Get French Football News sat down with former FC Nantes, Manchester United and Cameroon midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba for a fascinating chat on his experiences as a footballer and since retirement.
In this first part he talks about being coached by two managerial greats: Raynald Denoueix and Alex Ferguson.
You began your professional career at Nantes before moving to Manchester United and in a way you were a little spoiled because two of your first three coaches were Raynald Denoueix and Alex Ferguson – two coaching legends. What were their similarities and differences and what made them special?
Both of them were so special, but different. Denoueix as a coach was like an educator at the same time. That means that if you make a mistake, Raynald wasn’t going to yell at you immediately. He would wait till after the match and would then talk to you, to tell you “here you did that, that’s not good, because if you do that, that’s not going to work”. He wouldn’t reprimand you right away. He would give you a chance, a second chance and another chance again. So like an educator who wants his child to succeed.
And on top of that he was an excellent tactician. He was into the details. If we had the ball on the right, he knew when he wanted it moved to the left and back again. So we knew that if we were being closed down on the right, by playing two, three, four passes, those on the left would know that the ball would come to them on the fourth pass and are already anticipating it. It’s football à la Nantaise. That was a bit of his particularity. He was a very calm person and someone who listened. Whether you were a young or more experienced member of the team, he would listen to you in the same way, and then make his decision.
As for Alex Ferguson, he was a coach who had already long since established himself, a coach who has won trophies, and who is at a club where, if you’re signed, you’re not joining in order to learn: you already have the basics. You come to the club to progress, not to learn. So at Manchester United, when Alex Ferguson recruits you, it is because you have assets that he already knows about and which he believes will bring a plus to the team. So at Manchester United it is harder to be allowed to make mistakes, as one mistake can cost you a lot.
You said that Denoueix is calm. That wasn’t Ferguson’s reputation, with the famous hairdryer treatment?
The two of them were similar in their tactics, in the way they like the game to be played, using the ball and the team playing and winning with style. But the difference is that, at Manchester United, if the team don’t win that way, the fans are not happy. Without disrespect to Brighton – if Brighton beat Manchester United 1-0 in an ugly match, the fans are happy. But if Manchester United beat Brighton 1-0 without style, their fans are not happy.
Alex Ferguson knows that so he is the one who’s going to be angry. He wants you to win. He doesn’t want mistakes because his club is Manchester United and they must not make mistakes. So that’s kind of it. These two great coaches, they have this particularity tactically to want to play the game well, but it’s two different temperaments.
But I also want to add that, outside football, Alex Ferguson in everyday life is a very endearing person. He’s someone who, if you tell him “I’m having problems”, he’s going to find solutions. He changed my life by recruiting me from Nantes. He saw that I had something I had a plus. I remember there were clubs like Lyon, Monaco, Lazio who wanted me but none of the managers contacted me. But Ferguson came to see me play. After the match he asked for me to be called over, I went to the box, he just shook my hand and told me “Well done”, that’s all. I had no idea that I was the one he had come to see. The club didn’t tell me anything.
I went off to the Confederations Cup in the summer of 2003 unaware that my career with Nantes had ended. Then after the final which we lost to France, we were talking amongst ourselves and Fabien Barthez came over and said “Well, next year you’re going to be my teammate.” And it was only then that I knew something was happening.
And when Manchester United comes to get you – it doesn’t happen to everyone. It means that you have something that Ferguson sees in you. Today, I don’t regret having been there because I learned so much there, I met some great people, I got to know real football, high-intensity football.
Eric Djemba-Djemba was speaking exclusively to Get French Football News courtesy of BetVictor Casino
