Yeah, I’m a Houston Dash now, and I’m still pretty Celtic, I’m a Celtic fan,” Fran Alonso told Spanish media outlet Diario AS.
After working for Southampton and Everton in the Premier League, Fran Alonso transitioned into the women’s game and went to Scotland. He explains how that move came about. “There used to be a procedure. I intended to stay on at Everton. I went to work on the first day of the preseason because the club wanted me, and we completed the session together. Following this, I was informed by Marco Silva, the new manager, that he had not counted on me. I was left with no options. He informed me when all the squads and coaching bodies were closed, but if they had told me beforehand, perhaps other teams might have been interested. And I was left jobless,” Fran recollected.
The men’s team at the University of Liverpool then persisted, and as they had already gotten in touch with me while I was at Everton, I said okay. For several months, I trained them. I chose to leave when Lewes from the English Women’s Second Division contacted me to sign me. From Liverpool to Lewes and from Everton to the University of Liverpool
And, then, Celtic called him.
After a year, or perhaps even less, I was in Lewes for the end of one season and the first half of the next. I chose to go to Celtic at that point since it was winter in the Scottish league. Fran stated, “Up until that point, I worked part-time, but they wanted to make me a full-time employee and have me be the first coach to assist them in changing the structure.
When asked what drew Celtic’s interest in him, he responded that it had everything to do with his experience working under elite English Premier League coaches. “Celtic was partnered with my former agent. I’m not positive which Celtic manager he represented or had represented before me, but I do know that he had contacts, and it was through my agency that I was informed, “Look, I’ve been talking to the club and They are interested in your profile.”
After presenting the concept to me, my agent got in touch with Lewes club and, once they granted their OK, we began talking. I then traveled to Glasgow. It was ideal; I loved the stadium, the people, and the facilities. They felt the same way, so from the start, the club and I knew it was the right decision, and the results speak for themselves. I had to conduct a session for them to watch me train with the men’s under-18 squad, and it went well.
We succeeded in creating history, which was amazing throughout the four years I was there. I still get joy from thinking back on it and it was a pleasant experience.
“December 2019 is when I arrived. We headed to Gran Canaria for preseason as soon as we got here, and when we came back, we started the league off strong, defeating Glasgow City, the defending champions and winners of the previous 13 league titles, 2-1. An incredible game. “COVID arrived after that game, and they suspended the league. It was a really unlucky place for us. They made us play the game again when we returned. That was one of the toughest times because I thought it was really unjust.
Because of COVID, that game was void, and we had to play them again, which ended in a loss. However, we were obviously at a severe disadvantage. The Champions League was theirs. We were only permitted to train for two weeks prior to that game, and they are the only side in Scotland that was permitted to do so.
The game ended in a 2-0 loss in the second half, but that was crucial because later in the year, we had a chance to win the last game against Glasgow City, and even though we might have won, it was the first time in our history that we had qualified for the Champions League, according to Fran.
“There were no cups that year. The next year we not only won both cups, but we also played in the Champions League, which was an amazing experience. We won the Scottish Cup for the first time in the club’s history as well as the League Cup for the second time in the club’s history during that inaugural cup season. Alonso noted that Celtic women had only ever had one trophy in their history prior to my arrival.
We took home the Scottish Cup for the first time at Hampden Park the next year. We were, in my opinion, the best football team in the league, or at least the best squad we played. We were playing at home against our fiercest opponent, Rangers, and we were one minute away from being champions and scoring a goal in a different field—something that was extremely unlikely to happen. We lost the league title to them in the 92nd minute due to a goal they gave up, but we were still able to qualify for the Champions League. And even though I left the team in December, we won our first league title this year. We have, I say, even if I’m not.
But do you own it too? inquired the interviewer. Yes, without a doubt. As far as I’m aware, every member on the squad is already there; there hasn’t been a new addition. The fact that the players we brought in won the league makes me incredibly proud. It’s been incredible.
“I received messages from all of the team members, including managers and players. Although I met Victor Wuanyama, Fraser Foster, Arthur Boruc, and Virgil van Dijk, at Southampton—all Celtic legends—and they all spoke highly of me, I wasn’t a fan of Celtic until I got to Glasgow and saw what the city and its supporters were like.
The greatest fans in the world, in my opinion, and I later became a Celtics supporter. at fact, it had been a year since the squad had triumphed at our stadium until we (the Houston Dash) celebrated our first home victory last week. After our 3-0 victory against North Carolina, I went to the men’s Scottish Cup final the following day with Andy, my physical trainer from Celtic, and the two of us wearing the green-and-white shirt that belonged to the fans’ club, cheering on the team. Houston’s Celtics. Thus, I will always support the Celtics. Without a sure, it’s one of the most exquisite moments of my football career.
When asked to encapsulate his tenure at Celtic in a single statement, Fran Alonso provided this remark. “There, they refer to us as “history makers,” and it’s true that we have created history during the past four years. Furthermore, we have permanently altered Scottish women’s football. “I played my final game at Celtic Park with 15,800 fans last year.” That has never occurred before and hasn’t done so since. It is true that we permanently altered the landscape of Scottish women’s football, and we owe this success to a group of players who, although equipped with equipment, were mostly part-timers at first.
Our captain, Kelly Clark, is still employed as an accountant. She is unable to train on the same days as the others. Against all odds, this team has made history year after year by overcoming all the obstacles that our other rivals do not have. I tell you that it is one of the most beautiful phases of my career for that reason. It is a team with bravery, heart, and most importantly, the nation’s greatest supporters. He was able to make history by overcoming all obstacles and issues. That’s the phrase I’ll never forget.
And it’s a constant throughout the season; when we wrapped up last year, some of our supporters left. When you play somewhere, it feels like you’re playing at home because everyone sings exclusively, and it’s amazing. It is just amazing. That’s not anything I’ve seen anyplace in women’s football. It is impressive that the stadiums are packed here in the United States. The American League is the greatest and most competitive league in the world, in my opinion. However, it is true that I have not witnessed the same level of passion for women’s football as exists in Glasgow anywhere else in the globe, according to Fran.
As the journalist listens to him speak, she questions why Fran Alonso left Celtic. He cites ambition in sports and even business as the factors behind Fran’s decision to move to the US. However, he observes that Fran’s affection for Celtic shows that this could not have been a simple decision. What was the process like and why did you undertake it? Did Houston Dash approach the then-Celtic FC Women manager personally, or did he go through his agent? “I learned about it when the Houston Dash reached out to the Celtic board to express their interest in me.” I’ve talked to the Celtic board a lot because it’s a location I’ve liked and been extremely pleased.
Ultimately, it was determined that this may be a critical step for us both. The financial compensation was exceptional, the highest in Scottish football history. Additionally, that was intended to assist the project win the League, according to Fran Alonso. Naturally, it wasn’t an easy choice. It is very hard to get go of guys that give their all for you and the team every game when you are winning, comfortable, and performing well.
It’s true that ever since I began volunteering for women’s soccer, the American League—which has consistently been the greatest in the world—has been my dream team. The American one, in my opinion, as it is the most competitive, but the English one as well. You can never be sure who will prevail. Here come many of the top players in the globe. coaches as well. We now have three Spaniards: me, Juan Carlos Amorós, and Jonathan Giráldez from Barça, who joins Washington Spirit in place of Adrián González, who is now serving as an interim.
The league is expanding rapidly, and elite athletes are interested in joining. The fourteen coaches present are fortunate. I was afraid because I felt at ease in a club that I cherished. Though it’s true that you never know when your time is running out, I still consider myself a Celtic man. Perhaps it will never come back to me. I so told myself, “Look, I’m going to see if I have what I need to know, if I can be in a league as strong as this.” Furthermore, Fran added, “It was a collaborative choice rather than a solo one.
Naturally, Celtic wanted to hold onto me, but we were able to communicate and part ways in a cordial manner. I actually communicate with them on a regular basis. I found it a little challenging at first to get used to the way that people experience football here, especially considering my experience in Glasgow.
“At Celtic we only lost one cup game in all the years I was there. In all the cups we played only one game, and it was on penalties with 10 players, also, when we were winning 1-0. We have all won the rest. I love games in which you play everything at once and we are good at preparing for them. But the first thing is to get into the playoffs and then game by game.
Maybe, the journalist asked, Houston Dash wanted Fran Alonso for his great management skills in these hot moments. “Yes, they had statistics. When they announced me, they showed my winning rate, they announced the trophies and they also announced the number of players we signed and who became full internationals with us.
For example, the case of Clarissa Larisey. She was a player who had never played for Canada in any of the youth categories and who came off the bench in the Icelandic league. We signed her, we improved her, we worked with her, she became a reference player for us and (Swedish side) Hacken signed her for a record price at that time. Now she is in all squads with the Olympic champions, that is spectacular. When she had never played and was not on the radar. Houston Dash announced all of this here as the reasons for my signing and I work every day so that they don’t regret bringing me here.
At Celtic, Fran Alonso was a shrewd tactician and operator in the transfer market. Can he do likewise at Houston Dash?
You can put the training you want, but then you have to work on it. North Carolina, in the first league game, scored five against us. We lost 5-1 in our debut. They broke us in the transitions. If there is one good thing about being full-time, it is that you study all the games, all the chances they create for you, how they create them and how to eradicate them. The other day they created almost no clear chances for us in the entire game and we won 3-0 against a team that surpassed us in the first game. Not just for putting a line of four. We knew where we didn’t care if they had the ball, we knew where we didn’t want the ball to go and we managed to make their game predictable and they had a hard time creating chances for us. I have changed the microcycle here, because the players need more tactical work than they did at Celtic.
“There we also focused a lot on the conditional part, being very intense to counter press (high pressure), here you have to help a lot tactically. At Celtic the 11 against 11 was just one day, it was our endurance day. Here we do it for two or three days because the players have to learn more. We changed six weeks ago and the truth is that the team has been growing and the players are clearer about how we want to play.”
Asked if he has contacted any elite European soccer players, to consider a move to Houston, give that there has been a lot of exports lately from Europe to the United States.
Yes, we have been in conversations with players from ‘Top’ teams in the Spanish league, the French league, the German league, the Swedish league, etc. We have a General Manager who is the one who makes these types of decisions. I don’t sign here, like at Celtic, so we try to align the three, sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t, but we try to align the three and they do a little more work to sell the club and the long term. and my job is then to talk to the player, how I can help her tactically, how the team plays, in a little more detail. And we have had conversations with several of those top players, the thing is that all the teams here want them. They will have to choose. I hope someone comes, but it’s difficult.
“I can’t give you names, but they are international players. I can give you a clue: a couple of them have been in the Champions League final. That’s as far as I can say. All these arrivals to the NSWL (National Women’s Soccer League) are due to the fact that it is possibly the most competitive in the world. It is the most competitive League, for me, for two main reasons. The first is that all teams have the same budget. There is a budget cap. All teams have the same budget. It is true that there are teams that have different strategies that make them more or less attractive for players, but the transfer budget is the same.
The other reason is the Draft, in which the best young players participate, because there are no established academies here, although there are some teams that have them, but it is not normal. The young players are in the university league, and when they finish university they enter this Draft. The teams that finish last choose first. Therefore, the best ones go to the teams that finished last.
Like in the NBA? “Yes, exactly the same. If a team is very interested in one of the players and wants one of those first picks, they buy it from the clubs that have it. That is ‘trading’ (exchange). That makes it a competitive league. In fact, two years ago, Gotham finished last and last year won. Imagine how competitive it is, a team that finishes last, and since there is no relegation, wins it the following year. More competitive is impossible. That’s why for me it is the best, the strongest league in the world. England is also very strong and has incredible economic resources. But only three teams can win it, no one else. Here almost 14 can win it.”
Including Houston? “Yes, well…By power, we can. It’s not impossible, but almost impossible. – You tell your story to anyone and they think it is invented, and there it is. For you there is nothing impossible. The truth is that I have confidence. The team is growing. If we get into the playoffs, I think we can be competitive in every game.
These reasons that you explain make girls like Ana Tejada, formerly of Real Sociedad and the most recent signing, Esther González, many coaches, etc. go to play there.
Would Fran like to coach back in Europe one day? “Yes. I have come here to try to change the history of the club, as I have tried to do in all the clubs I have been in. We have clear objectives. One of them is playoffs. Furthermore, we have a spectacular stadium, but it is quite empty and we want to see it full. We are doing community work, but we want it to be much more, for there to be more engagement with the community.
Once all those goals are met… My parents are getting older. I don’t see myself training here my whole life. At some point, I would like to return to Europe, to be closer to the family, but well, at the moment I’m not thinking about that because right now I am very comfortable here and I only think about trying to get into the playoff.
As soon as we finish the league, think about what reinforcements we need for next year to do the same. I’m here for three years at least, that’s what I want to be here and then we’ll see how we’ve done it, how we are, if it’s renewed, if it’s not renewed… that doesn’t worry me right now, but it will in the future. In the future I would like to be closer to family. I’m not telling you in Spain, which could be, but it could also be in England or wherever I’ll be home in two hours.
“I love what I do. I love training, being on the field. With the national teams you have 10 days or 12 days a month with the team. But hey, you can experiment. Being in the Champions League was one of my dreams. The first year with Celtic, in the first game listening to the anthem… it was something I had dreamed of for many years.”
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