Narcis Pelach: The Dedicated Coach Advocating for Football Simplicity

An individual who has observed Narcis Pelach in action describes him as a “football nut” who exerts exceptional effort to communicate his strategic approach. Pelach, a Catalan, served as a coach at Huddersfield Town for close to three years. During this period, David Fox, a former Premier League player and the son of ex-Potters goalkeeper Peter, was employed at the club as a scout and loan manager. Fox, who first attended a City match at the Victoria Ground when he was only two weeks old, informed BBC Radio Stoke: “I worked with him at Huddersfield for a couple of years. Narcis always wanted to be a manager – you could tell he had this end game of being a manager somewhere. “He’s the hardest worker I have come across, in terms of the detail and commitment that goes into sessions. “He’ll be judged like everyone else – the style’s great, how we play is great but he needs to win football matches. So far I think he has doing really well. He’s added a blend of a style and philosophy, he’s trying to bring a togetherness to the club between the fans and the players. If he can get that momentum building he’ll be very good.” Fox stated that the 36-year-old “lived and breathed football” and that his tenure at Girona, a club within the City Football Group, had an impact on him. Fox further commented: “He tries to make the game as simple as possible. There are no grey areas when players go onto the pitch. When you watch a game now it seems like a lot of little robots running around, it is so tactically based now, the game,” he continued. “It’s not just because he is young and Spanish, the game has changed, you have to be more detailed now – the background staff is that big you can go into minute detail. Narcis tries to make it really simple what he wants from his players.” Over 50 days have elapsed since Pelach’s appointment to succeed Steve Schumacher at the helm at the Bet365, during which he has overseen 11 matches, resulting in three wins, four draws, and four losses. “He’s got to get the fans involved. We all think he’s going to play out from the back, but it’s not playing 100 passes at the back, that’s not what Stoke do, it’s not launching it, it’s finding a way to play forward quickly and getting in position to score goals. “You have to go out and entertain and get the fans involved. Hopefully with a couple of wins it buys him some time to do that.”