Sol Bamba keen to follow mentors Leishman, Warnock & Eriksson into management

Sol Bamba played under former Aberdeen boss Neil Warnock at Middlesbrough and Cardiff

Sol Bamba played at two World Cups and for some of the most celebrated managers in the world - but he reckons cult hero Jim Leishman was one of the best.

Having played for Sven-Goran Eriksson and Uwe Rosler during a storied career that included 46 caps for Ivory Coast, the Paris-born defender is now keen to follow in their footsteps.

But it was motivational managers such as Neil Warnock and Leishman - his first boss in British football - that had a huge impact on Bamba.

"I think first and foremost the first one I will always remember, and he was great with me when I came to Dunfermline, was Jim Leishman," Bamba told the Sacked in the Morning podcast.

"What a man. I can't speak high enough of him He's a lovely guy, I still speak to him here and then. I went from Paris to Dunfermline and I didn't speak a word of English. So, obviously it was very difficult to understand him.

"But he was brilliant for me. One of his best friends spoke French so he introduced me to him and from that I kicked on. He helped me find an English teacher, find a house with my family, he was absolutely brilliant.

"On the touchline as well, the passion he would give you - you want to go through a brick wall for him."

'Warnock man management unbelievable'

Warnock - who once tried to sign Bamba during a game while he was at Leicester, sparking a bust-up with Nigel Pearson - signed him at Cardiff and Middlesbrough and his famed man-management skills have rubbed off on the former Ivory Coast stopper.

"Neil Warnock was very good at that, his man management was unbelievable," Bamba said.

"It's a skill, it's very difficult to learn that, but if you've got that I think it's half the job. Everyone's talking about tactics, all that is important, but if you're not a good man manager you'll not win matches, ever.

"I remember playing for Leicester and him and Nigel Pearson had a fight, both of them characters. Warnock came to me on the touchline, [saying] if you play with me you'd be playing in the Premier League and a millionaire. Nigel didn't take that well.

"I ended up playing for him for five or six years. We had a great relationship. We just clicked."

'When Sven left I was heartbroken'

Bamba moved to Leicester from Hibs in 2011, reuniting him with former Ivory Coach boss Sven-Goran Eriksen, whom he believes had a key role in shaping his development as a top player.

"Sven was good as gold," he said.

"He had an office overseeing everything so he can see the car coming in the car park. I was just about to go into the building and he came down to see me in front of my car. He said, 'Sol, just go home. Take two days off, and then come back'.

"I came back after two days and we had a game against Norwich, we won 2-0 and I scored two goals. I said to him, 'why did you do that?' We had a guard at the gate and normally I'd speak to him, but this time I didn't pay attention. And he saw all this and told me to go home because he thought I wasn't right, just because of this.

"To me this is unbelievable man management. When he left I was heartbroken."

Bamba, who overcame non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2021, served as Cardiff assistant manager for a short spell last season, helping French coach Sabri Lamouchi keep the Bluebirds from relegation.

Now 39, he wants to drive change for black coaches, having seen how discouraged fellow former players have become.

"I've been talking to ex-players before and they said that, 'yeah, there's no point doing it because, you know, we're never going to have the opportunity'," Bamba said.

"But I think that's wrong because if you think like this, you're never going to change anything. Things take time to change and if we don't do it, we'll never change it."