Man City win domestic double: Inside the story of their brilliant first season under Andre Zeglartz | football news

Never be satisfied. By Andre Zeglertz. His guiding principle for success.

Manchester City completed a first league and FA Cup double, only the third team in the country to do so, all in the first campaign under the Swede.

Even he is partly surprised by what he has achieved in just one year of his tenure, cautioning that from his first conversation with the club he was always convinced that major trophies would be part of their future together. “That’s the main reason I wanted to get this job,” he said Sky Sports.

Manchester City insiders describe the nuances of Zgelerz’s style in a nutshell, making small but deliberate changes that have transformed the outlook of the club. Champions had to establish habits before getting medals to prove it. About changing the language used. Walking is about walking, even if it feels unnatural or uncomfortable.

In truth, Zeglertz landed a squad with the ability to differentiate. They had the tools, just had trouble believing. His job was to convince them of their readiness to own the narrative around being one of the best, most complete teams the WSL has ever seen.

Such rapid dominance has made possible a collaborative conviction that was previously absent. For the first time in a long time, City felt like they were in charge. The culture is described as confidently controlled, allowing football to take care of itself.

“He’s a big factor in the culture change, the mindset change,” says Capt. Alex Greenwood. “He listens. He heard everyone’s feelings at the start of the season about what was stopping us from crossing the line. It’s coming back to mindset and belief.”

The 10-year wait between City’s first and second title success is the longest by a team in the WSL. City developed the unwanted reputation of ‘always the bridesmaids’ after finishing runners-up six times since the league’s rebrand in 2011 – comfortably more than any other team.

They had to get rid of that unwanted stigma. And the wait has been more painful for some than others. “We’ve been so close before and always so young,” said Lauren Hemp, who won the WSL championship for the first time in her eighth year at the club.

“We’ve played fantastic football at times but that’s when we haven’t found a way to win. We spend a lot of time together outside of football and that’s helped the group together – it’s just the start of something more special.”

No doubt benchmarks have been pushed this year. City went top for the first time on 9 November after a win over Everton and never surrendered their lead. Although they were chased, no team even came close to threatening them. They were 11 clear of the contending pack in points throughout the season.

They matched their all-time best point return (55), also equaled their most wins in a campaign (18) and won 100 percent of their home games by a total score of 38–8.

There was and is a new kind of calm inside the city walls. A promise of potential and a plan to make it a reality. Those who work closely with Zeglertz describe his impact on the team as game-changing, and yet if you look for reasons why, most will cite pretty simple norms.

They’ll tell you he’s a good listener, a great communicator, he’s welcoming, maintains an ‘open door’ policy and will never pass you by without engaging in a friendly hello. After all, he really cares about the person behind the footballer.

But the Sporting side had to be compelling enough to produce the hard-nosed champions and Manchester City’s very talented squad responded with the most noticeable effect.

The words ‘we always find a way’ are etched on the walls of their brand new £10m complex, the last words read before the players enter the training pitch. They were deliberately placed there at Zeglertz’s request.

Greenwood described it this way: “We had to change the language we used and get comfortable talking a certain way. The manager challenged me, I challenged him. We agreed to talk like we wanted to win the league, because if we didn’t promote it, nothing would change.

“It’s uncomfortable to talk like that when you haven’t done it, but then it becomes normal. It’s a set of standards: perform like a champion, recover like a champion, eat like a champion.”

It’s no longer a side that buckles at the first sign of resistance, and not because they haven’t faced adversity. They lost to Chelsea on the first day of the season. They lost to Arsenal. They lost to Brighton and then had to toil nervously away to Liverpool in a must win. Top scorer Khadija Shah had one foot out the door. Splinter appears.

What procedures were inside? “I felt it last season,” captain Greenwood admitted, adding that ‘it’ was doubtful. “This year I never felt it sink in. The mentality is different. Good.”

Shaw stayed at the club That’s why the striker’s dramatic U-turn – on the brink of signing for Chelsea just a month ago – shows renewed intent. A calculated and ambitious plan to dominate. Never before have City been willing to deviate from their financial model to sign or retain a player. Shaw’s signing set a new precedent.

It’s interesting to talk to Zeglertz about the transition. “At the start of the season they didn’t dare talk about winning the league. I asked why.”

In this case, the ‘why’ is multifaceted. Jeglertz represents a clean break from the scars of the past; The baggage that weighed down a team that had underachieved against its huge potential. The false dawns were forgotten, and could not be interrupted. “I saw myself changing,” Hemp says. “We are given freedom”.

Help came in other forms, however: Chelsea unraveled early on, Arsenal couldn’t cope with the frenzy thrust upon them as European holders, and Zeglertz’s squad remained relatively injury-free in a campaign with far fewer games than either of their nearest rivals. The timing all lined up.

But Zeglertz had more than favorable circumstances in his favour. His secret sauce was: “Never be satisfied, never be satisfied.” He calls this stoicism annoying but necessary.

“I’m a positive person but players ask me to show them negative clips because they want to get better. We bring that focus into every training session.

“When I first started, they were coming to training to be trained. That’s the biggest difference I can see. In the training sessions we came in after we won the league, seven or eight of my players wanted to stay back to do that little bit extra. It shows my winning mentality.”

Zeglertz’s approach is not exactly revolutionary. He didn’t tear up the rule book. But his adjustments helped elevate CTKO-rans to winners, discreetly allowing individuals to unlock new levels in their game.

At the heart of the Jeglertz way is simplicity, a commitment to getting the fundamentals and fundamentals right that underpin any good football team.

“As a captain, he’s someone I’ve been vulnerable to,” Greenwood said. And really, that’s what Manchester City was crying out for. A leader with a clear vision but one who energizes and begs to the point of exhaustion.

It says a lot about where the club is now that every member of staff, from the coach to the medical team to the media crew to the players’ dogs, all came together to watch the game – Arsenal’s draw with Brighton – that confirmed them as champions. They wanted to have fun as a whole.

Jeglertz met them where they were, a team already on course for greatness, perfecting the many strengths that were there.

He added: “It was very important to build the team from where it started, which was not empty. It’s a great squad. I needed to know what was good beforehand and then figure out how I could help.

“Now we see ourselves as winners, but what is common for a winner is to always want more. We have to improve in this way with our ambitions. We have done quite a lot this year. We must take time to celebrate it.

“And then, we see how we improve again.”