 4 while paying for the stadium then it’s obvious that he can’t take us any further. Last summer’s transfer window fiasco clearly demonstarted it. For some reason Wenger just won’t bring in the players to turn us into champions. He’s Mr Fourth Place. Wenger has had money for two years but has failed to build a team which can challenge for the two big ones.
And nothing will change until he’s gone.
Why can’t Wenger win the league this year Fatgooner? The top teams don’t look great and we’re as good as any of them. I have a sneaky feeling for us this year.
Well said
I also think Wenger deserves more respect
Only the deliberately blind or the biased nay-sayer would call Wenger “Mr Fourth Place”. You have to think small like a Spurs fan or a Daily Mirror hack to deliberately ignore all of our finishes except those in 4th place.
If you want to be precise (also spelt “pedantic”) then all those 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes would make him “Mr Two point Seven Three Sixth Place and Six FA Cups”.
You wouldn’t be guilty of ignoring the good and only (constantly) reminding people about the not-so-good would you Fatgooner?
I think when the day comes that Wenger decides to retire him and the board will have a suitable replacement and I think that it will be someone who Wenger will have groomed to take over. I am not saying it will be him but pep did spend some time at the arsenal
Klopp will flopp at the kopp
Fixed it for you
Liam Brady was the reason I became a Gooner….COYG!!!!!!!!
So great to see him coming back.
My middle name is Liam and my Dad picked it. That makes me a Gooner from day one. ? COYG! ?
Longer.
Should listen to the Brady interview in Singapore. Very bullish still about Jack and reckons he should shoot more. We’ve got a fair amount of youth team representation in first squad which is more than you can say for some of our rivals. Gibbs can still get better. Coquelin and Bellerin are recent promotions by Arsene to great effect. Jack of course. Plenty of hopefuls waiting on the wings. Wenger has a great reputation as a developmental manager not just for youth products but also in improving those he brings in like Walcott, Ox, Ramsey. Hopefully Welbeck will come back… Read more »