Kluivert? Guti? Are St Mirren REALLY going to snap up a superstar manager?
St Mirren? Talking to Real Madrid favourite Guti and ex-Barca striker Kluivert? It sounds the stuff of fantasy but, for many Buddies followers, this is all just part of a...
PATRICK KLUIVERT has become the latest superstar name to show interest in the St Mirren manager’s job. Sportsmail understands the former Holland and Barcelona striker is an outsider in the process to replace Jack Ross, but he joins a cosmopolitan list of candidates that includes Real Madrid legend Guti. Currently a youth coach at the Bernabeu, Guti is expected to hold talks this week as Saints narrow down their options. Now Kluivert could follow suit in speaking to the club after asking to be considered. The 41-year-old had a spell as director of football at Paris Saint-Germain and has been assistant manager at AZ Alkmaar, Brisbane Roar and NEC Nijmegen. He was also part of Louis van Gaal’s backroom team when Holland reached the 2014 World Cup semi-finals. As a player, Kluivert scored the winner in the 1995 Champions League final and netted 40 goals in 79 caps for his country. St Mirren are also understood to have spoken to Paisley-born Micky Mellon, who guided Tranmere Rovers back into the English Football League last season, and Gary Caldwell. Jim McIntyre remains in the frame, while Coleraine boss Oran Kearney is expected to be interviewed today. The club hope to be in a position to appoint their new manager next week.
GUTI is the man quoted as an outside bet to succeed Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid.
He won three Champions League and five La Liga titles during a playing career that included 13 caps for Spain. And he is interested in the St Mirren manager’s job.
Patrick Kluivert is planning to meet the Buddies, too. He spent six years with Real’s great rivals Barcelona and won 79 caps for Holland after lifting the Champions League with first club Ajax.
If all of the above seems like a jarring juxtaposition of circumstances, history tells us not to be too amazed. After all, Paisley can already claim some pedigree when it comes to attracting a legend of the Spanish game.
As Sportsmail reported yesterday, Guti is poised for talks with the Saints hierarchy over the managerial vacancy left by Sunderland’s swoop for Jack Ross. Along with Kluivert, he is the eye-popping name on an interview list that includes former Ross County boss Jim McIntyre, ex-Wigan and Chesterfield manager Gary Caldwell and Coleraine’s Oran Kearney.
The 41-year-old, currently a youth coach at the Bernabeu, has not been deterred by the salary or squad budget on offer. And so, one of the more unlikely possibilities in Scottish football’s never-dull narrative remains open.
For Saints fans of a certain vintage, these links will surely take their minds back to 1991. A team under the guidance of Tony Fitzpatrick — now spearheading the managerial recruitment drive as chief executive — needed a lift in its bid to secure top-flight survival.
Enter Victor Munoz, 60 caps for Spain and eight years a Barcelona player. His arrival in a double signing with former Nou Camp team-mate Steve Archibald stunned the Scottish game. Not to mention those with whom he would share a dressing room.
‘I think I had been away with the national team in Bulgaria for a European Championship qualifier at the time,’ legendary St Mirren goalkeeper Campbell Money recalled to Sportsmail.
‘I heard the news when we were at the airport, probably in Sofia. My response was a normal one for the time: “Aye, that’ll be right!”. Or words to that effect.
‘But, no, the information was right and Victor and Stevie Archibald came into the club. Nothing really surprises you in football. But for St Mirren to bring in someone like Victor was a huge thing at the time. He was obviously a huge name, worldknown, because he had captained Barcelona and Spain. At first, there was an element of “wow”, just surprise that we were able to attract someone like that.
‘Obviously, the connection between then and now is Tony Fitzpatrick. Tony was the manager in those days and is now chief executive at the club, so we will see how things work out in terms of a replacement for Ross.
‘Tony brought Victor in to try and keep us up. In the end, reconstruction kicked in and we wouldn’t have been relegated anyway but both Victor and Stevie did really well for us over that period.’
Victor made 18 appearances for St Mirren, scoring in a Scottish Cup win over Stranraer at Stair Park. While his stay in Paisley was brief, Money insists it left a lasting influence.
‘He was brilliant with the young ones, guys like Paul Lambert and Norrie McWhirter,’ he added. ‘They loved him. He definitely had an influence on those younger players in particular.
‘Victor only had limited English, but he was a top professional. The characteristics he brought to the table were unusual at the time, in terms of how he ate and looked after his body. That wasn’t the norm for Scotland in 1991 and he was probably one of the first to bring that type of thinking.
‘I think if you spoke to Paul, and how he developed that side of things later in his career, then he would probably say that Victor was the one who first introduced him to those thoughts.’
These memories might suggest that links with Guti and Kluivert perhaps don’t shock Money as much as others.
‘It won’t matter who they bring in. It will be a gamble because every managerial appointment is a gamble,’ he argued.
‘But they have chosen well in recent times, so I have no reason to think they won’t look at it thoroughly and come up with the right decision.
‘The club is in a very good position. Jack Ross brought a level of positivity and good vibes to the club that had not been there for a long time, with respect to previous people.
‘I know (chairman) Gordon Scott will put his hand in his pocket if he needs to.
‘The fact they are attracting even these good Scottish managers that are being mentioned says a lot for the club and where it stands just now.’