Livingston end search with Brazilian
Thursday, June 5, 2003
Article summary
Márcio Máximo Barcellos has become the first Brazilian to take charge of a Scottish club at Livingston FC.
Article body
Barcellos praise
Barcellos, 40, earned great praise in his native Brazil for his role as coach of the national Under-17, Under-20 and Olympic sides in the 1990s. More recently he had spells coaching in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and acting as national technical director for the Cayman Islands.
Reorganisation of club
Livingston have decided to make Barcellos the first Brazilian manager in British football after reorganising the current coaching set-up. Former manager Jim Leishman will become the club's new chief executive with David Hay also moving from the dug-out to an executive role as director of football. Barcellos will be assisted in his duties by Allan Preston who continues in his current role as assistant manager.
'Huge challenge'
"I believe in youth players," Barcellos said today after he was unveiled at a press conference. "I worked with Ronaldo in Brazil and you can't put your focus only on the senior team. We are professional and we need to work professionally to bring success here. This job for me is a huge challenge but I'm ready for it."
'Brave move'
Chairman Dominic Keane added: "People may have said we should have gone for a Scottish coach, but there aren't too many outstanding ones available who haven't been tied up. In any case I feel this is a brave move on our behalf."
Remarkable success
Livingston have achieved remarkable success in the eight years since the club changed their name from Meadowbank Thistle FC and moved from Edinburgh to a new base 15 kilometres outside the city. They climbed from the second division up to the Scottish Premier League and in their debut season in the top flight secured a UEFA Cup slot by finishing fourth in the table.
Keane vision
This past season was not such a success as the team finished ninth with 35 points from 38 games. However, the vision shown by chairman Dominic Keane to lift the provincial club into the higher reaches of the Scottish game has been shown again by this radical move to appoint Barcellos.
South American signings
Livingston first moved into the South American market earlier this year when they signed defender Julian Maidana and striker Fernando Pasquinelli from Argentinian football.
