AAGS 2021

14 Star Chat I’m sure that all the fellows have drawn upon some of your philosophies as a coach or a manager. If you had to choose one or two of those beliefs that have given you so much, what would they be? I think there are many points that are absolutely transferable from one sport to another. What we all have in common and what is absolutely great in our jobs is that we can influence people’s lives in a positive way and it’s absolutely fantastic. I would say that a positive attitude towards human being is basically the groundwork of a football manager or a manager of any sport. As a manager and a coach, did you draw from other sports and see that positive transfer into football? Yes, many aspects of team sports where the technical part is not so different can influence the way you practice. For example, there are many qualities in basketball where you play with your hands that you can use at a young age to develop collective connections at higher pace and to develop the capacity to understand what the opponent is doing. How quickly can I understand the game? So, the basic question might be at what age comes a specialization in sport and until when can you really use other sports to develop in our own sport? The opportunity you gave to so many young players was something you believed throughout; do you continue to believe this today? Of course, it comes back to the fact that every player that is a star today was at some stage, a young player who had the dream, which you gave that opportunity to start to develop as a player. I would say that what is very interesting is to detect what are the main qualities of the players and that’s why a manager is a guide. The coach is an observer and I tried to detect what and how I can develop this player. What are his strong points and how can I help him to develop? So overall, at the start, the young players have not always had confidence. They do not always know how good they are and what they are good for and that’s why the observation qualities and the capacity to develop the positive qualities of the players is very important for a coach. How did you find the balance picking young players and winning matches? You need to give the opportunity if you want to give young players a chance unless there are exceptional events. First of all, you need to be brave, and you need to be patient as well. In our sport, you know, you become a reliable player when you are 23 or 24 and the teams who make top level results are between 24 and 30. So, if you start with the center back at 19 or 20 years old, you pay to give him a chance with points. At the end of the season, you will drop two or three points in the games where you are under pressure and where the need for experience is not there. You have said that ‘The stamina in the motivation is more important than the intensity of the motivation.’ Would you explain that a little bit? We made personality profiles of young players at the age of 15 or 16 and after that I followed with 10 to 12 years to see where we go from there comparing to our tests. I found out that stamina and motivation were very decisive factors. Why? Because in jobs like that, the disappointments are big. The happiness is very big when it goes well for you, but there’s no mid ground and the player who survive after these disappointments can get up again and continue to be focused on the point where they want to go. Other players who at the end of the day have the stamina and the motivation are the guys who will do the job on Monday, Tuesday, Arsene Wenger