Christian Burgess, the English centre-half who captained Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (RUSG) to their Pro League title triumph last year, has revealed the important role that Sebastien Pocognoli played in that historic success and predicted the Belgian will flourish as Scotland manager.
Tartan Army footsoldiers across the country were taken aback yesterday when it was revealed that Pocognoli is poised to take charge of the national team after impressing SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell and new performance director Craig Mulholland greatly during the interview process.
The 39-year-old, whose first match will be the Nations League opener against Slovenia over in Ljubljana on September 26, has only spent two seasons in the dugout in the senior game and has been out of work since being sacked by French club Monaco back in June.
However, Burgess, who joined Gent this summer and will line up for them against Hibernian in the first leg of the Conference League play-off in the Planet Group Arena on Thursday night, played under the former Hannover 96, West Brom, Brighton, Standard Liege and Belgium left-back during the 2024/25 campaign and believes it is an inspired appointment.
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The London-born defender had been at RUSG for four years before Pocognoli took over and had helped the Brussels outfit, whose fortunes were quickly transformed after Brighton owner Tony Bloom bought a majority shareholding in 2018, to finish in third place in the league once and runners-up twice.
The ex-Middlesbrough, Portsmouth and Peterborough man felt that his new manager, who had only coached age-group teams in his homeland previously, gave “The Old Lady” the vital cutting edge which they had been lacking and was responsible for them being crowned champions for the first time in 90 years.
“Poco is a top man, just a very good guy,” he said during a break from preparations for the Pro League encounter with La Louviere this afternoon. “I have a huge amount of respect for him. I wish him a lot of success with Scotland, but I have no doubt he will do well.
“He played at the very top level himself, in the Bundesliga with Hannover and the Premier League with West Brom. He also played for Belgium many times. You could definitely see his qualities when he joined in during our sessions. He is very experienced.
“But he knew what he was doing on the training field too. He did a lot of work on tactics and was very good at getting his message across to the players. I really liked him as a person as well. I only have positive things to say about him.”
Burgess continued, “He is passionate and has a lot of energy. His man management is extremely good. He kept us focused on our goal during our title-winning season. He gave us a lot of belief that we would reach it. He played a really important role in the mental confidence of the group.
“There were so many different components at Union. But we had been close a few times and never quite managed to get it over the line. What Poco added when he came in was the mentality we needed, the drive, the belief. He made us all believe that it was going to happen for us and it did. For me, he made the difference.
“I really liked his approach on that front. There are so many different things that can go for you and against you in football, so many things that you need to fall into place to be a success. But I think the winning mentality that he gave us was really important.
“He took most things in his stride. He has a lot of confidence in both himself and in his ability as a manager and he brought that same mentality to the group. I'm sure he probably had that same belief in his own playing career and that is just something that came naturally to him.”
Pocognoli is renowned in Belgium for being a pragmatic manager who likes his sides to build play patiently from the back and he improved RUSG’s defence immediately after taking over at the Joseph Marien Stadium.
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But Burgess felt that bringing in his friend and former team mate Kevin Mirallas, the former Everton and Belgium striker who scored the winning goal when his national team beat Scotland 2-0 at Hampden in a World Cup qualifier in 2013, as his assistant was a masterstroke.
He is hopeful that Mirallas, who was a member of the backroom team at Monaco last season, joins his compatriot in Scotland and helps Andy Robertson and his team mates with their bid to qualify for the Euro 2028 finals.
“Kevin he was very important for the Union forwards,” he said. “He worked hard and increased the quality in the attacking group a lot, which we needed at the time because we hadn’t been scoring enough goals.
“He was a fun guy who always created a good ambience around him. He was very sociable with the players and helped everyone to relax. He was almost like one of the players. He was always laughing and joking and interacting with the guys.
“He was a really good sidekick for the manager. They had known each other for a good few years and worked well together. But Poco had a lot more responsibility and you always knew he was definitely the boss.
“Taking over from Steve Clarke will be a difficult task for him, but I am sure Poco will be excited by the opportunity and will rise to the challenge and justify his appointment. Honestly, I think it is a great move by Scotland.”
