Nils Nielsen offers glimpse of Manchester City's future
The former Denmark head coach spoke honestly of the challenges of getting Man City back to the top. For a club who should be there, for so long they have fallen just short.
To "connect the dots" is how Nils Nielsen described his role after being announced as the new Head of Football for Manchester City Women.
It's an intriguing appointment on both sides. Nielsen guided Denmark to a shock Euro 2017 before heading off to China to work with their youth teams, to the surprise of many who expected his exploits to land a bigger job in Europe.
When he did return, it was as head coach of Switzerland where he departed at the end of 2022. Nielsen's career has almost entirely spent at international level, and this is his first role where he will be the man making many of the decisions behind the scenes.
For Manchester City, it shows both a want to catch up to their rivals and a realisation they have fallen behind.
Since coming into the Women's Super League almost a decade ago now, they have just one solitary league title to their name, a tally it's easy to imagine would have been unthinkable within the walls of the City Football Academy when they won their first back in 2016 in just their third season of top level football.
FA Cups and Continental Cups have followed, as have several Champions League semi-finals, but nothing more, with the league ruled by Chelsea and Arsenal ever since.
On several occasions during his call with the media last week, Nielsen was honest about the job at hand and hinted about what has gone awry behind the scenes as City face the prospect of finishing outside the top three since their first season back in 2014.
"You need someone to make sure the left hand knows what the right hand is going to do," said Nielsen, hinting at a lack of connection between the various vast groups of staff at the club.
"To create an atmosphere where people can communicate in a good and fruitful way," he added. "The long-term target is we want to be back on top, we want to be the number one club in England, but it can't happen overnight. We can't just say we want it so it will happen."
The reality is Manchester City could be anything they want to be. Their men's team are on the verge of yet another Premier League title and may even go on to complete a treble.
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They have the best manager and a sprinkling of the best players in the world, something which has never been replicated on the women's side. Their want to go down the homegrown route was admirable, but it was as much by need as by design, given under Nick Cushing it was common knowledge City weren't quite spending what their rivals were on fees and wages.
Cushing was happy to cherry-pick the best young British players from the likes of Birmingham City, Liverpool, West Ham United and co, but their foreign signings were erratic and largely uninspiring, even the talented Kosovare Asllani wasn't given regular opportunities to shine, while Americans such as Carli Lloyd, Rose Lavelle, Sam Mewis and Abby Dahlkemper were short-term solutions.
Since Cushing's departure, Gareth Taylor has added more variety in nationality, including top scorer Khadija Shaw, but that base Cushing founded in the likes of Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly, Esme Morgan and co remains, plus the likes of the experienced Steph Houghton.
But for some it wasn't enough as they outgrew what City were giving them, hence the departures of key midfield trio Keira Walsh, Caroline Weir and Georgia Stanway last summer.
It's now on Nielsen to use his know-how, experience and eye for talent to help steer City back to the top, alongside former goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, academy technical director Jayne Ludlow, managing director Gavin Makel and Taylor himself.
"With recruitment, little changes in the set up, all stuff that will make a good situation better so we can go back to the winning ways," said Nielsen of changes moving forward.
"The potential in the team is very big. We have a lot of talent, but there are elements we need to address fast and then other elements over the years so we can keep improving every transfer window, every season we need to be a little bit better than the season before otherwise we won't catch up."
He is right in that sense. City have endured a history of being slow to renew contracts, leading to key players walking away for free, but that is unlikely to happen this summer.
Only four players remain out of contract, including captain Houghton, as well as Demi Stokes, Hayley Raso and Filippa Angeldahl.
They have though tied down key players such as Alex Greenwood to 2026, along with promising youngsters Jess Park and Mary Fowler.
Kelly and Morgan, as well as Sandy MacIver, Kerstin Casparij, Laia Aleixandri, Deyna Castellanos, Alanna Kennedy and Laura Coombs are all tied down for two more years, while the likes of Shaw, Hemp, Ellie Roebuck and others are safe from walking away for nothing for another year.
That in itself is a result for City, and while Nielsen alluded to the fact sorting out the remaining contracts expiring was a priority, he hinted at further investment and recruitment being important, no matter whether the club qualifies for the Champions League or not.
"We have to be very clear on what we are looking for. The kind of personality, those that choose Manchester City will have the best chance to fulfil their dreams. The right mindset, right mentality, right talent which fits with the way we want to play football.
"There are some key points which need to be addressed so we can identify earlier. There's a bit of work to do but it's exciting and we are well under way with the people working there now."
Nielsen admitted they have already identified targets "but everything doesn't need to happen this summer" and intimated that if players don't want to join because of a lack of European football, they might not be the personalities they are looking for as part of their longer-term project.
"The Champions League might change how successful we are in recruiting, but it doesn't change the way we want to recruit," he said. "We are talking to players and agents and we want them to see the bigger picture. The club doesn't need to change just because we have a year without the Champions League. We have everything they need, why shouldn't they choose us? If they don't, that might be a player we wouldn't want in the long run."
He said he wouldn't sign a player over Taylor's head if targets identified weren't of the manager's liking, and said the recruitment process involved not just him and Taylor, but Makel, the club's performance analysts and scouts.
"We will work together to find the perfect solution,” he put it bluntly.
One key part of Nielsen's role will be the academy set up, something which has been underused by Manchester City over the years.
Despite being based at the club's academy itself, many of their homegrown players have come from elsewhere, even the likes of Stanway, Walsh, Park, Hemp and co.
Very few have made the permanent step from City academy to City first team player, although more have sporadically in recent times, largely in cup games.
Nielsen admitted such that it has been a problem for the club, but is focusing on making that a priority in the long-term alongside the experienced Ludlow who joined as technical director a couple of years ago.
"If we can find them in Manchester, they have to play with us," he said. "Jayne is really trying to take the lead on how we want to do it and I'm sure together we will get everything done so in a period of five years we can have academy players playing as starters at Man City.
"That's definitely the plan. I don't see any reason why we would have an academy and invest in it if we don't try to push players forward. I think the way Man City is trying to do it and the ideas Jayne has is really, really good, and I think in years to come we will see more players come directly into the team.
"It's been difficult. We are trying to restructure a little bit to get the output we want. The facilities are great, the atmosphere is great, but there's a few things missing linking the academy to the first team and that's what we need to focus on and what me and Jayne will look at it in the coming years."
Nielsen is honest in his appraisal and constructive criticism of the system he's walked into, one which hasn't produced what it should both on and off the pitch for the resources on offer over the last 10 years.
While the next two weeks won't define Manchester City's long-term future, a positive result and Champions League qualification will at least give Nielsen a more solid foundation to begin working from.
There is no doubt though Man City's ceiling should be wherever it wants, if it wants it.
Nice article, Rich. Nielsen's been making a lot of sense with the things he's been saying so it will be interesting to see how those word become actions. Does makes me wonder when fingers need to be pointed in Gavin Makel's direction though.
Also, we've got a year option on Angeldahl so that should one less departure to worry about.