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Journeyman Kris Boyd having go at La Liga/Premier League’s Ian Cathro – Laughable

7 years ago
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Will Ian Cathro make a good manager?

The only answer should surely be, who knows until he is given the opportunity.

However, apparently a fair few north of the border have poured scorn on the idea of the Newcastle coach taking over at Hearts – Ian Cathro reportedly having talks with the Edinburgh club and hot favourite to get the job.

Amongst his most vocal of critics has been Kris Boyd.

This is what Boyd said to the Scottish Sun:

“He’s probably not been this excited since FIFA 17 came out on PlayStation.

“But Ian Cathro is about to find out what football’s like in the real world. No harm to the guy set to be named as Hearts boss. I was on the same Pro Licence course as Cathro, and he’s definitely obsessed with coaching.

“He’s one of the up-and-coming, modern-era coaches who can organise a session just by flicking open his laptop.

“There isn’t a session out there he couldn’t get on to his Macbook. But setting up a presentation to a group of players is all well and good.

“That does not require man management skills, which is part of the game he knows absolutely nothing about.

“Time will tell if I’m wrong on that. But if I was a Jambo I’d be worried.

“For me the practical stuff involved in coaching is easy — it’s dealing with highly-charged players that’s the hard part.

“And for me Cathro is way, way out of his depth.”

Now many of you are probably wondering, just who is Kris Boyd?

Well, he is a journeyman striker who has scored goals in Scotland.

Other than that, he couldn’t hack it in the English Championship with both Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest. Then failed in Turkey and managed only seven goals in 26 MLS appearances before heading back to the only place where he had shown he could be competitive – Scotland.

Now I don’t want to do Scottish football down but Kris Boyd did start it.

When you consider how Kris Boyd has failed in every other country he has tried, how has he got the nerve to be calling Ian Cathro?

Yes he is yet to manage but how can you criticise anybody until…there is something to criticise?

Ian Cathro has been a number two in La Liga with a huge club in Valencia, plus of course also being assistant manager in the Portuguese League with Rio Ave.

Then he was brought in at Newcastle United to work as a coach with Premier League players.

Clearly Kris Boyd fancies himself as a future star in management and looks down, bizarrely, on somebody like Ian Cathro who even at a young age hasn’t been afraid to take on high profile jobs in other countries.

I think as well that this is a reality check for Scottish football, as Robbie Neilson obviously thought that going to a side fighting against relegation to League Two in England, is a major step up from the club that was second in the Scottish Premier League when he left them.

MK Dons are currently 19th in League One and only two points above the drop, yet Neilson saw it as a golden opportunity to progress his career.

Maybe that is a major problem for the likes of Kris Boyd, he sees jobs at top Scottish clubs as more important than they are in reality in this era.

If Ian Cathro had been taking over at the likes of MK Dons, Northampton, Bury, or Shrewsbury (all in the relegation struggle at the bottom of League One), instead of Hearts with their past history, would Boyd or anybody else north of the border think it was such a big deal?

Arsene Wenger is one of the most successful managers of all time and he only played amateur football before going into management, which didn’t seem to do him too much harm.

If Ian Cathro takes the Hearts job then good luck to him and here’s hoping he stuffs it down Kris Boyd’s ignorant throat.

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