The Norwich City defender Sébastien Bassong has hailed the transformative powers of his team’s manager, Alex Neil, and said the 33-year-old’s achievement in guiding the club to the Premier League is all the more impressive because the Scot’s youth meant he faced an uphill task convincing players he was the right man for the job.
“He’s a young manager, you’ve got players who might be almost the same age as you, so respect is harder to get from players,” Bassong said. “Because if you mess around with them or you’re too soft, maybe you will lose them. So he had to be a bit strict but he’s never been over the top. He’s always been fair. If you don’t play or you do a mistake, he’s going to warn you or tell you why it was a mistake and that’s fair, no one can complain about what the boss says or did. That’s how he earned the respect.”
Neil was lured from Hamilton in January to rescue Norwich from a faltering campaign. Bassong’s reversal in fortune under the new manager has been particularly stark – victory over Middlesbrough in Monday’s play-off final earned the centreback the unusual honour of collecting two promotion medals in the same season, as he also got one for his performances with Watford, where he played on loan earlier in the campaign after falling out with Neil’s predecessor at Norwich, Neil Adams.
“When I came back it was a transition period because Alex Neil had just got there maybe two or three days before,” recalls Bassong. “The first words I had with him when he pulled me in his office when he came was ‘I don’t know what happened before and I don’t want to know. I need my best player in my team and I will work with you, so if you’re up for it, then we will work together.’ I shook his hand and that was it.
“He came here with such confidence and football knowledge. And he’s Scottish so he’s got great heart. You can’t mess with him. He’s straight, he’s a fair man. He knew what he wanted to do and he did it. He was the kind of manager we really needed to get us going and get promoted. It was a perfect fit.”
Bassong said Neil’s mixture of fierceness and fairness has been integral to the manager’s success. “He is a nice guy even if he can come across as fierce,” said Bassong. “He gives you everything he has got but in return you have to give him everything you have got. I remember laughing a couple of times at the way he was putting people back in their place. You can’t take liberties. He came here and put standards back in place. He said, ‘If you want to go [to the Premier League], you have to have boundaries and, if you respect the rules, we’ll do it’.
Martin Olsson, Norwich’s Swedish left-back, has also been impressed. “He’s pretty similar to Sam Allardyce,” Olsson said. “A bit tough and wants his players to work hard. Of course it’s a different kind of football but mentally and the way he wants us to work hard is a bit similar.” Olsson has also been struck by Neil’s painstaking analyses of opponents, with the win over Middlesbrough being the latest reward for his intelligence. “We were sitting in the video room for like an hour,” he said. “We’re not used to that as players but we’ve been doing that since he came in. We watched the match of when we played them [Boro] at home about 10 times. Just looking at what we need to do better and where they were stronger. And it worked out at Wembley. We had our game plan and it worked really well.”
