Fabian Hurzeler Interview: Brighton's Recruiting, Houston Ties & the Power of Padel

0:11Hello and welcome to the Two Robbies podcast, your destination for in-depth discussion and analysis of the Premier League. I'm Robbie Musto, he's Robbie Earl, and today we have a special guest joining the show. A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of catching up with Brighton head coach Fabian Herzler, where he shared his insights on Brighton's successes in recent years, how he got into management at such a young age, and his love of the Houston Texans. Here's how our chat went. Fabian, thanks for joining us this morning. It's probably the most unusual place we've done an interview with, Paddle Court.

0:44I know that you, the players, the CEO, Paul Barber play. What's the significance of paddle at Brighton? For me, I have the chance at the paddle court, first of all, to find a good distraction of the daily business. Second of all, sometimes I face staff members on the paddle court. I didn't see that often during the day. So I think it's good to build a connection to them. And third of all, it's a very socialising sport. so you come together, you don't play one against one, you play two against two, sometimes you play a tournament, so it's about socialising, it's about spending time together, and I think that's something what sometimes in football is a little bit underestimated, that the most important thing is obviously people's business, so it's about taking care about your staff members, it's about building relationships, and here in the Paddle Court it's a great opportunity that you can do these things.

1:39I'm just wondering as a former player, if I was playing against a manager, Maybe I'd let the manager win, so he would pick me on the weekend. I don't play against players, so that's something I always try to avoid because I think it's not the right thing. So the players have their space, we have our space, and I think there are some moments where we really have to find a good separation. Speaking about sports, Fabian, in a recent interview, you talked about how impressed she was when watching some NFL training sessions and what they had to remember. Can you share with us which teams or teams that you watch practice and what else impressed you about the sport?

2:15So I was in my former hometown in Houston and I visited the Houston Texans and I was very impressed how they worked. I was very impressed by the work ethic from the players. I was very impressed by the positivity they created, by the culture they created. It was about the right work ethic, it was about a great togetherness, and that's something that I'm into, because I think it makes a difference when you want to be successful, and that was the main thing I took away. Of course, they worked also really individualized, and that's something where I think we can improve in the football business, to really work very individually with the players, try to develop them, try to take care of them, not only on the pitch, but also beside the pitch.

3:06There were some great takeaways from the American football. I was also visiting a basketball team and I think it was the same there. It's just impressive how the culture was there. It's always we than me, so they always put togetherness first. They always worked very individualised, taking care of the players, taking care of the individual development and that's something that was really impressive for me. So our viewers, Fabian, will probably want to know a little bit about your American roots. I know you were born in Houston, Texas, and then very early after that you moved to Germany. But you and your family did come back to the U.S.

3:41many times. How did spending all that amount of time in the U.S. kind of influence your life going forward? I think I have some attitudes from American inside of me. So I think it's being very open-minded to different kind of things, being open-minded to every culture in the world, being open-minded to every people you meet and you will meet in the future. That's the first thing. And the second thing is, I think America is there for dreaming big and I always have big visions. I'm always very ambitious in trying to reach something. So for me it's very important that you have big goals, dream big, because then you promise yourself to never give up.

4:25and there are some attitudes I think I have inside of me that represents an American boy. Robin, I want to talk to you about managing a football club. You took over management in your first job at only 23 years of age, like most players, it happens later. Talk to us how that happened and what drew you to management at that early stage. So I had the privilege that I'm a former club, so I was always a captain in the team and the captain always had a good connection to the coach. So the coach involved me a lot. He gave me a lot of responsibility. And early in the beginning of my playing career, I really wanted to have this responsibility.

5:07I wanted to understand the game. I wanted to make decisions on the pitch and help my coach beside the pitch because the coach beside the pitch can't influence everything. He can't prepare us. But in the end, it's a player's game, and the players have to make the right decisions on the pitch. and there I always wanted to take the responsibility to make the right decisions for my team and together with my team. And then early in my 20s, I felt that I had injuries. I felt that I can't make the next step for being professional for long term. So I didn't want to stop being in this business of football because it's for me like an obsession.

5:51It's a passion. Football is my passion and will be my passion the whole life. So I wanted to do something in this business and then I had the chance to be a soccer coach in the fifth division in Germany. So I have to be very thankful for this club called Pippin Street. They gave me the opportunity, a very special opportunity in this young age to be a coach. They gave me a lot of trust and belief. And then I made step by step my experiences as a coach and tried to develop myself, tried to learn from others, try to learn from my mistakes. I did a lot of mistakes. I still make a lot of mistakes, but I think it's so important to learn from your mistakes and to grow from your mistakes, to reflect yourself, what was good, what was bad.

6:34And that was the journey. And now I'm here after several stations, after several phases where I was working in a non-professional environment, where it's really important that you get an understanding for the people, then you work more in a professional environment, and you work in different group stages. So I experienced a lot and now I have like 10 years of experience and I think the experience will grow and grow and I will grow and grow as a personality. Talking of experience, Fabian, tell us what you've experienced in the Premier League. You've had a season now, decent finish in eighth place.

7:12How have you found it? What have you learned from the league? The league is the best league in the world because it's so intense, it's very competitive, and it's so unpredictable. So every game you have to go into the game and you have to do your work from point zero because for me there are no favourites in the Premier League. Of course, there are the top three, four, five clubs who have unbelievable in which quality. But as a team, as a togetherness, you can beat them, you can challenge them, and I think that's also our job. So every game we step into the game and we have to believe in the trust and our ability and our strengths that we can beat everyone.

7:52But it starts always with work, work, work. And if you do your work right, then you have a chance to win the game. But it's so competitive and it's so intense. It's sometimes difficult to describe in words. Sometimes you just have to feel it. And that's something that makes it really special here. I'm just interested in the recruitment at Brighton and these new players come in, is it Maxime De Kuyper's come in Carol Ampos, Kostoulas is coming to the club I just wanted to understand a little bit more in terms of you have these great players who we then get sold on new players come in how does that feel as a manager?

8:31Are you sometimes disappointed when you see good players moving on and you have to almost start to rebuild again? So So first of all, it's a very data approach recruitment and the past showed that it is very successful. So the owner, Tony Bloom, makes a great job and I have the biggest belief and the biggest trust into his numbers and into his work because he proved it now several times that it works. Of course, there are some moments as a coach where you're not happy when a big player and an important player leaves, but we always try to replace them with another good player. We always try to find a strong team.

9:17And besides that, I think that the club also showed in the last window that we don't accept every offer, so we had also big offers for other players and other important players, but we stayed stable. We stayed, no, we want to keep the players with us. So overall, as a conclusion, for me, there's a big belief and a big trust in this very data approach recruitment. And it's also my job and his job from the staff that we use our facilities, that we use the environment here, that we give the best platform for the young players that they can develop, that they can make the next step with us. And these are prime examples.

9:55For example, the name you mentioned with Maxime de Kuyper, he's coming from a different league. He's not used to the intensity, but every game he's getting used to it more and more. And he already proved that he has something special inside of him. And that's like every player we bought this summer. They might not be the biggest player or the most popular player, but they can get very popular and they can get very expensive because they have big potential. And that's what we showed in the past, that we always tried to recruit the right players and then try to develop them and they can make the next step.

10:32Finally, Fabian, just given those changes that the squad seems to have most years, how do you measure success? What targets do you set or what do you need to see Brighton achieve this season? For me, success is when the individual player develops, when the group develops, when the whole team develops, then I'm sure that long-term the results will come. So it's not here too much focusing on the results. I think if you only focus on the results every weekend, then you don't focus on the process. So you really need to focus on the process. You need really to focus on the individual development. Because if the individual player gets better, if the group gets better, if the team gets better, you will be successful at one point.

11:14And of course we want to be successful. Of course we want to play a better season than we played in the last season. There will be a challenge. That's a challenge we want to go for and hopefully we are prepared for that. fascinating to speak and listen to fabian herzler the brighton manager very much putting his own fingerprints on this unique football club looking forward to see how him and his team go on for the rest of the season must he yeah i always think it's interesting when we speak to the coaches managers and listen to some of their influences and and the whole kind of america part of it and going to listen to american coaches in different sports and and kind of getting a sense of how they run things that I think is always interesting.

11:53And he's a young, bright manager, doing a good job at Brighton and Havaby in football club, which is a great kind of job, really, and club to be at, to develop as a coach, and not too much pressure. He's doing a really good job, and it was just lovely to hear a smart coach talking about his profession. Good stuff. Absolutely, and hopefully we're going to do a few more of these special Two Robbies podcasts over the course of the season. But we'll see you next week on our podcast. That's October the 19th when we'll react to the big game at Anfield. Liverpool host Manchester United when both teams always want to win.