DE ZERBI IS LIVING THE DREAM AS HE PLOTS HIS SEAGULLS’ BID FOR GLORY
ROBERTO DE ZERBI’S Brighton stars will be in dreamland if they beat Manchester United in today’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. Which is apt, given that is the same place some of the Italian’s top managerial ideas have come from.
“The best ideas come exactly then,” said the Seagulls boss.
“Now, no, but three or four years ago it happened that during the night I was waking up and writing down my ideas.
“At Sassuolo, in the first season, I slept with a notepad and pen by my bed.”
It is no surprise, then, that the 43-year-old struggles to switch off from football. Not that he wants to.
He added: “I’ve not understood how I could relax yet in my life, but I feel good.
“I don’t know for how many years I can work in football, but it’s OK, I can work like this in football. I don’t love playing golf or other sports to relax. I don’t need that.
“After games, I stay with my staff, we eat together and watch football, we speak about football.
“I’m lucky to work in football because it is my work, my passion, my history.
“Football gave me everything but I gave everything to football.
“I don’t like when people take from football and don’t give anything, or don’t give the same they took, back.” De Zerbi’s style of football has earned him many admirers since he replaced Graham Potter at the Amex in September.
And so, too, has the personality he demonstrates on the touchline and in the media.
He said: “My dad [Alfredo], he transferred the passion of football when I was a child.
“First of all, I’ve been a fan, then a ball boy, a youth player, player and
coach. But I started as a fan and I can’t forget when I’ve been a fan.
“The first thing I want to respect is the people who pay for their ticket, for their season ticket, when the fans go away to watch a game – it should be an honour for the players, for the coaches.”
Asked whether he is like the De Zerbi we see on the touchline or in press conferences, he added: “He’s like the person you see on the touchline, the press conference, with my children, with my staff, with my players. “I have only one face, unfortunately. I don’t love changing myself. I don’t want to and it is the best part of myself because people understand me immediately and you can like or dislike, but, for sure, no one can say, ‘He’s not true’.
At Sassuolo, I slept with a notepad and pen by my bed
To convince people to follow you, you have to be only one person.”
It did not take long for De Zerbi to convince owner Tony Bloom to trust him after spending two 18-hour days studying Brighton before the pair met.
It has been a dreamy match all round and, while riding high in the Premier League, the Seagulls now stand just one game from their first FA Cup Final for 40 years.
That last final was against the
United of Ron Atkinson, although it was Sir Alex Ferguson’s United De Zerbi admired the most.
He said: “I loved his Manchester United of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole.
“It was a team which transferred patience, ideas, qualities and blood.”
Qualities Brighton fans, no doubt, recognise in their current team.