Stephen Constantine: How He Achieved A Miracle at Nea Salamina

Stephen Constantine has coached in some of the most demanding environments in world football. After his early years in Cyprus and the USA, Stephen took on the role of National Team Coach, firstly at Nepal, secondly at India followed by Malawi and then The Sudan. He returned to club football as Head Coach with Cypriot side Nea Salamina part way in to the season and with the club deep in relegation trouble. Remarkably, Stephen led the club to promotion with an amazing run of seventeen League games unbeaten immediately following his appointment. In this interview Stephen explains how he went about turning relegation candidates in to promotion winners

What was the state of the club when you took over?

The club were bottom of the 2^nd Division and in a complete state of disarray; the players didn’t even have half decent training equipment nor was there a real sponsor for the team jersey - they were spending 20,000 Euros buying their equipment from Puma!!! Players had asked to leave on the one hand and on the other I was told we needed seven or eight new players. Attendances were at an all time low and there was no budget to bring in the players we needed or increase the size of the squad...

So what were your priorities when you took over?

Change the attitude to how we train, and the time we train. Under me we trained in the mornings, and the players had to report 30 minutes prior to sessions. I also addressed the standards of the staff as some of them were too casual. A key thing, given the financial difficulties at the club and the low morale around the place, was to make sure that the players were paid on time.

How did you go about achieving these?

I talked to the players to see what they were thinking, and having listened to what they were saying I changed the training they were doing. I also took them to the Royal Air Force training complex where we did psychological and team building exercises, which helped a great deal. I treated them as individuals and all were treated equally - I am fair but hard with all players.

What were the key reasons that things turned around?

I think we did a lot of work on the training field and I talked to them a lot, about what I wanted, how I wanted it and that no matter what happened we were all in this together. I spent a lot of time getting to know them and building trust and confidence in the relationship between us. Our general approach to the game changed and became far more positive.

What were the key moments/games?

Our second game under me was an away game to one of the teams going for promotion. I made a substitution on about 70 minutes and the lad scored the winning goal in a 1-2 away win. It gave us a little belief going forward and we built on that and went on an amazing seventeen game unbeaten streak. Another significant moment was after the Christmas break: we played Aris at home who were in first place some 6 points ahead of us and one of the new signings scored the winning goal as we won 1-0 and that really changed a lot of things for us.

How did you change things tactically?

We went with a 442 and really looked to press teams especially at home, everyone knew their jobs within the system and of course we trained tactically 3-4 times a week...

How did you manage to develop a winning mentality in the team?

I hate losing even in the training matches we have and I tried to make training as competitive as possible. Once we had played 3-4 games without losing the players really believed we could beat any team we played against, and we did! We lost 2 games out of a total 26 during the time since I was in charge - a really amazing run especially considering where we started from...

How did you and the team feel going in to the play-offs?

That we were unbeatable!! The only thing that could beat us was ourselves..........and in both games that we lost, one in the regular season and one in the play offs - both away I might add - we did beat ourselves!!! At no point were we outplayed or out-thought. 

How does it feel having taken the team from a relegation position to a promotion?

As you can imagine it feels absolutely fantastic, to take a team who were in last place and looking to avoid relegation to finishing the league in first place, then the play offs where we finished second....I am very proud of what we achieved........

Looking back, what would you say your major achievements were?

I think the unbeaten run we went on, the way we played, we had the best defence, the best attack in the league; to see a player who was not even in the eighteen man squad before I came end up being one of the best players in the league; all four of my signings were a success and were instrumental in taking us up. Of course being promoted is the ultimate when you consider where we were and we were tipped to go down to the Third Division...there are actually a lot of positives and a lot of satisfaction for the fans, the club, the players and for me

How does this success compare to other successes you’ve had?

I think this is one of the best things I’ve achieved given the dire situation we were in and doing it in a European league is that much harder. Many of the other successes I’ve had don’t always jump out at you, although in Nepal we did am amazing thing in winning their first ever trophy at any level, and we won trophies in India too. 

In Malawi I was there for 18 months and while we didn’t win trophies I brought new players into the team and laid the foundations for the success the Flames have had over the last few years; qualification to the ACN was brilliant with all of my players and my assistant coach as well! They did very well and look good for the next ACN...

Sudan was a tremendous challenge and there is great talent there, the players are willing and able to play at a higher standard that’s for sure. I tried to change the old guard as we had a squad of players where the average age was 32 and my remit was ‘build us a new team’. I went all over the Sudan and saw players that made me feel the future was bright. In my first game against Mali we drew 1-1 at home and had 5 players under 23 playing for the first time!! They are still in with a good chance to qualify for the ACN for a second consecutive time, Malawi have their fate in their own hands and hopefully they can also qualify.

I could have achieved a lot more in Sudan and Malawi if I’d had more time and more support – it’s a shame that too many African Nations don’t think more about the players and the long term picture as they would surely have much better results then they currently get. There is so much talent in Africa but too many people think about what they can get out of it themselves as opposed to what they can give!

What will be your priorities going in to the new season?

Since the club were promoted there have been quite a few changes which have given the club more stability. We’ll need to strengthen the team and the squad, and then we’ll see how it goes. My contract was up so there was an element of doubt – people can quickly forget where they were and how much has changed – but I’m happy to say all that’s been sorted out. We’ll have the smallest budget in the top division so we have a great challenge ahead of us. I’m optimistic we can build on the progress we made last season and surprise a few people. Most at the club will be happy to stay up, for me and the players we’ll be aiming much higher than that. Let’s see what happens...

What are your longer-term ambitions as a coach?

It has always been the same for me: win the next game, and coach at the highest level. For me that means a top league, Champions League, World Cup...............as high as I can go...... I believe a great deal in my abilities and I’ve shown that I’m not afraid to test myself by taking on a tough challenge.

I do feel that I’ve proven over the years what I’m capable of. With every challenge faced, and every success and achievement the desire to succeed is greater than ever. The fact I have been all over the world and done well is, I think, testament to my ability to change and adapt to my surroundings, to recognise talent, and to make a positive difference no matter how tough the circumstances or how little the resources.  

What Now For Indian Football?

With the resignation of Bob Houghton Indian football once again stands at the crossroads with its own unique set of challenges to address. The debate will begin once again as to the relative merits of an Indian or a foreign coach, and of the style of football that is best suited to the Indian player. As the rest of the planet continues to develop and refine its football to ever more sophisticated levels, India can’t afford to stand still and contemplate the meaning of life in its own little universe. There is a saying: ‘crisis is change trying to take place’ - now is the time for change.

Shortly after Bob Houghton was appointed I was talking to Jon Rudkin, Academy Director at Leicester City, who had worked with the India u17’s in Kolkata and at City’s Academy. Jon considered Bob an outstanding coach. One of the difficulties Bob faced however was that as the national coach he was working with a ‘finished product’ – by the time they came to him the players had been through their key developmental years. Their potential had been defined by the system in which they had been brought up. They were prisoners of a process that systematically failed to make the most of their raw ability.

At the same time, football in India is constrained by the power of cricket. It saturates media coverage, it swamps the TV channels, and it sucks up advertising and sponsorship revenues – and that was before the IPL. Central to this was the India national cricket team – with the demise of hockey and the failure of football the nation unites to find its pride in the performance of its cricket team. That you wouldn’t need the fingers of two hands on which to count the other contenders doesn’t matter. It’s still the ‘world’ cup...and in 1986 India had won it, and has now just won it again.

While on the one hand cricket starves football (and other sports) of resources, on the other hand it sets the expectation and the entry fee. To compete with cricket the India national football team had to be a ‘world-class’ power. Only then would it garner the mass national support that would unlock the media coverage to promote it, and access the associated sponsorship and advertising revenues. If football in India was to progress, it had to have an India team that at the very least could compete against the best in Asia.

The challenge Bob faced was to provide a successful India team using players who had been brought up in a system that had failed them. India may have the desire to play possession football in the style of Spain but it doesn’t have the players with the technical ability to do that. Instead a system has to be used which is ‘effective’. It may be more direct, less possession based, less technically demanding but more consistent with the capabilities of the players and so more likely to produce results. To prepare for the Asian Cup Bob was given unprecedented resources and time with the players, but in the end he was always destined to ‘fail’ if measured against the expectations of a cricket-crazy ‘world-class’ nation.

So what now for India? The starting point has to be a change in expectation, not in terms of the destination but in accepting a more realistic timeframe for getting there. Let’s understand and accept the distance that needs to be covered but recognise as well the potential that India has. Disproportionately male, disproportionately young, one sixth of the worlds’ population: logic defies anyone who suggests there isn’t a world-class football team in there somewhere! The challenge is to find it given the sheer scale of India, of the numbers and geography involved...

If the present players can’t play to the level and in the style of Spain then perhaps the younger ones can – the Spanish, like Indians, are not the tallest team in the world but they are still European champions and World Cup winners. India should also note the rise of Japan – physically smaller players, technically increasingly good, and with fantastic work and team ethics. To move from where we are now to where we want to be is however, not quick or simple. Let’s accept that there will be pain in the process of change and give the new national team manager a much broader remit, with a longer timeframe, and more willingness to accept defeats and setbacks along the way.

Perhaps we also need to look more at the remit of the next national coach. India needs qualified, experienced and capable coaches, and longer-term the vast majority of these will be Indian. India needs academies and soccer schools, it needs playing fields and indoor centres, and it needs to be playing football in schools the length and breadth of India. To some extent Bob Houghton had little choice other than to ‘sacrifice’ the I-League in favour of the national team: the new national coach should have this conflict removed by being given responsibility for the overall development of football coaching in India.

This should go beyond the German example of getting club coaches ‘in-sync’ with the way the national team wants to play, to include overseeing coach education and development programs for I-League coaches, identifying and developing ‘raw’ elite coaching talent, and for establishing a framework for the education of coaches and teachers in schools. It would also include taking responsibility for the selection and coaching of elite young players, and educating coaches who perform these functions including at club/academy level.

What is perceived as the perpetual failure of Indian football is not the failure of any individual national head coach but of a system that needs strengthening and revolutionary change. The coming together of IMG and Reliance Industries, and their acquisition of Indian football rights, is great news in this respect. IMG are world-class in the business of sport. Reliance knows how to make money in India, and how to navigate the territory that needs to be covered to get to where we need to be. Together they form a formidable alliance that is more than capable of transforming Indian football.

When Houghton’s success or failure is being considered let’s start with a realistic analysis of the expectations and constraints he was working under. When considering his successor, let’s think first about what the scale and scope of the job should be, or alternatively, whether or not we should appoint a Technical director to work alongside the national coach. When we strategise the development of football in India more generally, let’s locate the priorities with a holistic approach, and a long-term perspective, whilst looking for ‘big-wins’ in the short to medium term as well. Whoever the next national coach is, and whatever his remit might be, expect Reliance and IMG to be centrally involved in making these decisions, which has to be a positive. That they are also key players in the IPL adventure, should give us all still more reason for hope.