We all love a good rags to riches story, especially in football, and Fran Alonso’s journey through Everton and Southampton is certainly one of those.
He’s been talking to La Voz de Galicia, where he revealed he had started his coaching career after working as both a cleaner and a referee while with the Saints.
Alonso is currently manager of Deportivo La Coruna’s women’s team after forging a path in the women’s game since moving into it in 2018.
He was first in charge of Lewes Women before managing Celtic Women for three years between 2020 and 2023. He then joined Houston Dash in American before returning to Spain with his current side.
It’s been a busy few years for the 48-year-old, who won two Scottish Women’s Cup’s and the Scottish Women’s Premier League Cup during his time with the Hoops.
His career actually started in the men’s game, where he was an assistant manager to Ronald Koeman at Southampton and Everton during the Dutchman’s time in charge of both clubs.
Before that, though, he had worked as a cleaner and specifically as a translator for Southampton under Mauricio Pochettino as well, before heading to Everton alongside Koeman.
It’s been a varied journey, to say the least, one he looks back on fondly, though, in his latest comments to La Voz de Galicia.
“I have experiences of all kinds. I started as a translator for Southampton,” he said.
“They called me because they had signed Gastón Ramírez, who at that time was the club’s most expensive signing. He didn’t speak English, and they needed someone. They gave me the opportunity but, three months later, the club brought Mauricio Pochettino, and I thought I had lost my job.
“I was lucky that we got along well, he valued my work, and I was part of the coaching staff. When he left for Tottenham, I decided to stay, because Ronald Koeman was going to join Southampton. I had always admired Cruyff and his positional football, and I wanted to learn as much as I could. And who better than him, who had been a legend of the Dream Team.
“I went (to England) with the dream of being a coach, but I didn’t speak English, nor did I have a degree, I got them all there. I was cleaning in a gym, refereeing for free to learn the vocabulary… It wasn’t easy, but I knew why I was doing it. Others aren’t lucky enough to get it. I wouldn’t change anything I did.”
