Just by being at the European Championship, Georgia have already scaled their highest peak in football. It was a journey that started in 1989 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and now, three decades later, the nation is ready to thrive on the continents’ biggest stage.
What people might not know is that they are being guided by an Englishman. David Webb, whose first-team managerial experience is limited to a mere 10 games at York City in the fifth tier, is the unlikely right-hand man to former Bayern Munich and France star Willy Sagnol.
In many ways, Webb and Georgia’s journeys follow similar timelines. The average punter might not know a detailed account of either, but many at the elite end of football do. Webb seems to know everyone in the game, while many insiders also talk up Georgia as a dark horse.
Despite being let go from Crystal Palace in his late teens, Webb started to make waves as a scout after spotting a future star on a park pitch in Croydon. ‘I am from the area and noticed there were no “street players” coming through despite loads from here,’ he tells Mail Sport.
‘So I was doing a bit of scouting work and one day I noticed this lad playing for a team called Whitehorse Wanderers, and I took him to a coach at Palace. At first, the coach said, “He can’t do this, he can’t do that” in training but I told him to trust me and play him at the weekend.
Englishman David Webb is the unlikely assistant manager for Georgia at Euro 2024
Webb is the assistant to former Bayern Munich and France defender Willy Sagnol
‘And so he did. He rang me up and said, “Phwoar, where did you get this kid from? We’ve just scored seven and he got six of them!’ That raw talent was Wilfried Zaha, who made 458 appearances for the Eagles and is regarded as perhaps their greatest ever academy graduate.’
Webb’s eye for a player continued on a similar trend – he was crucial in rebuilding sides at Tottenham, Bournemouth and Southampton – and many regard him as having a natural eye for a good footballer.
But his true passion is coaching. He tried to dip his toes back in at York but that spell was wrecked by the fact he was hospitalised in his first week in the job at the Minstermen with a troubling bout of pneumonia and Covid.
‘I got the job on the Monday,’ he explains. ‘We had a day off on Wednesday so I came back to Surrey to get some more stuff. I felt off and then I ended up in hospital. I was there for nine to 10 days. I went back too early against the doctors’ advice.
‘I wanted to make a good impression but I was still quite tired and poorly. It is not an excuse but if I had my time again, I would have rested for another week or two instead of rushing back to York early.’
But due to his glowing CV in coaching and recruitment, it would not be long before one of his many contacts picked up the phone. He has maintained relationships with many in football, from Mauricio Pochettino and Eddie Howe to recruitment specialists like Liverpool’s Richard Hughes.
One of those was Sagnol, who played more than 250 games for Bayern Munich and has 58 French caps. The pair met when Webb was watching a France Under 18s game around a decade ago and have kept in touch, with them now partners in crime at Georgia.
As the lowest-ranked team at the Euros, many will write the minnows off as they prepare to face Turkey in their first-ever major tournament fixture in Dortmund at Tuesday tea-time. But Webb believes they are much better than they get credit for.
Zaha discovered Wilfried Zaha for Crystal Palace when the skilful attacker was a youngster
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the main protagonist for Georgia at Euro 2024 this summer
The main protagonist, of course, is Napoli forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – the 23-year-old Tbilisi-born star who is nicknamed ‘Kvaradona’ and idolised in Naples after he fired them to a first Serie A title since the days of Diego Maradona.
‘Kvaratkshelia is a difference maker and unbelievably talented,’ says Webb. ‘But there are so many good players. The goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili at Valencia is very good, Guram Kashia our captain has 113 caps. Most are playing in western Europe’s top leagues.
‘The culture here is very unique. We are a strong group in terms of our bond. They are respectful, sensitive at times but that is a good thing. A very warm culture of people. When I’ve been over there, it’s very welcoming and warm. They’re fun people.
‘I have a masters in sports psychology so I have three roles when I’m here on camp – coaching and delivering that, leading one to ones with the players to help them improve… and I also do group meetings on focus points like dealing with pressure, togetherness and focus.’
Back home, there is no doubting that rugby union is the main sport. The ‘Lelos’ have reached every World Cup since 2003 and claimed some impressive victories, with the love of the sport stemming from rebelling against Moscow pushing football on to the population.
Rugby was decried as a bourgeois game and Joseph Stalin’s right-hand man Lavrentiy Beria wanted to keep secret police (NKVD) employees fit by playing football, which led to the formation of Georgia’s most-successful team Dinamo Tbilisi.
Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, who plays for Valencia, is very highly rated
Defender Guram Kashia is another of the key players that Georgia can call upon
But while rugby may still be the most-played sport in the nation, the last year or so has seen football reasserting itself as a way of asserting cultural and national pride. There will be no better springboard than beating Turkey on Tuesday.
The expectations back home are mild but, in a group with Turkey, Czechia and Portugal, it is not out of the equation that they do well. As Sagnol said last month: ‘Georgia had never qualified for a competition before, and yet the day after the win over Greece (in the play-off), people were already talking about making the last 16.
‘That’s kind of the mindset over here – it’s all or nothing. The main idea is to create a good impression of football in Georgia, and if we can get a little extra confidence and gain some more experience, then maybe we can be successful.’
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