I’m going to hit heights and be top manager in Europe
HE WAS, by his own reckoning, a good enough player to dominate any team in history. But that is not what he was put on this earth for.
No, in his own mind, football management is his destiny. One day he wants to be the manager of one of the very best clubs in Europe.
Welcome to the wonderful and, it has to be said, remarkably self-confident world of former £160,000a-game Liverpool flop Harry Kewell, currently in charge of the Watford Under-23 team.
The greatestever Socceroo, according to a 2012 poll, arrived in England to join Leeds at 16 years of age and was never one to court the media from the day he arrived.
This, in hindsight, seems a shame. Because the naked ambition he is prepared to share in a rare interview as BT Sport’s newest ambassador and pundit is rather fascinating.
“I know I can play the game,” said Kewell, 37. “I know I could read the game. You could put me in any team in any era and I would not be out of place. I would be comfortable in playing in it and I would dominate because I understood the game as a young kid and I know it now.
“But there is more to football than me playing the game. I actually believe my path is different. It probably wasn’t playing football. I believe that has just put me on a platform hopefully to become something bigger and better in the game. That is how I look at it.
“I actually taught my four kids to kick a ball and you cannot beat the satisfaction in that. But when I did my first licence, and was setting up to defend a cross when always I had been attacking them, the fire in my belly was there and I just knew this was for me. Even one of the players who did it with me said, ‘Damn, I’d play for you’.
“That just encouraged me to take it on and I know it is strange but I love coaching now more than I did playing. So maybe my role was not playing football. Maybe it was something different – managing, coaching, ‘A’ teams, Under-21s, I don’t know. We will see how it goes.
“For me, though, the aim is to be a top manager in Europe. There are certain clubs I would love to be at and be manager of. I had an ambition as a player, now I see myself as a YTS manager learning my trade. And I want to go to the highest level as manager and compete.”
In fairness, he has made a promising start. An 88th-minute winner on Monday against Millwall kept Watford Under-23s top of the Professional Development League with three wins out of three.
And the learning curve is a steep one. “When I first took over last year I was terrible,” said Kewell, surprisingly self-detrimental for a moment. “I was ranting and raving and making sure this, that and the other was happening, jumping from one thing to another thing.
“But if you saw my progression throughout the year, it got better and better. MANCHESTER United’s Bastian Schweinsteiger remains hopeful he can still realise his “absolute dream” of helping them to glory this season.
The German, 32, has been frozen out of Jose Mourinho’s first-team plans and earlier this month said he was prepared to leave United – and Europe – before the deadline.
Mourinho said it would be “very difficult” to give the midfielder any playing time in 2016-17 but, while he is there, Schweinsteiger is ready to step into the breach if the need arises.
He said: “Of course my absolute dream would be to play for United and help them Then I was fortunate enough to take part in a tournament in India where I went for a month – the difference you see in me from then and now is amazing.
“I am not going to sit here and lie – doing this BT job is going to get my name out there that I am coaching. The timescale going forward is only as good as the chances you get.
“Would I be ready to get involved in management right now? Like I said, I am a singleminded person and very confident, so I would reach the goals they have. We’ve had talks and I have no problem with Jose Mourinho. We had a good chat and he told me his side of things and I also know what I want.” LEICESTER winger Marc Albrighton, 26, has signed a new contract to stay with the champions until 2020. Albrighton said: “Everyone seems to want to stay and that’s a massive credit to how far the club have come in the last few years. It’s probably give straight away. “Do I need to be an assistant? Will I take orders well? I don’t know. Seriously. Am I going to be a manager or am I going to be a first-team coach? Or will I be a great Under-21s coach or great development coach? “I don’t know yet. I am going to hit the heights and try to see if I am up there.” ●BT Sport Score is the place to keep up-to-date with all the news as it happens on a Saturday afternoon. Watch live on BT Sport 1 every Saturday at 2.30pm. For more information visit bt/com/sport. exciting times for Leicester and I want to be a part of that.” WEST HAM defender Reece Burke has joined Championship club Wigan on loan until the end of the season. Burke, 19, joins his new club after signing a four-year contract with the Hammers. SWANSEA have completed the signing of Barnsley defender Alfie Mawson, 22, on a four-year deal, for an undisclosed fee. it a go WATFORD have re-signed defender Adrian Mariappa four years after he left Vicarage Road. The 29-year-old has agreed a three-year contract after being released by Crystal Palace. QPR have snapped up Anderlecht striker Idrissa Sylla for an undisclosed fee. The 25-year-old Guinea international signed for three years. STOKE City are poised to sign Porto’s Holland centre-back Bruno Martins Indi, 24, on a seasonlong loan. BURNLEY manager Sean Dyche is confident of signing Derby midfielder Jeff Hendrick for a club-record £10.5m.