The coach is instilling a culture of success at FC Bayern.
Bayern Munich’s club magazine Säbener 51 has a fantastic interview out with head coach Vincent Kompany in which he delves into his mentality as head coach of the German record champions and shares insights into how he maintains strict standards of success at a club that has done it all — and over and over again.
The interview names as one of Kompany’s ‘guiding principles’ — Be hungry or go somewhere else. To stick around at Kompany’s Bayern, you have first and foremost got to be the wheat that separates from the chaff, and there’s no room for a mere passenger.
But what does being hungry mean for a club that, like many of its players, has long competed and succeeded at the elite levels of the sport?
“At this level, you’re duty bound to give your all,” Kompany declared in the interview, as captured by @iMiaSanMia. “You can enjoy what success brings — but you have to be prepared to make sacrifices.
“Hunger means always wanting more, always being prepared to do more, and to do it together. It also has nothing to do with winning. You have to be hungry when you win, lose or draw, when the sun is shining, when it’s raining or snowing. It’s the mindset of pushing yourself without becoming negative, out of the conviction: Only those who stick to the task make progress.”
That last sentence is maybe the best part of the answer. Without being negative — because the same drive that pushes athletes to greatness can also cultivate a culture of toxicity. It’s important for the head man to keep the emphasis on wholesomeness without sacrificing the drive.
That mindset has worked wonders at Bayern so far.
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Category: General Sports
