Ajax -Baas Francesco Farioli sat down with Paul Gilmour of Sky Sports News to discuss midfielder Jordan Henderson's England, which brings the Englishman to the Dutch club, and the revival he led at Ajax …
Jordan Henderson is back in the team of England as an Ajax player. What was your response to that call-up?
“It was great. It was in the morning of the game, so we only had the chance to meet each other for breakfast and he came up with this news and it was of course really emotional.
“You know how much it means for him to be back in the national team team and I think it's something that he is very happy for the team and for the club, and for all of us.
What conversations have you had with Jordan since then and what have you told him?
“This kind of news is always special. So with Jordan we are really well connected from the emotional point of view for all the things I received from him since day because he is a fantastic person, a real leader.
“As you can imagine, his experience, his knowledge and especially his love for the game is something that is really unique. As a coach it is not really difficult to make contact with people if they have this desire to make our normal environment better every day.
“He is a player who is simply in the example to lead the group and move all players in the right direction, and I think that in the new journey we have, his role has been crucial.
“We have to be very happy. We are really happy for the fact that he will also contribute to the new cycle of the English national team.”
It was a big surprise here in England, perhaps a bit of a mixed reaction. Some people did not expect to see Henderson back in an English shirt. Were you completely surprised?
No, because I believe he is a player who can really bring things.
“With his mentality and his professionalism you get better in things like this.
“And now that England rebuilt a new story, I believe that you need these kinds of players and especially people.”
So what does he give a team at the age of 34?
“Saying that experience is very simple, because of course more than 700 professional games are a fairly large number.
“Part of this, however, is the passion, the desire that he has to get better every day, despite age.
“His way of training is really contagious in a positive way. So to have a leader who gives a good example and can help the young players create certain standards.
“He is a benchmark for everyone and really facilitates the work of every type of technical personnel, especially those who trust work ethics and mentality.”
You work with him every day, but supporters don't see much behind the scenes. Can you give specific examples of what he entails? You called it leadership. Do you have specific examples of the things that people don't see?
“There are many.
“This is the part where, for example, as a supporter or as a journalist, what you see is exactly what happens on the game day. But to prepare well there, the work and the details and the mental status of the team is the key.
“You can't really build this yourself, because at the end I believe that even the best ideas, if you are unable to create a link and make a bond with your players, you can't do anything.
“For me this is really the starting point of everything – the capacity to connect people. And to connect people, in the first place, you must have a vision, a clear plan about where you want to go, and a direction.
“But after you have people who are able to believe and take the step, because at the end every journey in football goes a lot with faith and what you really feel deep inside.
“My first conversation with Jordan was mainly about things like this, even more than to speak about football.
“Of course it was part of my explanation, his role. With us he plays more as number six than as a number eight, which he was used to in Liverpool.
“So I explain how I see him, why I see him there, what type of requirements we have in our way of playing. But above all, what were my expectations of him as a possible captain, because he was not the leader of the team last season.
“After a few conversations it was easy to make the decision to give the bracelet to him. I believe that as a coach you can't ask for a better captain to have in your team.
So we talked about his leadership qualities and human qualities. You said about playing six instead of eight. Is that the way he has adjusted his game? Does he show signs of being flexible and being able to adjust his actual game at that age?
“Yes, sure. His spirit and his desire to constantly learn from everyone is crazy. So this shows a lot about his humility.
“That is also a characteristic that is really important to me for a football player. Also his curiosity. These are always the most important elements to make real contact with the football players and to make contact with the person.
“If after winning a Champions League you still have the desire to discover a new position, discover new requirements to discover a new way of playing, this says a lot.
“As I said before, about the passion and love for the game, I think his passion is unparalleled.”
You and Thomas Tuchel are on the same page when it comes to Henderson, because Tuchel said he embodies everything we are trying to build. He is a serial winner. Do you think Jordan can help England get closer to their dream to lift the World Cup?
“It was very funny because I had my normal routine in the morning and then an interview. So they asked me my feelings.
“Of course I used a few keywords that Tuchel said a few hours later in his press conference.
“It is not because we had a conversation between us, but only because you are lucky and the opportunity to make contact with Jordan and to talk to him, his characteristics will be very clear to everyone.
“If you talk about his role in this process in New England, I will not doubt it and I fully support Tuchel's decision.”
Jordan is part of your team and after two difficult seasons we cannot mention how it went for you this season so far. Of course there is a lot of football to play, but there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm among the supporters, a really strong bond between you and the team and the fans. It must feel pretty good to turn this around …
“The story for us was very clear and this was the most important part of the first conversation I had with Jordan when we met in the training center. We started talking and I mentioned the fact that last season and the last two seasons, but especially the last season, full of scratches and for the players there were.
“Coming in at the moment of difficulty, it's not really my way of thinking to say, now it's a new page. No, it's never really fun in football life. It's never really an empty page. If you want, you have to clean up.
“I thought it was important to keep the pain and suffering visible in one way or another that the club had in the past two years, because you have to decide at the moment how to take.
“I think it is a very good memory to still have some signals of the pain you had in the past on your skin. So my message to Jordan and after it was something that we want to renew from time to time, this is to keep ourselves really sharp, really motivated and committed to a club that, as you can imagine, is a massive club.
“The responsibility that goes with this is huge and we have to be ready for that. But as I said before, people who really want to do something special and they want to sacrifice everything to try to give a little luck to the Ajax world.”
You have come across to represent the club in a positive attitude after those difficult years and you have to do with all the pressure that comes in a huge club like Ajax. To do that yourself at the age of 35, have you learned a lot in recent years?
“My previous experiences in different countries are really valuable opportunities for me to become a little more, a little more to the challenges we are confronted with. After, in every environment, in every country, in every club, you always experience different difficulties or different challenges.
“I really believe that there is not one plan that belongs to everything. So you go to a new club and this is what we have done here with our beliefs, with our way of playing, with our ideas, with our behavior that we want to see of the players, and especially of us. Being the example and the leader of the new project.
“After when you come in and when you enter, it is always very important to smell what is going on, because you have a photo from outside, but in the first five to six days you really have to be able to adjust, be flexible, to understand and perhaps also change something you have.
“This is always one of the most exciting parts when you have the chance to enter a club with difficulties and to approach the job with the right energy and the right vibes.
I know part of the pressure at a large club such as Ajax or in England, it is just like Manchester United and Liverpool. These larger clubs with a real history seem to have so much more supervision. So that is why, because they have achieved so much success in the past, when you hear public praise from someone like Louis van Gaal and people who have won success at a historic club that should definitely give you so much confidence …
“To get the support of an incredible mentor and an iconic coach like Van Gaal, something is very powerful.
“Our daily job in a club with this kind of heritage, with this kind of past is something that is important to have clear. There is a strong motivation, but I also believe that it is the key to all of us to keep moving and to have a clear desire to continue.
“There is no future without the past. But it is also really important to live in the present. And if possible, to work a bit with one eye in the future, because football changes very quickly.
“You have to be part of what changes in football, and for this job you need a lot of humility and curiosity, because every day you have to discuss your thoughts and only be attacked for someone else.
“This is the key and the club here, Ajax, is a huge club with a very clear DNA and also, with a very clear business model about the fact that young players have to develop.
“We also had the opportunity to have two new call-ups for some other national teams. Jorthy Mokio is only 17 years old and with the first team of Belgium. Youri Baas is also with the first team in the Netherlands.
“So the individuals help the collective to grow and the collective helps the individuals to reach their own desires and dreams.”
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