In theory, Oscar Garcia has never had it so good.
Health restored, stress relieved, back in Catalunya, watching Barcelona regularly and being paid to talk about them.
On a Champions League evening, you will find him enjoying a sociable coffee not far from the Nou Camp, then previewing the match on Catalunya Radio before heading to the game.
He looks relaxed. Far more so than when he was head coach of Albion in 2013-14.
But Oscar would swap all this for a job as a head coach in the Championship. If it was the right job.
The Argus understands he has had contact with Fulham, Reading and an overseas team in the past week or so and, earlier in this season, knocked back at least three clubs from this country.
Albion’s trip to Derby will bring back memories of his last game in charge, for the second leg of the play-off semi-final in 2013-14.
He still recalls, and manages a wry smile about, the patchwork back four he ended up with that day.
“In defence we only had our first-choice left-back (Stephen Ward) and he was at centre-back,” he explains to a Catalan friend listening in.
But he was pleased with the season’s work.
“I'll always be very grateful to Brighton because they opened the doors for me to English football,” he said.
“Eighty per cent of the offers I’ve had to go back into football have come from English football.
Oscar during his final game as Albion boss - at*Derby
“I had a magnificent year. I got to know the supporters, who treated me very well.
“They're one of the first clubs whose results I look for.
“I'm delighted they are doing so well and hopefully this is the year they go up.
“I learnt a lot. I learnt another way of understanding football, I learnt quite a lot of English!
“I learnt the mentality of people and footballers there.
“If you tell players in England to do something, they do it, then after they've done it they might ask you why.
“In Spain, if you tell players 'Do this?' they'll say 'Why?' So you have to do a bit more to convince them.
“You always want to implement things you like to do (such as Oscar’s initial plan of training on Friday afternoons, which was soon scrapped).
“But you're in another country, you’re the one who has to adapt, so you don't always do what you want to do.”
Oscar celebrates play-off qualification at Forest
To Albion fans, Oscar was the man from Barcelona. To those in Barcelona, he’s the man from Sabadell.
When he first signed for Barca, he used to get lost.
To find a location within the city he would have to see where it was in relation to the Nou Camp.
Nowadays he is a football man of the world.
Since his season at the Amex, Oscar has had a short stint back at Macaabi Tel Aviv, an even shorter time with Watford and a non-starter with Red Bull Salzburg.
He said of his return to Israel: “There was a good project, the chance to play in the Champions League.
“But the war started and it made life complicated. We couldn't train, we had to play matches in Cyprus. After 50 days it hadn't ended and I couldn't do my job as I wanted to.
A real eye-opener as Nathan Jones talks him through an old-fashioned FA Cup tie at Port Vale
“I wasn’t frightened but I like to do my work 100%.*My family couldn't come because of the war.
“I went to the club and said maybe it was better if they found another head coach.
“After two weeks the chairman at Watford called me.
“I weighed up everything. I looked at the team, at the squad, at the club, at who was interested in me and decided to go.
"I knew it would be a very good year for Watford with the squad they had built.*They had managed to keep Troy Deeney and add a few players.
“As a club they are different to others.*The president Gino Pozzo controls practically everything.*They have a lot less people working there than, for example, Brighton.
“But Watford can bring in players from Udinese and Granada who are at a high level.*I knew they were a club who, sooner or later, would go up because of the quality of players they had.”
Oscar had taken charge of just one game when he quit due to ill health.
“I think everything came together. What happened in Tel Aviv, because I don't like to leave places at the start of the season, and all the changes provoked a bit of stress.*I needed to take things easy for about a month.
“I wanted to be honest and I told Gino maybe the best thing he could do was to look for someone and when I'd recovered I'd see.
Championship manager of the month for November 2013
“Now I write for two newspapers, I do radio and TV. I watch football, I'm involved. But you can’t compare it to being a coach.”
It seemed Oscar was set to take charge of Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg in the summer.
But he said: “There were a few small problems regarding my assistants and at the end it broke down the day before I would have started pre-season, which was all arranged.”
Oscar enjoys English football. He believes there are enough good players here for the national team to be far better than it is – given time.
“We had the same with the Spanish team. We played well at times, never won anything - then came three titles.
“It comes down to having that talented generation of players and, above all, having an idea of how you want to play.*All age groups from under-15 up should play the same way. They should have the same philosophy and they should be looking for the type of player who will suit the team.
“When they get to the senior national team, they should be able to automatically do what they need to do in every position.*Don't copy others. And even if you do, do it from a young age, don't just try and play like Spain or Germany in the senior team.
“It takes time but England as a country has very good players and they need to play in a way the FA thinks is best.
“I liked Jesse Lingard at Brighton. But it's a bit surprising to see him, with so few senior appearances, break into the senior squad.*He's a boy with a lot of potential but he has got to grow and he has things to correct. He’s at the right club to do that.”
Oscar still recalls his first game at the Amex – when Chris Hughton was in the opposing technical area.
Much about Albion has changed since that pre-season date with Norwich in 2013. One senses Oscar would love to be here now.
He still talks fondly of that afternoon when his side clinched their play-off place by winning at Nottingham Forest.*And he remains full of admiration for the way Burnley, already promoted, battled to a draw at Reading that day.*
“Not losing any of their 19 matches in a division which is so difficult and so competitive says a lot about the squad the club have been able to assemble, about the players and about the staff,” he said.
“The times I've visited Brighton, they have opened the doors to the training ground and been very friendly.
“It was a shame they didn't have the training ground a year earlier.*We trained at the university, they weren't the best conditions.
“That's one of the things I’m most disappointed about, that I couldn't benefit from the training ground which is one of the best in England and probably Europe.*That can only be good for the youth section at Brighton.
“But we achieved something which I didn’t think anybody expected with the squad we had and all the injury problems we had throughout the season.
“I can't say a day when I decided I would be leaving but it wasn't because we lost in the play-offs, far from it. It was before then.”
One club chairman has already called Oscar direct this season – bypassing his agent - and asked him to name his price.*It doesn’t quite work like that. But Oscar plans to be back.
“I want to coach but I don't need to be a coach,” he said.
“I'm passionate about coaching but I need to find the right club, the right time, the right circumstances.
“There had been interest but nothing where we've reached an agreement. And that's often down to me.”
Original article
Health restored, stress relieved, back in Catalunya, watching Barcelona regularly and being paid to talk about them.
On a Champions League evening, you will find him enjoying a sociable coffee not far from the Nou Camp, then previewing the match on Catalunya Radio before heading to the game.
He looks relaxed. Far more so than when he was head coach of Albion in 2013-14.
But Oscar would swap all this for a job as a head coach in the Championship. If it was the right job.
The Argus understands he has had contact with Fulham, Reading and an overseas team in the past week or so and, earlier in this season, knocked back at least three clubs from this country.
Albion’s trip to Derby will bring back memories of his last game in charge, for the second leg of the play-off semi-final in 2013-14.
He still recalls, and manages a wry smile about, the patchwork back four he ended up with that day.
“In defence we only had our first-choice left-back (Stephen Ward) and he was at centre-back,” he explains to a Catalan friend listening in.
But he was pleased with the season’s work.
“I'll always be very grateful to Brighton because they opened the doors for me to English football,” he said.
“Eighty per cent of the offers I’ve had to go back into football have come from English football.
Oscar during his final game as Albion boss - at*Derby
“I had a magnificent year. I got to know the supporters, who treated me very well.
“They're one of the first clubs whose results I look for.
“I'm delighted they are doing so well and hopefully this is the year they go up.
“I learnt a lot. I learnt another way of understanding football, I learnt quite a lot of English!
“I learnt the mentality of people and footballers there.
“If you tell players in England to do something, they do it, then after they've done it they might ask you why.
“In Spain, if you tell players 'Do this?' they'll say 'Why?' So you have to do a bit more to convince them.
“You always want to implement things you like to do (such as Oscar’s initial plan of training on Friday afternoons, which was soon scrapped).
“But you're in another country, you’re the one who has to adapt, so you don't always do what you want to do.”
Oscar celebrates play-off qualification at Forest
To Albion fans, Oscar was the man from Barcelona. To those in Barcelona, he’s the man from Sabadell.
When he first signed for Barca, he used to get lost.
To find a location within the city he would have to see where it was in relation to the Nou Camp.
Nowadays he is a football man of the world.
Since his season at the Amex, Oscar has had a short stint back at Macaabi Tel Aviv, an even shorter time with Watford and a non-starter with Red Bull Salzburg.
He said of his return to Israel: “There was a good project, the chance to play in the Champions League.
“But the war started and it made life complicated. We couldn't train, we had to play matches in Cyprus. After 50 days it hadn't ended and I couldn't do my job as I wanted to.
A real eye-opener as Nathan Jones talks him through an old-fashioned FA Cup tie at Port Vale
“I wasn’t frightened but I like to do my work 100%.*My family couldn't come because of the war.
“I went to the club and said maybe it was better if they found another head coach.
“After two weeks the chairman at Watford called me.
“I weighed up everything. I looked at the team, at the squad, at the club, at who was interested in me and decided to go.
"I knew it would be a very good year for Watford with the squad they had built.*They had managed to keep Troy Deeney and add a few players.
“As a club they are different to others.*The president Gino Pozzo controls practically everything.*They have a lot less people working there than, for example, Brighton.
“But Watford can bring in players from Udinese and Granada who are at a high level.*I knew they were a club who, sooner or later, would go up because of the quality of players they had.”
Oscar had taken charge of just one game when he quit due to ill health.
“I think everything came together. What happened in Tel Aviv, because I don't like to leave places at the start of the season, and all the changes provoked a bit of stress.*I needed to take things easy for about a month.
“I wanted to be honest and I told Gino maybe the best thing he could do was to look for someone and when I'd recovered I'd see.
Championship manager of the month for November 2013
“Now I write for two newspapers, I do radio and TV. I watch football, I'm involved. But you can’t compare it to being a coach.”
It seemed Oscar was set to take charge of Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg in the summer.
But he said: “There were a few small problems regarding my assistants and at the end it broke down the day before I would have started pre-season, which was all arranged.”
Oscar enjoys English football. He believes there are enough good players here for the national team to be far better than it is – given time.
“We had the same with the Spanish team. We played well at times, never won anything - then came three titles.
“It comes down to having that talented generation of players and, above all, having an idea of how you want to play.*All age groups from under-15 up should play the same way. They should have the same philosophy and they should be looking for the type of player who will suit the team.
“When they get to the senior national team, they should be able to automatically do what they need to do in every position.*Don't copy others. And even if you do, do it from a young age, don't just try and play like Spain or Germany in the senior team.
“It takes time but England as a country has very good players and they need to play in a way the FA thinks is best.
“I liked Jesse Lingard at Brighton. But it's a bit surprising to see him, with so few senior appearances, break into the senior squad.*He's a boy with a lot of potential but he has got to grow and he has things to correct. He’s at the right club to do that.”
Oscar still recalls his first game at the Amex – when Chris Hughton was in the opposing technical area.
Much about Albion has changed since that pre-season date with Norwich in 2013. One senses Oscar would love to be here now.
He still talks fondly of that afternoon when his side clinched their play-off place by winning at Nottingham Forest.*And he remains full of admiration for the way Burnley, already promoted, battled to a draw at Reading that day.*
“Not losing any of their 19 matches in a division which is so difficult and so competitive says a lot about the squad the club have been able to assemble, about the players and about the staff,” he said.
“The times I've visited Brighton, they have opened the doors to the training ground and been very friendly.
“It was a shame they didn't have the training ground a year earlier.*We trained at the university, they weren't the best conditions.
“That's one of the things I’m most disappointed about, that I couldn't benefit from the training ground which is one of the best in England and probably Europe.*That can only be good for the youth section at Brighton.
“But we achieved something which I didn’t think anybody expected with the squad we had and all the injury problems we had throughout the season.
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“I can't say a day when I decided I would be leaving but it wasn't because we lost in the play-offs, far from it. It was before then.”
One club chairman has already called Oscar direct this season – bypassing his agent - and asked him to name his price.*It doesn’t quite work like that. But Oscar plans to be back.
“I want to coach but I don't need to be a coach,” he said.
“I'm passionate about coaching but I need to find the right club, the right time, the right circumstances.
“There had been interest but nothing where we've reached an agreement. And that's often down to me.”
Original article