Harry Kewell: Oldham manager on Covid-19, aspirations and working from home
- Published
Harry Kewell took over as Oldham Athletic manager on 1 August
Harry Kewell's latest step on the managerial ladder has come at the strangest time for football.
The Oldham Athletic boss is yet to win the adulation - or the vilification - of the fans amid the Covid-19 pandemic and empty grounds, despite almost four months in the job.
It has been a tough start for the 42-year-old former Liverpool, Leeds and Australia winger since his appointment on 1 August. His side are 20th in League Two having won just three of their opening 12 league fixtures.
He has also joined a club that has not been shy in getting rid of managers - Kewell is the 12th different man the Latics have had in charge since Lee Johnson left in February 2015. Nobody has lasted a whole season since then.
"100%," is Kewell's answer when asked by BBC Football Focus whether he has asked chairman Abdallah Lemsagam to be given time to lay the foundations for success.
"I think that's something he's got to see with his own eyes, the work that you're putting in," he added.
"He's got to see if there is a slight progression from what he's seen before and if it is fantastic, if it isn't, well then fair enough.
"I'm not silly enough to not understand that if you lose 10 games in a row, very rarely are you safe in a job."
It has been suggested in the past that Oldham owner Lemsagam likes to get involved in team affairs, but that is something Kewell said he has not experienced.
"He has a right to talk about his team and sit there and go 'OK, what about this, what about that?'" Kewell said.
"Don't get me wrong, he's been around, he's seen a lot of things, so any information that he can give me I'm going to take on. It's up to me whether I choose to use it or not."
'I ended up throwing my phone'
Harry Kewell was forced to watch three of his side's games from home after testing positive for Covid-19
If Kewell's job in trying to find success where managers including Paul Scholes, Laurent Banide and Dino Maamria have most recently failed is not hard enough, he has to do it in the middle of a global pandemic.
Having no supporters inside Boundary Park and adhering to the strict coronavirus protocols is tough enough, but last month Kewell tested positive for Covid-19 - forcing him to isolate for 10 days and manage his side from home.
It had its difficulties.
With Oldham a goal up at Southend and defending a free-kick late on, Kewell telephoned his strength and conditioning coach Ross Mizen with some tactics.
But Kewell's stream of the game was behind the live action and Mizen had to break the news that Oldham had already conceded.
"I ended up throwing my phone and my wife and my girls are watching as well and they're going 'what are you doing' and I said 'they've scored'," he recalled.
"But there's a good side to it because one of my players gave the ball away in the last minute of the game, so I rang him back up again and I'm screaming at him 'Ross, make sure you're getting him back' and he's gone 'Harry we've just scored'.
"I'm screaming and shouting and getting all happy and they say 'what's happening' and I say 'we've scored' and they say 'how' and I said 'I don't know, he's just said Zak's scored'.
"It is difficult, but you've got to manage it to the best you can."
Aiming to make players '20% better'
Steven Gerrard was a team-mate of Kewell's throughout his spell at Liverpool between 2003 and 2008
Oldham is Kewell's third managerial role since he retired from playing in 2014. He spent just over a season at Crawley Town in his first job and a tough 10-week spell at Notts County that ended in his sacking in late 2018.
His impressive career on the field saw him play at the 2010 World Cup, feature in the 2005 and 2007 Champions League finals for Liverpool and help Leeds to the semi-finals of the same competition in 2001.
But while some of his contemporaries such as Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are in high-profile roles at Rangers and Chelsea early in their managerial careers, Kewell says he is happy to work his way up the ranks.
"We all want to go up to that top level," he said.
"I take it back as learning your trade. We don't get all the hype around League Two, but we still get the same kind of pressure, you can create things here and if they don't come off sometimes it goes unnoticed because we're not on the TV every week.
"But if you do get a good run together you can be seen and I think a lot of owners, a lot of fans and a lot of players like to see young coaches learn their trade.
"The one thing I do believe, especially at this level, is you can improve players a lot more than at the higher level, because at the higher level you're looking 1% and 2%, at this level here I genuinely believe you can get 10 to maybe 15 and sometimes 20% better."
You can watch the full interview with Harry Kewell on Football Focus on BBC One at 12:00 GMT on Saturday, 21 November and afterwards on demand on BBC iPlayer.