Sitting upright, perfectly so, rounded by more than 20 written, radio and broadcast press, Matthias Jaissle held court. And despite what some would have you believe, he looked at home.
Smart, sharp, with a good sense of humour, the Newcastle United head coach warmed to questions about his life, history and philosophy. Some of them went deep, some went to uncomfortable places. All were given careful consideration and meticulous coverage. His image and character seem perfectly aligned.
He doesn’t like the press. He doesn’t want to engage. Ask some better bloody questions! Many would have you believe Jaissle is keen to make enemies, not friends with scribes of the region, a theory built largely on his direct, often one-word responses in press conferences. But, at his request, the media many were invited in, to Benton, or The Knox as we must now say, to talk, relax, eat and drink in his company. Jaissle joked about unhealthy English breakfasts - although the bacon and sausage offerings supplied were particularly good. He’s never tried black pudding, by the way. He’s not seen much of the city yet, either, bar ‘just a few restaurants’. He offered insight into his football thinking, opened a window to his past, his journey, influences, his health struggles and what makes him the man and coach he is today.
It was fascinating. Illuminating. And really very warm. The cold exterior has thawed somewhat from those early, frantic days in La Manga then Tyneside, where a need to maximise every second of work left no room for small talk.
That was then, this is now. Twenty allotted minutes, became 25. Five more, he asked. It seemed like Jaissle actually quite liked the talky bit. He drew boundaries, explained the theory behind some of his public statements. He had questions for the press. This was as much a fact-finding mission for him as it was the pack. He swerved no query, gave as many as he could a crack at his time. Then, to training. The bit that really matters. We saw some of it, the bits we’re allowed to. All managers are the same, protective over their craft. I suppose. you never know where spies hide.
Imprinting Jaissleball on NUFC - patience needed
We’re yet to properly see the fruits of Jaissle’s labour at Newcastle United. Having listened to him, I think that’s an understatement. Time was always against him. As much as Eddie Howe falling on his sword was admirable - he had lost the belief it required to guide good ship 2.0 - it came too late. That delay, it should have happened before the last home game of last season, meant Jaissle and his coaches were up against it. Newcastle appointed a coach to fit their DNA - that’s a proper thing now under Ross Wilson and David Hopkinson - but not all coaches are the same. Not all coaches sign off on the same type of players. A lot of the dancing was done before Jaissle’s influence could be felt. Next summer will have a slightly altered recruitment feel, you’d imagine. The same framework, yes, but maybe more star quality, a bit more MJ.
“The pre-season was so short, and then it was really packed with a lot of friendly matches back then that we couldn’t change. So it was tough. It’s really tough, tougher than expected, to get the stuff and the principles implemented into the player’s head. But considering all these things, we’re doing good,” he said of what he’s witnessed so far, even if he hints a hell of a lot more needs to come.
“I think there were elements in games where we saw a lot of the things we were looking for. There were also phases in games where we were not happy and satisfied. So there’s a lot of still a lot of potential that we can improve.
“But considering the circumstances, and we need to remind ourselves always, as well in the coaching stuff, because we have these high demands that we are not long here now, and we don’t have too much training time.”
Following the Leeds defeat, one Jaissle admits brought tough conversations and some challenging emotions, talk crept in of Red Bull - Salzburg, where Jaissle originated, and Leipzig - across social media and whether that school of thought can work in a Premier League setting. It was all very premature, but let’s humour it for the flow of this work. Leeds saw it, they survived it. Just a German Jesse Marsch was the cry. All very extreme. More work, unconvincingly completed since Elland Road, the question remains whether RB can actually be NUFC.
Doubt all you like, Jaissle doesn’t.
“The style will work anywhere,” he said. “They questioned it in Saudi Arabia - can you play that style when it is 40 degrees outside? Can you play it when players are maybe not at the physical level that you have had before? We showed it is possible.
“Look at Barcelona now, and the way they are flying. I would not say that Hansi Flick is from the Red Bull dynasty, but there are a lot of elements in the way he works that can see are from there. The players there might have been more used to playing in a tiki-taka style, but they have adapted and you can see it is working. I was listening to Rodri, and he was saying a lot about the physicality and the way they train now. It shows that it can be done in every league, in my eyes.”
Jaissle’s journey - health, (un)happiness, rebirth with Rangnick
If you think Jaissle’s struggle to add style to create Newcastle United substance is tough, you know little about his journey. This is meat and drink to the quiet village boy who enjoyed the terraces at Stuttgart.
The injury that robbed him of the game he loved at 25 in 2014 is well-documented. But perhaps the struggles that preceded it, even years beforehand as a child, have helped shape the man he has become.
“I had a tumour, when I was five-years-old, in the neck I couldn’t move my neck side to side and I learned a lot,” said Jaissle. “I was only five years old but I learned a lot about life already. How important it is to be healthy and how grateful you can be to be to follow your dream. It was not clear I would be able to play football at that age.
“That was one part. Unfortunately, I was really unlucky with injuries. When I was in the youth team I missed a year, not being able to play a match. I was 16 but I think that gave me the discipline in life to really fight. At that age, you are usually going out, partying, you could quit in that period but I carried on.
“When my made my debut in the first team, after seven eight months of playing regularly for Hoffenheim I ruptured my ACL, my meniscus, the cartilage, everything. I was done. I knew then it could be difficult to carry on playing at the highest level. I was 20…
“It was tough. I had just become a Germany Under-21 international player and I was about to be called into the national team for the first time. That was the next step. We would have played in the under-21s Euros that summer and I ruptured my ACL in the March. It was a tough moment. I was really down back then. I listened to the stories saying I could be back in four months and I fully believed. After four months I was still in a wheelchair.”
He fought at five. Did so again at 16. Fight became his only option from 20 onwards. He admits he fought too long.
“I kept fighting a lot and I kept the dream for longer than the doctors kept it! They gave me early hints that it would be better, maybe, to study or do something else.
“But at least now I can always wake up in the morning and say I did everything, even longer than they recommended. That helped me to overcome that, hopefully at one point I have kids and I can tell them.”
The next step? Coaching surely? Well, not quite. But when the switch was made, one man’s name shines right through Jaissle’s appraisal of his rise. Ralf Rangnick.
“I actually had a period where I was not knowing what to do! I was also struggling for a couple of months, really down, tough to get motivated, tough to get your own rhythm again,” said the 38-year-old.
“For me, in the beginning, it was clear I wanted to have something with football again, not necessarily being a coach. It could have been sports director, athlete manager, agent, whatever. I started studying different things: sports management, athlete management, football management. I was quite busy. It was through an online university where you go to take the tests and exams in Düsseldorf, but the rest was online, so I was quite flexible.
“Then I got the chance through Ralf Rangnick - therefore sometimes I mention him as a mentor. I got the chance to do a trainee program in Leipzig. I started as an assistant coach for Sebastian Hoeneß, the current coach of Stuttgart. We played together in Hoffenheim. After two weeks I felt, ‘Wow, I have joy back in life, not only studying and reading. I have a new purpose’.”
The RB school, licences, then on to Brøndby as assistant. Salzburg youth, their feeder Liefering, then first-team Salzburg. Al Ahli and Saudi riches followed.
Jaissle said: “It was quite fast actually, in retrospect it feels like a dream, all the steps. I would say fast, but also smart. I started in the youth for two years, then assistant coach in the first team abroad, first time coaching in English, doing a lot of things on the pitch. I got a lot of responsibility as a young assistant coach without experience. I took a step back to the under 18s, and for me it was about trying new things without getting punished. For me it is good to start in the youth in my eyes because you can get your identity and philosophy down on paper. Liefering is the farming team for Salzburg and that was also a good experience, before I moved on to the first team at Salzburg.”
Jaissle ‘no surprises’ in Premier League - bar SJP
That brings Jaissle back full circle. The here and now. Youth, Sweden and provincial Austria are no match for the Premier League. Even the SPL with it’s habit of making often average into generational wealth - but with the odd bit star dust, too - does not quite hold up to the cut and thrust of the world’s most competitive domestic competition. Has it come as a surprise to Jaissle? Well, England boss and friend Thomas Tuchel did not warn him, either way.
“He did not need to warn me, I already knew. There was nothing that surprised me. I expected that level and that quality. I expected that small margins would determine games. Everything that I expected came true,” he said.
“They also told me about the atmosphere at St James’ Park but that exceeded my expectations. You have to be there to feel it. If you are part of the game, you see it and you hear it.”
There’s little doubt the fans are with Jaissle. And listening to him speak, I think he feels that love.
So far, Newcastle United have been no assault on the senses. Feeling love is one thing, hearing support another. Now NUFC fans need to see it. Progress. More green shoots. More goals at one end, less at the other. The taste of success will surely follow. And make no mistake about it, Jaissle demands it, too.