Leeds United appointed Gretar Steinsson as the club’s technical director last summer and Leeds Live has taken a look at how the Icelander could help the Whites in the transfer window
Uwe Rosler is not exaggerating. At one point, the former Leeds United and Fleetwood Town boss spoke to Gretar Steinsson more than his wife.
“We had a very hot telephone line, that’s for sure,” the German smiled.
Those were days that shaped Steinsson as the technical director took some important first steps at Fleetwood on a journey that has led the Icelander to Leeds, the club he supported as a boy. It sounds like the stuff of dreams, but Steinsson always had such a strategic role in mind – right back to when he was still playing in his mid-twenties.
Steinsson made a point of soaking up knowledge behind the scenes during spells playing in six different countries – even taking note of what was happening in analysis and medical departments – and the man who won dozens of caps for his country went on to complete a postgraduate degree in football management at the Johan Cruyff Institute. After hanging up his boots, following a career-ending knee injury in 2013, the multilingual served as an assistant to the technical director at former club AZ Alkmaar before taking up his first technical director role at Fleetwood at the age of just 33.
If that seemed a leftfield move, it is worth noting that Steinsson had roots in the North West from his time at Bolton Wanderers and the ex-defender laid out his vision when he first met Fleetwood’s hierarchy 10 months previously. So what did Steinsson bring to Fleetwood?
“Gretar was a typical Scandinavian and Icelander,” Rosler told Leeds Live. “He had this calmness about him in contrast to me and the owner. He balanced it out very well and I could trust him.
“We were clear on what we wanted and he tried to work to get the best solutions we could get on a very limited budget. We still managed to get players to our club first and foremost based on our way of playing and, also, our credibility of playing them.
“We didn’t have the money, status or the attraction to get the finished articles to Fleetwood Town so we needed to be smart in other areas and Gretar was very smart. He had a very good contacts network with football clubs who were prepared to give us their talents on loan or with an option to buy, and that was how we worked. That was our only chance.”
Steinsson’s work at Fleetwood did not go unnoticed and the straight talker had subsequent spells as a chief European scout and head of recruitment and development at Everton; as an adviser to the Icelandic FA; and as a performance director at Spurs before joining Leeds last summer. While the role of technical director is wide-ranging, whether it is helping to connect various departments like the academy, loans and medical and sports science or setting the club’s long-term strategy, Steinsson has traditionally specialised in recruitment over the years.
Daniel Farke has already highlighted the ‘great support’ he has received in this area from Steinsson, who quickly became someone the Leeds boss could ‘trust to work in the background’ during a chaotic summer window a year ago. That was Rosler’s experience, too.
“Gretar is a very strong communicator and communicates in a very modern way,” the former Fleetwood manager said. “He uses words wisely but I knew all the time where I was. It was always clear what we could do and couldn’t do and who we could and couldn’t go for.
“I felt he was always very responsible with what he did. He wasn’t throwing the money left, right and centre because we didn’t have it. We had to think very wisely about how we spent the money that we had, especially in the first year.
“We hardly had one bad signing because we couldn’t afford it. He always had the interests of the club at heart, but he also wanted us to be successful and was ambitious. He wanted to help me in the best possible way.”
Steinsson has since set out to help Farke while working alongside the Leeds boss, head of recruitment Jordan Miles, influential consultant Nick Hammond and CEO Angus Kinnear. It was Steinsson, for instance, who dealt with Swansea City’s owners and flew out to the Netherlands last summer to meet Joel Piroe, the striker’s family and his agent, Theo Roebbers.
Over the course of a few hours, Steinsson detailed Leeds’ longstanding interest and the homework the club had carried out on the 24-year-old. Steinsson quickly earned the trust of Piroe and his camp, who felt the Dutchman could go to the ‘next level’ at Leeds, after Leicester City, Southampton and Atalanta had all previously shown an interest.
Piroe had some testing moments in his debut campaign – even those closest to the £10.5m signing recognise he has to ‘learn some things’ – but the pursuit gives you an idea of how Steinsson operates.
“Gretar has a big network and has been doing this for a while,” Rosler added. “He will not panic. He’s been a player and a leader in a football club so he knows all angles.
“Leeds are a completely different kind of fish, but there are far more opportunities. The club can attract completely different kinds of players with completely different possibilities financially.”
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