prove yourself or another chance
that can arrive quickly. In life, if
you fail, you get up and you fight.
But as a coach, if you fail, you get
up and you wait to fight.”
Just as Henry was single-minded
in his desire to become a world-
class player, he is determined to
pursue a career as a head coach,
despite the bruising first
experience.
Monaco were 18th in Ligue 1
with only one victory when Henry
succeeded Leonardo Jardim last
October, and were in the middle of
the worst injury crisis in the club’s
history, with 17 players on the
sidelines.
Forced largely to use players
from the academy and unable to
implement his ideas on the training
ground, due to Champions League
involvement and preparing for a
match every three days, Henry
managed four victories and a
League Cup penalty shoot-out
success in his 20 games in charge
before being sacked on Jan 24.
Henry expected the criticism
that followed, but Jardim’s return
only yielded five more victories in
the remaining 18 games and
survival on the final day of the
season, despite Monaco signing a
number of new players at the end
of the January transfer window.
As if to underline that the
problems ran much deeper than an
inexperienced coach, Monaco have
started this season under Jardim
with successive 3-0 defeats, against
Lyon and Metz.
Henry is not bitter over his
treatment but insists that only he
and his staff know the full picture.
“There is something I always
say,” he said. “You win or you learn,
and, as you can imagine, I learned a
lot. I still have Monaco in my heart,
it’s the club that gave me my first
opportunity as a player and gave
me my first opportunity as a coach,
so I will always be thankful to the
people who gave me that, people
who are there, some are gone.
“My heart talked at the time. I
wanted to go back to where I
started everything. I have zero
regrets about what happened. It
was a very difficult task and I felt
that if I’d had more time I could
have done more. But if you don’t
get results, no matter what the
circumstances, you have to go.
“All I would say is that if you
don’t pass that line and sit on the
bench, then you don’t know
everything. I’ve heard a lot of
people give their opinion on what
happened at Monaco and, boy, they
were wrong, but I will never go
into details.
“If I knew I only had three
months, then maybe I would have
acted a different way, but I was
trying to plan something for the
future and doing that in such a
little amount of time is very
difficult.
“I’m proud of what we did
achieve with such a young team.
We had to win in Caen and Amiens,
and those six points were very
important. I had no doubt that
team was going to stay up because
there was enough quality.
“I came out of it fully reassured
that’s what I want to do, zero doubt
about it. I saw some of my ex-
coaches after I left and they said,
‘Now you can say you are a coach
because you’ve been sacked. Now
you are a coach, Thierry.’ I am not
complaining and I can only say
thank you to everybody, but to
build a legacy and build something
for the future, it takes time.”Henry could have returned to a
comfortable life as a television
pundit after leaving Monaco and
has also received offers to return to
coaching in the less pressurised
capacity as an No 2. But the
42-year-old, who was an assistant
to Roberto Martinez with the
Belgium team who reached the
semi-finals of the World Cup last
year, only has eyes for another
chance in the hot seat.
“I want to do it because I love
the game, this is my life, my
passion,” Henry said. “When I
came back to Arsenal for the
second time as a player, I knew I
wasn’t who I was before.
“I had just come back from three
weeks’ holiday and Arsene Wenger
said, ‘Do you want to help?’ My
brother said, ‘What do you have to
gain? The only thing you can do is
tarnish what you did.’ But I didn’t
think about it. I was thinking about
helping my club and we know now
it was successful. If I had gone
back and I was shocking, then
people would have always said,
‘Why did you do that?’ But I don’t
think about the negative, I think
about the positive. That’s why I
went to Monaco and that’s why I
still want to be a coach. You think
about having a positive impact.
“Call me crazy if you want, but I
love football and I believe I can be
a successful coach. I’m not
thinking about the pain, I’m not
thinking about failure. I don’t like
easy. I like to lead and it’s on me to
make it happen. The same when I
joined Arsenal as a player, the same
when I went to Belgium with
Roberto. It’s an evolution.
“My phone didn’t ring for four
months after I left Monaco and
then all of a sudden I got five calls.
Some were not what I was looking
for and some were as a No 2. Very
interesting offers, but I can’t leave
my staff behind. I’ve got guys who
stopped working for me and what
do I say to them? ‘Hey guys, you
stopped working for me but now
I’ve got a job.’ I won’t do a No 2 job
because I want to be a No 1.”
Henry has spent his free time
watching football and travelling to
speak to experts in other sports
such as basketball and athletics in a
bid to broaden his horizons. He is
also due to visit his old colleague
with the Belgium team, Graeme
Jones, at Luton Town.
“I manage to go to games
without people noticing me, which
is great,” Henry said. “Sometimes I
go to Arsenal and people don’t
even know I’m there. Graeme
Jones has invited me to Luton and
Michael Flynn, who I know from
doing my coaching badges, has
invited me to Newport County.
“But I like to step out of my
normal environment as well and
speak to people in different sports
and open my mind to different
preparation.”
Henry is prepared to return to
coaching in any country or at any
level if the opportunity is the right
one, and is also aware that any
request for time is pointless given
the volatile nature of the job. So
what will he ask in his next
interview?
“Communication and honesty
from the start is key,” he said.
“What’s the job? Is the job to stay
up, is the job to win the league or
be in the Champions League? But
how and what is success? Is
success improving players?
Ultimately, results are the most
important thing, but I want to
improve players as well.”Managers
who made
false starts
Fulham
After relegation
and a slow start
in Division Two,
Robson was
sacked after less
than 11 months,
learning his fate
from a
newspaper.Bobby Robson
Nancy
Wenger admitted
to being so upset
by defeat that he
would vomit.
Relegated at the
end of his third
season in charge
before he joined
Monaco.Arsene Wenger
Arezzo
Replaced by
Maurizio Sarri
after nine winless
games, Conte
succeeded Sarri
four-and-a-half
months later, but
could not prevent
relegation.Antonio Conte
Valladolid and
Osasuna
First two senior
posts, with
Valladolid and
Osasuna, ended
in the sack after
only 23 and nine
matches
respectively.Rafael Benitez
Real Madrid B
Lost five of his
first six matches
in charge in third
tier before being
banned for three
months because
he did not hold
the correct
coaching licence.Zinedine Zidane
JOHN NGUYEN/JNVISUALSThe Daily Telegraph Thursday 22 August 2019 *** 15
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