Page 38 - TheWord#16

38 February 2017. SPORTS www.thewordmedia.org.uk

he village of Nieciecza in the firepower of the striker Emil
southern Poland is not a Drozdowicz.
place you would expect
Tto find a top-flight football For a team backed by con-
team, surrounded as it is by rural struction companies, it is apt that
cornfields, the pretty river Duna- their success appears to have been
jec and a huge factory that manu- founded on having the right tools
factures paving slabs and building for the task at hand. Most clubs
materials at its northern end. But would have stuck with a man who
up at the north-eastern corner is had achieved such a stunning feat
the home of Bruk-Bet Termalica but after Mandrysz guided Nieciec-
Nieciecza, a club that are defy- za to a respectable 13th-place finish
ing all expectations by occupying in their debut top-flight season in
fourth place in the Ekstraklasa, 2015-16, he was let go. In his place
where they sit just six points be- they appointed Czeslaw Mich-
hind the leaders, Jagiellonia Bialy- niewicz, nicknamed the Polish
stok, before the league resumes on Mourinho due to his tactical nous
10 February. and preference for focusing on a
well-drilled defensive system (Bol-
Their recently renovated stadi- ton-era Sam Allardyce would per-
um is an incongruous sight, with haps be a better fit). Given that he
its modern shiny facade and new- has taken the club to within sight
ly built car park set against a vil- of European football thanks to his
lage that consists of no more than unlovely but hugely effective style
a handful of streets and just over the move appears to have been
700 people. But it is also a source a well thought through upgrade.
of great pride for a group of people Pragmatism is something the club
who can now safely say they hail does very well. When there was a
from the smallest place in Europe problem with Pogon Szczecin fans
to host a major nation top-tier foot- there is, quite literally, nowhere for Polish Football
attempting to start trouble outside
ball team. the ground some years ago, the
There are echoes of Hoffen- police gave chase and lost them
in the overgrown corn fields that
heim in the Polish club’s rapid surrounded it. Witkowski now en-
rise but while Dietmar Hopp used sures nearby land is well kept so
money he made in the software
business to fund the German club’s hooligans to hide.
ascent, the owner of Nieciecza, to hold such a lofty position at a it is far from the cultural attractions huge way, investing in drones to re-
Krzysztof Witkowski – who grew But it is not Krzysztof who is Polish club – and let’s be honest, of a major city (Tarnow is 20km cord positional patterns in training
up in the village – has backed the the chief decision-maker on foot- it’s not the norm at most football away and is home to just over sessions so they can give players
club with cash he has generated balling matters at Nieciecza. His clubs wherever they are – but she 100,000 people) is not an attrac- videos to analyse at home.
from Bruk-Bet, the building mate- wife, Danuta, is the club president has earned great respect for her tive option for players but agents
rials company he founded around and it is she who pulls the strings no-nonsense approach to business are increasingly recommending In an interview with the Pol-
30 years ago that still stands there and handles transfers, contract and, in a league in which corrup- Nieciecza to clients due to Danu- ish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza,
today. He began with a mixer and negotiations and discussions with tion and golden handshakes have ta’s blunt reliability when it comes Michniewicz was repeatedly asked
his own bare hands and built it up the manager and staff about what been rumoured to take place, her to discussing wages and paying questions about his modern meth-
into one of Poland’s most success- is needed for the team to succeed. above-board approach has been players on time (something that is ods and he admitted that if results
ful businesses. Now he appears to It is not the norm for a woman welcomed. The club, based where not always guaranteed in Poland). go badly he risks ridicule by con-
be doing the same again with his servative commentators who see
local team, who little over a decade The appointment of a smart his approach as being a bit gim-
ago were amateurs kicking around young analyst in Kamil Potrykus micky. But he believes the small
in the sixth tier of Polish football. (who spent time over Christmas details have made a big difference.
studying Aitor Karanka’s meth- “We train as much using our heads
Having raced through the pyra- ods at Middlesbrough and is the as our feet,” he said. “This is, as
mid between 2004 and 2010 they former managing director of the the Americans say, total immer-
reached the second division, where International Professional Scout- sion, total immersion. Footballers
many thought they would do well ing Organisation) has helped in should devote themselves to their
to cling on to their status. But with matters of reporting back in detail work. Without having the biggest
additional sponsorship from the on opponents and has given Mich- budget or the widest staff and the
insulation company Termalica and niewicz the ammunition to target best coach, we are in fourth place
some shrewd signings the club sur- weaknesses among the league’s … drones can’t score goals, but they
passed all expectations. In 2015, established clubs. It is an approach can help us win a few matches. I
they finished second and gained that is the norm at big clubs but recently bought a programme for
entry to the Ekstraklasa thanks to Nieciecza have had to catch on analysis, LongoMatch, specially
promotion specialist Piotr Man- quickly – and they have. They have prepared for us in Spain. Now we
drysz’s expert management and also embraced technology in a are the forerunners with it but in