Just four months on from talks with Newcastle United about becoming their next manager, as thousands were fleeing Kyiv when the Russians began their invasion of Ukraine, Paulo Fonseca was going back in.
“I met my wife when I was living in Ukraine when coaching at Shakhtar (Donetsk),” the former Roma boss told i in an interview from his home in Portugal. “When I finished with Roma, we decided to live in Kyiv.
“The week before Russian invaded I was on holiday in the Maldives, but returned four days early because we started to be scared and we wanted to get our family out of Kyiv. The problem was I had a flight out on the morning that the war started. The first thing the Russians attacked was the airport, which made it impossible.”
It was not a situation a top-level football coach usually finds himself in. With his family in a predicament, Fonseca turned to old friends from his Shakhtar days, a club no stranger to conflict having been forced from their homes in the Donbas region in 2014 by Russian separatists, for help.
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“We tried to get a minibus out of Kyiv, but the road was impossible because the traffic was stopped as so many tried to get out,” Fonseca adds. “In that moment, (Shakhtar sporting director) Darijo Srna called me and said it is best not to leave today, and said for me to come and stay in their hotel with all the players.
“They invited me to stay with them, we slept in the bunker at night under the hotel, until we decided to leave with the help of the Portuguese embassy, and we left with lots of other people in a minibus until we reached the Romanian border.”
Now safely back in Lisbon, Fonseca can continue his search for his next most suitable role.
The 49-year-old has been out of work since being replaced by Jose Mourinho at Roma at the start of the season. Having come close to taking over from Mourinho at Tottenham last June – before Spurs opted for Nuno Espirito Santo – Fonseca then held talks with Newcastle’s new Saudi owners, only for Eddie Howe to get the job ahead of him.
While posts in France, Italy, France and Spain remain appealing, working in the Premier League is his top priority.
“I was very close to being manager of Tottenham, we discussed everything, but in the end they wanted to take another option,” he continues. “I was very, very close and the deal was almost done. We had discussed pre-season plans and assessed the squad.
“I loved speaking with the people of Newcastle. It was just conversations, but I think they have a great vision for the future of the club. They picked well (with Howe) and they are making great progress. They were in a difficult situation. It is a great club, with a big future. They are very ambitious, but very balanced. It is not easy because you have so many strong teams in England and is not clear what will happen in the next two or three years, but in the long term, Newcastle will be fighting for titles, I am sure.
“I had two amazing years at Roma, I loved Serie A. But at the end of the contract the new president decided on a new approach. I learned a lot, but I built important things for the club.
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“I still love Italy a lot, but every coach would like to work in England. You have the best atmosphere, the best coaches, the best players. I am no different, I would like to work there one day, in this atmosphere.”
However, after what Fonseca has been through and what he has seen, his experience in Kyiv has given him a sense of perspective, with other things on his mind other than football at the moment.
“We travelled 25 hours to get out of the country by road in that cramped minibus, but that is nothing compared to what is going on now for the people there,” Fonseca adds. “The four days that I was there the people did not believe that war came to Kyiv. They knew about it happening in Donbas and Luhansk, but not in the capital.
“People were scared and did not know what to do. Panic had started to happen when I was getting out.
“Things have got worse since. It is so unfair what is happening to such amazing people. They just want peace, nothing more. We cannot allow these murders anymore. It is just impossible to accept, these innocent people need help. What they are getting now is not enough.”
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