https://twitter.com/henrywinter/status/1408091062170787846
An interview he gave last month but I can't see it all, anyone with a Times account ?
HENRY WINTER | VALÉRIEN ISMAËL INTERVIEW
‘My first rule is intensity, to work as a swarm – if one slips, we’re all dead’
Henry Winter meets Valérien Ismaël, whose Barnsley side have been the surprise package of the Championship season and are aiming for a Premier League place via the play-offs
Ismaël joined Barnsley from Austrian side LASK in October and has taken them from 21st in the Championship to the play-offs
Ismaël joined Barnsley from Austrian side LASK in October and has taken them from 21st in the Championship to the play-offs
MARK ROBINSON FOR THE TIMES
Henry Winter
, Chief Football Writer
Friday May 07 2021, 5.00pm, The Times
One of the most remarkable managerial achievements of the season has unfolded at Barnsley. Valérien Ismaël has guided the youngest side in the Sky Bet Championship — whose most recent starting XI cost only £5 million to assemble — from 21st when he arrived in October to a play-off place. Ismaël’s team play high-octane, quick-pressing football, and only Thomas Tuchel’s half-time tactical and personnel changes at Oakwell kept Chelsea in the FA Cup after their fifth-round meeting.
The MP for Barnsley Central, Dan Jarvis, sent Ismaël a letter congratulating him on being a real tonic to the town during the Covid pandemic. “Many have suffered greatly here but the fantastic performance of the team has provided light in the dark,†Jarvis wrote. Ismaël is beginning to appreciate the impact more as restrictions lift. “I can meet more people now,†he says. “I feel their pride. I see on social media what’s going on but it’s not the same feeling as when you meet the people, and see the pride in their eyes.
“Last week I was in Marks & Spencer and two old ladies came to me and said, ‘Thank you for all the good things.’ They were really polite, asked for an autograph. They were really proud to see what the boys give on the pitch.
“The feeling was great for me, the feeling that we are on the right way here to give pride to people in a tough time. People recognise that it’s not just because we won the game but the way we play. The boys give everything, and this is what people love. Even if we don’t win they recognise the energy, intensity and hard work, and they say, ‘OK, we stay with you.’
“We have such an emotional connection with the fans. Our fans being back will be massive. They will set more energy free in the players. They want to see the players play with courage and heart. This is my way. A few teams can dominate the opponent in possession. My team can dominate the opponent with physicality, with intensity.
“I’m proud of what we’ve done so far and this story is a contrast to the [European] Super League. Barnsley’s story is about having the chance to compete and deserve to be where we are because we give everything. It is the underdog mentality.
“The Super League was just about the elite, to play among themselves and ‘We don’t want to have anyone else with us’, just about the big money. But this is not the real story of football. The story of football is competition. The truth is on the pitch all the time. Everything is possible. We feel we’ve given people hope back and the vision that times will be better.â€
He knows the pressure on communities during the pandemic. “Friends of mine lost their jobs, they work in restaurants and have to close the restaurant. So we have to help each other. We try with my family to help people where we can. My family’s still in Munich. I miss them. January and February were really hard with the new mutations, they close everything, and we were five weeks apart from each other.
“I’m in England, and try to help where I can, speak to people, make donations.†Ismaël even gave £200 to a local brass band at risk of falling silent. “I do it to help, to give the people hope. And I do this with heart.
“People in Barnsley work hard. There was so much snow one day on the training pitch and everyone at the club worked to clear the park for the players. That showed me, ‘This is Barnsley.’ It was good for the players to see that, and after that you respect the staff even more.
“The passion for football in this country is unbelievable. I’m even more aware of that after the Super League. You see how powerful football is with the fans. It’s something special. I never felt that anywhere else, even in Germany or France. It’s a big, big passion as well there but here it’s not a passion, it’s a life. It’s all about football here.â€
So how did Ismaël get here? It’s quite a story. Now 45, he was born in Strasbourg, his father from Guadeloupe and his mother from Alsace. “My father was in the army, and my mother worked as a secretary in an insurance company,†he recalls. “My parents divorced when I was three. The values [he was taught] were wake up early, work hard, work again and don’t be satisfied. My drive started in my childhood.
“It was not easy. I grew up with racism. The racism was direct to me, at school, the area I lived, everywhere. It was all the time, especially a game with other opponents was worse. I developed something special to fight against the racism. Sometimes I fought back physically. For sure, at school. I had to show my strong mentality and fight but the best way is to become someone in life, to reach something that your family is proud of, and to show everything is possible.
“I developed a stronger mentality because I knew I had to do more than the other boys to be recognised. I was not the best player at that time, but my mentality was my strength. Every time I came through problems it was through my mentality.â€
Ismaël knows many black coaches watch him, willing him to succeed. “If I can inspire some coaches then I’m very glad about that,†he says. “It drives me. It’s more about equality, that everyone can have the chance to be a manager. You then have to take your chance.
He agrees with last weekend’s “important†social media boycott, to encourage companies to act against online abuse, but with a caveat. “You need to do this consistently, not just to make [campaigns] one or two days a year,†he says. “English football now understands that the fight against racism won’t be finished tomorrow. It will take a long, long time. The first part is education.â€
Having emerged at local grassroots club Holtzheim, near Strasbourg airport, Ismaël’s playing career took off at Racing Strasbourg. Crystal Palace came calling in January 1998, making the tall centre back their record signing at the time, for £2.75 million. His introduction was painful, encountering Robbie Savage, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Vinnie Jones in the first three of his 16 games for Palace.
“It was always my dream to play in England,†he recalls. “It was unfortunately a difficult experience. I was 22. It was too early. It was the first time away from home, without family, without friends. I tried to give my best. Maybe if it was summer transfer it would have been much easier for me to integrate, find a house, do pre-season, adapt. I then got injured.â€
He was sold to Lens, for £1.3 million, and rebuilt his career, returning to Strasbourg, then on to Double glory at both Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich. “The only thing I didn’t reach in my career was to play for my country,†he reflects. “I played in Les Espoirs [France Under-21, in 1996 and 1997] with Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and [David] Trezeguet. I was proud when France won the World Cup [in 1998]. I was in England, injured, on my couch, with my knee up, after the surgery.â€
As he established himself more, Ismaël felt France would beckon when Raymond Domenech, his coach with Les Espoirs, was promoted to the senior role in 2004. “He said he wanted to try every player, young players, and I was a champion with Bremen, so I thought, ‘OK now, this is the ticket to have the chance to play for my country.’ But I never got the chance to show that. It was a shame for me.â€
That drive simply transferred itself to his managerial career, taking him from Hannover to Nuremberg, Wolfsburg and Apollon Smyrnis in Greece, before he led the Austrian side LASK to the round of 16 of the Europa League last season, where they were knocked out by Manchester United.
Ismaël draws from many of the managers he played for. “Felix Magath was fearless,†he says of his former Bayern coach. “Ottmar Hitzfeld had this feeling for the group [at Bayern]. Thomas Schaaf at Werder Bremen always gave players the feeling they were the best of the world in their position. There are influences but I have found my own way with my own mentality.â€
His players love him. “Because I am real. I was a player, so I understand everything going on in the head of the player. If they are ready to follow my way, I give everything for the player. The first rule is intensity. Without intensity we are average. Intensity to work as a swarm altogether. If one slips we’re all dead. We attack altogether, we defend altogether.
“I create a work ethic for the guys and they push each other. They recognise straight away when a player didn’t run, they’ll say, ‘You have to run.’ They started to develop wining mentality.
“They are privileged to be a footballer and they have to respect that. They can reach something great but you have to stay focused for the young player. I say to them, ‘You have to discover your greatness with your responsibility to your performances.’
They are a band of young brothers on a mission, the likes of the emerging Jasper Moon (20), Callum Styles (21), Toby Sibbick (21), Mads Andersen (23), Callum Brittain (23) and Conor Chaplin (24), alongside more experienced players such as Cauley Woodrow (26). “The youngest team in the league, average 23 years old. Unbelievable,†Ismaël says. “The team spirit is incredible. Without that mentality you can’t reach the play-offs in the Championship.
“Even a world-class team like Chelsea had problems with our intensity. I said to the players, ‘If you can do this against Chelsea then you can do this against anyone in the Championship.’ It was a game-changer for us. We stayed focused on our game, not on the name of the shirt.
“Yes, we respect Chelsea. Yes, we know they are the better team but we have our principles. We saw after the first half they changed. We forced that. It was the first time the players realise it is worth giving everything because we are so close to beating Chelsea.†After their narrow defeat by the Premier League club, Barnsley won their next seven games.
“The hunger to win drives me,†Ismaël says. “That’s why I wake up in the morning, to do my job, to win, but the good thing is when I win, I want to know why I win. In football, you can have a lucky day and win but to win consistently means you need to have a plan. Every manager has his philosophy. Pep Guardiola has one philosophy, Jürgen Klopp has one, José Mourinho has one, but they have the same thing in common, they are winners. This is what we want to reach, to win with consistency.â€
This weekend brings the hardest test in the Championship, Norwich City, and Ismaël will be pushing Barnsley to maintain their momentum. “My players are aware of my mentality: ‘Don’t be satisfied.’ I said to them, ‘This season could be special, you have to believe and keep the momentum going.’ We have to give everything.â€
