Me - Please can you tell me about your background.
BC - I grew up in the San Francisco area. I didn't play soccer, I now call it football, until I was 15 when a soccer boom started to hit California in the 70's. I had been a good basketball player in school but I knew had no future at 5'10"!
Me - At which levels have you played the game?
BC - I played college soccer up in the state of Washington for 4 years. After that I trained briefly with Queen's Park, of the Scottish 2nd Division, before having a couple of unsuccessful tryouts in the old North American Soccer League in 1978. At that time the league was dominated by foreigners and, with no reserve teams, it was very hard for young Americans to get in.
Me - How did you get into coaching?
BC - I started coaching during my senior year of high school after I broke my leg playing in goal, in the very first game! Our head coach went away on a sabbatical and I helped the assistant. Later, in 1978, a couple of knee injuries led me to take a coaching course and I became head coach for my old university team, Western Washington, when I was only 22.
Me - What brought you to Thailand?
BC - I went to the '82 and '86 World Cups which resulted in my desire to live abroad. In '87 I earned the qualifications to teach English as a foreign language and moved to Amsterdam. I stayed there for just a few months. However, during that time, I watched Cruyff coach at Ajax and observed their fantastic youth programme almost daily. From Holland I moved to Morocco, after watching the African Nations Cup there in '88. I stayed there for over 2 years, teaching English, and also did a little youth coaching. I became interested in Buddhism and this is what brought about my move to Thailand back in 1990.
Me - What was your first coaching job in the Kingdom?
BC - Initially I lived in the Hua Mark area of Bangkok and would watch school football games at the nearby fields. I met Rit Chomnoy, the coach of Samutpittaykom School, and he invited me to help do some training for them on weekends in Samu Prakan. The team was organised and sponsored by Khun Thanasak. Eventually I decided to leave my teaching job and I moved down to Samut Prakan, where I enjoyed great success with a no-name team against the big Bangkok powers. The current Sriracha FC coach Krongpol was on this team.
Me - How did you end up at ACS?
BC - In '92, most of the team moved to Assumption College in Sriracha. The school had just started a football programme which offered scholarships for the top players. Srindhorn Stadium had just opened at that time. I moved down the next year with another group of players from my school. I ended up coaching there from '93 until 2001.
Me - Which age groups did you coach?
BC - I usually coached the U16 or U14 teams and also helped supervise the athletes' dormitory.
Me - Who else was involved at this time?
BC - Jadet Meelarp (former Chonburi and current Pattaya Utd coach) came in '95 and was instrumental in the success of the programme. He is a fine coach with a good eye for reading the game. Perhaps, more importantly he is an excellent motivator and the players really want to play for him. He is also a really good friend.
Me - At what level were the teams competing?
BC - During this time, the school teams would usually also play in the men's lower divisions of Thai football. Back then the Third division was a group format followed by a knockout competition. During this period we replaced Bangkok Christian as the best football school in Thailand. I have lots of good memories of my time there.
Me - Why do think that ACS produces so many talented footballers?
BC - I think ACS attracted many players because of our spacious campus with a fantastic stadium and many practice fields. Most Bangkok schools had just one, usually small, field to share with their teams. And after we became famous and many of our players made the Thai student or youth national teams- good players would come to us.
Me - What were the highlights of your time at ACS?
BC - My highlight was my last year in 2001. My U15 team won the Nike Manchester United Premier Cup in both Thailand and SE Asia region. We went on to the Nike World Finals in Berlin where we were more than competitive. In first round we beat a French team, drew 1-1 with Roma and lost narrowly to Nigeria and River Plate, both by 1-0 scorelines. Then we beat a German team and Tokyo Verdy in the consolation competition. Arthit, Kraison and Supasek (Bangkok Utd) were all on this team.
This experience confirmed my belief that Thai players are still competitive at this age when their natural talent can match most other countries. It is after that, when in order to develop, you need good discipline, a strong mentality as well as a good football structure for regular competition and quality coaching, that Thai players fall behind. Too often the argument is the small physical stature of the Thais -but I don't believe that. It's just a convenient excuse. Messi isn't very big!
Me - When and why did you move on?
BC - I eventually left in 2001. I would often get frustrated with the lack of progress in Thai football and the lack of planning and organization, particularly the reluctance to organise leagues for youth players. There were far too many short group knockout competitions. Which were often held simultaneously.
Me - Where are you now, and what are you doing?
BC - I briefly considered a return to the US but moved to Surat Thani where I taught in an English Programme for 3 years. Then I had a great offer to teach in Japan where I stayed for just a year. Unfortunately my school closed and I decided to move back to Thailand. I am very impressed with how Japanese football has improved. Especially the organisation, at all levels. And the discipline of the players. I recall the early 90's when Thai national team was better than Japan. Not anymore! Anyway, I moved back to Krabi where I'm now in my 4th year. I enjoy kayaking, snorkeling and scuba diving when I can find the time. I am also coaching young players, U14, and have recently sent four of them up to Chonburi- three to ACS and one to Chonburi Sports School.
Me - What can you remember about the formation of Chonburi FC and what was your role?
BC - In '97 I was the coach for the Chonburi Santibat team in the first division. We had a very young group of players and we finished 4th. Pipop Onmo, Jakkapan Panpee, Chavalit and several others were drafted in for the second half of the season. We were all looking forward to the next season but the team was taken over by the Thai national U17 team. The Thai FA were still using overage players at the time and they entered them in 1st division for preparation! This prompted me to return to youth coaching at ACS.
Me - Which current Chonburi players have you worked with?
BC - The ones that stand out in my mind are Kosin, Ekaphan and Pipop. None of them were considered top stars in their high school careers. But all of them clearly had the discipline and mentality to keep improving. Kosin has been very consistent and I think was the main reason for Chonburi winning the league 2 years ago. Ekaphan and Pipop are part of a long tradition at ACS of talented, clever small players. Quick and skilful. Panuwat is another. Both Panuwat and Ekaphan are from Surat Thani- a hotbed of talent that from where we used to recruit.
Me - Who have been the best players you have worked with?
BC - The best player was undoubtedly Apichat Yongtayson. He played the same year as Pipop and was the star of the team. Unfortunately, his careeer was cut short by injury. Coach Vittaya Laokul called him up for the full national team at 18 but he wasn't ready mentally. Arthit also stands out but he could be a much more effective player. His mentality doesn't match his talent. Natthapong Samana deserves a mention as one of my favourite players- both then and now. He's very steady and reliable. He was away from the game a few years ago but has come back to do really well. Also, I am not surprised by the success of Suree and Surat. Although I think that Suree hasn't reproduced the form he had before going to Man City. He was brilliant in the AFC Asian Cup in 2007.
Me - Have you been surprised by Chonburi's recent success?
BC - I haven't been at all surprised by Chonburi's success, as these players were used to winning whilst at ACS. The squad also contains many experienced national team players. But clearly the team will need some new quality foreign players to keep up with the other top clubs. They rely far too much on Kone or Arthit at set-pieces. They need more attacking weapons!
Me - How do you feel when you see Chonburi competeing at the highest level?
BC - Although I was pleased when Chonburi FC got great results in the AFC Champions League last year- it was clear that a wide gulf still exists between club football in Japan, South Korea and Thailand. I went with Chonburi to their away game in South Korea and was fascinated watching the Korean team U 18 team train. The players were all very focused and competitive. A different mentality. Thais are not naturally competitive. They still like to play around too much while training. They don't take things seriously enough. This leads to poor fitness and costly defensive lapses in games. It is this mentality that I think will be the hardest thing to change. The facilities and budgets can improve for the clubs but most players still are not "professional" in their behavior- both on and off the field.
Me - How closely do you follow Thai football & Chonburi these days? And how often do you go to games?
BC - I do try and catch the games when I'm in Bangkok or Sriracha. I indeed feel pride and satisfaction seeing the success of the club and the individual players that I helped develop.
Me - Where do Chonburi go from here?
BC - The standard of the Thai League is improving and Chonburi will have to improve to keep up with MTUFC and Bangkok Glass. I was disappointed in the replacement of a proven coach, Jadet, with a big name, Zico, who hasn't proven himself as a coach yet.
BC - I think the Thai League is moving in the right direction with clubs being community-based. Chonburi FC has set a good example and football fever seems to have started there. Although I think that Muang Thong have now surpassed Chonburi in terms of PR and their new football-only stadium. They also have better quality foreign players. I am very pleasantly surprised to see the Thai League improving, particularly the quality of the pitches, growing crowds and general public and media interest.
I still think the coaches and players can be very petulant to the officials and the FA must impose harsher punishments. And too many fans get away with disgraceful behavior. Fan clubs need to be more proactive in preventing this. I thought the league was fairly poor 3 years ago, when an average Bangkok University team won the title, with no foreigners and a poor goal-scoring record. I was happy because several of my old ACS players were there but I didn't think they were a quality team. Good fighting spirit, though. Even 2 years ago, when Chonburi were champions, I didn't think that the league was particularly strong. Only Krung Thai Bank were of a decent standard.
Me - What do you think that the Thai leagues, and clubs, need to do to improve further?
BC - I think the clubs need to start youth programmes where the emphasis is on developing pro players for the future and not just about winning glory for the team. This approach is the priority for the top football schools and too many players are playing whilst injured or playing too many games. This means that they are not working on developing as players. My year in Japan watching the youth teams of Shonan Bellmare, (JLeague - Division 2) made me think that Thai football needs to follow this route in player development.
Me - Thanks so much, Bruce.
BC - You're welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment