Starting at the highest level felt natural to me. I know how that might sound, but hear me out. The top level of football is the environment I know best. Not the youth. The highest level. Choosing such an important club as Milan for a first job as a coach can feel very natural. If you have the competences and the confidence, then you feel prepared for it.

When I got the call from the president in 2014, I felt I had all of those things. It was a role I had been preparing for since I left Milan as a player two years earlier. I was leaving the club to play in Brazil but, before I went, the president and I had a conversation about me returning one day as a coach. “Prepare yourself,” he said. Nobody thought my return would be so fast. Five years, maybe. But two? I don’t think so.

My curiosity about the coach’s job was always there. In my first years as a player at Ajax, I talked to Louis van Gaal many times and watched how he did things. Later, when I started doing my coaching courses, I realised I could recall with great detail how each coach I had played for did his job. Whether I knew it or not at the time, I was always interested.

As a player, I was always considered to be a coach on the field. Part of that was that my collaboration with the coaches was always very close – I just saw it as an extension of my role as a player. I think that’s also a matter of character.

I always had leadership qualities and an interest in the tactical side of the game. But I was also interested in the people around me. The players. Often, there are conflicts to be solved or personal issues to be supported. Over more than 20 years as a player, I’ve experienced most of these conversations and moments of solving things. As a coach, you have no choice but to deal with these things. If you don’t, it can lead to other problems. I have always thought that managing these issues off the field is just as important as what you do on it.

Spending the final years of my playing career with Botafogo in Brazil, together with the role I had alongside head coach Oswaldo de Oliveira, gave me the chance to prepare for what was to come. I’ve been privileged, from a young age, to live football around the world. The experiences that gives you are invaluable.

It creates the capacity to adapt, to understand the things you don’t know. Playing in Brazil was also like going back to my youth – in terms of the position I played, the freedom and creativity I felt on the pitch, and the simple appreciation of playing football.

I was able to work closely with the coaching staff there, too – doing a lot of work with the analytical team, individual analysis, game analysis. Being part of the discussions. I was very much “in the kitchen”. I also had the chance to work with the Under-16s and Under-17s, which meant I could complete the practical part of my coaching courses. It was tough, but I was committed as I knew it was taking me somewhere.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clarence Seedorf scores for Milan against Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final in 2007. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

When the call came from President Berlusconi asking for help, it felt natural to accept – because of my relationship with him at that time, but especially for what those colours mean to me. I could have played for a few more years and experienced even more football and fans worldwide, but I knew what kind of moment they were in, so I ended my playing career and came to help Milan.

I believed that I knew how to solve the issues and I felt prepared for it. My time in Brazil had given me a taste of so many things: playing, being part of the coaching staff, having my own team. Lots of people said: “He should build up slowly and start low.” But I don’t really agree with that. Why should I start in an environment I am not familiar with? So that I can make mistakes there instead of somewhere bigger?

I would like to know the coaches who are not making mistakes any more, even if they have 20 years of experience. When we talk about experience, we often look at how many games he has coached or how many hours he has spent coaching. But knowing what you want, how you want to play, how you want to manage – having clear ideas about all these things that come with coaching – there is no guarantee of having that even after 10 years. There are guys who started coaching and, after five or six years, they say: “I’m more confused now than when I started.” If someone has the talent and ideas, you should give him or her the chance and then judge. And that’s not only for football, but for life in general.

When I came into the job at Milan, I didn’t feel lost. I had a very clear idea of how I wanted to do things. Even from the time I was doing my courses, I have always been crystal clear on how I would create a cohesive team, work on the individual players, collaborate with the people at the club and deal with pressure. I knew all of that, because I had done it.

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That’s why I wasn’t fazed when I found myself coaching players I had played with – like Kaká, Christian Abbiati, Daniele Bonera. Someone such as Kaká wasn’t just my player; he was a close friend as well. But coaching them was the easiest thing in the world for me, because of the approach I take in general with players – that they are people first, then players after.

Having that approach takes away a lot of things. I don’t need to explain that I’m the coach and I make the decisions. And vice versa – they don’t need to tell me that they are the ones actually playing, making the difference on the pitch. Having that mutual respect makes it very easy.

It’s never a nice situation to come into a job in the middle of a season, especially because I knew Max Allegri, who had just left the club, was a good coach. Sometimes things just don’t work out. For me, it was a privilege and an honour to be in a position where I knew so many others would love to be.

In the end, managing Milan was a very positive experience. After being four points from the relegation zone, we finished on the same points as Torino, who qualified for Europe – we missed out by a goal difference of just two goals. In terms of our results – not only the numbers but also the way we played – it was a really positive time. It was a great experience for me to contribute to getting the team out of the situation they were in, and to have left something positive for the club.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Seedorf playing for Milan in 2009. Photograph: Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

I hoped to do the same when I joined Deportivo La Coruña, although it was a more difficult challenge than Milan. The team was 18th in La Liga and without a win in seven matches, completely lacking in confidence. Physically, mentally, morally, the environment was depressed.

In the first week, I was mostly observing and getting information. Having done that, I started to put in place the interventions. The first thing I tackled was the organisation of everything – when and how to do the video analysis, individual conversations with players and group sessions.

I drastically changed all that had been done before. You have to create a shock effect, otherwise you continue with the same routine. You don’t break the negative spiral. And so we started training twice a day. Not because we wanted to kill them – it wasn’t about fitness, but about the commitment and focus that training requires and getting a lot of time with them so I could understand who could do what.

Then it was about getting the leaders in the group together and making clear what I wanted from them. It’s fundamental that you have a group of leaders who support the philosophy of the coach. That is half of the job in terms of getting the team where you want. We did that quite fast. It was clear that the will to work was there; in fact, it was fantastic. But confidence isn’t built in a day.

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The first match was unfortunate. We lost 1-0 to Real Betis, but the team played with incredible intensity. The same thing happened in the second game, another 1-0 defeat at Alaves. That’s when you enter a phase of doubt, when results are still not coming. At that moment, the biggest job was to keep them believing. Result are a consequence of what you do – the processes you have in place. My focus before matches, in terms of communications with them, was on that.

Even if we lost, I would focus on the good things they did. “This is the improvement. This is the process we are going through. It’s just a matter of time before the results will come, but we need to keep believing.” People need to be fed positivity, because it’s too easy to be negative – it’s human nature. We were constantly feeding them with positive images, positive thoughts, positive feedback. Being critical but constructive and knowing when, how and with whom to do it. We also asked for their feedback , so it wasn’t just us telling them all the time.

It was a difficult situation, but we created a positivity that was felt by everyone around the club. Even people outside the club noticed it. They would say: “The team doesn’t look like one that is fighting to stay in La Liga.” Confidence was growing, even if the results were not showing it.

It took us eight matches before we won our first game. I don’t think many coaches would have survived that long, but there was a clear improvement in the team. Only Barcelona and Real Madrid were creating more chances than us. It was frustrating, because you feel your work is not being rewarded, but we hung in there and, in the end, things started to turn around. Results started coming, but there just wasn’t enough time.

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Up to this point in my coaching career, I have been able to celebrate one thing: Cameroon’s qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations. A national team job was also a new experience for me. You have less time to influence your players directly, so the methodology changes a bit. I had to adapt the ways I worked before to the shorter time available.

One thing that doesn’t change, though, is that the most talented players will always make the difference. These days, I’m not always sure whether creative players are the main focus of many coaches. I often see them having to adapt within a system, but football is not mathematics.

There is room for everyone to implement their ideas, though. For me, that’s the main thing: to have clear ideas and work with your team and players to try to create that magic. Wherever you might choose to start.

• This article was published first by The Coaches’ Voice

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