WHERE WILL IT LEED?
Chris Dunlavy meets Leeds United’s new head coach Darko Milanic
THE wry, wearily impassive face of Leeds’ new manager Darko Milanic flickers into a smile when a reporter enquires about his experience of big derbies. “Oh, I have known many,” says the 46year-old Slovenian, the latest incumbent of football’s most precarious position. "At Graz, in Maribor. And of course in Belgrade when I was a young player. Then it was like a war.”
At this, Milanic pauses, choosing his words more carefully. “But not a real war, you understand. A small war.”
The smile stays put as Milanic speaks, but that sentiment – as he well knows - doesn’t always hold true.
Back in March 1992, Milanic was a 25year-old centre-half at Partizan Belgrade preparing for the usual savagery of a trip to play cross-city rivals Red Star.
Branded the Eternal Derby, the away side generally arrived prone on the floor of their coach, cowering as bricks and bars shattered the windows.
For their fans it was even worse, with baseball bats, iron rods and teargas among the many weapons brandished by two sets of hooligans still ranked among the continent’s most dangerous.
Warlord
“It was always a big fight," he says. “Big atmosphere, 80,000 people. For one month before the game and one month after, it was the only thing you talked about. Winning that match was the most important thing in the whole season - more important than the championship, even.”
That day – March 22, 1992 – started in typical fashion. Skirmishes in the streets, taunts in the stands. Red Star’s ultras, the Delije, denounced their opponents as communists, Muslims and Turks.
But then something changed. Up in the stands, a group of 20 soldiers appeared. The first held up a sign, ‘Vukovar, 20 miles’. Then, on by one, they each held up another sign: ‘10 miles to Vukovar, 2 miles to Vukovar, 1 mile to Vukovar' and, eventually, ‘Welcome to Vukovar.'
The men were the ‘Tigers’, the paramilitaries of the Serbian army led by notorious warlord Arkan. Vukovar was a Croatian town that stood in their path. And at that moment, the bitterest of ene--
mies cheered as one. Many of those in the stands that day would go on to commit horrific atrocities as war ripped through Yugoslavia. As a result, few in attendance that day – including Milanic – are keen to recall it.
“It was more than football, much more,” he says. “And it made the game difficult to play in. But I do not want to talk about that time. I do not want to talk about war. Nobody who was there in those days does.
“Football is still extremely important in Serbia it is still extremely good. There are a lot of talented players. But there is also a lot of emotion and anger about those times, even now.
“Did it make me a tougher player? Each game makes you more experienced. And those derbies, they give you a lot of experience.”
Little wonder, though, that Milanic was hardly fretting about yesterday’s visit of Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
“It is special,” he insisted.“Special for the fans, special for the president, special for the coaches and the players also. It is really important.
“But like I say, in southern Europe – in Serbia, in Slovenia, in Greece and Turkey also – a derby is like war on the pitch. Here it is maybe not so much.”
Though Milanic clearly has a fondness for the game in his home territory, he enjoyed his best years in the more austere setting of Austria.
A centre-half for the talented Sturm Graz side of the late 90s, he was a regular in the Champions League and played for his country in Euro 2000.
“I was defensively strong,” he says.“I had good heading ability and played disciplined and focused. I improved technically over the years but my job was to give a platform for more talented players.”
Former Yugoslavian international Ivica Osim – a losing finalist in the European Championships of 1968 – was the coach of that Graz side.
“With Osim we were often physically to the limit,” Milanic says.“But in the end he was right in his path. We not only won, we played good football.
“Maybe we were not always so organised, but we played spectacular. It taught me that you must stick to the path you believe in.”
The question is, will Milanic get the chance to forge one? Leeds owner Massimo Cellino sacked 36 managers in 22 years at Cagliari, earning the nickname ‘Manager Eater’.
And since he bought the club in April, both Brian McDermott and Dave Hockaday have bitten the dust. The Italian’s ruthlessness doesn’t stop there either – caretaker Neil Redfearn took ten points from 12 but wasn’t even considered for a permanent post.
Rumours
So is the fate of his predecessors the reason Milanic has left his family back home in Austria?
“No, no,” insists Milanic, who managed Slovenian side Maribor for five years before spending last season back at Graz.
“My daughter is in school there, it is her first year in Austrian school. Before that she was in a Slovenian school. To change schools for a second time in one year is, I think, not good. It is better that they stay there and then we will see.”
And Milanic is equally insistent that men on the pitch will be chosen by him alone amid rumours that Cellino is the man who pens the team sheet.
“That is not a job for Mr Cellino,” he says. “If you have a president like ours, just one man, it is normal that people talk about him. But that is not my problem.
“He is a strong president with great experience in football but I have no problem with him. It is my decision.”
And his latest decision involves handing a run in the team to Adryan, the 20-year-old Brazilian attacker signed on loan from Flamengo.
“He played a Championship game for our youth team and I liked what I saw,” added Milanic. “He understands the game very well. He is very technical. He is able to do good things at every moment. It is easy to say when he plays against the youth team, so we will have to see but I like him.
“Is he as good as people are expecting? For me, it is very difficult to say after just one week. But he has potential – a lot of potential.”
Mind you, Leeds is a long way from Brazil. “Yes,” says Milanic. “But Leeds is beautiful. When somebody comes from Europe maybe they don’t expect it. But I have been surprised. It is a great city, great people.”
Not to mention a lot more pleasant than some of the places Milanic has plied his trade.