Management to be Proud of

Former Chelsea and Spurs midfielder Gus Poyet has eased comfortably into management, guiding Brighton & Hove Albion to the npower League One crown last season. With the club tackling the demands of the Championship well in the opening months, the Uruguayan took time out to reflect on two years in the job.

Who has influenced you most in terms of your management style?

“I guess I am influenced by a number of people. When Gianluca Vialli took the job at Chelsea I realised that I needed to pay attention to everything that was going on around me. I quickly went back and looked at how things had worked under Ruud Gullit and then kept learning from people like Claudio Ranieri, Glenn Hoddle and David Pleat. I also played under a manager called Victor Fernandez when I was with Real Zaragoza and he made every day of training a pleasure, so I try to do that too.

“Naturally, you take different things from different people. I would love to be as relaxed outside football as Ruud Gullit is, but that’s not my character. Also, I would like to understand the game and to see the quality of things in the way that Glenn Hoddle did, but he had his own unique way. I think I’ve taken things from everyone I’ve played for, while at the same time avoiding the bits that I didn’t like... which, of course, I won’t tell you!”

It’s been a great ride so far for Brighton, and one that has built expectations. Does that put you under pressure?

“Obviously fans must be careful not to take things for granted. We have a group of players who haven’t played in the Championship before and this is a totally different division; it’s really tough, with big teams spending big money. The experience is great for all of us, but sometimes when you put everything together – a new stadium, new players and so on – it takes time. But we’ve got a decent, middle-of-the-table budget, and we’re competitive, so we’ll have to wait and see.

“At the end of the day though the Championship has more quality than League One. It’s got some massive teams and they’re all pushing for the Barclays Premier League. If you’ve got, say, 10 teams pushing for promotion and only three can go up, does that mean that the other seven have failed? Every year you have teams who promise their fans that this is the year they are going to make it, but that’s unrealistic. It’s great to have ambition, but you need to be careful and realistic. And if we do go up, I want us to stay there.”

Many hailed the signing of Craig Mackail-Smith as a real sign of intent. Did you see it that way too?

“That signing was the result of good work by the whole club, especially the chairman. We all did our jobs, we knew how much we could spend and we knew we could convince people that we were going places. To have a Chairman like Tony Bloom in my first managerial role is perfect. I know how ambitious he is; he wants to get to the Barclays Premier League but I know that he is cautious when he has to be. So even if we want to get there as quickly as possible, he knows that it may take a few years. For me, that’s great... there’s pressure, but it’s not crazy.”

You seem completely content at the moment.

“I am. We have the club working the way we like it, and I believe that we’re creating something that we will be proud of for the rest of our lives. Right now, the first-team and the reserves play in exactly the same way and this season we are going to take that down to the Under-18s and Under-16s too. We’re slowly building a style and an identity for this club and for me as a manager that’s absolutely amazing.”