2024-02-05 12:20:38
David Marten, coach of Maccabi Jaffa, went all the way as a football professional. He started somewhere as an interpreter for Luis Fernandez in the Israeli national team, continued as Guy Luzon’s assistant abroad and today he is leading his team to a tremendous streak of 12 games without a loss. In seniority, he registers great success.
At the age of 36, he is sweeping the Bulgarians to the top of the national team and threatens the three leaders Bnei Yehuda, Iruni Kash and Iruni Tiberias. In a special interview for the “Laomit Be Moked” section, the coach, who was born in France, tells about the recent boom, the beginning of the road and the conversations with Fernandes, why the training period League A forged him and he also talks about the goals of the team in the promotion struggles and his big dream in his career.
You came back a different group after the war.
“I think we also started in a good way in the Toto Cup and connected quite quickly. We had a mini Chevron of three games without a win in the first round, which included a loss to KSH with a result that did not reflect the game. When we came back from the war, things stabilized, we found the balance and the injured players also returned. I don’t think it wasn’t there, it’s just a matter of momentum and confidence coming back. We are in a good time, the players understand the things I demand from them.”
Maccabi Jaffa players celebrate (Hajaj Rahel)
In the worst period there were whispers about your future.
“I wasn’t worried about my future. If I have to worry about my future, then I won’t perform well. It’s not something that crossed my mind and I don’t think we were in such a bad time either. I feel full support and confidence from the management: when I closed in Jaffa, we saw things a little over two or three months. I didn’t have an ounce of fear and the noises were probably things out of my control, so I don’t bother with it. It didn’t bother me.
“We planned to go through. I really wanted to coach Jaffa back when I coached in League A. It is a club with a great history in Israeli football, with a good audience. Before I worked at the club, I was always told that it was organized with payment ethics and the management’s desire to progress and improve. A club that strives to reach as many As high as possible all the time and I’m someone who takes the profession very seriously. My ambition is to reach as high as possible and things came together quite well at the vision level. I didn’t sign in Jaffa to be here for six months or a year.”
But this is a club that, even in terms of budget, it does not stand up to the big ones, it has high expectations.
“As soon as there is an audience, and I think this is the club with the largest audience in the National League along with Bnei Yehuda, then there will always be expectations. Maccabi Jaffa has always been a big club in Israeli football and I would not come to coach a team without expectations because without that, it is impossible to move forward. It’s very fitting and winking. We don’t have the budget of the majors, but we don’t fall short of them in any parameter.”
David Marten (Yonathan Ginzburg)
But what were the expectations at the beginning of the season?
“The goal was to be in places 1-4 and I can tell you that personally, regardless of the budget at my disposal, I always want to win every game and be there. I said after the first game that we beat Afula 1:5 and while everyone was talking about us being candidates for promotion, that it is a process. I said it would take time, but we’ll be there until the end. We can’t guarantee that we’ll be promoted at the end of the season, Money Time will be in the playoffs in the head-to-head meetings, but we want to be there and we believe we’ll be there.”
If they told you that at the return of the league in February there would be a three point increase?
“I think that until now we are not really counted and that is fine. We are talking about a three-way battle, but we do our job in every game. To say that I was surprised? No. I know what kind of squad I have, I know the qualities of my players and how much our dressing room He is good. There is a management here that gives everything needed to succeed within our budget. We are in sync on everything and I enjoy working at a club like Jaffa.”
But are you wary of declaring an increase?
“It is clear that we want to be there at the end of the season, but to say that we will be promoted is irresponsible. We will be in this battle for promotion, although I am not afraid to make a statement. We need to reach the top playoffs in a good way to do that. We are currently playing attractive football with the best attack in the league , the entire defensive game stabilized. Every team has crises in the middle of the season, we see Maccabi Tel Aviv, if a month ago we were talking about Haifa reducing the difference to a point, no one would have believed it.”
Maccabi Jaffa players (Hajaj Rahel)
The fact that you were not counted as candidates for aliya, is that something that is in your favor?
“I don’t think that in the end it affects the lawn. We are talked about less and that is natural because we did not get relegated from the Premier League like KS and we do not have the budgets of Bnei Yehuda or Tiberias. We want to be talked about after results on the grass. We’ll talk about the field and I hope we continue this good period to get even closer to the top.”
You must have heard people say that Shifu can’t go up.
“To be honest, I don’t read or listen that much, so it’s hard for me to say. Everyone has their own opinion, but those who know the national league and watch its games, see Shipo not falling out of any of the first three. In fact, we are in the best shape in the league in terms of accumulating points. When you go up high, then the air gets a little smaller and you have to know how to stay with your feet on the ground.”
How is your work with the management really?
“I can tell you that I work in full cooperation with Meir (Deri) and Eran (Cohen Amin). We do everything to improve the squad and in terms of daily conduct. A soccer team involves working around the clock and it doesn’t end only with morning training or a game. I can say Many players want to come to Maccabi Jaffa today because the club is well managed with the highest level of payment ethics. We feel it in the current transfer window as well as in the previous one.”
David Marten (Itzik Blanitsky)
let’s talk about you You made a splash at the age of 22 as an interpreter for Luis Fernandez. Did this branding hurt you?
“I don’t think so. I always say that if Mourinho started as an interpreter, then my situation is good and it really doesn’t bother me. On the contrary, I’m proud of the fact that I started as an interpreter for a coach like Luis and I was privileged to work with such a coach who won titles and trained players like Ronaldinho and Nicolas Anelka. It’s fine I’m reminded of it all the time and it doesn’t bother me. I was originally born in Paris, so the mentality is also a little different and maybe I’m a little different in the landscape of Israeli football. I didn’t grow up here, I don’t have roots in a particular club. I grew up and came a very long way to become a head coach in the national league .
“I think I went through a path that really hardened me because I went through everything. You won’t find many coaches in Israeli football who were assistants abroad for three seasons at clubs like Standard Liege and Charlton. I worked with a lot of good coaches and when I started my career as a head coach I started from the bottom: from the youth league and first league. I had quite a few bad choices along the way as head coach.”
You talk about being different in the landscape. Were you looked at differently?
“I believe so. In the end, I’m not some well-known former footballer and I didn’t grow up here. So every job I got, I got it only thanks to my professional path and I’m happy about it. I don’t think you should be tested for something that isn’t professional qualities. Maybe At first I chose some places that didn’t suit me and delayed my career, but I learned a lot in each such club.
Guy Luzon and David Marten (Noam Moreno)
“I experienced the highest levels abroad and also in the national team when I was Louis’ interpreter, I was involved in professional decisions and he trusted me at a young age. On the other hand, I also experienced the most difficult things. I arrived much more mature than I was two or three years ago and I think I arrived in Jaffa at the right time.”
Even when you started as an interpreter, did you know you wanted to be a head coach?
“No, I didn’t have a mantra in my head that I was doing this and close to Luis, to start a coaching career. But as time went by and as Luis trickled me to do coaching certificates and that I could succeed, this is something that really winked at me later. My dream was to be a soccer player, but It didn’t work out, so I’m actually fulfilling my dream through training and trying to promote players to make their dream come true.
“These are two important goals. When you coach a team, you have to make it succeed, but also in the end as a component of an entire team there are individual players who each want to succeed. I try to make us succeed as a team, but also on an individual level that everyone will progress under me. Everyone Those who want to play in the national league want to play in the Premier League and those who want to play in the Premier League want to play in Europe. This is the chain.”
Luis Fernandez and David Marten (Shay Levy)
Are you in touch with Louis?
“Yes, not in a continuous section, but let’s say that we talk twice or three times a year. He didn’t come to Israel for a long time, but every time he came, he came to visit.”
You said that the desire to become a coach developed slowly. But when did you realize that you would go for it with all your might?
“I think that after my experience as an assistant coach in Belgium and England. When you experience players at the highest level and play in the European institutions two years in a row, then there you realize that this is your calling and you have to pursue it with all your might. Assistant coach and head coach are two completely different things and that’s when I realized that I want One day to be a head coach.”
Moving from Europe to League A, isn’t that something that made it difficult for you and made you say what am I doing here or raise your hands?
“First of all, I arrived in the First League after a season in which I was an assistant coach at Beitar Jerusalem. After the season in Beitar, I realized that the assistant job is no longer suitable for me, unless it is in one of the big ones or abroad. I understood that I wanted to start a path on my own, but I knew that I was not one who was connected to certain clubs, it was about the media or extrovert. The offers came from League A, but I wasn’t afraid.
David Marten and Beitar players in training (Oren Ben Hakon)
“I knew that in order to be ready and ripe for the Premier League, you have to go through a process and not jump too high and too fast. For that matter, in my first season with Ramat Gan in League A, we were in first place for 17 rounds without a loss, despite the difficult conditions I had there. In the best squad Zol, I was able to build the best team so that I got confidence that I was suitable for the high levels.”
So you didn’t think to raise your hands?
“Never. As a football coach, if you are not mentally strong you have no chance of success. A coach can be happy two hours after a victory, but on the way home you also think about the next practice. The moments of happiness as a coach are very small and you constantly have to look ahead and be ready for the challenge The next. Anyone who is not very determined to succeed has no chance of making it in this profession.”
What are your goals going forward?
“The short and well-known goal is to coach Maccabi Jaffa in the Premier League. In the medium term, far away? To be a legitimate coach in one of the biggest teams in the Premier League. But the ultimate dream is to return to Europe as a head coach. I am Israeli for all intents and purposes, but I also have French and my mother tongue. In the end The dream is to become a well-known and proven coach in one of the top leagues in Europe. To aim for something specific? Then to come full circle and coach in the French league.”
#counted #fight #Aliya