Steinsson plots Fleetwood rise

Gretar Steinsson is looking to play his own part in the Fleetwood revolution after taking up the technical director post at the club.

The Cod Army appointed the 33-year-old Icelander to a newly-created technical director role in January in an off-field move designed to help with the demands their meteoric rise through the divisions has brought. Steinsson, who has a degree in football management, spoke for the first time about his position at Highbury last week, which he landed after impressing chairman Andy Pilley and chief executive Steve Curwood with a presentation which mapped out his vision for Fleetwood. "I am very ambitious and the club is very ambitious and there were a lot of things that just clicked together," he explained. "It's a big challenge for them to grow even more from where they are now and it's something I found very interesting. "With the youth, the community, the development squad and the training ground, I saw that there was an opportunity there to grab. "If you come from the area you hear about the chairman and want he wants to achieve. Knowing some of the people who work here, I could see the possibilities." The Cod Army have spent much of this campaign flirting with the Sky Bet League One play-off places having secured their sixth promotion in 10 seasons just last year. Steinsson has now been charged with helping to managing that ascent off the field and continuing to grow a club which has accelerated at an unprecedented rate. "Everything is possible but we need to have it planned out and mapped out and believe in a certain way and follow it; this is a long-term project," he stressed. "With the training ground coming we want to make sure, in the future, that we make Fleetwood a very appealing place for young players to come to take the next steps in their careers." Steinsson played in Iceland, Switzerland, England, Holland and Turkey during his career and revealed he had always coveted a behind-the-scenes role, something which is far more common for ex-players on the continent. Current Manchester United boss Van Gaal helped fuel that dream during the pair's time together at AZ and his former student is hopeful he can take the lessons he learned from the Dutchman and apply them on the Fylde coast, where he now resides. "He's the best out there," Steinsson said of Van Gaal. "He's just a fantastic man and a fantastic manager. He looks after everything around and you will really struggle to find anyone talking badly about him - for the people who have actually worked with him." Van Gaal left AZ six years ago but the club have continued to seek innovation, and they broke new ground again earlier this month when they hired baseball guru Billy Beane as an official adviser. Beane is responsible for the 'Moneyball' concept, which saw the Oakland Athletics utilise statistical analysis to gain an advantage on their considerably wealthier MLB rivals. It spawned a book and an Oscar-nominated film, while also raising questions about whether the thinking behind it could be used in football. Steinsson has already picked Beane's brains and although he urged caution on being over-reliant on data, he does believe smaller clubs like Fleetwood can gain an advantage in that field. "He's a fascinating character," Steinsson added of Beane. "He makes things extremely simple. He simplifies a lot of things that we tend to make complicated. "He's a very fascinating man and knows an incredible amount about football. AZ are very fortunate and they are really looking forward to the cooperation. "Sometimes people go too analytical, sometimes you need to find a way to really talk football. You need to take a path from everyone to make yourself better. "Every club is different, everyone needs different elements and every club needs to ask the right questions before they start loading in on external companies. "Everybody can buy data but data is only relevant if you ask the right questions. A football club needs to know the right questions before they start spending money on data. "I think there are gains to be had with data if the right questions are asked. Everything needs to work together. You need to take all the pieces and make it fit your own profile."