Post by Macmoish on Sept 17, 2010 9:53:09 GMT
Leicester Mercury
The Friday Interview: Sousa enjoying the English experience
Paulo Sousa's reign as manager of Leicester City's opponents tomorrow, Queens Park Rangers, lasted just 142 days. He was sacked in April 2009 after revealing in a press conference that striker Dexter Blackstock had been loaned out to Nottingham Forest without his knowledge.
It was a shabby way for his first job to end, but it didn't change his mind that England was the best place to start his managerial career.
Even though he never played for an English club during his trophy-laden playing days, the City boss chose to come to England because he believes managers are given more time to develop their sides.
He was given his first opportunity at Loftus Road, and although it wasn't exactly the start to his managerial career he was looking for, it didn't change his belief.
Sousa was picked up by Swansea City and, in his first season at the Liberty Stadium, almost took the Welsh club to the play-offs before quitting to join Leicester in the summer, a club that has seen a plethora of managers come and go over the past five years.
Sousa said he is planning for the long term at the Walkers Stadium and is confident he will be given the time to see his project through.
"I had some opportunities to play here (in England) but at that time I didn't feel they were the best for me," said Sousa.
"At that moment, the clubs did not play my type of game. I started to recognise it is not the same as it was 10 years or even five years ago because there are different owners and a different approach in the clubs.
"In England, it allows you some stability to build up projects with some success. It is one of the few countries where you have room to work.
"I am already proud of what I have built already here, because I feel I have already some recognition from people around football.
"That gives me more energy to invest every day more and more in myself, in my knowledge to gain success."
Sousa admits he and his family are now feeling very much at home in England, and they have settled into country life in Quorn.
"I feel more English because I live here all the time," he said.
"When I go back to Portugal I instinctively drive on the left now when there are no cars around. My daughter is fluent in English and she helps me a lot to improve my English, with the different vocabulary. I think I would like to speak much better.
"We are settling in Leicester and we have a nice house, nice school, and we live in a nice part of countryside.
"My family and I are very close to nature. We like the countryside and have fitted in very well. We have dogs and we like to take them for walks around the countryside."
Sousa admits that working with English players has been a challenge as the footballing culture in this country is so different to his experiences on the continent, but one of the main reasons he wanted to work in England was because of the passion shown by both the players and the supporters.
"English and continental players have different characteristics," he said.
"For example, if you compare Italian players to English, in Italy we worked two-and-a-half to three hours a day on tactics with low intensity. But here everything is done with intensity.
"I think the player is the most important part of the game and we need to respect that. The player needs to invest in himself to be rich tactically, to understand the game better.
"I need to recognise that I can't work here the same way as the Italian managers there, or even like Carlo Ancelotti is doing at Chelsea. It is not easy. Of course it is different at Chelsea because the majority of players are not English.
"You have to adapt to the environment and the culture of the club, the culture of the players and the country. I am attempting to do that. Slowly you can introduce things.
"You can't do it straight away because they are used to doing it this way for 30 years in some cases.
"I love the passion and intensity on the pitch and in the stands. It will take time but I have confidence in my own ability that we will have success."
www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/sport/Friday-Interview-Sousa-enjoying-English-experience/article-2653575-detail/article.html
The Friday Interview: Sousa enjoying the English experience
Paulo Sousa's reign as manager of Leicester City's opponents tomorrow, Queens Park Rangers, lasted just 142 days. He was sacked in April 2009 after revealing in a press conference that striker Dexter Blackstock had been loaned out to Nottingham Forest without his knowledge.
It was a shabby way for his first job to end, but it didn't change his mind that England was the best place to start his managerial career.
Even though he never played for an English club during his trophy-laden playing days, the City boss chose to come to England because he believes managers are given more time to develop their sides.
He was given his first opportunity at Loftus Road, and although it wasn't exactly the start to his managerial career he was looking for, it didn't change his belief.
Sousa was picked up by Swansea City and, in his first season at the Liberty Stadium, almost took the Welsh club to the play-offs before quitting to join Leicester in the summer, a club that has seen a plethora of managers come and go over the past five years.
Sousa said he is planning for the long term at the Walkers Stadium and is confident he will be given the time to see his project through.
"I had some opportunities to play here (in England) but at that time I didn't feel they were the best for me," said Sousa.
"At that moment, the clubs did not play my type of game. I started to recognise it is not the same as it was 10 years or even five years ago because there are different owners and a different approach in the clubs.
"In England, it allows you some stability to build up projects with some success. It is one of the few countries where you have room to work.
"I am already proud of what I have built already here, because I feel I have already some recognition from people around football.
"That gives me more energy to invest every day more and more in myself, in my knowledge to gain success."
Sousa admits he and his family are now feeling very much at home in England, and they have settled into country life in Quorn.
"I feel more English because I live here all the time," he said.
"When I go back to Portugal I instinctively drive on the left now when there are no cars around. My daughter is fluent in English and she helps me a lot to improve my English, with the different vocabulary. I think I would like to speak much better.
"We are settling in Leicester and we have a nice house, nice school, and we live in a nice part of countryside.
"My family and I are very close to nature. We like the countryside and have fitted in very well. We have dogs and we like to take them for walks around the countryside."
Sousa admits that working with English players has been a challenge as the footballing culture in this country is so different to his experiences on the continent, but one of the main reasons he wanted to work in England was because of the passion shown by both the players and the supporters.
"English and continental players have different characteristics," he said.
"For example, if you compare Italian players to English, in Italy we worked two-and-a-half to three hours a day on tactics with low intensity. But here everything is done with intensity.
"I think the player is the most important part of the game and we need to respect that. The player needs to invest in himself to be rich tactically, to understand the game better.
"I need to recognise that I can't work here the same way as the Italian managers there, or even like Carlo Ancelotti is doing at Chelsea. It is not easy. Of course it is different at Chelsea because the majority of players are not English.
"You have to adapt to the environment and the culture of the club, the culture of the players and the country. I am attempting to do that. Slowly you can introduce things.
"You can't do it straight away because they are used to doing it this way for 30 years in some cases.
"I love the passion and intensity on the pitch and in the stands. It will take time but I have confidence in my own ability that we will have success."
www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/sport/Friday-Interview-Sousa-enjoying-English-experience/article-2653575-detail/article.html
