Croatian coach Nenad Bjelica, who started to work in Trabzonspor in April, made a statement in the 207th issue of the club magazine. Talking about his football career and his working discipline as a coach, Bjelica evaluated the transfer process to Trabzonspor and his goals for the future at the club.
“I WON THE BEST CROATIA Actor AWARD IN 2000”
Explaining that he met football on the streets and joined the Croatian team NK Osijek at the age of 10, the coach said, “I played in all the lower age groups of NK Osijek and finally I played my first match with NK Osijek’s A team. Then I played in Albacete, Betis, Spain. I played for Las Palmas teams, then I came back to NK Osijek for 1 year and won the best Croatian player award in 2000. Then I was transferred to Germany’s FC Kaiserslautern team. After Germany, I played football for 4 years in Austria, Then I started my coaching career there,” he said.
“My FOOTBALL GENES COME TO ME FROM MY FATHER”
Stating that he learned his love of football from his father, who was a former football player, and that he always received support from his family, the Croatian coach said, “Even when I was 24-25, I knew that I would be a coach in the future. Because I love this job. I was already the right arm of all the coaches I worked with on the field. From acting to coaching. The transition was not a very special or radical change for me. I was already conscious of my desire to coach at the end of my football career. Definitely, my footballing genes were passed on to me from my father. My parents supported me a lot when I was a child. As a child, after receiving such support and trust from my parents, after growing up and getting married Then again, I received the same support from my wife over the years. We were far from home, our children were born, of course, it was not always easy, but we have been married for 26 years and we have been together for 28 years.”
“THEY FEEL THAT THEY WANTED ME”
Explaining that his transfer to Trabzonspor was developing rapidly, the 51-year-old coach said:
A manager called me on Friday evening, we discussed the conditions I wanted during the day and the financial conditions of Trabzonspor, and we reached an agreement within a day. On Saturday night, Trabzonspor’s official offer came and I accepted. On Sunday, we received the tickets for the trip we will make on Monday night. We signed the contract in Istanbul on Tuesday morning, and we started working at Trabzonspor in the evening of the same day. The process developed very quickly and very clearly. They made me feel like they wanted me. I also prefer to work where people want me and I preferred Trabzonspor, a big Turkish club that competes in a very competitive league.
“I HAVE NO FEAR OF ANY CHALLENGES”
Explaining that they are trying to recreate the burgundy blue team, Bjelica said, “It will be an interesting and very difficult challenge for me, but I have no fear of any challenge. I have worked before in teams that had a difficult process, and the teams I left were always better than the team I was in. “There have been teams that have been in a good place. So I have no doubt that we will be successful here. It will just take a little patience. Because we are creating a new team right now. Considering the potential this club has, the fans and its history, we all want to give our best and try to help Trabzonspor.” We see that we have to do our part to recapture the success it showed last season.”
“I LOVE PRESSURE AHEAD”
Evaluating his coaching philosophy, Bjelica said, “I like to play with high intensity, with intense pressure. I like pressure at the front. I always play to win. I don’t calculate. I am a coach who also knows how to adapt to the requirements of the team or the match. He has the game discipline, always one goal more than the opponent. I would like to put forward a good game that aims to throw the ball,” he said.
“A GOOD TRAINER MUST BE A GOOD PSYCHOLOGIST”
The Croatian coach stated that a good coach should have high management and communication skills, as well as a good psychologist.
As in life, everything that happens in football starts in the mind. So you have to be a good psychologist. You should know how to prepare the team, be a good pedagogue, a good communicator, the leader of the group, and set a good positive example to the players in every way. A doctor should know how to operate, but we coaches also have to understand the doctor’s job, injuries and so on. Besides psychology and pedagogy, a ‘good and great’ coach has to know many things such as training, preparation, leadership. So it’s a very complete job. A good coach has to be a good psychologist. There has to be someone who can lead a group, I’m not just talking about 25-26 players, there are also the coaching staff, the club staff, the fans, the journalists. Therefore, a great coach should be able to control and manage all these elements correctly.
“WE WANT TO BRING THE BEST PLAYERS TO TRABZONSPOR”
Asked about his medium and long-term plans at Trabzonspor, Bjelica said, “I started working when the club was going through a difficult period. It was a situation where it was not very possible to go up or down in the points ranking. This is a difficult situation for a coach. Because there are players on loan and whose contracts will expire. There are injured players. 1.5 months before the end of the season, it is not easy to make an entrance without very clear goals. Of course, we will transfer between 6 and 8 new players. This is the plan we are working on. We want to bring the best players to Trabzonspor. We will try to achieve success with this team. “We want to add hungry players. This club deserves it. The fans deserve it. We have to give the maximum. In the short term, my plan for the next month and a half is for the team to get to know me, see how we will work in the summer and be able to prepare the team for the next season.”
“THE TRAINER SHOULD TEACH TO PLAY AS A TEAM”
Describing the ideal team of his dream, the Croatian coach said, “It can be a team that is balanced in attack and defense, has talented players, wants to play in the team and has players with this capacity, these players can be young, they can be experienced players, or it can be a mix of young and experienced players. “It can be a team that is a mix of international and international players. The point is to choose players who want to work and work as a group. The coach’s job here is not to teach the players how to play football, but to teach them how to play as a team. That will be the biggest job that awaits me.” spoke.
“WE MADE A GOOD GROUP”
Stating that he works with his own technical team to all the teams he coaches, Bjelica said, “I think that when a coach comes to a club, he brings his own technical team that knows how he works, it is an important point to ensure that the team works well from the first day and not to wait 6 months for a good functioning. We have our goalkeeper trainer Alper, our conditioner Ali, our analysts Mesut and Fatih, who are also with us. Here, it is very important that our local trainers adapt to us and we adapt to our teachers. It is necessary to be flexible in these matters. I think we have created a really good group within the team. I must also express that I am very, very happy with everyone working.”
“I HAVE TO REACT BECAUSE I WANT TO WIN”
Speaking about the public’s comments that he was a tough and disciplined coach in his former teams, 51-year-old Bjelica said, “I want the players to do their part on the field. The player-coach friendship is a difficult situation, but I can describe it as a very respectful relationship. Respect for them as a person and as a player. I show it to them, I expect them to respond with respect to this respect with the work they have done on the field. This is the most important thing I expect from them. Sometimes when I see that the team does not give itself to the match for any reason, maybe I get angry and try to motivate them to the level I want. If I see that it is not working or not reacting, I will react, I have to react, because I want to win the game. I show this respect to my players, to all my team, to everyone at the club, to our fans. I believe that this is how success can be achieved together. Players are here to work, they are also I want them to do their job, give their all in 90 minutes of games or training. All I want is for them to do their job. “If it works that way, we’ll all be happy, and I’m totally confident that we’ll achieve success that way,” he said.
“A STAIR IS MISSING BETWEEN YOUTH TEAMS AND PROFESSIONAL TEAMS IN TURKEY”
Stating that it is important for young football players playing in the youth team to play with a second team and improve themselves if they do not have the A team qualification, Bjelica said, “Thus, within 1-2 years, he can become an important player for the A team. These are the steps that every club should follow. Having your second youth team and Thus, it is easier to develop players. I think that there are generally many experienced players in teams in Turkey and that a ladder is missing between youth teams and professional teams. Many players are lost at this stage because they do not play. The most important thing for a young player is to play. But if he’s on the bench or in Division 3, it means he’s not in the right league to develop well, so there has to be a second professional team and players who aren’t yet good enough to play on that second team, because a 17-year-old has to go out and play in the first team. It is really difficult for him to become an important player, even in a team like Dinamo Zagreb, where young people have the opportunity to play.”
“WINING TROPS IS AT OUR GOALS”
Addressing the burgundy blue team and the community, Bjelica said, “We’ve always heard great things about Trabzonspor fans. He’s the kind of fan a club would want, a supporter who always supports his team and stands behind his team in good and bad times. It’s normal to have criticism when things don’t go well. Everywhere. This is our obligation when you consider the history of this club, the fans and everything Trabzonspor represents in Turkish football. In order to achieve the goals that will be at the highest level, we must push ourselves to the maximum level, be professional, concentrate and disciplined every day, every training session. “Winning trophies, being at the top of the league, and winning the trophy are among the goals we want to achieve. I hope to be able to present happiness to all our fans, to gain the success I have had in my other teams here, and to allow our fans to enjoy football, our victories and the success of our team,” he said.