The importance of relocation managers in Football

Michael Owen – Could have been a star at Real Madrid

Anderson, Fred, Cris, Michel Bastos, Juninho! Anything in common? All are Brazilians! Anything else? Oh yes, they all played for the French club Olympic Lyon, and did well too!
Seven successive titles anywhere is impressive, and makes anyone stand up and take notice. But what made the team so successful?

One answer that obviously comes to mind is they had a team whose core was Brazilian, one in attack, Fred, another in midfield, Juninho, Michel Bastos filling in at left back, and then the captain, Cris. There was certainly no shortage of chemistry in the team. But another thing that common fans like us fail to notice is how quickly these Brazilian players adjusted to life in Lyon.
Lyon is a paradise to live in; beautiful weather, friendly people, mouthwatering cuisine, which will help any player settle in.

So how did these Brazilians adjust to life in France? Brazilians don’t like cold weather, they don’t speak French either! It was up to the club to help them out and that’s exactly what they did, hiring employees to help the players settle, and by doing so they hit the jackpot. This in turn kept them happy. If your mind is right then you can concentrate on what you do best!

Lyon’s Brazilian core

There are so many factors that need to be taken into account, for example, finding a good house at a good place, a good school for your kid, and most importantly, keeping your family happy, all this adds up to how comfortable a player can be at a club!
The most obvious reason that comes to mind other that the problem of relocation is playing style, but each reason has its own weight in determining how a player performs. Just ask Michael Owen or Boudewijn Zenden! They were good players at one club and duds somewhere else!

Why did this happen? Anelka, Zenden, Owen were all world class players, in fact Anelka and Zenden were well travelled in their careers, so why did it never work out for them even when they were playing with good players? One reason is that Anelka and Owen often felt alienated at Real Madrid. No one ever spoke with them the way they would have wanted to, which made things difficult. Madrid never focused on small things like these in the early part of the 20th century.

In contrast, A.C Milan were the exact opposite. The organization of the club was very “foreign player friendly”. They were in constant contact with their foreign players to help them get accustomed to the newer environment.

In a recent interview, Paul Ince revealed how he enjoyed his short time at Inter Milan but could not stay on as his missus and his young son Tom Ince struggled to cope with the surroundings in Italy, especially the language. In more recent times however, clubs hire player managers, sports psychologists and many more trained professionals to help their players.

Getting back to Lyon, the Brazilians did really well there but couldn’t repeat the same success for Brazil. You could argue that they never got their fair share of opportunities because the likes of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Lucio, and Kaka were doing well for even bigger clubs like Barcelona, Milan and other powerhouses.

More and more clubs are now looking at this very basic but important idea of hiring relocation managers and helping out players to get used to the customs prevailing in their country.