Ian Burchnall ....Scandi interview

[Piethagoram]

Ian Burchnall - The young Englishman who wanted to take over Iceland

Ian Burchnall is a 38-year-old Englishman from Leicester. His playing career was not remarkable and he admits it himself. However, his coaching career is very interesting. He has worked hard to advance in training and when the opportunity arose in Norway about nine years ago, he jumped at it. Now, after adventures in Norway and Sweden, he has returned to England and is starting to think about his next project.

Burchnall was among those with whom KSÍ spoke regarding the work of the men's national team coach at the end of last year. He spoke to Guðni Bergsson, chairman of KSÍ, but did not get the job this time. Maybe sometime later. Guðni talked about Burchnall as the man of the future.

A Fótbolti.net reporter sat down with Burchnall through Zoom teleconferencing equipment and talked to him about his coaching career so far, the Icelandic national team and something else.

Burchnall was 29 years old when he got the opportunity to become Sarpsborg's assistant coach in Norway.

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Guðmundur Þórarinsson was at Sarpsborg when Burchnall trained there.

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He says that his player career has not been very significant.

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He enjoyed coaching more than playing in the English Premier League.

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Brian Deane, a former Sheffield United, Leeds and Benfica player, brought Burchnall to Sarpsborg.

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'I was training in academia and it had become a bit' Groundhog Day 'for me. I felt I had to push myself to get to a higher level '

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Östersund supporters held a party for Burchnall when he left the club. The supporters were happy to see him leave and the same was true when he left Viking.

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Jón Daði Böðvarsson played under Burchnall in Viking.

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Indriði Sigurðsson also played for Burchnall in Viking.

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Burchnall had a good meeting with Guðni Bergsson, chairman of KSÍ, about the national team coaching work in Iceland. Guðni described Burchnall as the man of the future.

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'I hope you get to the next World Cup, that would be fun'

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'I enjoyed talking to them and maybe some of this will happen later when I have gained even more experience'

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'There's something special about their mentality and the way they present themselves. At least for those I have worked with and I have worked with so many that I know this is no coincidence '

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Burchnall is transferred back to England and is starting to tickle his fingers to return to the 'hot seat'.

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Leicester is the club that Burchnall supports. He is extremely pleased with the current situation at the team.

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'You just have to think about doing well every day and what happens after that, it just happens'

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What's next for this promising manager?

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"Very nice to be considered and a great honor for me"
Worked many jobs at once and then kept in
mind the adventures Burchnall began training when he was studying at the University of Leeds in England. He studied sports science and needed a job to pay the bills. He contacted Leeds United and got a job there as a football coach in the community.

"I started there and I put a lot of effort into it. After a year or so, I was transferred to the academy where I was working with young kids. I was in it for four years and then I went to Bradford City. This just kept evolving. I was not necessarily thinking when I was 20 that I would become a football manager, I just wanted to work in football full time. I went into it with an open mind and worked through it that way. "says Burchnall, who took on all the jobs he could possibly get to just think about football, a sport he loves.

"It is difficult to make a living from training in grassroots football. I was going to give this a few years in and see if I could pay the bills by taking on all the jobs I could take on in training; train in primary schools, in leisure activities, in academies. I was also training at my university for seven years. I thought to myself that if I did not put in a lot of effort, I would not be able to live on this. "

Then came the opportunity.

"I got a job as an assistant coach at Sarpsborg in Norway when I was 29 years old. Then I thought to myself that I had been working stress-free for ten years and now I had come to the point where I could only think of one job. I had done five or six jobs at a time and now it was just one job. There was a moment where I thought that this was really happening to me. "

Not worth writing about players career
The players career Burchnall was not clear and he admits it himself. To train fascinates him more than playing.

" It is not "It's worth writing about," Burchnall said of his career."I always played and was such a good player. I played college football and a little bit in the English Premier League. I did not really enjoy playing in the non-league. I did not enjoy training and it was more fun to train. "

" I thought to myself, 'What am I doing?' Going two, three nights a week to run for an hour in training where I do not like it. I would rather enjoy training. I prefer to play five-a-side ball and concentrate. "I was never a great player but I was fully aware of that and that's why I went to college to learn more about coaching."

Burchnall finds it more fun to train and when asked why, he says:"It's about working with different people and helping them improve. I like the process of helping people improve in something. "

" It's also a matter of putting the puzzles together to make a team, I find it interesting to work in a team. I do not know how I would like to train in individual sports like and for example golf or something. I like working in teams with different personalities. It's also fun to put out my ideas about football and see if they work. "

Burchnall mentions his ideas about football. He wants the teams he coaches to be positive in his approach.

"You can start talking about keeping the ball and things like that, but for me it's mostly about creating teams that are positive in their approach, creating teams that are brave how they play; players who want the ball and are brave enough to have the ball, make mistakes and develop their game. I want my teams to be aggressive, positive and courageous. That's how I would describe it. If you have a lot of great ball, but sometimes it doesn't have to be that way. "

Modern trainers always seem to pay more and more attention to analysis, statistics and the like. For example, xG is a very popular topic right now. To explain the concept in a simple way, it measures how likely it is that a team will score based on the quality of the scoring opportunity. A shot from 30 meters does not yield much xG, but a chance to die with an open goal will probably give teams a pretty high xG. Burchnall says he thinks a bit about diagnosis and the like.

"I want to use this to support the things we are doing, but I would not say I'm a statistics nerd. I'm not like that but I want to see if the numbers support what I think, " said the young Englishman.

Very popular with fans
Burchnall went to Sarpsborg and was an assistant coach there. He was then Viking's assistant coach in Norway and then took over as head coach there. He took over Östersund in Sweden in 2019 after his countryman Graham Potter took over at Swansea. Potter now manages Brighton in the English Premier League, but Brighton is playing very entertaining football.

"I was training in academia and it had become a bit 'Groundhog Day' for me. I felt I had to push myself to get to a higher level. I was not sure I would get the experience I wanted and maybe I would have to go abroad. I was close to Brian Deane, a former footballer. He helped train at the university while completing his coaching qualifications. "

"Then he got an offer for the job at Sarpsborg. He saw what I had to offer as a coach, I had something he did not have. He had many good qualities from the time he played the game while I had ten years of experience training on the training ground. He did not have that experience and we got along very well. "

" I went out with him and we were together for two years at Sarpsborg. He went back to England but I stayed out in Norway. This puts something different on my CV and when clubs look at my resume, they might think that this guy has a different experience and that should hopefully be a positive thing. "

"In Norway I experienced a different kind of football. Football there is probably underestimated, especially at home in England. You have to prepare a team for Rosenborg, Molde and Brann who are very strong teams with national team members in their ranks, and this helped me a lot tactically. Culturally it was not a big leap but it was good to get out of the comfort zone, " says Burchnall who has worked with players from all over the world, including Iceland.

Burchnall was fired after one year as head coach at Viking but the job was very difficult due to The club adored him and protested his dismissal, as did Östersund and the fans held a party for him before he left.

"Viking supporters did the same even though I was fired! I was there for three years and the last year was very difficult. It was mainly about off-field problems at the club and I think the fans agreed with me. It was a party and they gave me presents. It was the same at Östersund. It was very nice. You win and lose, but when you go you get to know what people think of you. You think that you have done well and that people have appreciated it. The supporters have been great at the clubs I have been with. "

Burchnall achieved great results with Östersund. In his first season, the team finished in sixth place and was one point away from equaling the previous record set by Potter. In the summer of 2020, he stepped aside to move back to England with his family. Was it difficult to close this eight-year chapter?

"Yes and no. I chose to leave Sarpsborg as I had an offer from another club. It was rather difficult because we had many friends there and I thought the club was great. There was a lot to change there and I felt it was the right time to go. With Viking, it was not my choice, I was fired. It's normal in football; three years and you're gone. We loved Stavanger and did not want to go. It was difficult. At Östersund I was ready to go out for family reasons. Overall, it was the right decision, " says Burchnall, who is currently looking for the next project.

Wanted to take over the Icelandic national team
Guðni Bergsson, chairman of KSÍ, announced last month that he had talked to Lars Lagerback, Ståle Solbakken and Äge Hareide about taking over the national team. He also said he had spoken to Burchnall.

The Englishman sent his CV to KSÍ and had a good meeting with Guðni and KSÍ.

"I sent my CV to the Icelandic Football Association. I did not know what to expect back because in my eyes and in England, the Icelandic national team has a rather large reputation after one particular game many years ago, " said Burchnall, and of course he was referring to the famous game in 2016 when Iceland beat England. at the European Championships. "This is a big job in my opinion."

"I got a very good answer back from Guðni (Bergsson). He asked me to come to a video conference and I did. We talked for a long time and I have to say that I was very, very impressed with both Guðni and the vision of the relationship. He told me how football was in Iceland and I was very interested in participating in this but I think Arnar Þór Viðarsson is a great option. He and Eiður Smári did great things with the U21 national team. There are promising players coming up and I think it's a good decision to hire Arnar. It's also good that Lars Lagerback comes in with his experience from the national team. "

" It was very nice to be considered and it was a great honor for me. I enjoyed talking to them and maybe something will happen later. I will have gained even more experience. "

Burchnall will keep a close eye on the Icelandic national team. "I'm going to watch and watch the games. I hope you get the next Cup, it would be nice, " said the World Cup qualifiers starting next month. Since Iceland is a group with Germany, Romania, Korea, Macedonia, Armenia and Liechtenstein.

" Germany is there that is not easy "The other teams that are in the group, it is possible to have better against them. This is a good opportunity to advance but it is never easy in national team football."

The mentality of Icelandic players is no coincidence
Burchnall has worked with many Icelandic players and he finds it extremely fun to work with them.

"I have worked with many Icelanders over the years and could probably line up for an entire starting line-up only with Icelandic players I have worked with. I know a few in the national team and I have always enjoyed working with Icelandic footballers. "

" There is something special about their mentality and how they put in the effort. At least for those I have worked with and I have worked with so many people. "I know this is not a coincidence. It was another thing that I found fascinating about the national team, working with players with such a good mentality."

What's next and the dream job
It's been a few months since Burchnall left Östersund and he is moved back to England with his family.

"We have bought a house here and the children have started school. We have been traveling in Scandinavia for eight years and have children born abroad. We felt it was time to come back home. The first priority was to establish ourselves. Otherwise, I have been talking to clubs, talking to other coaches and going over the last few years to prepare for my next job. It's nice to have a vacation, but I'm in a place right now where I've done everything I needed to do, and now I need to start working again. I'm back to that place, but it's good sometimes to take a break, look back and review what's happened. "

He does not rule out working again outside of England if something very exciting comes up, but his wife now prefers to he works a job near their new home.

"The family wants to be in the same place now because we have been on so many trips. I have three children and they have all been born in different cities, and in different countries. My wife tells you that my dream job is to drive a distance from where we are now, but if something interesting comes up abroad then maybe I need to look into it and find solutions. "

He does not have a clear plan for his career, it is difficult because it is best to focus on each project individually. "I do not want to go to my next club, say it is a club in England, and think that if I do well here I can go there "You just have to think about doing well every day and what happens after that, it just happens."

"I'm concentrating on getting a new role now and I've talked to a couple of clubs in England and I've gotten some offers from Scandinavia, but I did not feel right at the time. It is difficult now as the operations are not going very well for many companies. I have to choose something that suits me. "

It didn't take long for him to think when he was finally asked about his dream job. " I am a Leicester supporter and that is my club. "

"My father agrees and we went to many games together for many years. Leicester is my club and if I could choose a job, it would be with that club. Everyone has their own team and this is my team. I'm been a few years since that and Brendan (Rodgers) is doing absolutely great now. "

"On the other hand, if I took that job and if it did not go well, I would definitely lose some friends and some family members."

For others who want to follow in Burchnall's footsteps by continuing their training without having a big name in the football world, he suggests trying to get as much knowledge from other coaches as possible, watch other coaches and see how they do things and keep trying to identify teams, players and games.

"I would also say, do not rush. You do not have to be in the place you aim to get to tomorrow. Learning is very good. You want to be ready and you can only be that by practicing a lot, " says Ian Burchnall, man of the future.

https://www.fotbolti.net/news/20-02-2021/ian-burchnall-englendingurinn-ungi-sem-vildi-taka-vid-islandi

[liampie]

he could be something different and that might help with our approach to stats but really, its down to his man management and ability to motivate the players. its interesting to see what people think of him and how his managerial career began but thats then. this is now and his experience will be new within england.

hope he hits the ground running.