Latest / A Level Playing Field / Fran Alonso: I never wanted to leave Celtic and I dream of Hoops return I A Level Playing Field I Episode 25

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Fran Alonso: I never wanted to leave Celtic and I dream of Hoops return I A Level Playing Field I Episode 25 · A Level Playing Field

• 0:00
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• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to a level playing field.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Cheryl Smith alongside Allison McConnell as ever.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: And we're joined this week by a guest that we've been desperate to get on pretty much since we started this podcast, and we've got him on today.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Known more familiar to our listeners as ex-Celtic manager, although he's managed in USA, England, and of course Spain.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: We have ex-Celtic boss Fran Alonso is with us.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Fran, delighted to have you on.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for for giving us your time today for the podcast.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you very much for having me.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's very nice to to hear uh Scottish Saxon once again.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm delighted to be here.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's nice to have you on, and it's been a it's been a couple of years since since we've seen you and been able to speak to you.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: But just first off, you know, how do you reflect back on your time at Celtic when you think about that now that there's been there's been a bit of time and what kind of what what comes to mind when you think back to that period in your in your career?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I I remember um when the day the day I left that I I said in the in the media, I said like, you know, I wasn't a Celtic fan uh when I born, but I you know I left as a massive Celtic fan, and it this is what I remember uh now every single day.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I I love the club, I love the people.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there are even small things.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, it's my birthday, and you know, uh 90% of the people who say happy birthday to me are Celtic fans.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they contact me all the time in social media, and so it's quite amazing.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think the you know the the chemistry was for these four years was amazing.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think we did uh amazing things for the club together for the first time, like you know, back-to-back Scottish Cubs.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, I think the playing style was something that that they always mentioned that was you know, electric was exciting.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I I have uh amazing memories.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think you know, I can say now I got 20 years career uh in the professional game, and for me, obviously I can get amazing times, amazing experience for every single job I had, but I would say uh overall that's that my must my best spell uh in football where I was where I was the happiest.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh didn't get the more money, I didn't get the you know uh the best weather.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: But but I it was it was um something amazing because of what uh it meant to to the fans and and to the community.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I um I will love the club forever.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, I still in every time this year, for example, winning in the league in the in the last uh the last kick of the game, and you know, obviously I still in touch, I still write in people, Michael and people from the board and to congratulate them.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I still in touch.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Some people have left already from my time there, but you know, I for me it could until now, and I think it will be like that for forever.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you came within a whisker of delivering the the first title that day, that afternoon, when it just slipped from the grass.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: I think everyone uh you were in tears, the players were in tears all around the pitch.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I uh this to be fair, that made the following week uh the second Scottish Cup uh even more special because the strength that these players showed for this heartbreak, I mean, also the way it happened, you know, like uh we we were winning it, it was the time time finished already.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then we we hear that uh Glasgow City score and then Rangers score, or without the score, and the stadium started to cheer, and you know, it was this roller coaster of emotions.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was yeah, something for me, it prepared the team for the following year, winning it in the same way in the last minute with the Amy Amy G goal.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, it's something that we have to experience.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a shame that I get to experience the the heartbreak and and not the title, which was something I was desperate.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, to be fair, I I enjoyed almost like it.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I were I was there, you know, like most of the players, if not 99%, were the players that we signed in the summer.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh, you know, ugly credit to to to to Elena, to the manager that was at the time to win the title for the first time.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but yeah, I was I was absolutely delighted.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh again, I I I was talking to most of the players and most of the board.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was a very, very happy day for me, and something that it was coming for the last five years, and and finally, finally it happened.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So very, very, very, very proud.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for me, yeah, one of my probably the saddest days in football was was that day, uh, because of how much it meant for for everyone and the stadium full, the stadium singing.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh I I was feeling gutted for for everyone who showed up that day.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: See, when you decided to leave the club, did you um how how difficult a decision was that?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because you know, you were you were so in tune with the fans, and I think your your passion really showed and you know in front of the fans celebrating, and I think you I think you sang the Celtic song in one of the post-match interviews.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: You had a real connection.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: So was it was it difficult to then um step away from all of that and and go to Pastors News?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: It it was it was extremely difficult.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I really every manager that leaves a club they say is the most difficult decision, but for me, it honestly was.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh people who know me, people who was working with me, uh coaches that were with me, uh they all know.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I didn't want to leave.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is the truth.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I uh I think Kaylin Hayes put a message where in the precision where I promised her this year we will win the league.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like I knew it.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: I knew this was the year, and I really didn't want to leave.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean the the offer, I had two.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um I got the the Houston Dask, which was the one finally I took, and another one that was as well very, very lucrative.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I didn't want to leave.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to leave.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a meeting with the with the board at the time.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and um and you know, uh they actually say, Look, Fran, you have you have to take it, man.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: You have to take it.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot just reject this one in a life opportunity.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: So finally it was kind of like a mutual decision.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I I didn't want to leave.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the day I make the decision, instead of being a happy day, where normally, you know, new excited about the new project, this was a very, very sad day.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I remember being with my mom here.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Celtic posts a video of me and my time there, and we were both crying.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: We were both so it wasn't it wasn't easy.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't easy, and that feeling last lasted uh for all my time uh there in the US.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I was following, you know, every single day, every single game.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I even first thing I Googled when I went to Houston is uh Celtic Supporter Club.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I was there every time we didn't train or we didn't have a game, I went there to see the game uh of Celtic.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, not not the women because I didn't show them the NATV, but uh I was following the men.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and yeah, it was it was amazing, to be fair.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh probably the the the hardest decision I I ever had to make in football.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, uh if I could come back, uh I'm not sure.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not 100% sure I wouldn't make it again.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's interesting.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: I suppose there must uh you might have felt though at a time that you hit a ceiling at Celtic that you're thinking there's not really going to be more investment within the the women's team that you that you hit a wall almost of this is where we are in terms of funding and resources and finance.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: And on the other hand, you have an opportunity to go where the culture of women's football is is so vastly different.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if I am honest with you, like I I knew I knew the restrictions we have.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh at the time, in all my time there, you know, obviously Rangers and Glasgow City were stronger financially than us.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I never once say anything public, I never once complained.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it was one of the beauty, you know, that we managed to get the best from the team.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily our players didn't get paid as much as another team, so but we actually got the best from them.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we create an environment where everyone who came in, well, you saw along all these years, you know, players that came and then one, two years, and then they left two amazing teams, double, triple their salaries.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Jacinta, Tas Flynn, Charlie Wellings, Clarissa Larisi, I can say hundreds of them.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that for me is what made me uh the proudest.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a you know, my my chemistry was not only with the with the fans and with the community, it was with the club, with the whole club.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I identify with the board, you know.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I always my job as a manager was demand more, demand more resources for the girls, demand more budget for signings, demand, but you know, I when I when they say no, um I accept it and we carry on working with what we have.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, I think we this kind of respect and chemistry was what made that that time so so successful.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: In terms of um the what the team could do, I I don't think I think the team could do much more.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't say okay, I did everything what I what I can do at Celtic.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I thought we didn't win the league, so I thought we have to win the league.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: I want to go to the group stages of Champion League, which actually the team won as well, which you know it made me so so proud.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I think it's a team that you know uh can compete in in you know, get the first win in the group stages.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: This type of you know, uh step by step, you know, these achievements that will get the team, the team in some years in uh to being well recognized in Europe, like like you know, the men are.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I was the first manager of of Celtics when they became professional.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, I felt like you know, almost like it was something that we built together from from the very beginning.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why um I was always so passionate, I was always so you know involved.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I worked 24 hours every day, I went home and I keep doing things, and you know, I absolutely love it.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: I love everything because of that, because of what it meant to the community, to the people, and to the to the players that or staff that were involved.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have so many volunteers that work every single day, so many hours, and they were just volunteers, didn't get paid, and they love it, they absolutely love it.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this environment we create it was so so special, and and this is what made me uh more sad uh when I left.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like uh I went somewhere somewhere else where football, you know, did soccer didn't matter so much.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, baseball, football, uh, American football, soccer, uh, sorry, um, hockey, this is what it really meant something to them, but you know, soccer, all women's soccer, at least in where area where I was, it didn't mean anything.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, the change was like that was, you know, okay, the resources, the money, the budget, it was amazing, world class.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, at the end of the day, uh, what what for me what mattered most is the impact you can make in people.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if you cannot make much impact, then you know, I don't think I enjoy much, even if you know the paycheck and every single month is amazing.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, this is something that's made me happy.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's time for our player of the week, sponsored by Nutmeg Magazine, the home of brilliant football stories.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Check out the latest issue at nutmegmagazine.co.uk.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: Player of the week, sponsored by Nutmeg, goes to Eve Colville.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: She collects the first award of this season after netting four goals, as Joel Murray's side beat Motherwell on a frantic opening weekend of the SWPL.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: That was our Nutmeg Magazine player of the week.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: For more great football writing and to order the latest issue, visit nutmegmagazine.co.uk.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: You raised an interesting point when you were talking about that last day of the season, the season where it just got away from Celtic by that Glasgow City late goal.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: But it that season, though those last few weeks of the campaign, there were 15, I think if I'm right, 15,85 in for one of the games, and one of them I think was 12,500, you know, significant numbers now.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Fudged maybe a little bit because if I recall correctly, the Celtic fans were trialing out the Celtic end, so slightly fudged perhaps.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: However, what you did see were numbers that no one else has been able to replicate in that time.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: What what does that come down to?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: What was the the chemistry there between the club and supporters and enticing them to come out?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: And why has there been no sustainability around that?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: Why has it been so hard to capitalize in that momentum and keep them?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I don't know.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know the answer.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: If I knew the answer, I would I would have to say to whoever makes decisions, and you know, because for me that's something as well, something that made me very, very proud.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, when I was there, I thought we'd change the women's game forever in Scotland.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, not only us, but you know, the the fight that we have with Glasgow City, with Rangers until then, uh, it was it was, I think no, it was over 17,000.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh obviously it was something that well Celtic fans wanted to show, wanted to show how amazing it is to have this end.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it was another uh factor involved, but the fact is was 17,000 people, and the following week in the Scottish Cup final were like 12,000 people.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it was amazing, numbers that we haven't seen before.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I remember the media, you know, many people attended in the in the street.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh some so many so many people, you know, would would say something, and you know, like everyone was like very, very happy.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh to be fair, and that year for Celtic fans as well, it was amazing.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like Anj Ange Postocabulus team was like flying, and you know, they were having an amazing football, brand of football.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: I thought we were, in my opinion, with respect to other teams, we were the best footballing team.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: We scored so many goals, we were up streaming attacking side, taking gamble, uh, taking risks at the back, but we were so so and teams and coaches say that you know it was very difficult to play us because of how quick we moved the ball.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't win every game, but I thought we were we were very, very good.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is exciting for the fans.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think you know, um, I don't know if this is the type of football is or or I don't know, uh maybe some of the top top players well recognized, like Hacintake, Lin Hayes, leaving as well.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: There are players that many, many people follow, and everyone knew.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: When these players leave, it's always, you know, uh they leave a spot that really hasn't been filled yet because of you know the aura of these players.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it I think it's a little bit of a mix of everything, but yeah, I I I really really hope that that uh the Scottish game come back to the to to in the women's game, come back to where it was because I think you know I I experienced that and it was amazing.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: As I say, after 20 years in football in the Premier League, in Spain, in US, and it's probably my best spell in football where I enjoy the most.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um so hopefully it will come back to that.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: So you still with your weight jacket.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: The day I come back to Celtic, which one day I will come back, uh I will I will wear it.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is this this is a promise.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned you're coming back in in which capacity do you see yourself coming back?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um to be fair, I you know, uh obviously I my I have to to give my my whole and all my respect to to the manager that was after me and now to Gran, and you know, I wish them all the success, and you know, obviously I'm I'm a Celtic supporter, so I hope they they win everything this year.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but to be fair, if if the club, if the club needed me in any capacity, uh I am I'm um I'm a massive uh Celtic fan now and I had an amazing time there.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you know, I'm a I'm a manager, I wouldn't like to be anything else that is not a coach.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I want to be on the pitch every day training, and this is what I love.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um I actually improved in the media, I think.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't sing so much lately.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um but but yeah, no, I will I would love to I would love one day to to come back uh you know to to to coach there.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's in the women, in the women team, and if it's to to be successful, so welcome.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: That would be welcome.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, but my my thought I say when I left, and obviously I have so many so many years left in my career, I'm still kind of young uh for a manager.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I I have the luxury of experience the best leagues in the world now.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: I coach in the best leagues in the world, and I think that gives me uh uh a lot of out of knowledge and experience to to if one day I got the chance to come back to to Scotland to make a a bigger uh even a bigger impact that we made when I was there.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's something that is in my always was in my in my mind uh to come back.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and I know it will happen.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know when, but I know it will happen at some point.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Fran, did you when you left, did you have any kind of conversations with Aliyah Sadiku when she came in?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have chats with her about what what it's like to be Celtic manager?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh no, to be fair, no, because um at the time it was another person who was joining.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the person that was in conversation was another person.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and that person, we have the we share the same agent, so I was aware of that.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so not no not directly, but through my agent, she she did ask some some things about, you know, but obviously my feedback was amazing.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but they but but but then that that deal I think fell through, and then Elena was was the next one.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, at the time I was already uh in the US and uh I I I didn't have the chance.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: I never spoke to Elena actually.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: You were speaking earlier about your experience when you went over to America and that maybe they had all the riches and all these all these things, but not quite the passion.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: And we know what you're like as a manager having having experienced you here in Scotland.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Was that was it was it quite disappointing for you?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a big move and one that you said that you couldn't you couldn't turn down and the club said that.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: But when you arrive and then there's not the same feeling, it doesn't matter as much.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: Was that was that kind of a disappointment?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And did it kind of did that affect your time there?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was, it was.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: And to be fair, you know, we had an amazing stadium there, the the you know, like almost 30,000 people, but very, very rare that you have more than 2,000 people watching games.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and just I put just one example so you understand the the massive difference.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not about credit, it's not about fame, it's not about being recognized, it's about what you do, what matters, if it matters or not to people.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I went with my parents to one of the games.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, actually, it was probably the best game we play at home against uh North Carolina.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: We beat them 3-0, we didn't win so many games there.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, uh the security guy in the in the entrance says name, please.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I say my name, Fran Alonso, and he just check in the list and he said, What do you say?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Fran Alonso.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: I say, No, you're not here.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, I'm the manager of the team, and he just called with a walkie-talkie and said, Hey, I am what's your name?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Fran Alonso.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Fran Alonso is here.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, let him in.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, come on, mate.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the guy that was working for a game didn't even know the name of players or managers or anyone.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the type of you know, uh in Scotland, everyone will knew, you know, who we were, and you know, like uh it's just different, totally uh different level of passion.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, to be fair, uh there are they also have so many good things.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to say that you know everything was bad there, of course no.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the resources were amazing.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: We have nutritionists, we have psychologists, we have everything there.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it was it was good resources, it was you know, uh a team competing in the best league in the world, so they have some positive things, but for me, what moved me is not the resources.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: I actually like to have, in a way, lack of resources and still try to get the best from the players and from the staff.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that you know you don't need the best resources to to make environments where the team can excel.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's all about the team culture.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can see, for example, with with Spain, uh in men or women, you know, there are in women maybe they have some of the best places in the world, but in the in the in the main game, you know, you see France, for example, the individualities they got, Spain, Spain got this ability to to work together, to work together as a group, which is in our DNA since we were kids, is team first.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: So this is you know, I I like I like this uh more this.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, definitely uh it was an experience where I where you know I enjoy, as I say, when when I have the money, uh at the end of the uh at the end of the month, it was you know one one month there was almost like a year in in Scotland, but but you know, at the end, I I didn't last much.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: I it was two plus one, and after eight months, I have a mutual agreement to come back.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't, I I didn't enjoy.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't enjoy.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not in football to to to get rich, I'm not in football to to get a paycheck at the end of the of the month.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in football to make an impact and to and to how to change lives.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: It whether it's the community, the fans, the uh the players, the staff.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: But this is this is what why why I am as a manager, why I am why I am a manager.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, definitely it was a a different type of experience, which is good.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: It made me uh better in so many aspects, it made me more resilient, it made me, you know, that the challenge that you have find there as a coach, it was amazing.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Some some of the best, if not the best coaches in the world are there uh in huge salary.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: So they are you know very knowledgeable and they have a lot of experience.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: They will change in a game, they will change tactically three, four times.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you have to constantly adjust.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was challenging, very challenging.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: At the beginning, it was hard for me, and at the end I was getting better.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then I went to Deportivo just I wanted something similar to Celtic.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh local club, everyone in Coruña is Deportivo fan because it's the only club in the city.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: And fans are similar, not like Celtic fans, because I don't think there is anything like Celtic fans in the world, but some very, very passionate about the team.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: They feel the stadium, especially when the men play.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Very, very similar.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing stadium, so very similar.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I went there and I I enjoy I enjoy very, very much my year and a half at Deportivo.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I enjoy very much so a little bit I got back these feelings that I have when I was in in Glasgow of you know what you do means something to people.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people is passionate about about what you do, you know, about your job.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: You spend so many hours, and if people are indifferent about that, you know, it's it's it doesn't matter how much you get paid for it.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: Do you turn up to a stadium as the manager and you know the person at the door is having to phone someone to check her yard?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: It could affect how you know how how valued you feel, I suppose, just weak these little small things.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but it it is it is surprising.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't feel, you know, I I found it funny at the time, but uh it and my what my parents were in the car, and and I actually they make a comment and they say that would never happen in Glasgow.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we were at dinner together and you know, Celtic fans came to our table and sit with us.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it was like totally different scenario.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: But but yeah, it it tells you that for them was really a job.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it wasn't like they were passionate about the team, they didn't know the pay, you know.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we have so many volunteers.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: We they did it, you know.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: We have our uh ball girls were you know playing for our team, and they when when we scored a goal, they were jumping, they were, I mean, you know, it meant so much to everyone, uh, as opposed to what I found there.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but yeah, it's that's something that that is an experience that made me uh stronger, make me better as a manager, I think.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and yeah, I I think I can use what I learned there in future projects.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: I I can imagine you mentioned there about going to the Houston Celtic Supporters Club and and watching games.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: That must feel really odd when you are being so invested and and central to the fortunes of a club and woven inside it to then suddenly be on the outside looking in.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: And particularly so I would have thought with the women's team, because you really took the women's team from a fringe entity at Celtic, where 60,000 people and that so they might not have known who Kelly Clark was or who the captain of the women's team was, or even if there was a women's team, to to making them maybe not front and center of of public consciousness, but definitely giving them an awareness of who these girls were and what they were trying to do and and offering encouragement, and then to to suddenly find yourself sitting on a bar and and feeling homesick for it in it in a sense are wistful for those moments.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: I imagine that must have felt quite lonely.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: To be fair, that was it was like my little home there in Houston, because I went there, I went with an assistant and with Andy, the fitness coach of uh of Celtic.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Andy is still there in the US.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but my assistant have a uh his son has a problem and he had to come back.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I actually stayed alone there for most of my time, totally alone, you know, without assistant.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: The club put an assistant, which you know, we didn't, we weren't in the same page uh football-wise or tactic-wise.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it really didn't really didn't work.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: But my home was going with Andy because Andy obviously was at Celtic with me, and go to these Celtic supporter clubs, you know, and everyone knew who we were.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one knew who we were without us saying anything, you know.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I it was amazing to to they were for a long time living there in Houston.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, some of them were Scottish, some of them weren't, but they were like so, so passionate.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it was uh you know refreshing to see people maybe from there, they were so passionate about the Astros, which is the baseball team, which are one of the best in the country.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that passion in for soccer only, Celtic fans have for you know that the Americans really didn't have this passion, at least in Houston, for soccer.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: So for me it was like my little like my little family.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, obviously in one way I was enjoying, you know, we won some important games there.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: We watched together important games and we were you know celebrating when we won.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think I did a couple of posts with them in in uh but yeah, at the same time, you know, obviously when, for example, when the women won the league, I was like over the moon.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: I obviously first call was to Caitlin, but I called to so many others to say congratulations to uh but you know, I I have the feeling of happiness, and at the same time, the feeling of yeah, I I could be there, you know, like it would be amazing to celebrate what we were you know fighting for for four years, you know, was our dream for four years.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: But uh when I saw Kelly lifting this trophy, that was like a a feeling of of wow, you know, of absolute pride.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh when I went there, like Kelly never left a single trophy, as you say, you know, and now what four already or five, five already with the league and the cup this year, five.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, this this is this is something that uh obviously the credit is to her, but for me something that made me make me very, very happy and very proud.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: The the goal at Deportivo, I went there and they were in a very, very bad situation.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: They were in relegation positions, four points behind Levante, who was the team ahead.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And Levante was a very, very strong team, so I thought they would go up.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, they stay up.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a very, very hard challenge.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I wasn't sure if to take it, and finally, you know, I wanted because of that, because of the fans, because of feel, feel this feeling of you know what you do mean to something to people.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: I took the job.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: We managed to, it was hard, but we managed to save the team.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And this year, the goal was for the first time in history to be three years in a row, first division, in the first division.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: And we managed to do that, and we managed to do it very, very early.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: In in April, we were already mathematically safe.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: So in April, I say to the club that I wasn't going to renew.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: My contract was one year and a half.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the goal was achieved, and and I say to the club I was I wasn't going to renew uh because I wanted uh a new a new challenge.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I want a different type of challenge.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: I I love winning, I love to to to score so many goals, I love to be dominant.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so I want a project where you know uh the project could allow me to do that.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if it's in the best league in the world or if it's in a league that is not so good, but I want because why?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because of this, this is what makes impact in players.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: I can uh change the life of the academy players that now go and play.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: I see Maria Makaneni now via starter.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: I I gave her the debut with 15 years old.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is what made me make me very, very proud.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I have only since I left, I have a couple of offers.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but at the project it wasn't exactly what what I thought can get the best from me.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: And for the moment I'm waiting.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't want to rush into any project.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm waiting.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: My agent is working hard to to try to find uh uh the right project.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: And and for the moment I'm I've been 20 years without a break coaching, so I can afford uh a few weeks or a few months, you know, just trying to improve myself.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to visit friends, I make so many contacts in so many leagues, so I get to see training elsewhere, and you know, I'm trying to improve myself in this way until the right the right project comes.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, Fran, thank you.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's been great to great to speak to you.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: We really wanted to get you on, and it's been such an insightful chat.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure everyone listening will will enjoy listening to it.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: We'll look forward to maybe seeing you back in Scotland in the white suit jacket at some point.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know where, and I don't know if it will still fit, probably not, but you know, I am but yeah, I think I think that that would be nice.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was great, great to speak to you.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for your for your time.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you to Alison as well, and thank you to you for listening.