Interview: "I don't envy racists" - Vincent Kompany

Vincent Komapny(L) and Manuel Pellegrini

Rajpal: What do you look for in a manager as a player – not just as a captain, but as a player? What do you look for that’s important that you can actually absorb from a manager?

Kompany: I think experience and leadership are probably the biggest things that you need for a group. But, you know, he’s a man with a lot of class. With a, you know, with a bit of flair in his approach. And that helps. But it’s really – the team has to buy into it. That’s for every single club in the world – the team has to buy into whatever the new managerial staff brings in. And so, that’s what we’re trying to do now.

Rajpal: The same could be said for Manchester United.

Kompany: Exactly.

Rajpal: They’re playing with a new manager now, after, I guess, 30 years. We’re looking at David Moyes. Huge shoes that he has to fill. How do you believe that team is going to have to adapt to a new manager after such a long time?

Kompany: I think it’s the same for everyone. The only way to make it work is if you just completely buy into whatever the new manager brings in. If he has different methods, different beliefs, you can’t – you know, you can’t let your feelings of the past block whatever that guy brings in, because then you make the job already hard before it’s even started. That’s what I believe in.

Rajpal: Some people would describe football as their religion. It’s a sense of belonging. It’s a sense of community. As captain of Manchester City and of Belgium’s National Football Team, you’ve been described as fiercely loyal. How do you defend that loyalty when, some critics will say, a footballer would go to the highest bidder?

Kompany: Well first of all, I think if you look at our individual story of every single footballer, you know, we started to play the game for one thing only. It’s because, you know, we wanted to achieve the greatest thing in the game. And whichever way it turns out to be – wherever you go, you do gain some loyalty towards your club as you, you know, have this connection with the fans. As you have this connection with the people that work at the club. So you can’t ever play football anywhere if you don’t give everything you have. So, you know, there’s a bit of a contradiction in there, but there is a lot of passion in whatever we do. And that’s what the fans recognize, anyway.

Rajpal: What, then, would you hope, or are you hoping to teach the young kids about racism in football?

Kompany: People who you call racists – you know, I don’t envy those guys. You know, I wouldn’t like to be in their position. I think it’s a very sad life.

Rajpal: What is it about the youth development in football in Belgium that is really nurturing this kind of talent that’s perhaps different from, say, in England?

Kompany: Well, it’s a bit of a debate as well in Belgium as much as people now say that we have a great generation. I think that we benefited a lot from the fact that we are a small country. So a lot of the players at a very young age have kind of had the chance to develop even outside of our borders or had the chance to play at a very young age in their home league. And you bring all this together and it gives us this mix now. Which is – you know, we have a great team.

Rajpal: Is that part of the reason why you wanted to be a part of that kind of nurturing with the investment into what is now being called BX Brussels?

Kompany: Yes. Well, I have my own belief about how the game should be.

Rajpal:Yes.

Kompany: And, you know, you grow up and it’s like everybody – you know, you always have your thoughts and your beliefs about things. And you know, happy about this guy, not happy about the way they do it at this club -

Rajpal: Yes.

Kompany: And I thought, you know, instead of pointing fingers, the best way is to do it myself. So I did it myself.

Rajpal: What, then, would you hope – or are you hoping – to teach the young kids – the youth that are coming in through that football club – about racism in football? We are seeing this beautiful game being marred by events on the pitch in England, in the pitch in Italy as well. How do you fight this scourge?

Kompany: I think there’s two different things – I want to – the first key message that I want to bring out – and it’s not directly linked to racism or towards education — is to say that football is not everything. So, but then having said that, everything you do – if you like it, you need to do it with everything you’ve got.

And then towards racism – I do think that you can, you know, outgrow it a little bit. People who you call racists, you know, I don’t envy those guys. You know, I wouldn’t like to be in their position. I think it’s a very sad life. It’s a very sad way of behaving. So I wouldn’t give them too much attention.

But at the same time, you know, as much as I wouldn’t teach my kids to give them too much attention, I hope that the governing bodies will be extremely hard and extremely, you know, exemplary in the way that they deal with those situations.

Rajpal: Does it shock you? I mean, it shocks me that it still happens.

Kompany: Yes, you know, it shocks me, but – you know, in a weird way, something I’ve had to deal with as well when I was younger. You know, and I just remember what my parents said. You know, my parents really always said that I was a better person than those guys who did that. And that, therefore, I shouldn’t really worry too much about it. As long as, you know, always you make sure that you fight for those who really feel like victims of it, you know? I don’t feel like a victim of it. I’m way above this in my head, you know?