Spying on Liverpool helped my career
TWO years spent spying on Gerard Houllier’s reign at Liverpool helped mould the managerial career of Juan Carlos Osorio.
Osorio, who has been described as an average player at his local side Deportivo Pereira, moved to England in 1997 to study for a Science and Football degree at John Moores University in Liverpool. “When I arrived there I tried several times to watch Liverpool training sessions but they wouldn’t let me in,” he said in an interview in 2014.
Osorio found another way. Knocking on the doors of houses overlooking the training ground, he convinced one to let him stay. “I explained what I wanted to do and the owners organised a meeting in which they allowed me to stop there. I spent almost two years in that house,” he said.
“If it was raining I had to watch from the window but if it was a nice day I would drag a table out and watch from outside and over a brick wall.”
Two years later, Osorio was appointed assistant manager of the Metrostars – now the New York Red Bulls – and went on to be a conditioning coach for Manchester City. He then managed several clubs including Atletico Nacional, Sao Paulo and, more recently, took Mexico to the 2018 World Cup. He is currently the manager of Paraguay.
“I deeply admire the English game,” he said. “I would die for the opportunity to one day manage there.”