Les Kershaw
Les Kershaw was the chief scout of Manchester United's football division and head of the Manchester United Football Academy youth division . At the end of the 2005-06 season he was replaced by his successor Brian McClair .
Kershaw holds a PhD in Chemistry and originally worked as a scientist at Manchester Metropolitan University . He also worked as a freelance talent scout for Arsenal coach George Graham . In this role he was poached by the team manager Sir Alex Ferguson and hired at Manchester. Kershaw brought some talent to Manchester United such as Paul Ince , Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Roy Keane . When he was supposed to look for talents at AS Monaco , where Thierry Henry played at the time , and Henry was made aware, he turned it down. This is widely viewed as one of Kershaw's biggest mistakes. In 2005 he was awarded the President's Award by the Royal Society of Chemistry for his activities to promote scientific interest in children and adolescents . At Kershaw's suggestion, a workshop with more than 500 children on the subject of fullerenes ("buckyball") was held in the Manchester United stadium , led by Nobel Prize winner and fullerene discoverer Sir Harold Kroto .
Web links
- Les Kershaw in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- United: The Skill Factory Article on Man United's youth work in the Manchester Evening News (10 Aug 2005)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Honor for scientist who became Manchester United's Chief Scout RSC, September 15, 2005. (Accessed September 26, 2008.)
- ↑ Manchester United: Of Greenhorns and Superstars (Retrieved September 26, 2008.)
- ↑ Scientific salute for soccer don BBC report from September 20, 2005. (Accessed September 26, 2008.)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kershaw, Les |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chemist, junior manager and talent scout at Manchester United |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 20th century |