Kim Pan-gon (55)’s seasoned leadership enabled Ulsan to win its third consecutive title.
Ulsan, led by head coach Kim Pan-gon, beat Gangwon FC 2-1 due to consecutive goals by Rubik’sson and Joo Min-kyu in the 36th round of the K League 1 in the 2024 season, which will be held at Ulsan Stadium on the 1st. With this, Ulsan (68 points) widened the point gap with second-place Gangwon (61 points) to seven points, securing its third consecutive K League 1 victory regardless of the remaining games.
Coach Kim Pan-gon of Ulsan Legend has become the holder of the true record of winning all the championships in Ulsan as a coach following his active days. Kim has a huge stake in Ulsan’s past five championships.
A soccer coach is a job that requires a large team of players to control. In the end, you can succeed only when you establish good relationships between people. Not only the players but also all the staff members of the club must play their roles well in order to achieve victory.
Coach Kim Pan-gon also showed his years of experience in his leadership. He leads the team with strong charisma at the stadium, but he also did not forget meticulous consideration at the back.
At Ulsan’s victory celebration, we could hear behind-the-scenes stories. “I’ve never seen a coach like this while leading the national soccer team. Coach Kim Pan-gon handed out gifts to all of Ulsan’s team employees. Everyone from top to bottom gave the same gift,” Ulsan’s representative Kim Gwang-guk said.
Even if you look at small things, you can see his personality. Coach Kim Pan-gon was praised for treating all the members of the club equally personally, 먹튀검증 including those who clean the club’s lodging and those who cook meals.
The same was true of the players. It gave different roles and motivations to both veteran and rookie players. As a result, Ulsan was able to wrap up the season with three consecutive losses.
Coach Kim Pan-gon said, “I don’t think I showed any special leadership. When I came to Ulsan, the former coach (Hong Myung-bo) made the team well. The players were not shaken by their professional or team spirit, and they were stable. There was not much to touch,” showing humility.
Of course, we had some difficult times. “It wasn’t easy as time went by in the middle,” Kim said. “It was hard to maintain the lead since we started the competition in fourth place. We had some difficult experiences. For the past month, I regret whether I made the wrong choice.”