Carlos Corberan has already made a big impression on English football - and England has also left a huge mark on the West Brom boss.
Corberan, 39, met his wife while working at Leeds, their son was also born there and now he laughs when he talks about getting used to the English way of life. "I’ve adapted to the culture. The mentality, the lifestyle and now, for me, I think having dinner at 9pm is too late,” said Corberan. “I used to have dinner at 10pm but now I’m getting hungry at 6.30pm!
“I always say to my friends that England has given me the most important things of my life. First of all, the chance to develop my job. At the same time, my family. I met my wife when I was working in Leeds. She’s Spanish, we met when I was at Leeds and my son was born in Leeds.
“Working in England is a dream because even when I was in Spain, English football was a reference for me. To come here as a coach, is a dream to be working here. Now I feel England is my second home and my second country because this is my sixth year here even if I was a little worried about the cold in the beginning!
“But this the best place you can be to develop in this job. Football for the people means a lot, not only in the Premier League and Championship. It’s the same in every division.”
Corberan started his life in football as a youngster at Valencia and remembers wanting to be a goalkeeper from the age of four. But, incredibly, had decided by the time he was a teenager he wanted to be a coach rather than a player.
His coaching career took him from Valencia to Saudi Arabia, then to Leeds and working under Marcelo Bielsa with their under-23s which was a huge lesson before his stint at Huddersfield when he led them to the play-offs last year.
Corberan is known for his attention to detail at West Brom, having a one-on-one session with every player before every first team game. That is straight out of the Bielsa manual and it is also reaping rich rewards for West Brom considering their rise up the Championship table.
“As a coach, Bielsa helps you become the best that you can be. He pushes you and makes you work so hard,” said Corberan. “I want to work a lot, that’s what I learned from my family and to dedicate yourself to achieve something.
“When you spend 15 minutes with a player before the game, it’s to spend time analysing what they do on the pitch. For the player it’s easier to perform when they know what is expected of him and where he is on the pitch.”
Corberan is super smart, engaging and is clearly destined for big things. His teams play high energy, entertaining football. Being able to turn around results and get fans onside against the backdrop of protests against the ownership is no small feat.
But it also comes from an early life lesson from his grandfather and those early training sessions as a kid at Valencia.
He added: “My father was working at that time, no-one else could take me to the training because it was 40 minutes from my town. My grandfather said to me: ‘I will take you but you have to understand that I’m making sacrifices for you. I will only do this for you if you are serious.’
“My grandfather taught me to work very hard, make sacrifices, forget your friends, be focused on your job, be focused on your studies and your family because they are the main three things.
“I am someone who still puts these principles into every single day. It was a complicated situation when I arrived. It takes time to work, to get the best out of players. For me, the key as a coach is to have one way and to have everyone to follow in this direction.
“I challenged them to commit 100 percent, we used all our collective resources because I know how big this club is, I know the mentality of our fans and I know they will support the team if we go to the pitch and give our best.”
