Vincent Kompany aims to show at Burnley what he learned from working under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Kompany spent three years with Guardiola at City and played under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini before that at the Etihad. Burnley’s new boss says he has taken pointers from all the top coaches he has worked with and says the most important lesson was improving players.
“I’ve learned from every coach I’ve had in my life,” said the City legend. “Some of them you learn what not to do, but when you mention those great coaches like Pep, Mancini, Pellegrini and Roberto Martinez, there are a lot of coaches who are very different in many ways.
“You can take a lot from them, but the main thing I’ve taken - and I think this is where the passion came from for me to become a coach - is the simple aspect of making players better. It’s about believing that if you make players better, then you win more games.
“These coaches were great examples and then I’ve mixed that with other coaches I haven’t played with, but I’ve played against. You then become this version of the coach you want to be.”
Kompany, 36, knows Burnley fans hope he can win promotion straight back to the Premier League and he is too wily to make such promises. The former Belgium star knows these claims could rebound on him if he makes a bad start to the season and says he wants his players to make a statement for him with their attitude.
He wants his Clarets to be aggressive, attacking and entertaining and believes those qualities can be the building blocks to success.
“I don’t like to over promise and make big statements like ‘we’re going to be in the Premier League next year’ because I prefer to show that in the attitude towards work every day, being relentless and having the highest ambition,” he said.
“What I do want to put out there is that my goal is absolutely - and whether it happens in the first days or not - to have football that’s for the fans.
“I want an attacking team, I want movement in the team, a healthy dose of aggression and something that fans enjoying coming to see at the weekend. There’s enough rubbish happening in the world every day and I just want to give something more.
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“I hope that the fans will want to come and that they will give us time to get to that ideal picture. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s something that I won’t deviate from as an ambition.”
Burnley are one of five Lancashire clubs in the Championship next season and Kompany is relishing playing so many derbies, especially the first against Blackburn in five years.
“Derby matches are the best,” said the former Anderlecht coach. “I think you play football to win games, but the type of games you win matter. Usually what happens is there’s a lot of playing it down on these occasions, but I prefer to build it up.
“That’s what those games are there for - high risk and high reward. Whatever happens, you go again, but it’s still worth giving it the appropriate importance it has just because when you do win, it feels better."
