on the counter and you get up to speak. Dries
already saw it. His brain is way ahead of a lot
of players I’ve seen in my life.”
Henry was part of Belgium’s journey to the
semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, where
they lost to his home nation after a famous
victory over Brazil.
“That was the first time for me to see the
World Cup like that,” he says. “Before, I either
supported France or played for France. Then
I found myself working for another country,
and I loved every minute of it. We finished
third, and when we came back to Brussels,
the amount of people there to welcome us...
wow. The day we beat Brazil was one of the
best moments of my life.”
MOn ACO: LES MISERABLES
That success in Russia just confirmed Henry’s
desire to become a coach in his own right.
Three months later, the opportunity came –
at Monaco, the club where he’d commenced
his playing career.
If it seemed like the perfect first job for the
Frenchman, it didn’t turn out that way. Henry
found himself at the right club, at the wrong
time. Champions League semi-finalists in
2017, Monaco had sold Kylian Mbappe, Nabil
Dirar, Bernardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy, Joao
Moutinho, Thomas Lemar, Tiemoue Bakayoko
and Fabinho by the time he returned to the
Stade Louis II in October 2018.
The Monegasques had plunged to 18th in
Ligue 1 at the start of the campaign, leading
to the axing of Leonardo Jardim. If it seemed
the only way was up, the reality was different.
Henry could only pick up nine points from his
first 11 league matches. His four Champions
League fixtures delivered just a solitary draw
with Club Brugge as Monaco finished bottom
of their group.
In mid-January, hours after Mbappe had
scored a treble in Paris Saint-Germain’s 9-0
rout of Guingamp, Henry’s 12th league game
ended in a 5-1 home loss to Strasbourg. The
club were 19th in Ligue 1, then lost at home
to second-tier Metz in the Coupe de France.
Henry was given the elbow, little more than
three months after his arrival.
“We had 17 injured players, and 11 starters
in those 17,” he reveals. “You’re trying to putsomething in progress, but I joined the club
in October and didn’t even pass January. It’s
very difficult to put something in place if you
can’t carry on. Arteta had only one win in 10
[league] matches this season and he didn’t
get the sack, because you need to trust the
process. Arsenal trusted Arteta and rightly
so, because he’s been trying to change stuff,
to bring in players and play his way. Look at
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – people wanted him
out, then he was top of the league. You need
time to make it your team. It’s very difficult
to analyse something and talk about what
happened if you don’t get a chance.
“But I can only be thankful to Monaco for
the opportunity they gave me. I’m upset at
nobody – I still speak to the guys there. You
know that in football, when you sign your
contract as a coach, make sure the engine is
still running – because the day afterwards,
you might get the sack. I remember seeing
[Manchester United assistant] Mike Phelan
after I got the sack at Monaco – I went to see
Arsenal vs United and he said, ‘Now I can say
that you’re a coach!’”
Henry’s legendary status as a player in the
principality was a millstone around his neck.
From the moment he arrived, the eyes of the
media were on him – other rookie managers
wouldn’t be placed under the same scrutiny.
“That’s something I have to live with,” he
concedes. “If it’s good or bad, it’s going to
be amplified, even if I don’t think it should
be. I’m on my learning curve as a coach, but
that’s how it’s always going to be.”
A chastening three months in charge of
Valencia was enough to put Gary Neville off
management, as he headed back to the Sky
studio for good. Henry thought differently.
“You need to ask Gary why he didn’t go
back into the game – that’s up to him – but
nothing is easy,” he says, reflecting on the
similarities of their first jobs in management.
“People always jump to conclusions of, ‘Ah!’
But it wasn’t his team, and they weren’t his
players or his style. When you arrive, it takes
a little while to make it yours. I know this is
my path. I know it’s going to be bumpy, like
my career was as a player. You either win or
you learn – I always found out about myself
in defeat rather than victory. Some people
are successful straight away, some aren’t.
Mauricio Pochettino is a hell of a manager,
but he only won his first trophy recently.
“Once, someone asked, ‘What’s success?’
It depends what the target was at the start.
A lot of coaches have been successful but
never won anything, then you have coaches
that won stuff but never improved players.
For me, it could be if you give a chance to
a guy and they understand how to play. Let’s
say they weren’t good on the ball, then two
months later he pulls a ball down, he’s more
composed, then he gets picked to play for the
national team. That’s also success, because
a coach has to make the players better – not
only the team.”SHUT UP An D RUn
Ten months after departing Monaco, Henry
moved to Montreal in November 2019. AskedTop “OK Vinnie,
no more passing
drills, I promise”
Above Brussels
welcomes home
their heroes after
bagging bronze
at the World CupImagesGetty Images; PAFourFourTwo.com The Managers 147THIERRY
HEn RY