Sunderland have been praised for opening their doors and providing open all areas to upcoming managers.
Le Telegramme have an interview with Stade Briochin coach Guillaume Allanou today. He’s recently been behind the scenes at Sunderland as part of his BEPF (*) coaching qualification.
The Brevet d’Entraîneur Professionnel de Football (BEPF) is the highest professional football coaching qualification in France and is the equivalent of the UEFA Pro Licence.
He spent a week in ‘immersion’ at Sunderland, made possible thanks to Régis Le Bris. It saw him given an all-access pass behind the scenes at the Stadium of Light.
That was a big moment for the Stade Briochin manager. The French side currently compete in the Championnat National, the third tier of the French football league system. Therefore, the chance for a behind the scenes look at Sunderland, a Premier League club, doesn’t come up every day.
He’s already been left more than impressed by what he saw. He detailed Sunderland’s practices behind the scenes in different comments.
Now he’s praised Sunderland for how open they were. He found the experience there very different to what he’s accustomed to in France.
Sunderland staff were all happy to help
“Yes, it’s cultural there,” he said when asked if he had access to everything.
“In France, we cultivate secrecy about absolutely nothing, actually. We’re competitors, so we shouldn’t open up to others. In Sunderland, everything was open to me.
“I was in the offices all day, and I had access to the locker rooms. As soon as I arrived, they explained to the players why I was there. Since there are a lot of people, there are quite a few meetings: I could go in, take photos and videos. I was able to talk with the staff; they even asked me how I handled certain sequences of play.
“The set-piece coach explained what I do with short throw-ins—how I ask the players to move to create space. Initially, we were talking about long throw-ins.
“The coaching staff are very open, partly because they come from so many different countries. There are English, Spanish, Italian coaches, and the head of performance (Shad Forsythe) is American… They have impressive resumes, but they’re very respectful.”
