Kim Hellberg on Middlesbrough arrival: “I’ve been preparing for this for 14 years!”

Local TV Sport

Daniel Wales reports from Middlesbrough’s Training Ground at Rockliffe Hall, as new Head Coach Kim Hellberg was introduced to the media, ahead of his first game in charge, at home against Derby County in the Championship. Hellberg made clear that his time managing in Sweden has prepared him for this moment, and that now was the right time for him to make the step to coach in England.

Transcript

00:00There's a new man in charge at Middlesbrough, despite them being joined second in the Championship.

00:05Normally, a new head coach arriving at a club in mid-season is a sign that they are struggling,

00:11making Kim Helberg's arrival on Teesside slightly unusual.

00:15And yet, with Rob Edwards' recent departure from the Riverside to take over a struggling Wolves team,

00:20Middlesbrough were left without a leader.

00:22And despite being something of an unknown, Helberg said he has been working towards this moment.

00:27I think as I've been preparing for this for 14 years, I think I've been in Swiss football for 14 years

00:34in different leagues from the bottom to the highest one.

00:37And I think that had developed me in the way I work with leadership and that stuff.

00:42So I think now I'm ready to take the step. I think it's a good time for me to do it.

00:46And so, yeah.

00:48And what is the most important message you will give to your players in terms of who you are and what you want from them?

00:53It's a little bit like that in terms of, for me, I can just ask for them to give me my best.

01:05Like, I can only ask of them to give me the best.

01:09Like, that's the only thing that is important.

01:10That they do everything they can to work as hard as they ever can.

01:14I cannot ask of them to put every shot in the top corner. That's impossible.

01:19We can ask them to do everything they can every time they go out on the pitch.

01:23And that I will do for them.

01:25And I think that is how you build a strong relationship with the players.

01:29That it's impossible to make everyone happy with the playing time.

01:33You can play 11 players. You have a squad of 24.

01:37But you can give them everything in terms of on the pitch, on the training ground, in terms of analysing.

01:44Rob Edwards certainly endeared himself to supporters in his short time at Middlesbrough,

01:49which made his departure all the more difficult to take from a supporter's perspective.

01:53Helberg will naturally do well to do similar.

01:56But then, most importantly, he must finish the job.

02:00He made clear that he will demand high standards from his players.

02:02But, perhaps most interestingly, he highlighted that he was ready to take the step

02:06from managing in Sweden to managing here in England in a league such as the Championship.

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