Ghedin ‘flattered’ by MFA approach

Italian coach Pietro Ghedin says he’s genuinely flattered by the Malta FA’s interest but insists that no deal has been agreed yet. Words: Kevin Azzopardi

Pietro Ghedin, who has been guiding the Italy women’s team for the past seven years, has emerged as the overwhelming favourite to succeed John Buttigieg after the MFA Executive Committee unanimously endorsed a recommendation by president Norman Darmanin Demajo to pursue interest in the Italian coach.

The MFA’s bid to appoint Ghedin received another boost last week when Bjorn Vassallo, the association’s CEO, had what he described as positive talks with FIGC president Giancarlo Abete over the matter, given that the 59-year-old’s contract with the Italian federation runs out in July.

Speaking to The Times from Italy, Ghedin, who had a spell in charge of the national team in the mid-nineties, made no attempt to conceal his satisfaction at the Malta FA’s interest but was keen to dispel the overriding impression that his appointment was a foregone conclusion.

“I’m flattered,” Ghedin said.

“I’ve been favourably impressed by this proposal. I’d like to think that this interest shows that we did some positive things when I was coach of Malta a long time ago.”

Ghedin is known to be held in the highest of esteem by most of the people, including former players, coaches and officials, who worked with him during his previous stint in Maltese football.

Whispers linking Ghedin with a return to his old job grew louder last month when the Italian visited Malta to preside over a seminar for women’s football coaches.

During his short stay, Ghedin accompanied Malta FA technical director Robert Gatt to some Pre-mier League matches.

“From what I’ve seen, I think that Maltese football has improved a lot,” Ghedin said.

“The impression I got was positive. There are new things going on in Maltese football.

“A lot have changed since I was here, even within the MFA.

“I believe all these develop-ments augur well for the future of the game in Malta.”

Since relinquishing the Malta post in 1995, Ghedin has held various roles within the FIGC.

For nine years, he was a key member of the technical staff of the Italian national team, also serving as assistant to Giovanni Trapattoni during the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004, before taking charge of the women’s selection in 2005 following a brief stint as coach of Italy’s U-23 team.

“I’ve been in international football for 20 years,” Ghedin said.

“For nine years, I worked with Italy’s senior squad and, these last seven years, I’ve been coaching the women’s team.

“From a coaching perspective, women’s football is no different to the men’s because the technical and tactical work is the same.

“I’m more mature as a coach as I’ve gained a lot of experience over the past 20 years. International football has given me a lot of satis-faction. The coaching aspect aside, I’ve also had the opportunity to see how other countries work.”

News that the MFA had selected Ghedin as the top candidate for the Malta post has generally met with nods of approval from club officials, MFA coaches and also supporters but some have ques-tioned the wisdom of courting a coach who had been in charge of the national team almost two decades ago.

The few dissenters are not sure whether Ghedin is the right man to revitalise the national team with new training and tactical ideas, given that he already had a tilt at the job in the past.

The Malta FA certainly seem to think that Ghedin’s knowledge of Maltese football coupled with his coaching credentials and expe-rience make him the ideal candi-date for the job.

“In life, you’re always growing and learning,” Ghedin replied when asked if we can expect him to bring new ideas if he reaches agreement with the MFA.

“I hope that I’ve managed to do that in the last 20 years. Italy has given me a lot and Malta is also part of me... but I want to make it clear that nothing has been concluded yet.”

As Ghedin himself pointed out earlier, much has changed since his first spell as Malta coach, not least at the helm of the MFA as Darmanin Demajo and Vassallo, his right-hand man, were appointed in the summer of 2010.

Vassallo, the new, dynamic face of the MFA, was a teenager when Ghedin was coach here but Dar-manin Demajo was the associa-tion’s treasurer then and Gatt, the MFA technical director, was in charge of the U-21s and assistant to the Italian with the senior side.

“That was 18 years ago,” Ghedin remarked.

“There are new people now and others that I know very well... they are great personalities.

“The people at the helm of the MFA want to change. It’s clear to me that there has been progress. The MFA are looking for the best way to improve, they want to head in the right direction.

“Football has undergone big changes lately. Globalisation has brought new realities and the MFA are doing well to grasp these new challenges.”

The Malta FA hope to be in a position to formalise Ghedin’s appointment by the end of April to give him sufficient time to prepare the team for the friendly away to Luxembourg on June 2.

They have offered Ghedin a three-and-a-half year deal to cover the qualifying competitions for the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016.

With Malta in the same World Cup group as footballing power-house Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Armenia, the prospective national coach will be aware that the chances of getting some points from such a tough pool are remote.

Mammoth task

Were Ghedin to accept the job, he would also be taking on the unenviable task of leading minnows Malta against some of Europe’s top nations, including his native Italy, but, ever the con-summate professional, he stres-sed that he was focusing only on his current job as women’s coach.

“I’m concentrating on my team’s next matches (against Bos-nia and Russia),” Ghedin said.

“Then, we shall see what the future holds. I prefer to go one step at a time.

“As I’ve said, I’m flattered by this interest from Malta but I have to think about my team and the FIGC.”

This is not the first time that the Malta FA have tried to lure Ghedin back.

His name also cropped up when the MFA were looking for a coach to succeed Horst Heese in 2005 and, in comments he gave to The Times in February 2006, Ghedin admitted that he had been sounded out over the job.

“I have maintained a good relationship with the Malta FA,” Ghedin said then.

“We had informal talks about the vacancy but that was as far as it got.”

Malta played 24 games under Ghedin between 1993 and 1995, winning four, all friendlies, drawing five and losing the re-maining 15.

Ghedin has led Italy to five wins from five matches in Group One of the women’s Euro 2013 qualifying campaign.