Former Sierra Leone and Rwanda head coach Jonathan McKinstry said the standard of South Asian football is growing and attracted the Irish coach’s interest to try his coaching skills in the region. The 33-year old coach talked to Shishir Hoque of Dhaka Tribune after making his debut in Bangladesh football as the new head coach of Saif Sporting Club Friday.
Why did you get interested to coach in Bangladesh?
I have been interested in south Asia and south-east Asian football for quite some time, and before I took the international team job, I came to south-east Asia for around six or seven weeks, to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia and watched some games and training sessions, and met the coaches. I had that vision of moving into the Asian footballing market because I know it is something that is growing and growing. I rather got an opportunity to coach a national team, but it was always in my head that moving into the Asian region would be something I’d like to do.
What’s your observation on Bangladesh football?
In terms of Bangladesh, here is lots of investment happening. Normally in club football in Asia, three or four clubs invest in foreign players but here in Bangladesh, one to 13 clubs, all of them say, “Let’s invest some money, let’s bring quality players and coaches around the world”. Trying to follow the model has obviously (been) long implemented in cricket in this region, and also in Indian Super League in terms of football there. It’s much earlier stage here in Bangladesh but you can see the vision is there to go into the same direction. So for me, that vision excites me and I like being part of those growing projects.
Former #SierraLeone coach joins Saif Sporting Club https://t.co/TYp8U9uS2K
— DhakaTribune (@DhakaTribune) November 7, 2018
How was the experience of managing a couple of national teams at such a young age?
It was huge, positive experience. I spent five years there. I set up football academies in (Sierra Leone), and there was also lots of success when I started coaching the national team. They moved up to the top 50 in world ranking from 90th. It was very enjoyable. I took Rwanda to the quarter-final of the African Championship. That was positive. Then I went up to coach in eastern Europe (Lithuania).
What differences do you find in club and international football?
Both are enjoyable but both are different experience. In club (football), you get the opportunity to work with players every single day. In the national team, the exposure and pressure (are) much higher. You don’t see your players often. It’s amazing thing, that the whole country support when coaching a national team. I enjoyed both.
You have some national footballers at Saif Sporting, can your experience help them grow as better players?
From my experience of what is required to play international football, there’s something like psychology, mentality and skills required to play at international football. We have four-five players at the moment playing for the national team but I hope during my time at Saif I can increase that to eight-10 players. If I help some young guys in the team to improve various areas to play for the national team, it would good for the club, and the country as well.
