Angel Rangel: Ex-Swansea City star goes from Premier League to Pontardawe Under-12s
- Published
Angel Rangel (back centre) with his Pontardawe Town Under-12s team and coaches Gary Moorhouse and Steve Dix
He won promotion to the top flight on an unforgettable day at Wembley, became a Premier League regular and helped Swansea City claim the one major trophy in their history.
These days, however, Angel Rangel's focus is Pontardawe Town Under-12s.
Rangel, 40, called time on a 13-year spell as a player in English football in 2020.
He has since turned down opportunities to coach in the professional game, thanks in part to the advice of his former Swansea boss and Danish great Michael Laudrup.
Rangel is interested in the idea of returning to top-level football at some point down the line.
For the moment, though, the Spaniard who has put down roots in Wales is happy cutting his teeth in the Swansea Valley.
"People say to me 'do you miss playing?'," Rangel says. "In the first year I did because it's hard to come to terms with it. But when you start coaching, you get more satisfaction from seeing players doing what you have coached them to do and succeeding.
"It's 10 times better than when you play."
Rangel has called Swansea home since Roberto Martinez brought him to the then League One club in 2007.
Signed for £10,000 from Spanish semi-professional outfit Terrassa, Rangel would become one of Swansea's all-time greats, playing more than 350 games for the club during a golden period in their history.
He won the League One title under Martinez, the Championship play-off final under Brendan Rodgers and the League Cup with Laudrup in 2013.
As a player, Rangel established himself at the very top having started out way down the ladder in his homeland.
His coaching career will follow a similar path should Rangel go on to reach the higher echelons of the game.
Former Swansea defender Angel Rangel alongside his son, who is also called Angel
He got involved at Pontardawe because his 12-year-old son, also called Angel, plays for the club.
Rangel junior wears number 22 - his father's squad number during 11 years at Swansea - but plays further forward, at the heart of midfield.
"He is probably better than I was at 12," Rangel says.
"He still has a lot to learn but I am trying to give him the values I had as a player, and as a son of my parents - hard work, that's non-negotiable, respect, discipline and being a good person."
Father and son "love having football chats at home", where the Pontardawe Under-12s' tactics board is housed.
"We are a very small academy. We don't have our own ground, we don't have an analysis room or anything like that, but we have some fantastic coaches and players right through the age groups," Rangel says.
"We take a lot of videos with my little tactics on the board and we use the group chat with the parents to send it across. Then in training or game day, the boys have a rough idea of what's going on."
Rangel was a right-back whose quality on the ball allowed him to thrive as Swansea played their way through the divisions.
He says his coaching style is "not European, not British, but in between" having had various influences during his time playing in Spain, for Swansea and, in the latter stages of his career, at Queens Park Rangers.
The managers who had the biggest impact on Rangel were at Swansea.
Angel Rangel left Swansea after 373 appearances in 2018, going on to finish his playing career with a two-season spell at Queens Park Rangers
"Roberto is the one who changed my game to start with, bringing me to the UK and giving me my first professional contract," he says.
"Paulo Sousa defensively helped me a lot. Brendan took my game to the next level with his attention to detail in training, offensively and defensively. He was on me every day.
"Then I played my best football under Laudrup, so those four are the most influential."
It was Laudrup who urged Rangel not to race into management.
"He said make sure you recharge your batteries and don't jump into the first challenge which comes along, because it might be too soon," Rangel explains.
Yet Rangel's first taste of coaching, albeit with a group of youngsters, has whetted the appetite.
"The more I do it, the more I enjoy it," he adds.
So what are the chances of Rangel, who lives in Swansea with his Welsh wife, returning to the club where he made his name?
"You see the young players coming through at Swansea and I think it would be an exciting challenge to be in the academy or maybe further up, in the under-21s or maybe involved in the first team," he says.
"It's something I don't worry about at the moment because I am enjoying coaching at Pontardawe. But you never know what's going to happen in the future."
Pontardawe Under-12s have enjoyed a stellar season, winning the FAW Academy South Under-12 League to set up a play-off semi-final against Barry Town last weekend.
Before the game, Rangel told his young players the story of Swansea's 2011 Championship play-off campaign.
Angel Rangel celebrates with his team-mates after Swansea beat Reading in the 2011 Championship play-off final to become the first Welsh club to reach the Premier League
Rodgers' side beat Reading at Wembley having overcome Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals, despite losing Neil Taylor to a red card in the second minute of the first leg.
"I always use my experiences as a pro for a bit of motivation," Rangel says.
"We got a 0-0 at Forest and ended up getting promoted, then we had seven years in the Premier League.
"I said look, those seven years in the Premier League wouldn't have happened without that 0-0 in the semi-final. You have the chance to do something like that today. They were all excited."
The team talk worked, with Barry Town beaten 4-1 to set up a play-off final with Connah's Quay Nomads.
The tie will be played prior to the senior Welsh Cup final - between The New Saints and Bala Town - in Bangor this Sunday.
With the title of Welsh Under-12 champions on the line, Rangel is taking his team north for a long weekend away.
It is almost, Rangel says with a smile, like Swansea's lengthy stay on the outskirts of London before their play-off final 12 years ago.
"That will be my next speech," he says.