Article from the Times today on Koeman. Well worth a read. The piece in bold italics is relevant to the discussion on his treatment of the Academy lads.
It is odd to relate given the two clubs’ respective league positions that many of Southampton’s players were pleased to see the back of Ronald Koeman after his departure to Everton this summer, although that may say more about them than him. The Dutchman’s distant and detached manner had begun to grate with a group accustomed to almost perpetual change in the dugout at St Mary’s, and his farewell did not cause much anguish.
Koeman achieved outstanding results in guiding Southampton to seventh and sixth respectively in the Premier League in two seasons at the club, and has started even better at Everton, where he appears to be a classic example of the right man at the right time. The same characteristics that had begun to alienate some on the south coast, and have contributed to his 11 different jobs in a 19-year coaching career, have been hailed at Goodison Park as a much-needed antidote to Roberto Martínez’s failed reign.
Koeman’s great advantage in his new job is that he is the polar opposite of his predecessor and he has made the most of the contrast, whether by accident or design. In terms of personality, methodology, training sessions and attitudes to discipline, the 53-year-old could not be more different from Martínez, whose relationship with and credibility in the dressing room was fractured months before he was finally sacked at the end of last season.
“Seniority and authority are his watchwords,” explained one source at the club yesterday, who did not need to point out the obvious contrast with Martínez’s touchy-feely regime. With four wins and a draw from five Premier League matches ahead of what should be another winnable fixture away to Bournemouth today, Everton’s players have clearly responded to change.
Koeman has wasted little time in establishing his authority at the club, helped by his formidable reputation as a great player for Holland and Barcelona. “He has an aura, a swagger about him,” as one member of staff at Everton put it. “The players are too young to remember his own career, but have probably seen some of his free kicks on YouTube.”
The Finch Farm training ground has been transformed, with Martínez’s holiday camp replaced by a boot camp. Koeman’s first act upon taking charge was to bring forward the start of pre-season training by a week, a move that set the tone for much of what has followed. Training takes place an hour earlier than under Martínez and discipline is more rigorously enforced, with late-comers immediately fined.
A raft of new rules and regulations have been introduced, including banning mobile phones, caps and head phones from the team coach, while strict times have been put in place for compulsory team meals. On home match days the players must arrive at Goodison Park at 11.30am for a 3pm kick-off and be sitting down for lunch in the players’ lounge at 12pm.
Koeman is a believer in hierarchy, so the players are not permitted to begin eating until he has done so, more often than not prefaced by him uttering the words “buon appetito”. He has also made it clear that the first team is his overwhelming priority, to the extent that academy players are not permitted to use the gym at the same time as first-teamers.
Koeman has a similar approach to training and match preparations, with only the players who can help him at that precise moment of any interest to him. Only the 18-strong match-day squad are invited to the tactical meetings that follow lunch, with any injured or suspended players encouraged to spend time with their families. There has also been a conscious attempt to de-clutter the dressing room on match days, with the medical team, physios and kit men sent away.
Only those personnel Koeman regards as integral to Everton’s match-day preparations, his brother Erwin, coaches Duncan Ferguson, John Ebbrell and David Unsworth, and Jan Kluitenberg, the fitness coach, are permitted to change in the dressing room.
In other circumstances some players would resent what could be seen as an authoritarian, occasionally divisive approach, but there is a sense at Everton that it has been much needed. Several players, including Ross Barkley and the now departed John Stones, have privately admitted that they felt they were going backwards under Martínez.
Kluitenberg is understood to have been horrified by the players’ fitness levels when he took charge of his first session in pre-season, telling Koeman that they would start the season a month behind their rivals if drastic action was not taken, and consequently training has been toughened up considerably. There has also been a greater focus on nutrition, with cakes and biscuits banned from the canteen, and the recovery and gym sessions, voluntary under Martínez, now compulsory.
The focus of the sessions has also changed, with far more time spent working on set pieces and team shape than under Martínez. Much of the training is conducted by Erwin Koeman, with the manager preferring the old-school approach of limiting his involvement, albeit mixed with the new-school one of speaking to his players on an individual basis.
Although he generally talks to them less than Martínez — and certainly praises them less — Koeman does make time for his players. While many would not feel comfortable approaching him, Koeman has sought them out when he has felt it necessary, with Barkley believed to have had several private chats with the manager, particularly after he was substituted at half-time against Sunderland this month. As a result of his more taciturn manner, when Koeman does speak, the players tend to listen.
Despite this top-down approach, Koeman is not a football obsessive, and makes sure that his management team and the players have plenty of days off. Unlike many of his Premier League peers, he rarely stays at the training ground after 5pm, and is content to delegate plenty of responsibilities. Above all, his pragmatism shines through, and his methods clearly bring results, at least in the short term.
The biggest question for Koeman is whether the initial bounce can be sustained, particularly when their fixtures become more difficult next month, when they face Manchester City and Chelsea in the space of four games. The lack of European football is likely to help in the Premier League and may enable him to continue relying on a core group of players, although that brings the risk of others becoming alienated.
Everton may already be wondering how long they can keep hold of Koeman, as Arsenal are long-term admirers and his record of never having stayed in one job for more than four years (he has stayed for longer than two years on only two occasions) is a cause for concern. The test for both parties is whether an excellent impact manager can build on the strong foundations he has already laid.