In an exclusive interview with Henry Bryant, Gus Poyet recounted meeting the new Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler when he was at St Pauli.
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00:00So, first and foremost, Gus, I just wanted to say how are you and how's life been treating you?
00:06Oh good, I'm very good. I finished my contract in Greece 31st of March, so I was there two years
00:12and three months. It was a great experience, international level, great time. I was convinced
00:20that I was continuing, you know, the things that we created during the two years and how close we
00:26were to the main objective. It was a perfect setup to qualify for the World Cup, but, okay,
00:33things happen in different countries, different federations. It was elections for a new president
00:38and, you know, the new presidents, they won their own coach and, okay, things are happening in
00:44football. But I had a great time and it was spectacular, everything that happened apart from
00:50one penalty in the game against Georgia.
00:54And I know that tensions were really high that game. I know you've been in a lot of sort of
00:59high-tension games, especially sort of the playoffs as well with Brighton.
01:03How do you sort of prepare your squad for such a big game like that?
01:07Well, I try not to change too many things because the players, they get confused,
01:11so I try to be very simple. I have to say that in this particular playoff, we were very,
01:18very unlucky because it was a draw, okay, to play the final at home or away. And I'm telling you,
01:25it's a massive difference, not only for us because of the support of the people, but especially for
01:31Georgia. Georgia playing away from home, it was a different team. Even if they played a similar way,
01:40how can I explain? You know, playing under 70,000 people that when we lost the ball and it's a break,
01:46the whole stadium stand up, it gives the players a little bit more that if they were playing away
01:51and when we lose the ball, nothing happened. So there is a situation there that you need a little
01:57bit of luck. And also because people were very nervous in the semi-final against Kazakhstan,
02:08where I was calm because in a normal game without any accidents, accidents mean a red card in the
02:14beginning or whatever. I thought we were the better team. The second one, it was a different, more
02:21complicated because of the travelling, because of the situation. It was like going back to the
02:2490s as well, you know, I enjoyed it. I didn't say a word in there, but we had people at the hotel,
02:31we had fireworks at two or three o'clock in the morning. We had the bus driver taking us to the
02:38stadium two miles an hour and not accelerating and to get late. So it was really going back 30 years.
02:45And I was calm because it was a matter of playing. We played 120 minutes away from home,
02:51we didn't concede and it was a penalty. But yeah, it's tough because you do everything well and
02:59you know, because of one situation, you don't achieve the main objective.
03:04Absolutely. And it was a really heartbreaking result for Greece. Now that you've had that
03:10taste of international managing, do you think that now that you've had that sort of success,
03:15you would want to replicate that again with a different international club? Or would you rather
03:20in the future move on to maybe a league club again?
03:24I'm open. I'm open. I would say in the beginning, if you ask me this question
03:28in April, May, after I finished the contract, I was really looking for an international team.
03:36I was convinced that it was a great experience and there were probably many possibilities.
03:42Then you need to realise that even if it does happen a lot, national teams in certain places,
03:50they prefer a local guy and not a foreigner. So it's not that simple. The possibilities
03:57reduce themselves. So it's easier to find a club. And then I opened up to a club. I had
04:06conversations with many, but opportunities I had two. One was a national team. I'm sorry,
04:10I can't tell you. But a national team and one was a club in the Middle East.
04:14There were really advanced negotiations and then things that happen in football that you don't know
04:20what they conclude in a nice way. But I'm calm. I'm trying to be a little bit selective as well.
04:28I don't want just to jump in a job or just to have a job, no reason, and three months later
04:34out and another job. I prefer to think about it and see if I can do well. For example,
04:40when they change, they call me from a place. I like to check the team. I analyse. I watch a few
04:45games. And then I said, OK, yes or no, depending on that.
04:51Absolutely. You don't want to just jump into something that you've not got your heart in,
04:55basically. You want to jump into something where there's a plan. There's a plan in action.
05:02When you were managing Greece, I know that that was your first international job. What's that
05:07like compared to managing a league club? How many similarities are there? Obviously,
05:14there's quite a lot of differences sometimes with the playing times and the schedules. But
05:18were there any things that you had to adjust to?
05:22The main thing I would say, two or three things I would say, the main thing is the
05:26amount of information that you can give to the players at club level. It's massive.
05:32National team, reduced dramatically. I learned, because I didn't know, it was my first job.
05:39I learned to pick the most important ones and to try to repeat a little bit more. For example,
05:48what I was doing at Brighton. At Brighton, repetition was in the beginning, but then we
05:54were improving all the time. International level, I think we repeat a lot more than what I used to
06:01do in a club level. So you can get at least those basic things constantly. And then I repeated the
06:12team a lot. I know that at club level nowadays, the managers, they tend to change because it's
06:19too many games and the rotation and blah, blah, blah. And I wanted my best 11 or the close to my
06:26best 11 to play as much as possible because we don't train. So as soon as I had an opportunity
06:30of a friendly game, I remember people were asking me, are you going to make a few changes,
06:35try a few things? I said, no, best 11. We didn't have the time to play for two months. Now we have
06:40a time where I'm not going to change. I'm going to play the best 11. So I used to call them,
06:45this is not charity. This is an international game. So I was not looking for making people
06:52debut, so giving play. No, I was looking to improve the team to win for them. So that one,
06:58you know, reducing the information. And the second one, which is incredible, is the connection with
07:05the players is totally different to club level. Club level, you are every day with the player,
07:10so you've got a relationship created by seeing him every day.
07:14At international level, because you are not with them for a month, I was in contact over the phone
07:22or visiting them, you know, traveling to visit them. And the players incredibly, they relax over
07:27the phone. You know, when you are not face to face with you or they are not on the pitch,
07:31they are people, persons. So they relax and they talk about other things. So I had a great,
07:38you know, close relation with the players. It was amazing and it will last for life.
07:43That's great to hear. That is really great to hear. And you mentioned Brighton there.
07:49And I do some writing, you know, for the news about Brighton. And I wanted to just sort of
07:53cast your mind a little bit back just a few years to when you were managing Brighton and when you
08:00did take over in 2009, the club was in League One and struggling. So when you first got there,
08:08what were your main managerial priorities to turn the team around, get morale up
08:13and get them into the championship?
08:16Well, I remember my first week, my first few days before we play Southampton away.
08:22It was in my birthday, 15th of November and we won 1-3. It was spectacular.
08:27And two things that we worked a lot, it was in responsibilities, you know, for example,
08:35marking and defending for life. And then on really, really, really caring about the ball,
08:43you know, for a reason in English, this game is called football. So can we treat the football
08:50well and not just kicking it and rush and run? And we set up something that, look,
08:59I started in November 2008, 2009, sorry, now you say. But we click, I think it was September 2010,
09:10away at Plymouth. Away at Plymouth, evening, in the second half I sit down and I said to my
09:18assistant, that's it, that's it. What we wanted to achieve from now on, we're going to fly.
09:25And incredibly, one or two weeks later, we beat, we won a game at home and we were on top of the
09:32table and that was it until then. So it was a great connection and a great, I would say,
09:39the players, they really embraced the way we wanted to play and they were really enjoying
09:46the way we wanted to play. And even if so many people, they were telling us at that time,
09:51you are not going to be able to play football in Ligue 1, it was a pleasure after one way.
09:57You know, there is many games, but there is two that they come up to us when I meet some of the
10:03players from Brighton that Ligue 1 is Peterborough away and Charton away. There is two games that
10:10for us at that moment in time to play away in the way that we played those two games,
10:14it was spectacular. And the change from with him to the Amex, I mean, it's like we jump from the
10:23bottom floor to the 150th floor in a massive building. It was amazing. It changed completely
10:31football forever at Brighton. It's amazing. And that sort of confidence that you gave the team
10:36and the players to get into the champion position and actually go to the championship was absolutely
10:43amazing. Now that Brighton, you know, in the Premier League and they've had their recent
10:50success in recent seasons under the Zerbi, you know, getting Europa League and getting to the
10:55round of 16 of that. Did you ever expect that from Brighton? Did you ever think that it would
11:00reach that sort of level where they've gone to the Premier League and also competed in a way that,
11:04you know, seems like only the top clubs with the top budgets can compete in?
11:10Look, the vision of the chairman, Tony Blum, was always there.
11:15It was incredible. I mean, I had an absolutely top class relationship with the chairman.
11:22The connection was spectacular from the beginning. I think we were made to work together,
11:29OK? And it was clear that it was working very well. So the vision was always there.
11:35And I think that I was trying to explain to someone from Sunderland the opposite to what
11:42I'm going to say to you now. I think when you are in a club that they have this world and now
11:47it's so famous methodology of work, you know, methodology, tactically, periodisation, blah,
11:52blah, blah. There is no club like Brighton in the way they find the coaches, OK? All the teams,
11:59they just change the coach depending on the momentum. It doesn't matter if they play the
12:03same football or the football character or whatever. Now, the coach that Brighton have now
12:09is outstanding and you're going to love him, OK? And I can tell you because I was lucky enough to
12:15meet him, OK? I had a player play for me a few games in Greece. He was playing for St. Pauli
12:23in the second division of Germany. So I travelled to meet him and to meet the player personally
12:28because I didn't know him. I didn't call him for one year and a half and I called him at the end
12:31of my stay there. And Fabian was so good to come down on the day of the game and spend two hours
12:39with me talking about football. And I'm telling you, I am 56 years old and if that guy said to
12:47me at four o'clock, three o'clock in the afternoon that day, do you want to play tonight? I will play
12:51for him because it's incredible the way he understands football, how he wants to play
12:57football, how he loves football and what he's done with St. Pauli when he went out. So I was
13:04delighted when I saw that the chairman, Tony Blom, was approaching Fabian as a new coach.
13:11And I'm absolutely delighted and it's going to be amazing, I promise you, how the team is going to
13:16play this year. That's amazing. One final question about Brighton and then a final one for you.
13:21Everyone was speaking about Fabian Herzler's age, 31 years old. From what you've just told me there,
13:28those people don't need to even be considering that. Don't worry. When you have a coach
13:37that is playing away from home in Berlin on the day of the game, he comes down to see
13:43an international coach and have a chat for two hours and he's not panicking about the game or
13:50trying to do... because everything is done. He worked all week to play that game. Everything
13:55was done. It was just the last meeting and go and play and perform. And they won that game,
13:59by the way. I was at the stadium. And I think he got the personality and the character
14:09that he looked like this. With all respect to Fabian, don't get me wrong, he looked like
14:1350 years old, not 31. No, I see. And my final question for you was, you've managed a lot of
14:23teams. You've had a really interesting career. You've had a wide range of teams. You've even
14:28been in China. What's the one thing, I wanted to know, a bit of a random question, but what's the
14:34one thing that has surprised you about being a manager? There is many things, but I think
14:42the main one that I try to convince clubs, owners, sport directors, CEOs, is that when from the top
14:53they say and set up a line of work and a line of
14:58objective that is clear outside, they clear the path of the coach massively. But where it's
15:07like kind of silence and kind of let the fans think about what we need to do, and then something
15:16doesn't work very well, then everything is on top of the manager. So I would love my chairman or my
15:24CEO or my sport director to come out and say, for example, Brighton, we need to finish in the top 10.
15:29We need to maintain the style of play. We need to keep creating this atmosphere
15:36around the club. We need to keep growing up. We can compete in Europe better.
15:42And then the coach will love that because he knows everybody agrees and knows what is the
15:48main objective. That kind of lives there. And I love that line of work where it's clear.
15:55And now the manager needs to, you know, you need to play good football. You need to attract players.
16:00You need to maintain the atmosphere and you need to get better. It's possible to get better
16:05in European competitions. That's it. And I'm sure that Fabian will love it. And I would like that.
16:11But sometimes we don't want to create that because if not, then they have a different
16:16responsibility. But it works against the coaches. And I told Sunderland, I told Sunderland,
16:222013, 14, 15, 15, say, careful, careful, you're playing with the fire and you're going to get
16:30burned. No, you know nothing. And two years later, they went down and they went down again.
16:34And now they say, gas, gas, it's too late now.