Gus Poyet has ruled himself out of the Plymouth Argyle vacancy, saying there has been “no contact at all” from Home Park despite being one of the bookies’ favourites for the job.
Greece boss Poyet was thought to be a candidate to replace Steven Schumacher, who left to take over at Stoke last month, but has told i the link had come as a surprise to him.
The Championship club are aiming to have their new boss in place this week and have held interviews in recent days. Director of football and caretaker boss Neil Dewsnip has said that a manager should be appointed before Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Sutton, and that they are looking for a head coach rather than traditional manager.
“I was surprised by it, I don’t know why I was mentioned,” Poyet said.
“I don’t have any connection with Plymouth so while it’s always nice to be linked to jobs there’s nothing in it at all.
“Sometimes – and I have had it in the last month – people will ring you and say ‘Will you go to this club or that club?’ and you say ‘No’. But at least someone is checking if you will go.
“With Plymouth no-one even asked me. Right now I don’t want to close all doors because you might not be able to say no to something but I am in the middle of something special with Greece, just before the play-offs for the Euros.
“It needs to be the job for me. I don’t want to put any names in there but maybe a Premier League job, something unique, because I’ve done two years with Greece and everything we’ve done has been to get to these play-offs and to leave now with all respect to the clubs that call me, it has to be something different.”
He remains focused on trying to guide Greece to Euro 2024, with a semi-final against Kazakhstan in March before a possible final against Luxembourg or Georgia.
It would be a first major finals appearance for a decade and he hopes a win will see his contract extended into the summer.
Poyet has also been mentioned as a possible contender for the Republic of Ireland vacancy after he spoke glowingly about the country after Greece’s recent win in Dublin.
“I was honest after the game against Ireland, I was delighted with the way their supporters supported their team to the last minute even though they knew winning the game would have still been impossible to qualify for the Euros,” he said, speaking on behalf of Free Bets.
“I felt that support as the away team and I love it. I said it just before I left the press conference and a clever reporter asked me about a possible vacancy. I just said it wasn’t in my hands but there’s been no contact, there’s nothing in that [rumour].”
Poyet, a charismatic figure with deep roots at Chelsea and former club Sunderland, believes he will eventually return to English football in the dugout.
He left in 2015 after being sacked by the Black Cats and almost took over at both Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday. He still harbours ambitions of managing in the Championship or Premier League.
“I got the sack at Sunderland and I felt I needed to go to a place where I could win more than lose,” he said.
“My idea was always to come back to England. I thought I’d be back in 2016, now I’m in 2024 and still not back. I had approaches: a long time ago, before Aitor Karanka [took the job in 2020], I spoke to Birmingham. I had a very good meeting with Sheffield Wednesday and a few phone calls but not an offer.
“I just thought ‘Why?’ I base my CV not just on the clubs I manage but also the objectives. The objectives at Sunderland were to stay up and beat Newcastle. I did both. In my head my objectives were achieved and with the exception of Real Betis I think I have done that.
“It depends but I would love to be back in England eventually. Home for me is still England.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/x5P9iKj
Post a Comment