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Norwich City: Narcis Pelach interview on joining David Wagner’s staff
After a range of offers and interviews to become a head coach elsewhere, the highly-rated 34-year-old elected to join Wagner’s backroom staff and embrace a different style of football to the ones he has experienced in the past.
Pelach joined City as a first-team coach earlier this month after departing his role at Huddersfield Town.
He held interviews with relegated Blackpool about becoming their next boss and had offers from England and abroad for various positions.
Pelach has explained why the prospect of working alongside City’s head coach was the decisive factor.
“I have had different projects offered to me, both as head coach and as an assistant,” Pelach told Cadena SER, speaking in Catalonian.
“It has not been easy to choose, but I chose Norwich and David Wagner because of the chemistry I felt in the selection process and in all meetings I had. When I had to play against them in the past, I suffered.
“The stadium, the training ground, the staff… everything adds up. For the first time, I will have the possibility to work with a German coach and someone who is a great friend of Jurgen Klopp.
“Liverpool’s verticality is a system that I have not been able to try yet. Before taking the step to be a head coach I want to learn one bit more.
“I haven’t been lucky enough to live it directly, but I have lived it indirectly. With (Juan Carlos) Unzue (ex-Girona boss), I lived the philosophy of Barca and Cruyff.
“Now I hope to be able to live Jurgen Klopp’s style with David Wagner. I have always thought that’s what it’s all about, learning from the best, and if you can’t get there directly, then you have to find other ways to do it. I want to learn every day and complete myself as a coach.”
The ex-Girona, Leeds and Huddersfield man joins Christoph Buhler, Andrew Hughes and Ed Wootten on Wagner’s coaching team and will link up with City for the first time in pre-season.
Pelach has explained the role that he will occupy in Wagner’s backroom staff as he helps plot a route to success next season.
“My role in England has been varied,” he said. “I’ve been in charge of how to defend, direct training, set-pieces, and intervene in game plans, but it depended on each coach.
“Now I will be in charge of making game plans, analysing the opponent and knowing what the strengths and weaknesses are so we know how we should face each duel. Apart from that, I will also be in the area of player development.
After experiencing the heartbreak of the Championship play-offs with Huddersfield just 12 months ago, Pelach is hungry to be on the right side of success in the next campaign.
“Norwich in recent years has been an elevator team,” he said. “They have gone up and down a lot in recent years. It is a team with a very important and big support.
“My goal is to help Norwich and get back to Wembley. I was left with the thorn of going up. We came as the humble team from the bottom and I thought we would get it. The Norwich option has pulled that thorn out of me.”
Despite his new posting at Norwich, Pelach is still determined to forge a career as a number one at some stage.
Prior to that point, he is keen to absorb all the information that is possible from a host of coaches and experienced managers – with Wagner the latest after previous spells alongside Carlos Corberan and Neil Warnock.
Pelach is looking forward to when the right opportunity presents itself – but for now, it’s about learning and committing himself to the cause at Norwich.
“I have had interviews as a head coach. With one of the clubs, I got to the last stage. I’m looking forward to it, now I haven’t done it for a long time, but it’s my goal, but I am clear that in football it is important to experience the game from different points of view.
“Being an assistant gives you a lot of insight, and the other day in a conversation with Unzue, we talked about it,” he said.
“I don’t understand what I will do tomorrow without having been assistant. I had doubts, but the opportunity did not come with all the elements I wanted and I believed that at 34, I am in no rush.”
