An Evening with the Don - Roberto Donadoni Speaks

Earlier this week, Just-Football was invited to attend a seminar hosted by Birkbeck Sports Business Centre, at which the guest lecturer was none other than AC Milan legend and current Italian national coach Roberto Donadoni. The lecture was held as part of an event to launch the alumni group of the Birkbeck Department of Management’s MSc Sports Management and the Business of Football programme.

In front of members of the national and international press as well as distinguished guests such as England assistant manager Franco Baldini and Ray Clemence, Mr. Donadoni was invited to discuss the challenges of managing a national team in an era of increasing club power. Over the course of the evening Roberto Donadoni, himself a highly successful player at club level and the youngest ever manager of the Italian national team, eloquently addressed all manner of questions put to him in front of what was a relaxed yet inquisitive audience.

Unfortunately the translator was either painfully out of his depth or reluctant to go into too much detail on a lot of what Donadoni had to say – a matter that, over time, became quite apparent to the audience courtesy of his overly brief and sometimes downright poor translations. Nonetheless, Donadoni spoke freely on a wide range of topics and never hesitated to offer his opinions (except when fielding the now mandatory ‘will Cassano / Del Piero make Italy’s Euro 2008 squad’ queries).

On the subject of David Bentley’s refusal to play for England Under-21s at the European Under-21 Championships last summer for example, Donadoni opined that such a decision could only be described as ‘wrong.’ ‘The coach’s role is to coach, the player’s role is to play…it is not right to refuse such an honour. To refuse to play for your country is profoundly wrong,’ said the man who won 63 caps for the Azzurri during his own international career.

On the issue of the 39th game he was matter-of-fact but unconvinced. ‘Business is business,’ he laughed, ‘but this is not the best thing for us,’ echoing the thoughts of many as to the motives of the initiative.

And when asked to comment on violence at Italian football grounds he stated that England, ‘had been in a similar situation years ago,’ whilst suggesting that, ‘a lot needed to be done to cure the problem in Italy.’

However, it was his thoughts on and indeed fears for the technical level of players in the modern game that proved most interesting. As an attacking midfielder-cum-winger of great technical ability himself, it was notable that the former Rossoneri stalwart often made reference to the topic of technique in his answers, and he repeatedly stressed the importance of skill and guile in the modern game, attributes for which he himself was so well-known.

‘It must be said that in Italy we have lost sight of the technical development of players somewhat. In Italian football, as with football in general these days, the physical aspect of the game has become too predominant a factor and this is not a good thing.’

‘For me it is very important to endorse and encourage the technical side of football and some players do that well - players like Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic for example. If we continue to ignore development of technique and skill in the game we will face hard times.’

It is of course no surprise to hear such comments from one who formed an integral part of the all-conquering Milan side that won five Serie A titles and three European Cups in the late 1980s and early nineties, especially given the extraordinary grace and style with which that particular side, jam-packed with flair players like Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard, played.

Throughout the evening, Donadoni spoke with an enthusiasm and zeal that left no-one in doubt as to the man’s pride to be coaching his home nation at the highest level. To hear the Italian national team coach speak so passionately about the game’s inherent duty to cultivate players of skill, craft and artfulness can also only have encouraged Azzurri fans that at least theirs is a manager who will strive to play the beautiful game, as the World Champions head into Euro 2008. And if mastery of technique is on the agenda, who knows – maybe Alessandro Del Piero might just find himself on a plane to Austria and Switzerland this summer.