Life teacher: Barak Bacher and the secrets behind the beehive that helped him become successful

He taught Mimer to reach the edge, Nussbaum went through a "crazy process" with him, and he also trained Niemani.

Barak Becher built himself up as a meteor also thanks to his assistants over the years, now they explain: this is how he created a winning Israeli response to the foreign and wealthy teams of Maccabi Tel Aviv

Inbal Manor

07/10/2022

Friday, October 7, 2022, 4:00 p.m

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Summary: Maccabi Haifa - Maccabi Tel Aviv 0:2 (Sport1)

One of the first lessons Barak Becher learned as a young coach in Kiryat Shmona is the importance of building your own professional team.

Over the years, it became a serious thing for him, a kind of kill and not go away.

After Izzy Sharetzky, in Beer Sheva and also in Maccabi Haifa, he selected each team member with tweezers, insisted on his people, fought for their conditions and was not once very careful of locals who were there before him.

A show of force or an acceptable legitimate demand?

All the answers are correct.

On Saturday (19:30, Sport1), Bacher will meet the first assistant he chose, Bnei Rayna coach Sharon Mimer.

On the occasion of the meeting, we set out to check the issue: what is it like to be Bachar's assistant?

And where exactly can it lead you?

Lesson number one.

Bachar (Photo: Maor Alxalsi)

"Barak and I met at the pro course. We met several times at my house, we exchanged video soccer materials and chemistry was created. When he closed in Beer Sheva, he told me he wanted me to come with him," Mimer recalled.

He wasn't really enthusiastic about the move, but he was under pressure.

"At the time, I had already coached for a year and a half in Rishon Lezion's seniors after going through the whole process from children, through youth and I was an assistant to two coaches. I told him I would not go back and I was interested in developing as a head coach. He did not leave me. He sat on me and showed me that I had a lot to gain From working with him. It wasn't until the middle of the break that it closed financially. It took me a while to decide that I had a lot to gain from stopping and going to work with him in Be'er Sheva."

One sentence bought Mimer and helped him to be convinced: "He told me: 'I'm looking for a coach and not an assistant,'" recalls the Rayna coach.

"From the first day with him, I saw that working was different from what I knew. The treatment of the team and the pity he lets go, these are things I had not encountered. He changed my thinking and I realized how important it is to let go and not work individually. In terms of dynamics, I was almost like a first coach. At meetings, in the contents of In training, I did things that not every assistant does. I got a lot of tools in terms of locker room management, the ability to deal with stars and egos, and of course in a team with high-level players, I could do more creative things and pull myself to higher places."

After half a season, Hapoel Kfar Saba approached Alona Barkat and asked to accept Mimar as head coach.

Mimer hesitated.

Beer Sheva was on the way to the championship, Kfar Saba below the red line in the Premier League.

Bacher smiled: "We both know that you are the head coach and if you want to go, I won't stop you. I want you to stay, but I know that in your head you want to be at the front. I took into account that we won't be together for long."

At the end of that season, Becher celebrated his first championship.

Mimar celebrated staying with Kfar Saba.

Assaf Nimani stepped into Mimar's shoes.

Relatively similar profile to Mimer.

A young man who previously worked in youth departments, served as an assistant coach and also promoted Hapoel Katamon to the national team as head coach.

The connection was less successful.

both personally and professionally.

"They come from different schools of football, and yet, Barak is one who is very open to hearing ideas. He is not fixed. If you come to him with a professional idea, he is very accepting," claims a staff member who worked with both of them.

It was not easy for Niemani with the decision to go back to be an assistant and join the team in the middle of the season.

They say he tried to be dominant, get closer to the players, offer ideas about playing methods and stationary situations.

The connection lasted until the end of the season.

More in Walla!

Makes a lot of impression: personalized desserts of caramelized apple crumble

Shared half free

Bacher and Mimer meet after the breakup.

One celebrated a championship, the other a stay (Photo: Kobi Eliyahu)

Amir Nussbaum was next in line.

Bacher returned to the familiar profile: an essay based on personal acquaintance.

He also pressed again until he heard the answer he wanted.

"We played together in Kiryat Shmona and we didn't really know each other before. I arrived in Ran Ben Shimon's first season, he was already there, and the connection was immediate," recalls Nussbaum.

"We are on the same page. We became very good friends and at one point we almost lived in the same apartment."

Nussbaum left in the summer of 2010 for Ramat Hasharon and in total continued to play for another six years.

Bacher retired in the summer of 2011 and was appointed Ben Shimon's assistant, but the two kept in touch.

"We continued to be good friends and for him, it was quite clear that we would work together. A year or two before I retired, he offered me to be his assistant. I told him that I wanted to and felt that I could continue playing, but that it was clear that we would connect at some point. He helped me understand that I also wanted to To enter the coaching field and as soon as he offered me again after the first championship, I realized that I had to take the step, that it was a shame to drag on another year and that it was time to retire. The offer was too good."

Bacher previously defined Nussbaum as a true friend who you can trust with your eyes closed: "A quiet, modest and somewhat introverted guy, but smart. Not one who will try to stand out by force, but will do his job quietly and masterfully thoroughly."

To him, he was the ultimate team member.

"I went through a crazy process," says Nussbaum.

"Joining a champion team, when I'm still trying to digest retirement. The connection with Barak helped me land smoothly. Barak manages at a high level. He delegates powers and looks for people who can upgrade him. He will want to surround himself with people who will complement him in some way. When he thinks he needs help at a certain point , he lets people in. If he trusts you, it's all the way."

"If he trusts you, it's all the way."

Bacher and Nussbaum (Photo: Maor Alxalsi)

Bacher repeatedly makes sure in interviews to give credit to the team.

His successes as a coach came amid sporting struggles with the big and rich foreign teams that Maccabi Tel Aviv put up against him time and time again.

In a way, Bacher's teams became Israel's answer.

The local knights who maintain the professional honor of the Israeli coach.

In everything related to the day-to-day management of players, transfer of training, stationary situations, video analysis and tactical meetings, Bacher knew more than once to give credit to his staff members.

"Becher is more of a manager than an actual coach," claims Mimer when he tries to explain the functioning of Becher's teams.

"This is a conduct he brought from Europe. In advanced European football countries it is something that is built in. Lots of people work in the field and the coach observes, steers and directs and not necessarily pushes the players on a daily basis. This gives the players a margin from him and allows them not to absorb him every minute. This gives the coach to stand aside and see things in a quieter way and from much better angles. He earns this thanks to a team that knows how to deliver training and convey messages. He is looking for a worker who will come and push, say he wants to do and not wait for Barak to tell him 'do'. This stood out in all the assistants he is He brought. He was looking for enterprising people."

Nussbaum continues: "Barak 'uses' you as you use him. He draws from you what he needs as you draw from him what you need for your own path. Every football player who is looking for his way in this world has his route and his own path. Barak needs the helpers As they need him. He helps you, knows how to use you and you feel like a full partner in the journey. This is one of the reasons you find yourself staying with him for a long time. He knows how to make you feel part of the success. That's the greatness of Barak."

Bacher and Nussbaum worked together for three seasons.

The current assistant, Guy Sarfati, who also left Be'er Sheva with Becher and came with him to Maccabi Haifa, will soon break Nussbaum's record.

In the summer, Bacher pressured French to continue with him and not accept one of the offers he had to serve as head coach.

This is exactly the connection Nussbaum was talking about.

It is interesting, because the world of world football has always been built on great mentors on whose knees a new generation of coaches was educated.

Precisely in recent years, when the options to get a first chance are more diverse, there are fewer "educating mentors" and more coaches like Bacher who need loyal staff members to accompany them for years.

All the people who spoke to this article agree that Bacher is not the teaching type.

He is not interested in building successors, but in surrounding himself with people who will help him reach his goal.

"In his own way, he lets a team member develop. If it's a person with the right drive, he'll leave the stage for him," claims Mimer.

"Lightning 'takes advantage' of you as you take advantage of him."

With Guy Sharafti (Photo: Maor Alxalsi)

Mikel Arteta is the exception.

The coach who is leading Arsenal to a fantastic start to the season is Pep Guardiola's definitive disciple.

An extraordinary friendship prevails between the two.

It is said that at a certain time, when Arteta's family lived in the United States, Pep's former assistant lived in a small apartment in Manchester with notes from Pep on the walls, tactical analyses, tables and a football match from somewhere in the world was being projected on the television at any given moment.

"One of the most important pieces of advice that Pep gave me is that he told me it's the only profession in the world," Arteta said in the Amazon documentary All or Nothing: Arsenal.

"When you close the door, it's you and the worries and problems and decisions that are always there. Every difficult moment has made me a better person, a better coach and prepared me for something that's going to come. That's how I take it - it's my decision to be here."

What did Bacher pass on to future generations?

Mimar maintained his status as a Premier League coach, Nimani moved between the roles of assistant, head coach and professional manager in youth departments, until he got the chance in Hadera this season.

Nussbaum, the only one who did not work alone before Bacher and therefore more than anyone is labeled as the coach's disciple, set out on his own, spent a short time at Kiryat Shmona, and is currently coaching Rishon LeZion in the National League.

French, as I remember, as an assistant in Ashdod and Netanya, and as a head coach at Hapoel Petah Tikva and in the youth of Maccabi Tel Aviv before the connection with Bachar.

What will be next?

What does an assistant take away from working together with Bacher?

Mimer answers: "There are three very main components in this thing called Barak Bacher, which for me are the leading ones: team conduct, composure - when there are crises, he knows how to go through them well and convey good messages - management of the game. His nature is adventurous, he is not afraid to take risks , he won games when he came out of the box, improvised and made the opponent not ready. To tell you that anyone can do that? It depends a lot on personality. I try to go in these directions. It doesn't always work out because we depend on our own personality."

"Barak has innate character traits of a leader," Nussbaum continues.

"He is an Iceman, his decision-making is very good and he knows how to delegate powers. Barak is versatile, open, knows how to listen and make difficult decisions. One who will always think of how to win. Yes, you try to take many things from him, but you are obviously experiencing a different path and a different journey. Some things are easier to take, some things are more difficult, but in the end you try to find yourself in your journey. I can't say that I imitate him, but there is no doubt that he is a character worthy of appreciation and admiration. He has professional integrity at the highest level. It is very difficult to divert him From his way and his truth. I try to find my truth and maintain the professional honesty that is a candle to my feet. Barak is my biggest believer and we are still good friends."

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