Sebastien Pocognoli move made sense after data ‘dispelled myths’ for SFA chief

Scotland’s chief football officer admitted he had to dispel some of his own preconceptions before identifying former Belgium international Sebastien Pocognoli as the national team’s ideal head coach.

Craig Mulholland led the search for Steve Clarke’s successor along with Scottish Football Association chief executive Ian Maxwell and his first task was to study the facets of similar nations who consistently progress to knockout stages of major tournaments.

“As somebody who’s been involved in professional football for 30 years I thought your international manager should be an experienced guy, a guy that’s already done international football,” the former Rangers academy director said.

“The data actually told us the most successful international managers are those who are doing the job for the first time.

“The data told us that there’s no difference whether you’re over 50 or under 50. The data told us there’s no difference between whether you’re from that nationality or from a different nationality.

“So some of the myths that were in my head were dispelled.

“To get out of the group stage you need to win the games you’re expected to win against similar-sized nations and lesser-sized nations. Winning the winnable games was key, and you see Sebastien’s track record, he’s got that.

“Then it was about actually refreshing the bottom end of your squad as well. When Wales did well, you wondered if it was because of Gareth Bale or you see Norway now with (Erling) Haaland, you wonder if it’s because of Haaland. It’s not.

“Your success is based on the level of your weaker players in the group. So we need to definitely refresh that and Sebastien will do that. If you look at his record of playing young players, it’s quite incredible.

“And then the final part was identity and style of play metrics.

“Every country should have their own identity. Sebastien will have his own identity, but there’s certain things that are consistent that we need to make sure we develop.

“When you look at Hampden, there’s 50,000 in here, people will cheer a tackle, they’ll cheer somebody chasing somebody down as much as they will a goal.

“And the beauty of Sebastien’s front-foot style is he definitely does that. We hope to create a moment where when you see how hard-working the team are, how positive they are, how front-footed they are, that actually the crowd then buy into that.”

As well as the data, Mulholland and Maxwell made sure the 39-year-old former Union Saint-Gilloise and Monaco head coach’s personality would fit.

“We spent hours with him in London, we spent hours with him in Brussels,” Mulholland said.

“You need to be able to look in someone’s eyes and say, ‘right, do you want this job? Are you passionate about this country? Do you believe you can achieve? When you walk in the dressing room with our players, are they going to be excited by you?’

“And he’s a good person, first and foremost. He’s already got a sense of humour that’s coming out every single day. So I think that will fit well with our country and our people.”