The 29-Year-Old Coach at Head of Next Generation
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16 | THE GAME 1GG the times | Monday February 27 2017 ALEX GRIMM/BONGARTS TheGAME WITHOUT 29-yea FRONTIERS r-old coach at head of next generation dressing room in which five players — goalkeeper Julian Nagelsmann is younger Alexander Stolz, midfielders Eugen Polanski, Pirmin Schwegler and Kai Herdling, and striker than his Hoffenheim players but Kevin Kurányi — were older than him. “It’s something you have to consider, how you’re the sports-science graduate going to deal with players who are older than you,” Nagelsmann admits. “You can’t be too authoritarian; has the maturity to succeed, you have to try to take them along with you, perhaps be a bit more matey than an older manager he tells James Gheerbrant might be. But I also aspired to convince them inwardly. When a player realises that you can make ou never know quite where the next great him better, that your ideas can make him better, football manager is going to come from. then they will follow and you will have authority.” Arsène Wenger stepped off a plane from There was also an unusual practical hurdle to be Japan and into history. José Mourinho negotiated. In Germany, it is common for players to graduated to greatness from the refer to their manager as ‘trainer’ using the formal interpreter’s backroom at Barcelona. Jorge second-person pronoun sie. Given Nagelsmann’s Sampaoli began at the foot of the age, though, that created an awkward dynamic. YArgentine league pyramid while working “I thought it would be weird if I told Eugen as a bank cashier. Polanski, who is a year older than me, that he had To meet the man who might be next in that to call me sie,” Nagelsmann explains. “I don’t think lineage, you have to drive an hour from Frankfurt, you lose a shred of authority that way.” deep into the rolling farmland of Baden- There was a perception that Nagelsmann was a Württemberg, down small country roads through coaching academic, and some eyebrows were raised fields dotted with hay-bales and cows, until it feels further when, in August, he gave an interview to as though you are as far away from the cutting edge Süddeutsche Zeitung in which he theorised that of football as you can possibly get. management was “30 per cent tactics, 70 per cent Nagelsmann’s team did not lose this To understand why, in February last year, social competence”. season until late January and remain Hoffenheim appointed Julian Nagelsmann, a 28- “What I meant is that if you’re fundamentally a fourth in the Bundesliga despite a year-old sports-science graduate who never played very good manager, but have little sense of how to draw away to Schalke yesterday a senior professional game, you need to understand the club itself. Hoffenheim is a village of 3,300 ‘I had to grow up fast. I’ve solutions that they present can be very complex. If people. The club were playing in the amateur fifth THE NEW WAVE you’ve encountered data before in your life, it division as recently as 2000, before rising to the got energy swilling around makes your life as a manager a lot easier.” Bundesliga thanks to the financial and You might think all this forensic analysis would technological backing of the mogul Dietmar Hopp, in me. I feel mature but I Highest-placed homegrown lead to a rather dry football-by-numbers, but you’d a software entrepreneur. The entire club is a rebuke managers aged under 45 be wrong. Hoffenheim have scored 39 goals this to football’s received wisdom of what is possible, don’t feel old. I feel ready’ ranked by league ladder position season, the fourth-most in the Bundesliga, and and how fast; a triumph of arriviste forward- there is an interesting creative tension in thinking over the naysayers. Nobody thought they lead people, then you’ll only have a certain amount English leagues Nagelsmann’s philosophy between science and art. could get to the Bundesliga. Nobody thought they of success,” Nagelsmann, who took four semesters Eddie Howe 39, Bournemouth, 14th “It’s very important for me to play attractive could stay there. And nobody thought they were of business administration before switching to Garry Monk 37, Leeds United, 24th football,” he says. “Football is entertainment after right to appoint Nagelsmann. sports science, explains. “If you’re a fantastic leader Paul Heckingbottom 39, Barnsley all. In the current moment, where money is so “A public relations stunt,” declaimed the local of men, who can create a really positive mood, but 30th important, where people have to work several jobs newspaper Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung. The Frankfurter you’re not fundamentally the best manager, you Lee Johnson 35, Bristol City, 41st to make a living, I always have the aspiration that Rundschau called it “a crackpot idea”. may nonetheless be able to get around it. At the Paul Warne 43, Rotherham, 44th spectators should go away from our games But one year on from Nagelsmann’s appointment, end of the day, a player who doesn’t always do thinking, that was a nice game to watch. I stand the success has been extraordinary. When everything right but whose heart is always in it is German Bundesliga strongly for the fact that we take risks, we seize the Nagelsmann — who turned to coaching after injury far more effective than a player who does Thomas Tuchel 43, Borussia initiative, we play with courage.” ended his playing career aged 20 — took over, everything 100 per cent correctly but with only Dortmund, 3rd Courage is a recurring word in conversation with Hoffenheim were 17th in the Bundesliga, seven 50 per cent emotional investment.” Julian Nagelsmann 29, Hoffenheim, Nagelsmann. He wants his players to show courage. points from safety. They won seven of their final 14 Nagelsmann belongs to the coterie of German 4th He thinks English clubs should show courage in games to stay up, and this season, after 22 games, managers, including Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel Markus Weinzieri 42, Schalke, 12th appointing young, homegrown managers and they are fourth. They didn’t lose their first match of Borussia Dortmund (who coached him in Manuel Baum 37, Augsburg, 13th believes that the hardships of his own personal until January 28, making them the last undefeated Augsburg’s second team), and Bayer Leverkusen’s Alexander Nouri 37, Werder journey instilled in him a quality the Germans call team in any of Europe’s top five leagues. Roger Schmidt, who have in common a limited Bremen, 15th lebensmut – the courage to face life. Nagelsmann’s age is practically unprecedented for playing career and an intellectual approach to When Nagelsmann was 16, he left home in the a top-flight coach in a major European league. He is management. Nagelsmann, though, is taking it to Spanish leagues Bavarian village of Issing to move to Munich, where the youngest permanent manager in Bundesliga extremes. Marcelo Romero 40, Málaga, 13th he was on the academy books at 1860 Munich. But history and even a year after his appointment is still Hoffenheim use highly specialised data such as Víctor Sánchez del Amo 41, Real his junior career was full of injury setbacks as he three years younger than the Premier League’s the time each player spends in the deckungsschatten Betis, 15th struggled to overcome persistent knee problems. youngest-ever manager, Attilio Lombardo. Did he — the ‘marking shadow’, where they are blocked Gaizka Garitano 41, Deportivo La When he was 20, his father died and he found ever wonder if it might be too much, too soon? from receiving the ball by opponents. Drones Coruña, 17th himself tasked with selling the family home and “Since I started out as a coach very early, it was videotape their training sessions. So avant garde are Pablo Machin 41, Girona, 22nd finding a new house for his mother. Shortly after clear that if I got an opportunity, it would likely be Nagelsmann’s methods that the progressive José Luis Martí 41, Tenerife, 24th that, he was told his playing career was over. as a very young coach. The probability, should I Schmidt sneered, “You think you’ve invented “When you have invested a lot of time in become a Bundesliga manager, that I would be football, do you?” during a touchline contretemps. Italian leagues becoming a professional player, and that dream under 35, was quite high,” he says. “That the chance “Coaching is becoming ever more scientific — Simone Inzaghi 40, Lazio, 5th bursts, it’s hard to cope with,” he says. “With what came so early obviously took me by surprise, but I through all the data that you get nowadays, and the Vincenzo Montella 42, AC Milan, was going on in my personal life too, maybe it did never had the fear that I was too young. I felt ready developments in sport science,” Nagelsmann says. 7th force me to grow up faster — to retain the courage for it. The only small misgiving that I had was, ‘I “Coaches need an ever more scientific background. Giovanni Martusciello 45, Empoli, to face life. I’m probably not a typical 29-year-old.” hope we can turn the corner.’ But it had nothing to It’s not a fundamental pre-requisite, just like it’s not 17th Nagelsmann looks, despite it all, even younger do with my age, and everything to do with the a pre-requisite for a manager to have played the Davide Nicola 43, Crotone, 19th than his tender years. “I feel young,” he says.