Back in 2008, Tuchel decided to pull out all the stops in order to motivate his young team for the most important game of their careers – it’s safe to say that the Chelsea boss will do a lot to lead his troops to victory.
Reddit user heelftw has shared a very interesting story about Thomas Tuchel. In 2008, the current Chelsea boss was invited to take over the Mainz A Team, the equivalent of Premier League Under-23s.
He did quite well with the young kids – they ended up reaching the play-off final, which decides the winner of the A-team league.
On a pre-season trip to Austria, the team mountain-biked to an Alpine summit. He gathered them around and buried a Mainz pin badge in the ground.
“This is our treasure,” he told them. “When we win a trophy this season, we’ll return to dig it up!”
When the team qualified for the final, Tuchel decided he needed the badge as a prop for his team talk. He drove four hours to Austria, climbing the mountain and recovering the original one which they had buried. None of his players knew that their manager was doing this – before the game, he presented the badge.
“This is our treasure,” he told the team, recounting his trip to Austria. “We kept our promise. We brought the pin badge back to you. Now go and complete our dream by winning the title!”
The talk had the desired effect. Mainz beat the Borussia Dortmund youth side in a play-off final in front of 10,000 fans. Among the spectators was Jurgen Klopp, the former Mainz boss who was now in charge of the Dortmund senior side.
This story tells us one thing – Tuchel is a man full of charisma who will do anything it takes to guide his team to victory. And who doesn’t love that?
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