Radhi Jaidi: Breaking barriers as a player and coach

Our guest on Episode #60 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Radhi Jaidi.

Radhi is a true legend of Tunisian football, having played 105 times for his country and won every trophy there was to win at club level there.

Fans in England will know him best from his time at Bolton Wanderers, where he played under Sam Allardyce and helped them qualify for Europe. 

Since 2018 he's been a coach, working with Southampton U23s, Hartford Athletic in the USL, Esperance in Tunisia and now Cercle Brugge in Belgium, where he's assistant.

Radhi told me about his tough upbringing, his best memories from Bolton and his experiences and ambitions as a coach. 

SHOW NOTES =>

02:05: Working as assistant at Cercle Brugge since 2023. Second spell at the club.

04:30: Same ownership as Monaco. How this impacts what happens at Cercle. Recently had a training camp in Monaco.

07:48: Why he chose Cercle. Background in youth development. Balance between development and results.

13:17: Importance of relationship building.

15:26: Duties as assistant manager. Main duties are as defensive coach, especially with the centre-backs.

16:45: Growing up in Tunisia. 

21:26: Rare in having gone direct from Africa to the Premier League.

34:09: 15 different nationalities at one stage but gelled together. Importance of Tuesday team meal and being fined for missing his first one!

43:00: Childhood. Father died when Radhi was 11 and he had to grow up fast. 

44:43: Are young players too pampered today?

50:30: Differences between the generations. Generation of young players have a big problem with distraction. Malcolm Frame, psychologist at Southampton, had a good mnemonic, the 4 As: Accept, Assess, Adapt, Apply. Generations and environment might change, but core values shouldn't.

55:31: Ambitions for the future - "the ultimate is to succeed with a European team as a Head Coach. I still have the ambition, the desire, the energy, the obsession to make it." Unconscious bias. "The day I get the opportunity I am going to explode."

57:53: Importance of his Muslim faith.