Tottenham coach Sergio Raimundo did not hang around after the Europa League triumph as he had to be back in the classroom the very next day after landing.
The 40-year-old assistant coach joined Spurs last summer alongside Nick Montgomery, with the duo having worked together at both Hibernian in Scotland and Central Coast Mariners in Australia. Both men played their part in Tottenham’s European triumph – the club’s first in 41 years – to help Ange Postecoglou’s side lift the trophy.
However, there was to be no resting on his laurels for Raimundo as the Portuguese had to get home and jump straight on a flight to Ireland to continue his UEFA Pro Diploma course studies with the Irish FA at a session where Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill was speaking.
Raimundo, who speaks six different languages, missed the club’s parade of the Europa League trophy through the streets of N17 in front of an estimated 220,000 fans because of his commitment to the course.
In a video from the session, the manager of Northern Irish Premiership team Crusaders, Declan Caddell, spoke of his surprise at seeing Raimundo at the event when “in his shoes I wouldn’t be here, I’d still be celebrating but that’s the calibre of coaches on this course”.
Raimundo himself said: “The coaching course changed my life. I started here even before the C lessons, with the youth lessons. At the time Portugal wasn’t doing any courses for three years. I’ve met a lot of great people on the course, one of them was Nick Montgomery. He took me to Australian in 2019 and since then we’ve been working together.
“We have a journey together in Australia where we were champions together of the U20s, the reserve league and then the A League. We went together at Hibs and now find ourselves together at Tottenham as well.
“It’s been a fantastic experience, learning and listening from the best in the business [on this course]. [O’Neill] spoke to us a bit about the challenges of coaching and the staff roles and how to overcome some struggles, because you have positive moments in our jobs but you also have moments where you struggle and you have to overcome them. He gave us some tips to navigate through those times.”
Raimundo and Tottenham certainly managed to navigate through the struggles of this season to create a piece of history in north London.
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