, Harry Kewell – “my idea was about bringing the clubs together”

Harry Kewell – “my idea was about bringing the clubs together”

Former Leeds United forward Harry Kewell has spoken about his decision to move to Turkish club Galatasaray, saying that “my idea was about bringing the clubs together”, the Guardian reports.

After announcing his retirement in March 2014, the 36-year-old has recently taken up a coaching job as manager of Watford’s under-21’s squad, where Kewell says that it was a “no-brainer” to accept the role. Speaking about the new job, the Australian said “to have an opportunity at a Premier League club, working under an exciting manager that is very confident and allows me to be involved in his talks and training.

“To do that, and to understand what it takes to be a manager, to understand the ins and outs of how a club works … the first week blew my mind.”

The state of English youth football was one of the reasons that persuaded Kewell to take up the post. He stated that “I’m shocked to a point. In any other country we play football for five, six hours a day. It’s your livelihood. They have rules here where you can only train for a certain amount of hours during the week.

“They were telling me that there might be a rule where you can’t go and play football out on the street without a coach watching. That’s ridiculous. If a kid wants to kick a ball against a wall then let him, that’s the way he’s going to get better.”

Kewell was a vital player in the early 2000’s for Leeds, it propelled him to fan favourite status amongst the Elland Road faithful due to his performances on the pitch. In total, Kewell made 216 appearances for the Whites before moving onto Liverpool, scoring 53 and assisting 5.

Despite this initial popularity, Kewell angered a large part of the Leeds fanbase after making the decision to move to Turkish club Galatasaray in 2008. This move happened eight years after two Leeds United fans were killed in Istanbul when the two clubs played each other in the UEFA Cup, a time when Kewell was a regular part of the Leeds United line-up.

Speaking about the move, Kewell said “I still get a lot of stick from Leeds fans which is unfortunate because Leeds is very close to me. It was one of the best clubs I ever played for. They gave me the start and I had a fantastic time there.

“It’s all about opinions,” he added “but my idea was about bringing the clubs together. You’ve also got to look at it as after my Liverpool career, what was I supposed to do? I still wanted to play football and that was the only club that really showed interest.

“As much as I know it hurts them, I hope one day they will (forgive it). They probably never will. That’s football, everybody has their opinions. I loved Leeds, but I also loved Galatasaray.”

Kewell’s focus for the future will now be on his role at Watford, his first coaching job after gaining his badges from UEFA.

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