Ben Manga admits he can understand quite a lot of English, can speak a fair bit but his grasp of German and Spanish is, currently, better.
So, when I met with him we had the club’s excellent interpreter in the room and the conversation was a mixture of Spanish, English and a little bit of German.
Manga listened intently throughout, and would interject with English when he felt confident.
However, midway through one question I used a sentence that he clearly understood and which made him sit upright and take a deep breath.
Six head coaches in two seasons.
Amid all the talk of the change that Manga hopes to bring, then this is one where fans will obviously be hanging on his every word.
“Of course stability is very, very important. It’s vital to have stability because the manager is the first stone in the building,” he said.
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“I spoke with Gino about this in the meetings we had before I signed, and for me not having a manager who leaves after two weeks, or six months, or a year, is very important to me.
“Every different manager has his own philosophy and when you keep changing manager it gives you no stability and it doesn’t improve things.
“You might have one manager who likes to play four at the back, another one who likes to be very offensive, another one who wants to play three at the back. This does not bring stability to a club.
“It’s important that this will be my responsibility now and I hope Gino will learn to trust me on this, and also to let me look after the managers as well when they are here.”
While Manga is clear on who the head coach should report to, he was also very quick to make it apparent that there would be clear demarcation between his own role and the head coach.
“Like I said before, the manager has to be my second wife. We have to be together a lot, speaking and looking at what has happened,” he said.
“But that doesn’t mean I will interfere. I will never interfere. If I can make suggestions then yes, I will try to do that. It’s the same in any relationship.
“We will have to move through good times and bad times together. We can’t have it that you lose four games and you’re gone.”
Manga spoke of the need for patience, not just from those above him and around him at the club, but also from the fans and the wider football world.
“Patience is vital. And that is for every single aspect of what we do,” he stressed.
“I don’t want people to think that because Ben Manga is here everything will change immediately. I don’t have a magic wand.
“You can apply the need for patience to every single department. One good example is Yaser Asprilla. He is a young guy that came here on his own at 18 years old, doesn’t speak English and had never left Colombia before. He moved from one continent to another.
“We can’t expect him to come here and rock the league straight away. But slowly he is developing, slowly he is getting used to the football and the culture.
“We signed him because he has good talent and we believe in him, and as we have seen he is improving.
“This will be the same with the manager. Regardless of whether it is a new name or it is Chris, we need time to adapt.
“The team we have next season might be different and everybody needs time to adapt.
“It’s my responsibility as the leader of the sporting area of the club to transmit calm and give time to people.”
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