Hearts players need to show their hunger, warns Laszlo

Jul 27 2008 Gordon Waddell

WHEN you've had to play just to put food on the table, you're entitled to ask for hungry players.

When you've spent nearly 20 years living in darkness, you're entitled to think you can shine a light on the path for others.

When Csaba Laszlo says he's here to lead, he's entitled to expect a following.

From a grim upbringing in the cruelest days of the Ceausescu regime in communist Romania, through football leaving him penniless at the age of 26, to the eye-opening poverty of life in East Africa as manager of Uganda, the new Hearts gaffer has seen more than his share of hardship in his 44 years.

Which is why he appreciates what he has now, why he feels success should be earned rather than bought - and why he'll demand the same set of values from his players.

Or ship them out.

Speaking at the club's pre-season retreat in Germany, the hugely likeable yet deeply complex coach gave MailSport an amazing insight into the experiences that have shaped his character and prepared him for the best and worst the game can throw at him.

In flawless English, one of five languages he speaks, he explained: "If someone sees me on the training pitch they will see a guy in the front who wants to be followed.

"I have problems with people who don't want to change their life. I want people who will work hard every day, not just on certain days.

"I don't like people who think: 'We don't have sunshine today, only rain, I will wait until tomorrow'.

Humble "People who think this way have lost a day of their life and believe me, life is very short.

"I'm 44 but in those 44 years I've had so many ups and downs - the chance to see what's the good life, what's the bad life, what's communism, what's capitalism, what's poverty.

"I've trained national teams, spoken to state presidents, guys you may only see on TV, and I've had the chance to start at the bottom and teach young children.

"A lot of people, evenmy own children, think they will always be young, that they'll always have power but they have to earn things in life.

"Even with my own daughter I won't buy airtime for her phone card. I give her some pocket money but it's her business what she does with that. She has to learn that I don't have a money factory in my cellar.

"I've learned what is wrong and what is right in my 44 years and it's important for me to give this to the players, to open their eyes, to tell them what can happen."

The life Laszlo lived behind the Iron Curtain would open anyone's eyes.

He spent 20 years living under the corrupt Ceausescu regime before managing to defect to West Germany five years before the revolution which overthrew Romania's communist government.

And Laszlo revealed: "We didn't have a lot.

We'd hear people talk of Western Europe and everyone had a dream of what it was like but nobody really knew what was over the border.

"But then I reached West Berlin and I saw the many lights. In Romania everything was dark. From eight until 10 in the morning you had power and then from three to five in the afternoon and after that you had nothing.

"Every night you had darkness and you walk into West Berlin and there are street lights everywhere, it was fantastic. It was the high life for me.

"Don't get me wrong, I had a really nice life in Romania by their standards. I was a professional footballer at 17 and I earned good money - but I never had food to eat.

"The shelves were empty. In 1979 and 1980 we had a terrible time. The only way you could buy food from the shops was with coupons.

"Everyone had a coupon for a half kilo of sugar, half a litre of oil and once a month you had one kilo of meat.

"Yet as a professional we had the chance once a fortnight to go to a big industrial factory that had fridges with all kinds of food in them.

"We were allowed to come back with two bags full of it. We could take cheese, meat and all the things normally reserved for those in power. Basically we played football for food.

"My family were delighted but this kind of thing makes you humble.

"Now when I have a hard time I think back to that period. It helps me stay balanced and givesme a real understanding of the difference between a good life and a bad one."

Not that his playing career ended in the privileged fashion in which it started.

A busted knee needing eight operations put an end to a career spent scrubbing around the lower leagues in Germany and Hungary.

Lesson But Laszlo didn't see a door closing - just another opening. One that's still open for him to walk back through if things don't work out in Edinburgh.

He said: "No more football at the age of 26 was a massive negative experience for me and after three months I was a very poor guy.

"But today I have a full profession because Ford in Germany gave me a job, sent me to university and helped me get my life back.

"Even now I still have a contract with them.

I was responsible for sales and marketing for some of their cars for all Germany.

"It was a high-level job but at the same time I worked with Borussia Moenchengladbach coaching kids - I never saw my family!

"Ford looked after me, though, even when I came back into football full-time. And even today, they still do.You must have something to fall back on." Those ups and downs have given the Jambos boss a perspective which, the more you hear the more you like.

From his youth job, he has steadily climbed the ladder, from being Lothar Matthaus' No.2 with Hungary to being in charge of Ferencvaros, FC Sopron and then being appointed the coach of the Uganda national side.

He grinned: "I learned I have to enjoy my life.

When I go to a hotel I don't have to go five-star to be happy, I can enjoy myself in a two-star hotel. You must find a way to enjoy life and be happy, a way that suits you.

"I don't need a Porsche to show off that I am rich. I feel rich in my knowledge, in my soul and in my heart. These are things that nobody can ever take from me.

"This is a very important lesson for me to tell young players.

"It's important to tell them that they can have a very nice life, with a lot of money for doing a couple of hours work a day. But with that dream comes responsibility. A lot of young players don't have responsibility.

"This is the most important thing to understand. It's why I appreciate a footballer like Ronaldinho.

"He doesn't play for money. He plays for himself and for success. In his garden he has a football pitch and a personal coach and after training he goes home and tries to perfect freekicks.

"I know that players at Hearts don't make enough money to buy a house with a football pitch in the back garden but you have a football field outside and you can make the effort to stay there longer.

"Maybe then you will become good enough to afford a house with a private pitch.

"A lot of times I hear things I don't like from the players. Football is a good life and if you work hard you can change your life forever."