interview2019 
I realize that it’s difficult times for everybody, and I trust all of you remain protected and secure. Hanging tight for the football season to get the green light. At the point when we do begin, I trust that together we can make something for Odisha FC to make everyone pleased. Ama Team Ama Game!
After three seasons, Odisha FC has at last decided to escape from the Spanish intrigue and have roped in former South African and BafanaBafana head coach to lead the Bhubaneswar-based franchise in the upcoming season of ISL. Setting out on a new venture, the Brit will head to India for the first time with a ton of experience and class.
The former spoke about his upcoming assignments with the ISL side, how the principle focus is building a solid group with young talented footballers and is boosted by a tried-and-tested ‘mantra’ given by former South Africa cricket captain Faf du Plessis who has prompted him to be on the “front foot” to be effective in India.
Q. What are you expecting here in India, and what will be the challenges?
I think that’s an excellent question because as soon as you walk into a particular country, you walk into a distinctive culture. And as I said, if you enter and impose your beliefs and attitudes without considering the culture, I feel you’re doomed to fail eventually.
The primary thing that I even need to understand is how the country’s culture affects its sportsmen mentality. That’s what I also have a conversation with people that know the sports to urge a hand on.
I feel I expect that I will be able to be listing and trying to select up the maximum amount, which will help me to urge the proper way. Trying to talk the language they will understand, presses the appropriate buttons that describe what we would like to work together.
So, my expectations are that’s going to be a process, and it’ll not be something that will happen the first time right. Within the beginning, hopefully, I can describe what I would like to try in an inspiring way, which will bring everybody together and onboard until I find all of these burdens are aside to start the event process. So, that’s how I see my initial times. And, then it’s managing people, winning games of football, making tactical changes. Then it’s standard coaching.
Q. What’s your opinion about the Indian Super League?
I have been following the tournament as much as I probably am aware of many individuals working there. I know a lot of players who play there, and it’s the moderately new group along these lines, there was a ton of interest from my side also.
Along these lines, to take a look at a portion of the games every so often, it’s not something which I have been following intently as La Liga or the Premier League. Be that as it may, it’s absolutely the league I have been curious about.
I have watched such advancement, and the progressions that have been made are fundamentally the same as those while I was working in Japan. I went there in the entire first year of the J-League and perceived how the association created. I was taking a look at the league and attempting to draw a specific likeness. Honestly, I have been curious. Indeed, I have seen a few sections, however, not meticulously.
Q. Why you chose to get associated with Odisha FC?
The initial impression I got was chatting with the owners, chatting with Rohan, chatting with people within the club. Being in Corona time, this is often not once I can fly in and take a glance and acclimatize myself with everything. The initial stop was the impression I got.
The impression was the ambition, it had been the desire, and it had been something that’s a touch bit consider my heart. Something like in South Africa, in a number of the places where social commitment and therefore the commitment to the youth of that area is paramount. That was found as a desire or an ambition that within the club, and they (owners) wanted the new coach to embrace that.
The other thing is that the help and support and therefore the cooperation of the govt. I feel that’s also important. Repeatedly in football, I think, we attend people folding our hands and saying, “please help us.” Now, we don’t ask ourselves what we do to deserve that help, where is our role during this partnership. I feel those lines are pretty clear here. The Govt. wants to assist, and therefore the club intends to repay that by creating something which can be useful for our supporters and everybody here in Odisha.
Q. How significant is the growth of youngsters at Odisha FC?
I feel the young players we’ve brought in are going to be impossible on behalf of me to take a seat and say that I do know all of them. What I can say is that there’ll be stress on youth.
It’s my job to make sure the club’s culture is predicated on development, coaching, solidarity, understanding your role, and, therefore, the responsibilities to the club and the state.
So, I think, regardless of how we spin it, the youth are getting to play a significant role during this and for us, it’s vital that we confirm that we give those young players the most straightforward possible chance of having the ability to develop and answer the core that we are making.
Yes, it’ll be essential to urge some experienced players in. They need to have the proper attitude, but the young players, I hope, will be watching this as a chance for their development hand in hand with the club’s event.
Q. Do you have any objectives for your first assignment in Indian football?
I feel the project is about development. Our first target is we would like development and that we want the results of that development to dictate how high we will dig in. If you’re asking me as knowledgeable, I would like to require the team to the playoffs definitely because sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth is all an equivalent.
We would like to play the playoffs, and then, let’s see if we will win it. But, in my experience, I even have been to a situation like this where you’ve got a young squad, and you don’t expect because people say “kids will win you nothing” and that they win the league. So, I feel sometimes you set such a lot of pressure on the young players, and you are doing to win the league, and sometimes you’ll underestimate.
The power, the willingness to find out, solidarity and once development starts happening it takes on its own life and that I think we should always attempt to harness that and just see how far that we make us knowing that if we do our job correctly, then we do have a force to reckon with.
But at an equivalent time, I don’t want to form rash predictions because I haven’t seen the group, I don’t know their mental strength, I don’t skills they might react. Until then, I just want to mention, as knowledgeable, the simplest that we would like to try to, and that’s the top four to start with, then I want to see how the group reacts to my work.
Q. How would you think the measure of experience you have will help the young guns at OFC?
I feel once we mention experience; one among the items in my development as a coach is that if you’ve got more challenges or different natures of problems, which on behalf of me is functioning in several countries with different cultures and different ideas of the way to play the sport, it just equips you to urge more keys to open the boxes. I feel once you are coaching younger players, there are no hard and fast thanks to coach young players. They need to preferred methods of learning. The more keys, the more weapons you’ve got under your belt, then the more chance you bought to urge in on the proper wavelength with the players so that they will understand whatever messages you’re trying to urge across. They will appreciate them more quickly.
Q. According to you, how will your tenure at Odisha FC shape up?
In theory, you’ll take every country within the world, and you’ll take every team within the world. Notably, the successful ones, and you’ll say similar things that you see here in India, are within the Premier League. But, whichever method, you’ve got to realize those six things.
So, I will be able to be using these six things because that’s what everybody uses. Then, it’ll depend upon the players we’ve, rely upon what suits them best, and depend upon my ability to speak. I hope the players will learn quickly, and we continue an equivalent page, then we’ll be able to do those six things whichever style we decide goes with the simplest.
Q. Do you believe in bringing your style or will you like to proceed with the manner in which things have been going for the club as far as the style of play?
Before me, the Spanish coaches must have given the players a particular flavor and that I don’t believe this breaking everything down and rebuilding it because there’s some good work done.
The players will want and that I remember after I won a league, a replacement coach said, “No, simply because you won the league, doesn’t mean everything is ok.” So, he broke everything down, and therefore the team finished eighth.
So, I feel there’s some good work done and that I will retain that good work, and hopefully, I will be able to repose on it, and probably, I will be able to find how of playing which we all will enjoy and it’ll give us some result. I don’t have expectations. The people I even have spoken to mention that the Indian players are ambitious.
I had an intriguing discussion with Faf du Plessis (the South African cricketer). He said that the Indian cricketers (athletes) are incredible when on the front foot when they go on the back foot, they have an excessive amount to do on the off chance that they don’t do that, they will be unplayable.
So, my job, I believe, is to form sure that my Odisha players desire mentally on the front foot in any case and that I think all of these things will go together into a method. we’ll usher in together the works that are done so far and new stuff that we want to do and describe it during a way that the players feel. “Yeah! Let’s continue the front foot.”
The focus will be on the coaches because I do know tons of coaches (good friends or colleagues of mine) they are going to a replacement setup, not even a replacement culture could also be within the same country they’re working. They take their way of playing football and that they impose it on the squad. Repeatedly, the team doesn’t want that.
I need to be the coach that the squad needs and not the coach that I always wanted to be regardless of the culture, irrespective of the personality, regardless of what the design, I impose myself; I don’t think that’s right. I want to be the coach that this squad of players needs.
Q. Any remarks about the Indian players who are an integral part of the club now.
Maybe, I feel I even have been trying to consider our players and the way they match up to the type of level. I also have not been delving into the small print. I will be able to get to understand the players except for my players, and I wanted to know where they stand.
I feel the games that I even have seen are on a reasonable level. A number of the passings of the players are excellent. In most of the leagues, which are in their developing process, the constant challenge has been the foreigners’ dependency. What proportion of foreigners?
How many foreigner players allow the Indian players to develop, and how many of them actually suffocate that development? I’m trying to figure out my mind on empowering our players to the maximum effect. I feel the Indian players have tremendous potential. We all, everybody in Indian football, need to maximize that potential.
Article Written By Sobhan Garnaik
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