Coach of Swedish IFK Kristianstad, Champions League winner with SG Flensburg Handewitt, Ljubomir Vranjes, talked with Zika Bogdanovic at Balkan-Handball.com podcast #stayathome about his decision to come back to Sweden after a stressful period in Veszprem, where he lost his job in October 2018.
- I see it as one step back. It was my decision, I wanted it. I had offers from Germany, but I wanted to get back home. To come back to basic, to find energy once again, to work with youngsters, to focus on handball and not to look around who is doing what… generally, to work as I wish. Of course, people speaking, asking what are you doing? I had offers, but this was the best for this moment. Now, I have to show once again that I am the coach. This is my 10th year as a coach, I have 24 medals in less than a decade, this is OK for me. I am not fully satisfied, but I want to take stairs on my way.
Vranjes responded on a question how he saw his era on Veszprem’s bench…
- There are different phases. At the start, first year was OK, we won Championship and Cup, we lost once with one goal against Szeged. So, two golds and one silver. We went out of Champions League too early, that was bad. I wanted to change some things, I don’t regret for it. I took some players, they are still there, they got even new contracts since I left, but in that moment they asked me, why I took them? I think I was on the right way, but it was something out of handball what wasn’t OK. I can take it now, to understand, but seven days after my head began to work, what I should do different, should I talked smarter with media. I was honest, I speak with guys in a good way. Three months after my departure, I head some different things, what someone did, how I left Veszprem, I felt sick when I heard some things, the truth. That was in November, December. I got some offers from other teams, but I wanted to come back to the roots. I didn’t want to work again in such a kind of atmosphere. I started from the beginning, but of course, it hurts. I can lose, I can even be sacked, but it wasn’t nice from my points of view. However, it was a good lesson, I learned a lot from that experience – said Vranjes who worked in Veszprem in period July 2018 – October 2019.
