Osian Roberts has lived a coaching life under the radar, outside of Wales most football followers would struggle to name where he has had success or when. And then of course there’s the fact he has never managed at senior level and has centred his development around off piste locations. And one is Morocco.
Osian became the technical director of the Moroccan national side in 2019, over that period he developed the side in to what we now see today. And many Moroccan football watchers agree. He left a year ago with what has now been recognised as a serious plan to see Moroccan football challenge at the top echelons of the game.
And for any doubters this years World Cup is proof. Roberts started his coaching career in 1992 with Wales as coach educator and coaching several national youth teams including under-16, under-17 and under-19 as well as the Wales B squad. He was then appointed technical director of the FAW Trust in 2007 before joining Gary Speed's coaching staff in 2010. His progress is not dissimilar to that of ex Swansea manager Steve Cooper.
During Covid Osian did not sit still at Morocco. "We have used this time to put processes and planning in place which will help us produce success for the next few years," he explained. "I had the opportunity before Covid-19 to travel the country and meet people in clubs and leagues to understand what the country needs in order to move forward. Now we are in the implementation phase, it's about action. There are many achievements across several departments. The Grassroots Department is so important because this is the future," he insists. The Women's Football Department has seen success on the field and is such an important part of our vision as we aim to become the number one sport for women and girls. "I'm also proud that the recruitment of staff for the regional leagues and selection of candidates for the Caf A Licence courses has seen us move to an open, transparent and objective process which will be fair and open to all and this will continue."
This is the whole deal behind having someone like Osian at a club. He introduces new ideas and structure, it travels across all of the football grades and becomes what we have known at Swansea as a blueprint. Speaking in 2020 Osian said. "We have an important year coming up. We have very important tournaments for many teams in particular the U17 and U20 boys," he pointed out.We have also been ambitious as we want to train 150 Caf A Licence coaches this year. Education of coaches is way behind here and this is so important for the future. We can't do this alone, we have to work closely and work well with key partners such as our clubs and our regional leagues."
Osian is now assistant manager at Crystal Palace
Osian knows about many areas of the game that the majority of club managers don’t even speak about or are aware of. "Roberto Martinez is doing a similar role to me in Belgium so I speak with him often and we share ideas. But I speak often to Mikel Arteta, Pepijn Lijnders (Liverpool assistant coach), Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry to name a few as well as former colleagues in the FAW. There is a big interest in what I am doing here in Morocco. Many were unaware of Morocco's potential and the passion for football. They are very impressed when they hear about it and they are keeping a close eye on Moroccan football now."
There’s a new breed of football manager, and within Osian’s scope he and not many others have the same inclination to change the whole atmosphere within the game. The structure and a different methodology as to what many have seen before is not always well received by the old school.His value to Wales from 2010 up until his appointment at Morocco was invaluable, definitely the most successful period we have seen in Welsh football history.
And then he went to Morocco and did the same thing, that’s no coincidence. His two years there saw a complete change in mindset and ethic for the countries football. Upon leaving Morocco last year in a very healthy state to join Crystal Palace as assistant manager Osian is now revered for his unique ‘stay out of the limelight style’ at Palace. "I have seen other top, top players come and do their coaching qualifications who did not have that necessary fire in their belly to go and do it for another 20 year career,” Roberts observed. "It is not for everybody. You can see clearly that Patrick and several others clearly still have and really want to develop into successful managers and coaches. It comes from a love for the game that still exists. They have had such fabulous careers as players they want to stay as close as possible and the next best thing is to still be on the training pitch every day, still be around other players every day and still be able to perform, albeit as a coach, in these wonderful arenas that they play in. On top of that being a success — that thirst for knowledge they combine it with a thirst for success as football managers. I think it is great to see some of the current managers who also graced our league in recent times coming back as managers — it just adds to the quality of the Premier League.”
Speaking with some supportive journalists on the weekend our conversation turned to Osian Roberts and his football pathway. Albeit now in his fifties the consensus was he would like to finish off his career in Wales. We all agreed that he would find Swansea City more of a healthier proposition than any other Welsh club, unless of course Wrexham climbed the leagues over the next few years. Osian is after all a north Walian by birth. However, his time at Crystal Palace supporting the manager there has again brought about success.
As Osian says."I've been assistant for my national team to Gary Speed, Chris Coleman and Ryan Giggs. My role here as assistant is to make sure Patrick Vieira can be as successful as he possibly he can be. Everything he wants and needs we have to provide to help him be a success.”
Would the swans want that attitude at the swansea.com in the future ? His track record is impeccable and many swans fans would jump at the chance to welcome Osian to Swansea. We have absolutely no doubt about that at all.