VINCENT KOMPANY INTERVIEW: PART TWO

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The second part of a three-part interview from the new boss

2022-06-17T07:30:00.000Z

VINCENT KOMPANY INTERVIEW: PART TWO

The second part of a three-part interview from the new boss

2022-06-17T07:30:00.000Z

The second part of a three-part interview from the new boss

In part-two of the interview, Burnley first-team manager Vincent Kompany discusses his decision to be back in the North-West, the 'project', learning from managers he played under, derby matches and what the Clarets' fanbase can expect from his side.

Vincent Kompany on making the decision to move back to the North-west:

"Firstly, I had to speak with the missus, but my family are as good as gold. They would’ve followed me to Timbuktu if that’s where we needed the job. I can’t say I’ve come back for family reasons, I can’t say I’ve come back because I just love the North West, I do but that’s not the reason.

"It’s a professional career decision and the conversations I needed to have were with the owners, other members of the club, and get all the information I could have to make the most informed decision.

"I was attracted by the fact that I think there are good people there. In football, you can go around so many clubs and get attached to the badge and the money. In reality, it’s a people business. I have chosen Burnley to work with good people."

Vincent Kompany on his vision at the Club:

"I do [have a vision], very clearly, but the difficulty in football is when you mention the word ‘project’. When you lose the first game, you get slapped in the face with it and told we need short-term results.

"What I’ve found more important is that we have an environment when we stay together. Whether that’s in good times or bad times, we can stay on course and rather than making big announcements about where we want to be, it’s more about having the discipline to believe in each other.

"I’ll be buzzing if fans can first and foremost say they just enjoy going to the games. When we play, we want to go forward, get after it, and score goals. I know that we need to be aggressive as well and be a mean place to come to, I really get that, but I want it to be fun for the fans.

"It starts like this and we have a structure behind it that allows us to keep hold of the players we think are good for the club, bring in better players that we think are going to be good for the club in the long term, sell for a profit so we can grow the club naturally, and fight for a place above the level where we’re at now with the means to grow again.

"The idea is that every structural move we make will be towards that idea, but for now I want fans to just enjoy going to a Burnley game. If it hasn’t been good, then we can be honest with each other to turn it around, improve and then go again.

"If we’ve got a team with the fans and players together, then that’s more important to me right now than making any big statements. Everyone can make a big statement, but not everyone knows how to get to a winning culture."

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Vincent Kompany on learning from managers he played under:

"I’ve learned from every coach I’ve ever had in my life. Some of them you learn what not to do but when you mention those great coaches like Pep [Guardiola], [Roberto] Mancini, [Manuel] Pellegrini and Roberto Martinez, there are a lot of coaches who are very different in many ways.

"You can take a lot from them but the main thing I have taken – and I think that this is where the passion came from for me to become a coach – is the simple aspect of making players better. It’s about believing that if you make players better, then you win more games.

"You’re very clear on how you want to win games, not because it’s a stylistic idea or approach, but because clarity is what gives you an edge and what allows you to overperform.

"These coaches were great examples and then I’ve mixed it with other coaches I haven’t played with, but I’ve played against. You become this version of the coach you want to be."

Vincent Kompany on the derby matches ahead of the 2022/23 season:

"Derby matches are the best. I think you play football to win games but the type of games you win matter. Usually what happens is there’s a lot of playing it down on these occasions, but I prefer to build it up.

"That’s what those games are there for – high risk and high reward. Whatever happens, you go again, but it’s still worth giving it the appropriate importance it has just because when you do win, it feels better.

"I’ve researched enough and I know well enough what the derby means to Burnley. It’s perhaps not the most known derby in the world, but once you understand what’s at stake, it’s those you want to be involved in. That’s very clear to me."

Vincent Kompany on what the fans can expect from his side:

"I don’t like to overpromise and make big statements like ‘we’re going to be in the Premier League next year’ because I prefer to show that in the attitude towards work every day, being relentless and having the highest ambition.

"What I do want to put out there is that my goal is absolutely – and whether it happens in the first days or not – to have football that’s for the fans. I want an attacking team, I want movement in the team, a healthy dose of aggression, and something that fans enjoying coming to see at the weekend.

"There’s enough rubbish happening in the world every day and I just want to give something more. I hope that fans will want to come and that they will give us time to get to that ideal picture. It doesn’t happen overnight but it’s something that I won’t deviate from as an ambition."

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Vincent Kompany on his previous experiences of Turf Moor:

"If there’s one game I knew I was playing, it was Burnley away. Turf Moor was a bottle opener if you’d like, I knew I was going to be needed in those games. You knew you didn’t go to Turf Moor without a plan because it was always going to be rough and physical.

"At the same time, they’ve always had good players as well who made things happen out of very few chances. It’s this type of away game that the big teams don’t like to play in.

"Whenever you go to a ground like Turf Moor, first of all it’s a bit of a step in the past. It has that family feeling to it and you can imagine it’s a local club that has been able to fight against the bigger clubs because of that home.

"Going there for us or for any team I’ve played in, it was always just a very difficult away game. You know exactly when you get the fans going as well with a good challenge, a set piece or a counter.

"There’s a lot of these moments which I think I understand and that I’d like to give to the fans now as well. We just want to try and have that as much as we can. I hope those big challenges for fans to get off their seats happen, I hope we get in front of goal quite a lot so the fans can live for that.

"I do hope we aren’t going to be camped in front of our goal too much, that’s the way I approach the game, but there’s something in me that understands we have to have a game which is for the fans. That’s important for me, especially at family clubs like Burnley."

Vincent Kompany on the community:

"It just means it is more meaningful. However you put it, clubs like us depend on that community aspect. No matter what you want to achieve globally because ultimately if we were able to get into the Premier League, there is a bigger picture.

"But whatever we want to achieve in the future will be based on vert local foundations. How well we are with the community and understand the place will ultimately decide how many people will want to support us.

"I really believe that and we have to be genuine and be more local than any other club. We do put other stuff at the forefront, that is an idea that doesn't just sit there as a policy, it has to transpire into the group and how we play our football. If your a community club and your idea is to be close to your fans then it has to transpire into how we approach the game in one way or another."

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