Poget: “I want to stay in Greece – England is a priority”

THE Gustavo Poget spoke about his… foggy future on the website footballleagueworld, stressing that he would like to stay on the bench National team leading it to the Euro and also to the World Cup qualifiers, but also adding that his desire is to work in England.

“England is always my first priority. I’ve been trying to get back for a while now. There is always something there that makes me want to go back. But it seems that if you’re not in the circle, managers go from one club to another and find another job whether they’re doing well or not, and it’s difficult for different reasons. Obviously, timing is always important. Next month, I have the play-offs to go to the Euros. Sometimes there’s an incredible position and people call you, and the federation knows it, so I’m not hiding anything, but right now I’m not recommending myself to anyone, I’m in great shape. Now, my contract ends on March 31st, qualify or not, which means it’s also inconvenient because yes, I want to stay, but… My situation is that I have less than two months left on my contract. This is the truth. What will I do next? I do not know. I hope to qualify and if I qualify then I can go, but I don’t want to be in a difficult situation so my idea was to try to renew for the long term, maybe until the World Cup and then we’ll see. If not, England is always my first priority. When I left, I left for one reason only – to see something different. My coaching career was in England and I said: “Okay, going to one place, but I have to go back”. Since then I have been in Greece, Spain, China, France, Chile and now again in Greece. I follow my feelings, my instincts a lot. Sometimes I have a conversation with someone and say, “I’d like to work with you.” And sometimes I say, “No.” I’m straightforward, I’m not the type to say let me think about it. No, if I have the feeling, then I will say: “Let’s go.” I didn’t expect to go to South America. They called me from Chile, I had a great feeling and I said: “Let’s go”, because I had a good feeling. That’s how it works, so let’s see“, said the Uruguayan national coach of Greece.

“I still meet Leeds fans who ask me and want me back because it was a good, close relationship in a very, very difficult, unique situation. There we were, in League One and we started the season with -15 points. I hope this is the last time in my life that I win the first five league games and have 0 points. There were wins in that streak that were spectacular. There were moments that were incredible. But then I got a call from Tottenham to help Juane Ramos and I had to go. As a manager to go from League One to the Premier League, to have a different experience. I always say that without the experience of being with Dennis Wise at Leeds and without the experience of Juane Ramos at Tottenham, I would not be the manager I am now“, added the 56-year-old coach and continued:

“I know where I will live if I come back to Leeds one day, for sure, because I used to go a lot in the afternoon, every week, to Harrogate. That would be my place. Brighton followed and then Sapderld. When I arrived at Sunderland the main thing they wanted from me was to stay upright and we did something incredible. It was a miracle we did. The second thing was to beat Newcastle. I played against them three times, two away and we beat them three times. So as far as my goals go…I’m done! When you’re inside, you realize how important the club is to the city. How important is the rivalry with Newcastle. How important it is to even reach a cup final or achieve, as I said, the goal. I have some very special memories. Definitely the three derbies. The first one because it was my second game, but the other two were away from home and they were amazing. The day we saved against West Brom at home. The Stadium of Light was impressive. And finally, the reaction of the fans when we went to Wembley – even though we lost. I was very disappointed because we lost, even though it was from Manchester City, but I still meet people in the street who remember. One said to me: “I remember half-time at Wembley.” I said: “Half time?” They said to me: “Yes because we were winning 1-0 and I have never felt like this».