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Josep Gombau’s revolution at Adelaide United continues to roar forward, with the arrival of good friend and Barcelona great Guillermo Amor signalling the next step in his master plan.
Amor represented the Catalan club more than 300 times, won 37 caps for Spain, and played in the 1998 World Cup during his career in midfield.
On Saturday he signed a one-year contract with the Reds, agreeing to become their technical director after spending a month with the club in a consulting capacity.
It’s a major coup for Adelaide, for the A-League, and hopefully for South Australian football and the Socceroos. Yet there’s work to be done in order to fully utilise the Spaniard’s knowledge and expertise.
Amor spent a total of eight years, in two stints, with Barcelona’s youth system in a coaching and directorial capacity. His arrival in Adelaide represents the next stage in the club’s lofty ambitions for domination of Australian football.
“I have come here to learn and experience … but also bring experience to improve the football department and the club,” Amor said.
“From what I have seen, it is not a big difference between us and what Barcelona are doing.
“It is something similar and something I am used to. But I have liked what I have seen so far.”
Gombau, who signed on for Adelaide United ahead of the 2013-14 season, worked alongside Amor during his time as a Barcelona youth coach between 2003 and 2009.
Since arriving in Australia the passionate 38-year-old has set about transforming Adelaide United, determined to spark a revolution on the same scale as the German national team.
Key to that plan has been a focus on developing the club’s youth system.
“The challenge is that in two, three years time to have a lot more South Australians playing the style we want to play,” Gombau said.
“We want to develop this young local talent as they are the future of the club.”
While Gombau has introduced a number of South American and Spanish players to his roster in his short time in charge – namely Isaias Sanchez, Sergio Cirio and Marcelo Carrusca – his long-term strategy is to produce such players locally.
The foreigners have been essential in bridging that initial gap between Australian players’ education of possession-based football, but soon, in Gombau’s vision, they won’t be necessary.
With the first team already playing the style of football Gombau craves, in a relatively short period, results are the next step. But alongside first team results is the challenge to sustain that success long term, by finding local talents to replace the foreign imports.
Amor’s arrival will help in fulfilling that objective, and his experience as technical director for Barcelona’s young Blaugranas will be crucial.
From La Masia to Adelaide Shores, it is a strange development path for Amor, but one where he can adapt to a different culture and improve his English. It’s a two-way relationship, and it will work as a stepping-stone to greater things.
And while Amor will be working as technical director on the professional side of operations, his experience and knowledge in youth football will inevitably see him work with youth coaches Michael Valkanis and Angelo Costanzo.
He will be looking to build on Gombau’s already impressive work, overseeing operations that could install Adelaide, and South Australia, as the premier supplier of Australian talent to the A-League and Socceroos.
Amor worked under Johan Cruyff as a player, and played alongside Pep Guardiola during the 1990s. The same structures and ideals he was exposed to at Barcelona are now being implemented at Adelaide, to educate players as both footballers and people.
But where Guardiola is attempting to install Barcelona’s ethos at Bayern München with the help of a number of Spaniards, Gombau and Amor are not looking at going down such a route. They are executing an approach that will see the best South Australian players developed from a young age in Adelaide’s youth system, and then promoted to the first team.
This could well be the start of not only a coaching revolution in South Australia, but throughout the whole country. If Gombau achieves success at Adelaide, many clubs could follow suit, which could eventually translate into the success for the Socceroos. That’s not to say other clubs aren’t also attempting similar plans, but none have such high profile personnel driving the work.
Speaking with Barca television programme Promeses in January, Amor highlighted his vision at Barcelona, and it’s one that should get A-League fans excited.
“What we must never lose is our style; the essence. That mustn’t be lost, no matter who is in the first team,” he explained.
“We should always look for local players. The best players can be found here. When you give local people the chance, they respond and defend their team to the end.
“The idea is to have the same managers, that we make the fewest changes possible.”
Of course Catalonia is a whole different ball game to South Australia, but you get the idea.
Awer Mabil has already exploded onto the A-League scene, and in the Reds’ FFA Cup clash against Wellington Phoenix, Paul Izzo starred in goals and Bruce Kamau made his debut on the right wing.
All three are local, and are products of the youth system.
Other South Australians such as Michael Marrone and Dylan McGowan have been brought back to the club, while Mark Ochieng, Dyan Smith and Ben Warland have returned home from the AIS.
There are a further eight players involved in the club’s first team and youth squads that were born in South Australia. These players, and those that follow them, will learn the fundamentals of Adelaide’s style and philosophy, before making the transition into the first team.
Yet there is work to be done for that dream to become a reality, and it should be one of Amor’s major goals. He’ll also have to cut through a lot of red tape to get there.
While Adelaide have a plan, they are still a fair way away from implementing it. The youth team is still restricted to playing in the National Youth League, and the ultimate aim has to be entry into the South Australian NPL, which Perth Glory, Brisbane Roar, Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners have already achieved in their respective regions.
So far, Football Federation South Australia has rejected Adelaide’s advances to get a youth team in the state’s premier division.
In September last year, Adelaide United announced an agreement for Enfield SC to become its feeder club, with the main objective to keep the Reds’ youth side together for 12 months of the year.
They proposed that the youth side would play with Enfield in the local FFSA State League – the tier below the NPL – but that was rejected by FFSA and its member clubs.
Further discussions to reach a compromise, where Adelaide wanted to see a gradual progression to fielding a team in the NPL by 2016, were also unsuccessful. FFSA concluded talks by offering Adelaide an Under-17 team in the NPL Premier League Reserves for 2014, with no further guarantees.
Adelaide rejected the offer, citing that the lack of future planning made the deal redundant.
Following the collapse in negotiations, Enfield SC were forced to fold due to financial difficulties. They had been slapped with a fine and a 60-point deduction last year after discrepancies were found in player contracts.
The 68-year-old club, which produced players such as Iain Fyfe and Robert Cornthwaite, were relegated from the NPL and installed in the State League for 2014, yet they withdrew from the competition due to financial problems and have since ceased to exist.
A relationship would have been beneficial for both Adelaide, Enfield and South Australian football. Yet FFSA and its member clubs decided against the proposal – one which would have transformed football development in the state.
It was Adelaide’s vision to produce a system where they could have players training from the age of eight in a consistent environment. Enfield’s coaches would have been educated under Josep Gombau’s ethos and, importantly, Adelaide’s youth team would have stuck together for the entire year. It was a juicy prospect.
This is now Amor’s challenge – to work with FFA, FFSA and member federations in the state to find a pathway for Adelaide to enter a team in the NPL. Obviously there will be others involved in negotiations, but hopefully his profile and experience can assist Adelaide in the process.
But with just a year on his contract, it’s going to be a tall order. Hopefully he further buys into the club’s vision and extends his contract down the line.
Gombau renewed his contract towards the end of last season, extending his stay until at least the start of the 2016-17 campaign. It was another sign of Adelaide’s intent. While he only won one game in his first nine at the start of his tenure, leading many in the media to brutally question his philosophy, his side captured the hearts and minds of all A-League fans come finals time.
As the first team continues to adapt to Gombau’s playing style, Amor will be working hard off the field to ensure it is implemented from the top down. If all goes to plan, Adelaide could become a premier example to other A-League clubs in youth development, and could be the next hotbed for Socceroos talent.
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