LUSN in conversation with Gretar Steinsson
Gretar, the quiet man at Elland Rd
We were privileged to have our new performance director Gretar Steinsson to speak at our last meeting – giving us his time from 8pm!
Gretar is a multi-linguist, entrepreneur, and founder of his own charity for children with long term illnesses and disabilities. In his playing career, he captained his country, scored against Brazil, and played in five countries. If you ever wondered where the inside knowledge on Joe Rodon and DJ Spence came from, Gretar was the Performance Director at Spurs!!
Gretar was born in a small town in Iceland, Siglufjörður, which is the northernmost town in Iceland. Apart from being Gretar’s birthplace, it is famous for its history of herring fishing museum and having the most Leeds fans per capita in the world (arguably!!). As a child when he played football he would always be Leeds against other children’s Liverpool and Man Utd – he loved beating them!
He enjoys learning languages and puts some of this down to playing for AZ in the Netherlands. Louis Van Gaal was the manager and insisted that all the players learnt Dutch and also to speak in each other’s languages. He used to put labels on objects in all the languages of the team. He used to conduct his team talks in Dutch but brief individual players in their own language beforehand (Gretar in German). This brought the team together and everyone felt valued. His language skills were put to good use understanding and answering questions from Dev at Kilmarnock - who received some excellent leadership advice which we will all find useful.
Gretar has always been a Leeds fan and is delighted to be working for his club. He joined us at a very turbulent time and had to make some difficult decisions early on. Working as a team the decision makers had to keep calm and follow what they knew to be right. He was involved with the recruitment of all the new players this season.
His ambition is to put into place a successful system which will continue after his departure – in the Premier League, of course.
Gretar on players
Being a professional footballer has its own stresses as well as benefits. They are usually on good money compared to their peers, which can bring its own problems. They have to be willing to move around and this can mean disrupting families regularly. They can be badly advised by people who should have their best interests at heart but don’t always. Some can excel at one club but not do so well at other clubs due to many reasons.
At Leeds at the moment the more senior players are setting an excellent example in the dressing room, on the bench and on the pitch. This makes them extremely valuable in Leeds plans.
Gretar on recruitment
Nick Hammond, Adam Underwood, Angus Kinnear and Gretar meet frequently to discuss players they may be interested in. Daniel Farke is involved as appropriate and is part of any decision making.
They have access to all football matches that are being played around the world, they have data (speed, distances covered, pass accuracy etc) on any player they are interested in. They use the scouts to gather information on the ground - to look at mentality, personality and other human factors - to add to the data they have collected. This helps them make decisions about any of the players. However, there are other factors – does the player want to come to Leeds? Would it disrupt the current squad to have this player? Would it hinder the progression through the teams at ER?
Even with all this information a player may not function in the squad as expected.
Usually, they have around 1000 players that they are watching closely at any one time. This needs to be taken in to account by fans when they read we are interested in a player – he may be 1 of a 1000!!.
There isn’t an undiscovered diamond, they track all players, in all countries – as do other clubs.
Gretar on loan players
Players are usually loaned out for 2 reasons – to get better and come back to the first team squad at Leeds, or to get game time and increase financial value so they can be sold by the club.
Players currently out on loan will be reviewed and relevant decisions made, based on team needs and offers made.
There will not be a repeat of the situation in June where so many players were able to leave.
It needs to said that although many left there were players who were offered considerable improvements to their contracts by other clubs and decided to stay.
Leeds have 2 loan spaces available which will be used if needed.
Gretar on emotions
The decision makers at ER have to keep emotions in check and be as calm as possible. All the decision makers at the moment are able to minimise the emotions and keep cool heads. In football you can be a hero – and not have done anything – and you can be a villain – and not have done anything.
Supporters are bound to be more emotional as that is the nature of being a football supporter. They are not always the best people to make decisions and judgements. A good example of this is Rutter. Last season he was a villain, this season he’s a hero. He’s still doing his job!
Any leader of an organisation needs to have clear ideas and not be afraid to put them into practice - ensuring these ideas are based on sound information. Sometimes decisions will be popular and some won't be.
Gretar came across as a very calm, clear-headed man who understands football and understands fans but has strong views which he will put in to action. We were all very impressed.
We would like to extend a big ' thank you' to Gretar, as despite the lateness of the evening, he answered questions honestly, clearly and with enthusiasm. We, all, have a far better understanding of how recruitment is working at Elland Rd - and have already seen the improvements this season.
