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Moyes and Capello

David Moyes and Fabio Capello continue a series of interviews with some of the world's top bosses on the important issues affecting football in the 21st Century

David Moyes & Fabio Capello continue a series of interviews with some of the world's top managers.

At the recent inaugural European Managers & Coaches Forum - hosted by the League Managers Association (LMA) and Castrol, the official performance partner of the LMA - a group of some of the world's most high-profile football bosses gathered at England's St George's Park to discuss the important issues affecting the sport in the 21st Century. The forum brought together the likes of Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, England manager Roy Hodgson, former Three Lions chief Fabio Capello, Liverpool counterpart Brendan Rodgers and LMA chairman Howard Wilkinson to name just five from a list of attendees who have more than 15,000 matches of combined experience. Over the course of two days, the gathering, supported by other guests, including Mike Riley, general manager of the Professional Game Match Official Ltd (PGMOL), was devoted to the sharing of insight and discussion for all factors which impact the modern football manager. Here, Sky Sports gains a unique insight into the European Managers & Coaches Forum and continues a series of Q&A interviews with David Moyes and Fabio Capello. Keep checking Sky Sports for the next in the series of Q&A interviews with different managers.
How important is it for senior managers to meet with younger managers and share their extensive knowledge?
David Moyes: It was very important when I was a young manager that I tried to speak with experienced managers to gain information, advice and knowledge. So, I would recommend all the young coaches and managers to come and listen to Sir Alex Ferguson, Roy Hodgson and Fabio Capello. We are very fortunate the people that we have here. It would be too big an opportunity to miss if I was a young coach. I still think I am a young coach. Fabio Capello: For me, it was really important, when I was young and started my career as a manager, to meet really important managers and ask a lot of things to know my job much better. The experience of the older managers is really important for the young managers.
Of those topics being debated, which are of particular interest to you?
David Moyes: I have enjoyed listening to Sir Alex Ferguson talking about how the LMA moves forward and how we try and move football forward in general. The things we have debated are varied and wide. We have had a lot of discussion about situations on the football field, refereeing decisions, simulation and dissent. I do think that nearly everyone has the same views. We all want to do the right things for the good of the game. We want to take it forward and keep progressing football. It is really good to see all the people here are basically agreeing with the facts that we have to improve and that is what we are trying to do right now. Fabio Capello: Everything in the debate was very interesting. Everything we spoke about, to know the ideas of other managers here and it was really interesting what was said.
Even with experience does a manager ever stop learning?
David Moyes: I think you have to continue to learn. Whether you are an experienced coach or manager or inexperienced, I think you need to find ways of giving yourself better knowledge and better understanding of the game. This is why you come to situations like we are in now. I get an opportunity to learn from people like Fabio. But because football is changing and moving in so many different directions and things are happening, it is even important for people like Fabio, as he said earlier, to come and hear what is happening at league level in England. Fabio Capello: When as a manager you think you know everything is the moment that you stop your career. You need to learn every day, you need to study, you need to speak with people and you need to be interested in our job. This is really important.
David, what factors have been key to your longevity as a Premier League manager?
David Moyes: I do not think I could put my longevity down to one reason. I think I have been driven to try to succeed from within but that would not be enough to get me the success I would hope to achieve. I have been very fortunate to work at a good club, who have given me an opportunity and allowed me to make mistakes, which every manager will do. So from that point of view, the chairman at Everton has been very good. What I have tried to do is continue trying to progress, make myself better by going on courses, watching people work , like everybody else, you always need a bit of good fortune to go along with it.
Fabio, you have worked in various non-coaching roles before becoming a manager, how important was this experience in getting where you are today?
Fabio Capello: Before I was a manager I was a coach in an Academy for five years. One year as a coach assistant. After this period, I was chief executive officer of the Academy and after I was involved in other sports - baseball, rollerball, rugby, ice hockey. It was interesting to know everything about other sports, because the problems are completely different. During the same period, I did courses in marketing and psychology. It was very important for me to improve my notes. This helped me a lot with my career. When I started as a manager, I was more or less ready. But after some years, I improved a lot, because when you start to manage professional players, it is different than managing the other (non- professional) sports.
What benefit and positive will each of you take away from taking part in the forum?
David Moyes: Being with the managers, the company is really important. We get very little time to spend in the company of each other. We might have 20 minutes after the game when we play each other. We all have similar views and have similar problems. We are in the same industry together, we are all trying to be managers and we are all trying to be successful managers, albeit competing against each other. But away from it, we all want to work and be as good as we possibly can. Fabio Capello: I heard two or three really important things that will be interesting for me to put into my job with the national team (Russia).
How do you see football changing in the next 10 years or so?
David Moyes: I do see a different style which has been coming in for quite a while, the style that Barcelona have introduced. But I am sure there will be another style, there will be something else, the next future. New types of players will develop. I do not think football will change dramatically but the styles on the field, systems, tactics, will evolve, and that is why to be involved with the LMA gives me an opportunity to hear what is new, modern and share views with other managers. Fabio Capello: Tactically the new style is Barcelona. But if you try to copy the style, it is a big mistake, because the style you can only play with the players of Barcelona. But some (aspects) you can copy. The defensive style - when you lose the ball you go forward together to win the ball back quickly, never go back, never return to midfield. They lose the ball, they go forward. For me this is something new. Ajax a long time ago played total football with offside, pressing forward. After AC Milan's style was really important with Arrigo (Sacchi) and me. I followed the work Arrigo started and now the new football is Barcelona, with a lot of ball possession. But you need the imagination of players like Iniesta and Messi. Otherwise, it is impossible to play this style. I think you need to find a solution and you need to know the value of your players. David Moyes: What you have got in your own team is most important. If you have not got Barcelona-like players, then you cannot play in that style and that is part of management. You have to win to stay in the job. We talk about managers having such a short period in the job. But you have to find your identity and what is best suited for your team. David Moyes and Fabio Capello were talking at the Castrol/LMA European Managers & Head Coaches Forum 2013

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