The leadership of Diego Simeone

Today I watched a wonderful press conference ahead of the Champions League match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. For the aficionados: "Atletiiiiii!". Coach Diego Simeone and star player Antoine Griezmann were interviewed. Griezmann's imminent departure came up. Simeone had nothing but praise for Griezmann. A model professional and a friend.

In turn, Griezmann had praise for his coach; he said he owed him a great deal. Simeone did add, however, that if Griezmann didn't work hard tomorrow, he'd simply substitute him. And that, as coach, he just had to say that out loud. Griezmann even squeezed the coach's hand under the table after that remark. At first glance this looked like a warm, friendly interview, and a cynic might even say it was a little staged. I think it was genuine.

More than 10 years ago I went to a home match of Atletico Madrid. Seats level with the halfway line for a few tenners — seriously. That was still in the old stadium — the legendary Estadio Vicente Calderon. Right in the middle of a residential neighbourhood. They say Real Madrid is the club of the elite and of tourists, and that Atletico is the club of the people. Here's what that looked like: two hours before kick-off, people were singing all around the stadium. Actually singing. So not hooligans marching around intimidatingly and chanting slogans, but little groups of people singing songs, sometimes with a guitar. The only food available was hard baguette rolls with ham, wrapped in aluminium foil. Inside the stadium the cheering was fanatical, even in the stands where the hardcore fans weren't sitting. The hardcore group stood behind the goal for the entire match, but you could barely see them because for ninety minutes they were waving flags and banners — it was really a churning mass of people, and to this day I wonder whether those lads actually saw a single pass of the match. At half-time, the four die-hard fans in the row in front of me sat down for a moment, ate a baguette with iberico ham, and smoked a cigarette. They took exactly 15 minutes over it. Then they stood back up to cheer their team on.

The match itself was a tricky one. The two sides seemed evenly matched, and there weren't many chances. But when I looked a little closer, I noticed that the opposition kept running into a wall whenever they came up against Atletico's players. As if they were bumping into an invisible wall. Atletico, meanwhile, moved forward in a controlled way, without taking any risks. All in all, it was an entertaining match.

For me, though, the highlight of the match was an incident on the touchline. With the score at 1-1 and 20 minutes left to play, the Atletico coach suddenly emerged from his dugout; the Argentinian Diego Simeone had been Atletico's coach for as long as I could remember. As a player he was known as one of the first true box-to-box players. Meaning: the match kicks off, he runs from the penalty area (the box) at one end of the pitch to the penalty area at the other end and back again, over and over, until the referee finally blows the final whistle. There were few players back then who could go box-to-box for 90 minutes, but Simeone was one of them. As a coach he was also known for his fanaticism, and for his all-black outfit with a turtleneck. That was fashionable when he started wearing it. At some point it stopped being fashionable, but he kept wearing it anyway, and now it's fashionable again, and he still wears a black turtleneck under a black jacket with black trousers. With black shoes underneath.

Back to the 70th minute, with 1-1 on the scoreboard. The stadium seemed to be sagging a bit, Atleti were struggling to get near the opposition's goal, and the match threatened to end in a draw. Simeone leapt out of his dugout, ran to the halfway line and began gesturing furiously with both arms towards the section with the fanatical supporters. Immediately afterwards he turned around, sprinted the other way, and did the same thing towards the other side of the stadium. All the fans jumped up and a hurricane of noise erupted from the stands once more. The team on the pitch responded, pushed the opposition back, and then scored to make it 2-1. The stadium exploded. In the end Atleti took the three points home from Madrid. Not bad for a midweek fixture.

“Simeone did add, however, that if Griezmann didn't work hard tomorrow, he'd simply substitute him.”

Last year I was talking with colleagues about leadership, and about which football coach you'd want to have if you were a professional footballer. The usual suspects came up (Van Gaal, Slot, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Guardiola) and suddenly I spontaneously mentioned Simeone, partly because of this incident. I believe I put it as: "For a coach like that, I'd still walk through a wall". My colleagues were surprised, and asked me why. So I told them this anecdote from Madrid. But there's more.

Simeone has been a coach for more than 15 years now, in the same black outfit with turtleneck, at a club that always competes at the top of Spain and in the Champions League. And that's really quite remarkable, especially since coaches get sacked more easily than ever these days. Atletico Madrid have never really had big-name stars, but they've always been a tight-knit team. That's also what struck me about the one match I saw live; it was a genuine fighting machine, both defensively and going forward. As an opponent, it must be exhausting to play against. Fighting for every ball, battling for every metre of ground gained. Every Atleti player was sharp at every moment. And that's exactly why I found Simeone's remark so beautiful: "If you don't work hard, I'll substitute you". With Simeone it has always been crystal clear what he has expected from his people for more than 15 years: absolute commitment. He selects you, which means he believes in you. The only thing he then expects is effort. And what does he give in return? Absolute loyalty.

A few years ago Griezmann swapped Atletico Madrid for Barcelona. Rather a sensitive transfer in Spain. It turned out not to be a happy marriage, and Griezmann returned to Atleti. To Simeone. Simeone made little fuss about it, and he and Griezmann simply picked up where they'd left off; winning matches together. And now this press conference.

I once heard a former professional talk about his time under coach Simon Kistemaker. A so-called "performance coach". There's even a book written about this legendary cult coach: "De Kist". Well worth reading. This former pro told me: "That Simon Kistemaker, he drove us completely mad every week. And we ran like there was a fire!". I once had a youth coach who also trained and selected purely on effort. Coach Karel. I went through fire for him every single week.

“For 15 years he has made solid players outperform themselves.”

And that's why Simeone is a great leader. For 15 years he has made solid players outperform themselves. And that is precisely the main task of a leader; getting the maximum out of your people, in service of the mission.