IT is not uncommon for coaches to travel abroad and visit foreign clubs in major footballing nations in order to study their methods and increase their knowledge of the game.
The assistant manager of one of the biggest and most famous outfits in Brazil rocking up in Scotland to watch training, though, is slightly out of the ordinary.
Yet, when Charles Hembert, who is the right hand man to Rogerio Ceni at former FIFA Club World Cup winners Sao Paulo, learned that Michael Beale had been appointed by Rangers in November he immediately booked a flight to Glasgow.
Hembert worked with Beale during his first stint with the “Tricolour” back in 2017. Their time together proved, due to boardroom interference, their best players being sold and off-field unrest in general, difficult. They both departed midway through the campaign.
Still, the Frenchman, who returned to the Morumbi with Ceni two seasons ago after successful spells with both Fortaleza and Flamengo, was struck by the Englishman’s ability, drive and insight in the time they spent as colleagues.
So he was eager to watch his old amigo in action in his new role with Rangers - and was not disappointed that he made the effort.
“I am still good friends with Michael and speak to him often,” said Hembert yesterday during a break from preparations for the start of the new Brazilian season on Sunday. “When I heard that Michael had taken over at Rangers last year I arranged to fly to Glasgow to visit him.
“He took me to the Rangers training complex and I watched him put on a training session. I thought the facility was fantastic, very modern, very well organised. The quality of the pitches was outstanding. The training was, as I would have expected from Michael, also done at a very high intensity and was of a good standard.
“It is always very interesting to see how clubs operate in other countries. I work in South America now, but I am French and every time I go back to Europe to see my family I take advantage of my trip to go and visit different clubs, watch different training sessions and speak to different coaches.
“I am always striving to get better as a coach and the more I see and more people I speak to the more I will learn. I wanted to see Michael because he is a very good friend, but I also want to keep learning and you will always learn something from watching Michael.”
Hembert met and struck up a friendship with Ceni – the ex-Sao Paulo goalkeeper who took free-kicks and penalties and is, having netted 131 goals in his trophy-laden playing career, the highest-scoring player in his position in the history of world football – when he worked with the Brazilian national team.
The pair first encountered Beale during a tour of Europe they embarked on in 2016 when the Rangers manager was a youth coach at Liverpool. He made an immediate and lasting impression.
“Rogerio and I watched an under-23 training session that Michael took,” he said. “He also put on a presentation for us. He explained his methodology to us, spoke about what he was trying to achieve. It was not planned. It was all very informal. But we were both very taken with him.
“At that time, he had written several coaching books. But what stood out for both of us was that it was obvious that he was fascinated by what he was doing, that he was really invested in what he was doing, that he had a strong passion about his job and his activity.”
Ceni took over Sao Paulo manager shortly after he returned to South America. He immediately asked Beale to join his backroom team and his offer was accepted. His arrival was major news in the football-obsessed country.
“At that time in Brazil, it wasn’t normal to have foreign coaches,” said Hembert. “These days it is far more common. There are Spanish and Portuguese coaches here. But it was very unusual back then. And we had two overseas coaches – Michael from Britain and myself from France.”
However, Ceni had no cause to regret his leftfield appointment. His assistant, who spoke limited Portuguese when he arrived, rose to meet the daily challenges which he faced head on. In fact, he positively flourished in his new surroundings and made a huge impact. His old associate witnessed first hand how he blossomed.
“What was obvious was Michael’s training ground expertise,” said Hembert. “He was not head coach, but the way he helped Rogerio to conduct the training sessions was superb. The understanding he had, the ease with which he organised things, was impressive. There is no doubt about that.
“He was in a foreign country far from his home. But what was clear was that he wanted to learn about the South American culture. He wanted to know about Brazilian players, wanted to learn the Portuguese language. He was always keen to speak to the players and really get inside football in this country.
“I think experiencing a different kind of football was a big attraction to him coming here. It was extremely interesting for him. In Brazil, they have a different mentality, a different philosophy, a different way of playing. There are a lot of different elements to the game here. Michael was fascinated about all of them.
“You can only learn and grow from being exposed to that. He tried to learn as much as he could, to pick up the good things, to ignore the bad things. Even though he only spent six months here, I think he learned a lot, grew a lot. It was a good process for Michael.”
The wisdom of Rangers bringing in Beale, who had only been a manager in his own right since taking over from mark Warburton at Queens Park Rangers in June, to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst last year was questioned by many in the Scottish game.
He certainly knew the club inside out having spent three-and-a-half years in Govan working under Steven Gerrard. But how would he cope with being in the spotlight, with being the target for criticism and abuse from fans, with having to front up after draws and defeats?
Hembert does not envisage him having any difficulties and foresees a bright future at Rangers.
“Michael loved the fanaticism for Sao Paulo when he was in Brazil,” he said. “There are more than 15 million football fans in this city. We had full stadiums, crowds of 60,000 people at the Morumbi on match days. The pressure from the media and the fans here is very high. There were games every three days as well.
“You cannot ignore the fact that Brazil is a land of football. The richest leagues may be in Europe today, but Brazil is a country of football historically. Michael really loved that, enjoyed the environment he was working in.
“I am sure it will be very similar at Rangers to what he experienced at Sao Paulo in terms of fanaticism, pressure and expectation. Fans demand that Sao Paulo win every single match. The same is true at Rangers I believe. It will have been good preparation for him.
“The word that best defines Michael as a football coach is passion. He has a lot of passion about what he does, he is fascinated about what he does. He is well prepared for Rangers. He has the experience, he has the knowledge. I have no doubt at all that he will go very far.”
