Ben Manga is settling into life at Watford Football Club as its new Technical Director.
He turned down other offers to join, and told watfordfc.com this week: “It was clear to me to leave other offers behind, once I had spoken with the club, because I believe this is the perfect place for me to help the club progress and improve individually as well.
“I had a few offers that I liked, some important offers from different teams, but I liked things from my first meeting. I got the idea of what this club can be in the future and I saw myself as part of that.”
Lauded for his natural eye for recruitment, Manga is joined at the club’s London Colney training base by colleagues who’ve long been associated with him in Helena Costa and Raffael Tonello.
“Helena is Head of Scouting and will be my assistant,” explained Manga, who hails from the small African country of Equatorial Guinea.
“We’ve been working together for six years at Eintracht Frankfurt, and she’s my right-hand person. And for Raffael, we played alongside each other when we were 18 so I’ve known him for a long time as well. He’ll be in charge of scouting for the Academy.
“They will both be very, very important, and the fact I was able to bring them with me to Watford was very important as the success we’ve had in the past is related to my team – not just due to me.
“We are aiming to help the club with our own ideas, working together with some great people we’ve already met at the club, to really make a difference.”
Manga’s remit will span football operations for the Hornets. That immediately takes in medical & rehabilitation practices, coaching set-up and recruitment – a previous specialism from his most recent role in Germany.
He said: “My job as Technical Director is to look at every area of the club related to football operations. Of course you want to try and make everything as good as it can be, and some things will take different time to others
“I am in charge of the whole sporting area. In Germany, there is only the Sporting Director, whereas here in England things are a bit different. As Technical Director, I have to look not only at the team and signing players, but what’s happening behind the scenes like the medical area, strength & conditioning; everything from the Academy to the first-team that is related to football.”
One of those areas, recruitment, will see additions to Watford’s scouting set-up.
“I come here with a team of scouts to add to what is already at the club,” said the 48-year-old Manga, who left his role as Chief Scout & Squad Planner at UEFA Europa League holders Frankfurt.
“There will be a lot of hard work. The club can only take advantage of good work from a large team. Recruitment is a basic function of a club - but it is vital, of course.
“Talent is important, but mentality has always been the key in my teams because we are one. We obtain success because of our mentality. With a winning mentality, you will be successful against those teams that only have talent.”
Helping to build that winning mentality requires strong collaboration – with Head Coach Slaven Bilić as much as anyone else.
“Of course, the gaffer is the most important person in the team,” says Manga, who represented his country Equatorial Guinea during a playing career spent in Germany for over a decade.
“We need to talk to him. We need to understand what he wants and then we have to discuss to see if the positions he thinks we have to improve matches our own ideas – but of course the manager is always involved in any signings that we make.”
Given the transfer window, it’s no surprise to learn that Manga is busily engaged with recruitment priorities – especially given the Hornets’ crippling injury list.
“Of course it is busy, but I did not start just a few days ago,” he explained. “We spoke before so I had some time to evaluate our own team and try to identify and then discuss key positions we might be looking to improve.
“I’ve been involved in this for the last 20 years so this is nothing new. At the moment, though, we have many injured players so our main priority is looking at players and scouting.
“The key is to keep the team spirit, to sign the players we need to sign and to help the manager as best I can.”
A little further down the track maybe, but worth touching on now, would be Watford supporters’ burning desire to once again see serious first-team contenders being produced from the club’s Academy ranks.
“The Academy is incredibly important,” he continued. “We have a lot of injured players at the moment and some of the young players have had an opportunity but I believe that when a player is good enough, his age should not matter.
“I have been to some Academy matches and Raffael is watching their training as well as their matches. There are some very talented young players at this club. We have been very impressed.
“If we see a player with potential, that player should train with the first-team and be in that environment, not just if there are gaps to fill in a particular position because of injury.
“And if he is good enough to play rather than us signing a new player in that position, he will play. I believe the best thing for a talented young player is to stay with us and develop because he will have opportunities far quicker than if he signs for a bigger club.
“If he develops well and is successful with Watford, he will be able to move to a bigger club when the time is right and when he is ready.”
Much to do, then, for Ben Manga and his team. The work has already begun.
