From police officer to head coach: Thomas Dennerby revisits his younger days
Jan 01, 2022
Kochi (Kerala) [India], January 1 : Indian women's football team head coach Thomas Dennerby revealed that he only gets whenever he sees someone being lazy.
It has been a challenging last six months for the Indian women's team inside the bio-bubble, training day in and day out while travelling abroad for exposure tours to play against some tough opponents.
The calming influence of Head Coach Thomas Dennerby has helped the players grow in the lead-up to the AFC Women's Asian Cup India 2022.
"I can be angry maybe once or twice in a year. And when I do get angry, I get very angry (laughs). That comes when I see people not trying hard. As long as you try, put in your best effort, and play the game with passion, I never get angry even if you make a mistake," said Thomas Dennerby as per an AIFF release.
"When I see someone being lazy, or not following the plan, or not caring for it, that upsets me. But it's something that also comes with age. My temperament used to go up and down when I was younger, but with age, I've mellowed down a lot. Sometimes even the players ask me, 'Thomas, you need to yell at us more'. I ask them, 'Why?'" he added.
The head coach further revealed that he used to be a police officer before becoming a footballer.
"I was at the Police Academy back in my younger days, and some of my friends used to tell me, 'Thomas, you're too kind to be a police officer'. But I'd tell them that if someone should be kind, it should be a police officer. Your role is to help other people," said the head coach.
"The first seven years when I played football, we were semi-professionals. We were police officers, firefighters, someone would be driving an ambulance, and so on. You had to have an education and a job because the money you'd earn from football was not enough. You could live on it, but it was on the edge," he added.
