Since taking over from Fernando Clavijo with 11 games left in the 2008 season, Rapids coach Gary Smith has turned a mediocre team into a champion. In this interview with Denver Post Rapids reporter John Meyer, Smith talks about his coaching philosophy, his upbringing in England and key decisions in remaking the team.
Where did you grow up?
Smith: Generally my playing and footballing life started very young. That was mainly because my dad had been a player as well. His career at (Tottenham) Spurs had been quite an eventful one, from what I can gather. He was around that club when they won the double (League Cup and FA Cup) in ’61. It was a very, very good team — Jimmy Greaves, Pat Jennings, Dave Mackay, Danny Blanchflower. A lot of internationals, and could almost be classed as a bit of a Manchester United or an Arsenal of their day.
He didn’t play in the first team, but from everyone’s account — and from his as well — he was a talented player but didn’t ever get an opportunity with a very, very good club.
What position did he play?
Smith: Inside left, which was really a left winger, but scored lots of goals. Creative on the ball, completely different to what I was about.
Did he spend the whole of his career with Spurs?
Smith: I think he had six years there. Then he went to Exeter, who I believe were in the old fourth division then, which didn’t work out very well. I think he had quite a nasty ankle injury when he was there. From that point, he went into part-time non-league football.
I think he was looking for an opportunity, but when you move from such a big club, such a prestigious club, and then you go somewhere in a lower league, the facilities are not as good, the players around you are not as good. I think he found it quite difficult.
He lived a mile from Spurs’ ground. You could hear the fans roar from the man’s back garden. He was not only a Tottenham player, but a fan, and the family was. There was quite a connection there, and when he left, it was a big wrench.
What kind of community was Tottenham?
Smith: That area is a suburb of London, really, and in those days, quite a tight-knit community. My mom looked out her back window at my dad’s front garden. Family members lived in and around that community. It was very different to what it is now.
It was just out of the shadows of a war, the community was changing, they lived in prefabricated houses previously and had just moved to local housing. Both of my grandparents served in the war. I think it was quite a friendly and tight-knit area.
For (his dad), it must have been quite an achievement at that time to play for the team in the country. They were the best team at the time. He was obviously a very talented player. You go to the best team in the country, but you don’t get an opportunity. Unfortunately your development starts to suffer. Or would there have been a chance to go somewhere where that opportunity might have come around a little bit quicker? Possibly easier to break into the first team somewhere else?
Where did you live when you started playing?
Smith: Initially in a place called Malden which is out on the fringes of Essex. That’s where my mom lived. My dad lived in a place called Chelmsford, which is about 20 minutes away. I would play in Malden, but I think I was 9 when we moved back towards London.
What kind of player were you?
Smith: Up until I was about 11 or 12, I was playing as a forward. It was only when I started playing for my district and county (teams) was when I started playing as a center back. I went from one end of the pitch to the other. When I started senior school — when you’re 11, you change from high school to senior school — we didn’t play football at school. We only played rugby. I wasn’t bad at rugby. I enjoyed it. There was a lot of contact.
It was a strange sort of transition. I went from being a forward to being a center back, playing rugby at school. There was a different approach to my game. It became more aggressive, in football more defensive-minded. I went then, at 12, 13 years of age as a center back, to training at Arsenal and Fulham as what would be classed as an academy player now. I continued to play as a center back, all through my teams and into my apprenticeship at Fulham. Even though I wasn’t very big, I was decent in the air. My defending attributes started to come out.
I was playing at 15 in (Fulham’s) under-18 team, and then as a 16-year-old as a fulltime player. I played in that group regularly and broke into the reserve side. It was at that point when I went from being a center back to being a right back for three, four years. I broke my leg that first year (at 16) in October, I was out for four months, and I made my debut with the first team last game of the season. I played 43 games that year, youth team and reserves, and then in the first team at the end of the season.
Fulham were in the old second division, and unfortunately were relegated to the third division that year. I then spent the next year there, was released out of my contract at the end of that year and went to Colchester, where I continued to play as a fullback. They were in the old fourth division. I started to make the odd appearances as a center midfield player at 19.
At Colchester I made 12 or 14 appearances in the fourth division, was released at the end of that year. The manager was an ex-Fulham center back who had spent the majority of that season instilling into me the more aggressive side of the game, then released me saying that my disciplinary record was poor.
So you accumulated a few yellow and red cards?
Smith: A number, yeah. I went from there to what is classed as conference football, non-league football, for two, three seasons, then got my opportunity back in the league with Barnet, effectively the old third division. I broke my leg again, badly, there. Same one, right leg. That was a nasty one.
There was a period of time, immediately after the break, when I went down for surgery, they were worried about an infection in the wound where the bone had broken through (the skin). I spent four very difficult days in Cardiff, where I broke my leg, in hospital on morphine. Not nice. My dad spent pretty much every day there with me, going through it, and I can’t imagine that was too pleasant. And at that point there was a worry that an infection would possibly cause me to lose that lower half of my leg, which was a big worry at 22.
That really was a turning point, when I came back from that. There was some mental and physical difficulties returning. The surgeon said I would be out 12 months, I had a pin put in my leg the full length of my shin. It was screwed in at either end, and through the process of coming back from that, I actually played 10 months after the initial break. I played with the first team 11 months to the day (after the break) with the metalwork in my leg. The surgeon said if I had broken my leg the same way, with the metalwork still in it, it would have proved extremely complicated to operate on, and could cause some serious problems.
I played four, five times and I broke a bone in my foot while I had that metalwork in my leg. Same leg. It was early March, I went in for surgery, had a screw put in my foot, I had the metalwork taken out of my leg, which put paid to that season.
I didn’t earn another contract there and went on to play another four injury-plagued seasons in a part-time, non-league capacity. It got extremely frustrating, having to tell people I wasn’t fit. I obviously wanted to play, but mechanically, it wasn’t good. I ended up calling it a day.
So how did you get into coaching?
Smith: My dad was academy director at Wimbledon. I started coaching the under-12s. Trying to relate to those younger players (was hard), but as it turns out, I had four years with the 12s, 13s and two years with the 16s, who were all training in the evenings during the week and playing on Sunday. They were some of the most effective developmental years for me as a coach. I learned how to express myself to young players, and be thoughtful about what I was saying.
I couldn’t speak in slang, because they didn’t understand it. I had to be adaptable — “Little Jimmy can’t get there until half an hour into the session” – there were lots and lots of angles that gave me a good foundation to be ready for some of the coaching that came next. Looking back on it, extremely grateful that I went through that period. It’s not easy.
I had a brief period at Wickham, working with the first team on an interim basis. Then I went on to Watford to take the reserves. Then my period of time in Spain, working for Arsenal, scouting there, gave me a different perception of a new culture, new style of play (but with) the disappointment of not being in fulltime coaching work. All of those things give you the mental approach and character that I’m sitting here with right now. Because I remember those times, and it wasn’t nice, not being able to be out on the training field every day.
How long you were you in Spain?
Smith: I was there for three, four months. It was four years ago.
Not long after that you came here. How did that come about? Did it have to do with Stan Kroenke being a part owner of Arsenal?
Smith: The relationship does have an impact on me being here. Because of my dad’s relationship with Arsenal as a coach in the young academy groups, and my relationship through him and having played there as a young player, 12-15, I do have a nice rapport and good relationship with a number of people at (Arsenal). When the opportunity to come here as a director of an academy that Arsenal intended to set up here, I was quite keen. I wanted to get back into fulltime work again. To have your name on a business card and be part of a relationship with a club of that nature is something quite overwhelming. In whatever way, shape or form I could, I wanted to be part of that club.
The opportunity arose. It was a difficult decision in some ways, because it’s a long way to move my family, three young kids, wasn’t quite sure what was going to come of the move, but the relationship was there. And Mr. Kroenke being a part owner of the club did have some impact.
How would you describe your vision of soccer as it should be played, and how did last year’s trades play into that?
Smith: A philosophy is actually quite difficult to explain. Most people will say 4-4-2, or 4-3-3, but that isn’t necessarily a philosophy about how you want to play. I think in general, my philosophy is a combination of speed and competitive play, combined with players that are efficient in possession. We have guys like Pablo (Mastroeni), Brian (Mullan), Jeff (Larentowicz), who you couldn’t say are necessarily the most creative footballers, but are efficient in that midfield area. Jamie Smith. They’re efficient on the ball, they’re technically decent, but they’re also very competitive. If you look at the (Dallas) team we played against, they had individuals that did specific jobs. (David) Ferreira is extremely creative, but you’d have to say his defensive attributes could sometimes be left wanting. Daniel Hernandez is very competitive, physically capable, but not as creative.
The philosophy is pace and power, combined with a good competitive edge and decent technical attributes throughout the team.
One thing that has frustrated me, if you look at the way this group has unfolded, there’s been some criticism about some of the football that we play. All of the statistics that I see, in a good majority of the games we play, we make more passes than the teams we play against, we complete more passes.
Are you saying you’ve been accused of playing a possession game, when in reality it is a possession attacking game?
Smith: Exactly.
It’s not packing it in, but rather controlling midfield while looking for opportunities to attack.
Smith: Exactly. If you look at the players that are here, they’re capable of getting from Point A to Point B very quickly, but under control. I’ve never advocated going from back to front as quickly as possible, which I’ve seen on a number of occasions in England. I cannot believe anybody who watches us regularly does not enjoy watching the team play.
They’re committed to both sides of the ball. With it, they’re committed to being creative and to be exciting. Whether that excitement is the pace of Omar (Cummings), running on players and beyond players, or it’s the speed of our play, the possession we have at pace, in trying to break teams down.
What you have to remember is here, the quicker you play with the ball, the harder you work without the ball, the more pressure you put on a team that’s not used to altitude. That was one of the mindsets in putting the group together. A team that can move the ball quickly but efficiently and productively, but can also win the ball back quickly, compete with anyone and put the majority of teams under undue stress that they are incapable of dealing with, mentally and physically breaking them down.
You made some brilliant moves at the time of the expansion draft to keep two players you didn’t want to lose. You left Anthony Wallace and Wells Thompson unprotected, but when Portland selected Wallace, that allowed you to protect Thompson. Then you traded allocation money to Portland to get Wallace back. Did you tell Wallace and Thompson you were angling to keep them?.
Smith: The only thing you can explain to these guys, given the way the rules and regulations affect us all, what you hope is that somebody doesn’t need what you’re offering up. You can only really settle their minds that they are really thought well of. “We’re taking a calculated gamble that you might not be somebody these teams need.”
This group here now, each and every player is wanted, is needed. It’s taken time to cultivate the atmosphere, the spirit. I don’t think there’s any player in that locker room that I would want to lose. Unfortunately, given those rules, you might.
After you won the MLS Cup, you said you were happy for the players. What about your emotions that night?
Smith: Incredible. The actual evening, there’s a helluva lot of emotions, of course. Most of them exhilarating, exciting, to see those players lifting the Cup. It was an incredible moment. I said at the time, a lot of the accolades had to go to the players. They produced the performance. One thing that has shown through in this group, on and off the field, is the characters that have been brought together in this two-year period have given us what we got. Of course talent is needed. But something that isn’t always looked upon enough are the characters of players. When you go through a bad time, it’s easy to blame others and maybe not strive to put it right as much as you should. Weak characters form that blame society. They wander off into corners and talk on their own. I think the team and the coaches can look at an environment where they can pretty much trust and respect the next person. It really is the foundation of anything you do, any work: Trust and respect. If you haven’t got that, it doesn’t matter how good you are, how talented you are.
I wonder if, further down the line, I will look back and think, “That was something extremely special.” I think I can already say that. It’s not often that you bring together players as professional and hard working as they are and a staff that gets on as well as this one does.
Apart from the job, how do you like living in the United States? What part of town do you live in? What’s your lifestyle like?
Smith: All in all, it’s been a fabulous move. The area is wonderful, we live at Stapleton, the community for the family has been as good as anything we’ve ever encountered, the climate lends itself to wonderful outdoor times. My partner has been able to take the kids places we could never have dreamt of — to the mountains, to places we only ever saw on TV.
I love coming in here every day. The sun’s out most days, the facilities are wonderful, which make my life that much more enjoyable, the commute is a terrific one — I’m only five miles from the ground. I rarely encounter traffic, which was an everyday event in England.
Very, very pleased to be here, and looking forward to what the future might hold.
