Celtic are going to pieces…err…well they have hired a set piece coach! Ross Grant, most recently the first dedicated set piece coach in the SPFL Premiership when hired at Hearts last June, was formerly announced by Celtic this week.
Ross joins the Premiership Champions from Heart of Midlothian, where he was a hugely important part of their coaching team last season.
When Grant was hired last summer, he conducted an interview with media and this particular section of his quoted comments were notable, IMO:
Where I’m quite fortunate is I can use the probably 20-plus years of management experience within those three members of staff that are there – the gaffer, Arch and Paul – to bounce a couple of ideas about. Take a little bit of feedback, based on what their preferences are and what their experiences are from being in professional football for that long a time as a manager. Because they’ll have specific preferences that I’ll need to try and meet and adhere to as well.
They have and should have an opinion on whether we do try something a little bit out of the box or whether we stick to a certain routine or what that structure goes from week to week, because set plays will change every week based on the structure of the opposition. One player changing in your team changes quite a lot.
They’ve been very welcoming and very understanding and given me autonomy, but to a point where I present information to them and say, how would you like to proceed with this?
The club statement linked above includes this sentence, so I wanted to have a look at what kind of impact Grant may have had at Hearts last season, and what it may suggest as to benefits Celtic may expect. I promise, this has not become the Hearts Huddle Breakdown:
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