Club Football

COVID-19’s impact on football and the entire industry has been unparalleled. At club level, the crisis forced clubs all around the world to implement quick and adequate measures to respond in the best possible way to a situation no one could have anticipated. What was it really like to steer a club through such uncharted waters from an operational perspective? To find out, we spoke to Sevilla FC’s highly respected sporting director Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo, known in footballing circles simply as Monchi, whose first-hand account from Spain provides a fascinating insight into what was a very busy and technology-inspired period for one of the world’s most renowned football executives.

How has this health crisis affected your role and responsibilities as the club’s sporting director, as well as your direct relationships (communication, etc.) with the players?

To be honest, the pandemic has had an enormous impact on my daily activities. I had to completely rethink my way of working. For quite a while, we were constantly on video calls and our conversations were sometimes not related to sport. Terms such as “[Microsoft] Teams”, “Zoom”, “furlough”, “COVID-19” and “pandemic” became part of my life and changed everything.

How has COVID-19 affected footballers psychologically in general and particularly the Sevilla FC squad?

Initially, the consequences were huge. It changed all our lives and we had to work with the players continuously to ensure that the team would not be affected psychologically. During lockdown, being in close contact with the players and their families helped us get through the worst period in the best way possible.

What measures did the club take in order to manage and respond to the players’ needs and concerns during this period?

In order for the players to be able to work from home and keep as fit as possible, we provided the players with all the necessary material and equipment (treadmills, stationary bicycles, weights, functional exercises, etc.). In addition, the work of the coaching staff was complemented by support from the sports psychologist Juan Carlos Campillo, who worked with the whole squad on an individual basis.

What was the club’s biggest challenge when planning and implementing effective training programmes to ensure that the team would stay fit during quarantine, both physically and mentally?

Trying to make sure that the team did not lose faith that the competition would resume and keeping their spirits and hopes high so that, despite the difficult circumstances, they did not give up.

How did the club have to adapt to the situation in order to carry out its daily activities?

We had to completely change our ways, and online meetings became crucial to us. We decided that the steering committee would meet on a daily basis, almost acting as a crisis cabinet, which is where guidelines were established and then submitted to the executive committee and board of directors, and these were subsequently relayed to the rest of the organisation through the heads of department.

How do you think the general uncertainty of COVID-19 will affect the next transfer window?

I’m afraid I can’t draw any definitive conclusions, but it will of course have consequences on transfers, and their extent will depend on how long the general uncertainty caused by the pandemic lasts. If the competitions that have already started can be completed smoothly and the outlook for next season is good, the negative repercussions will be less serious.

With regard to the 2020/2021 squad, has it been very difficult for you to plan and implement your transfer objectives?

Most clubs’ future plans are currently on hold; we are envisaging various scenarios and making plans based on each of them. Right now, patience is key so as to avoid making rash and wrong decisions.

What security and protection measures were adopted for the resumption of training? How did Sevilla plan its players’ return with a view to continuing the league? Was it treated like a new pre-season, starting from scratch? Was the planned remote training a success?

I think that the procedure established by La Liga and approved by the Higher Sports Council was key in ensuring that, during these difficult times, we were able to progressively return to training with health guarantees in place. I don’t feel that we started from scratch, because working remotely was effective, but we have had to adapt our preparation methods to completely new circumstances; we trained for 35 days, but only ten of those as a full squad, and we did not play any friendlies. The work of the coaching staff has been exceptional. We hope that the results will be reflected on the pitch, both physically and in terms of injuries.

Has a study been conducted to assess the risks and probabilities of injuries for the rest of the season?

Yes, that was always on the agenda when we were organising training and the workload, but as this is a whole new ball game, there are of course risks. We hope to be able to minimise them as much as possible.

What will the club do to mitigate the loss of revenue in comparison to the initial budget for the 2019/2020 season?

At the moment, we don’t know what exactly the collateral financial damage will be as a result of the pandemic, but we will of course be subject to a drop in revenue, which will have an impact on our income statement. We are working on finding solutions and initiatives to partly mitigate those losses, but we’re still at an early stage.

All crises also bring about positive changes and new opportunities. What lessons will professional football learn from the pandemic? What needs to be improved? How will it be reinvented?

I’m afraid I am not in a position to draw any conclusions about COVID-19 just yet. We’re living from day to day, which in itself is an all-consuming task. Currently, we need to think about the present rather than the future. Still, it is clear that, when the time comes, we need to sit down and think about where we went wrong and how we can improve.