José Gomes was recently named as the new manager of Videoton FC. He has wasted little time in bringing in his own ideas, assistant and also a couple of signings, in the hope that the spring season can be a successful one for the club. José shares his thoughts on various subjects in this very interesting interview, which was carried out together with Ferenc Maurer.

José Manuel Martins Teixeira Gomes was born on the 28th August 1970, in the northern part of Portugal, in a town called Matosinhos. He was brought up in tough financial circumstances in his family. He has since gone on a long journey, taking in various big named European clubs on the way, before finally arriving in Szekesfehervar. He was pleased to share his experiences with the clubs official website, vidi.hu.

I played for the local amateur side as a kid, and I learned quite quickly, that in football, the far deeper side of it interested me than just feeling good with the lads on a pitch. The other side of football attracted me. The physical challenges, tactics, organization and direction. I decided to go to university to learn PE. It was during this period that I began to work with children.I received my first request to become a coach of a an amateur side at the age of 19. It was really useful to me, that besides studying in university, I could practice what I was learning straight away. My teachers realized quickly through my questions, that I was thinking about the subject on a different level, than the others in the class. I signed up for the Portuguese FA professional coaching course at the same time. I was just 25 years old in 1995, when I became assistant coach for second division side Pacos Ferreira. The coaching staff was quite small at that club, and there was just a head coach, goalkeeping coach and myself. So I ended up also taking on the role of fitness coach.  

The fact that you carried out such good work at a young age, suggests that the head coach, Antonio Jesus, took you with him to his next club, to carry on the working relationship.

That is correct. It was one of the toughest parts of my life. I then got married, and a degree was ahead of me at the university, and I was practicing at the local school as a PE teacher. Then a professional club called Sporting Covihan, which was located 300km from where we lived, offered me the chance of being a professional coach. I ended up spending a lot of time sitting in cars.

You finally picked up your university degree.

I got it. I then moved back closer to the area of Porto. My wife taught English at a local school, and I spent a successful period at Gil Vicente. We got promoted to the first division, and then I moved to Pacos Ferreira, and they were satisfied with me to the extent that they quickly extended my contract. Very quickly after signing it, I received an offer. It came from Benfica! What can someone do at a time like this? I was not a big name then to have been bought out of my contract, but a chance like this rarely comes along in a persons life. I thought a lot about it, and invited the clubs management to a garden BBQ party, and I asked them to allow me to leave. They did that. We burned the contract on the grill.

You worked together with Miklos Feher at Benfica. What memories do you have of the tragical events when the Hungarian striker passed away?

He was a fantastic professional person. I remember that he paid a lot of attention, that he always regenerated, and once he was a bit angry and came to me. He wanted to know why the Portuguese FA played matches at such a late time, when he was watching his biorhythms. He usually went to bed by that time. Everyone thought of him as a quick player, as well as being an exuberant attacker. I do not understand how this could have happened to him....

You got your first chance as a coach during your time with Benfica, which arrived in the first division.

The Pacos Ferreira management knew very well, and they decided as such, to hand over the team to me at the young age of 32. Part of the side were older than me. I then moved on to work at other clubs as a head coach, picking up plenty of experience along the way. I had a mentor in Jesualdo Ferreira, and he took me with him as an assistant to Porto. That club was everything to me as a child. I also knew as a coach that they were one of the most professional and organized clubs in the World. If anywhere, then it was there that I could learn how to carry out everything at the highest level, in terms of managing a club. We won one domestic league title, two Portuguese cups, and two Portuguese Super cups during my time there.

They participated in the Champions league. What memories do you have of the series? 

There is nothing to compare with participating in the Champions league. When a person hears the music of the Champions league, it gives them goose pimples from it. It represents the highest level in everything. Jesuado was banned from the bench in 2009 for a match. It was our quarterfinal match with Manchester United. We had drawn 2-2 at Old Trafford in the first leg. The expectation was massive in the city of Porto for the second leg. Then Christiano Ronaldo decided the match with a great goal. We had been knocked out by a Portuguese player, who was the best player in the World at that time. 

Click on the video to watch Cristiano Ronaldo score a goal

Jesualdo Ferreira stuck with you, and he took you with him wherever he went on to work. You always worked together.

Jesualdo took me with him for the next two appointments in his managerial career. The first was to Spanish side Malaga, and then to Greek side Panathinkaikos. He ended up becoming ill and spent some time in hospital, which saw me manage the side.

Your paths finally went different ways.

The simple reason for this was that I felt that I wanted to go down my own road, and to carry out as a manager, all of the things that football had taught me in the previous 10 years. I was not just after the fact of having work, or having a secure job, but rather to bring together something, and to have a real challenge, and this is why I waited, and I also said no to other offers. I did not want to go to a place, where the main focus was to avoid relegation with a team, or where the target was mid table. Finally I felt with the Videoton offer, that there are serious ambitions at the club, and we can work to get big results. I always wanted something like this. The target here is the domestic league and regular participation in European competition. Videoton FC is a very professional club, where everything is in place for success, and where Paulo Sousa did very well to begin that route.

We know a lot about you already on the football side of things, let's talk a little bit now about José Gomes as a person. You have already mentioned that your wife is an English teacher. 

Yes, and we have children. My daughter is 10, while my son is 13. Both attend English schools and they both compete in swimming. My son also plays football of course.

Will your family be coming to join you in Hungary?

I do not want to cause unrest for my children at the moment who are in the middle of a school year. But if everything works out as I want, then they will come here in the summer. I have already began looking at English schools here.

How do you switch off and relax outside of football?

We have a house, which is about 50km from Porto. I love being at home with my family, walking the dogs, and spending time in the garden, which gives me no complaints that a professional gardener never worked on them. This areas really help me to switch off. 

You enjoy the outdoors as well.

Yes, I enjoy being tied down by the outdoors, be it playing football with my friends, running or cycling.

What types of food do you like? 

I enjoy the traditional Portuguese kitchen. There is plenty of vegetables, and naturally lots of olive oil.

What is your biggest success so far?

I am not proud of a concrete success primarily, but rather that wherever I have worked, I managed to keep good relationships with people. I could name competitions under the pressure of winning, and this is not that easy. I succeeded in leaving behind me a stamp, that if anyone in Hungary would call up any of the places I have worked out previously, and would ask what they thought about me, I would not be worried that they would say anything bad, and I also have nothing to hide. 

Learning languages are important to you, your children attend an English school, and you speak Spanish, French and English, besides your native Portuguese. Have you managed to learn a couple of words in Hungarian?

When I came here, the first saying, that I asked them to teach me in Hungarian was: to become a champion. This is the most important thing that I would like to say!

(photo: Fourfourtwo.hu/Takács József, rtp.tp, tvi24.iol.pt)