Handing the new coach a three-year contract is part of Birzebbuga St. Peter’s long-term strategy which focuses on establishing the club the elite of Maltese football and move the club to a professional status. Senior vice-president and Chief Executive Officer Ketan Makwana, who is also the majority shareholder of the club, was speaking during the presentation of coach Luciano Santana at the Birzebbuga Football Ground on Saturday.
Makwana joined the club last summer following the Saints’ promotion from the Challenge League to the Malta Premier for the first time in the club’s history.
“From a sporting strategy, when I came in, we started to work on a long plan to the end of the season. I designed a sporting strategy in this club that will take us to 2030. So it’s at least four seasons. We have to work with a longer-term vision.”
“It’s important that we establish ourselves in the Premier League. It’s the first time in the history of this club that they’ve got top flight football. It’s very easy to just become overwhelmed and fall away. So the intention and the aspiration is to establish ourselves at this level of football. That’s the sporting strategy,” said Ketan Makwana.
“From an operational strategy, we’ve had to move the club’s direction from coexisting in an amateur level to a professional level. Often enough, what the general fan or what the person outside of the football operations sees is normally just the top two percent of the iceberg. They don’t really see what’s hidden underneath. President, myself, General Secretary, others within the club, since pre-season have been doing an enormous amount of work to make sure that we are eligible to play, that we are heading in the right direction and that the ship coordinates that we’ve set are working in the right way.”
“We are one team, one club philosophy. Everyone needs to be looking exactly in the right direction, not even one percent different, because the trajectory of what you do with one percent means that your destination can be very, very different. It’s a very, very hard operation.”
“We’re still making changes, but all the changes that we’re making are productive and positive. I wanted to kind of almost stake a flag into the ground, I guess, with my intention of the long-term vision, simply by when we introduced coach, it’s not normal practice in Maltese football to give such long contracts. I’m not doing it because I want to prove a point.”
“I’m doing it because I want to show that if you’re invested in the long term, you’ve got to demonstrate and practise these things in the long term. Coach’s contract is the first indication of how we are looking at the long term.”
“Ultimately, our expectations are that we stay in the Premier League. But most important to me, what success looks like at the end of the season, is that we’ve arrived and we’ve established ourselves here. If we can do those two things alongside with all the operational changes that we’ve been making internally, I think, for me, it’s like we’ve won the title and we’ve qualified for the European football. That’s the feeling that I get. And, as I say, it’s a measure of testament, not only just to the club and its original structure and infrastructure, but the people behind the club, everyone. Right away, from the team managers, the team, to general secretary, to treasurer, to the volunteers, supporters, everyone is starting to group together and look at things the same exact way.”
“To be able to effect that kind of change in such a short space of time, for me, is incredible. Again, I can only extend my gratitude to everyone that’s involved and concerned and supports us in what we do. My last interview that I did, which we produced and put into the public domain, received so much feedback. Even when I walk around the club and I engage with fans or parents of players, it’s that they can see it, they can feel it. And I think that’s the most important thing. If people can’t see and feel, how can they believe? So, part one of our mission is complete,” added the Birzebbuga CEO and senior vice-president.
Club President Joseph Fenech added that the club had started from the Amateur League and is now changing to a more professional set-up.
“There are a lot of things that we need to change. We started changing. Even the nursery will become part of Birzebbuga St. Peter’s. There’s a lot of work that is coming but I am confident that our target this year is that we stay in the Premier. And we will build our structure in a professional way and next season, we would ready enough to be much better than this.”
The new coach, forty-four year old Luciano Santana Martel, who holds a UEFA Pro Licence, started his coaching career within Deportivo de La Coruna youth sector and after serving as assistant coach at Fuerteventura and Universidad de Las Palmas, he served as coach of CD Corralejo. His first experience outside Spain was as assistant coach of Shanghai Shenhua in China. He returned to Spain to join CD Unión Puerto as assistant coach before moving to Thailand in 2016 where he served as assistant coach at Suphanburi FC and the Thailand Under-23 national team. Santana then joined CD El Cotillo as coach, followed by another experience at CD Unión Puerto, first as assistant coach and then as head coach. His next adventure took him to Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic in China in 2021 as assistant coach, followed by a spell with the China national team, again as assistant coach. Later, he worked as team manager of UD Gran Tarajal and as coach of CD Herbaria before joining Esteghlal Khuzestan in Iran as assistant coach.
Santana would be able to lead the team officially from the bench for the first time on October 9 against Mosta after bureaucratic issues, beyond the club’s control, prohibited him from being on the bench for the last game against Valletta.
The new coach said that he would be trying as much as possible to adopt a Spanish philosophy.
“I would push the players to understand where they must play in the spaces. We need to control the match by having the ball possession. I want the team to be aggressive without the ball. Manage the spaces, control, be compact. When we have a good chance, we will try to make an offensive transition,” said Santana.
There are no planned changes to the technical staff. In fact, Ketan Makwana said “I think it’s important that the coach has all the support around him. He needs to be able to first settle in. But more importantly, to make an appreciation of what he likes and what he needs moving forward. In any kind of environment, whether you are in business or in a club, when you bring one person new to change the whole dynamics and start to restructure the teams around, it provides too much of a disruption.”
“The way we have looked at this is we are giving the coach as much time as he needs to work with people who are really getting used to and enjoying working under coach Luciano. What’s very good is that we have an international break. This allows us to work together as a unit without the disruptions and challenges of having matches which then allows us to see what we are like and where we are coming to as we enter the next phase of games. For the coach to tell us, these are the things that are required. Both President and I are here to serve the coach, to make sure that the coach has everything that he requires and that actually even the department of technical staff is to a standard that will enable him to deliver the philosophy that he is just expecting.”
Santana’s first thoughts about the local game is that most of the teams in the Malta Premier are more or less on the same level. He said that he was surprised that a lot of players have a good condition.
“I’m very happy first to stay here because it’s a big surprise for me the competition and also the players. I’m happy to have the opportunity to analyze their skill. I think it’s a very good competition.”
With regards to the immediate objectives, Santa said “I think, of course, we need to get a point as soon as possible. This can give the players confidence, for sure.”
“We don’t have as many points but for sure, the players are working very hard. They have a good commitment. They want to change everything. For sure, we will change everything,” added Santana.
The club was plagued with injuries, including Alessandro Coppola who only managed to play for a few minutes before abandoning the pitch injured and others like Mattia Santi who is yet to make a first appearance.
Ketan Makwana said “It is unfortunate. Sometimes, everything gets coupled together. You are new to a season environment. You change your dressing room dynamics. You have more foreign players. You get injuries. You are trying to play different systems. Everything gets coupled together. At the same time, as a group, we need to tackle all of these issues.”
“We brought in coach Luciano’s experience in many other footballing environments: Thailand, Iran, China and Spain. All of these things really help us understand how to change different dynamics.”
“How to work with what we have and be able to get the best out of it. One thing I can tell you for sure when I speak to players, injured or non-injured, everyone wants to get on that pitch. Everyone wants to play something.”
“More importantly, every player wants to help each other to succeed. For me, I can’t ask for anything else. “
“For me, I would like to see that intensity and tension. We will work on that. The injury situation is tough, but it is under management.”