“I think it started on the 10th basement floor.”
This is how Kim Pan-gon, 55, coach of Ulsan HD, looked back on the beginning of his 26-year leadership career. Kim made his first step as a leader in 1998 when he was serving as the head coach of the Central Warning Team. Since then, Kim has been far from the so-called “mainstream.” He managed professional teams of the Hong Kong League on the outskirts of Asia and the Hong Kong-Malaysia national team.
Ulsan’s decision to appoint Kim Pan-gon as its new head coach in July was thus a “breakthrough.” At that time, Ulsan appointed Kim Pan-gon to replace Hong Myung-bo, who left for the national soccer team. Concerns were raised both inside and outside the club over the appointment of Kim, who has no experience as a K-League manager, to the club whose goal is to win immediately. Coach Kim Pan-gon also said in an inaugural press conference, “I know that concerns and expectations coexist.”
Since taking office, he has achieved eight league wins, two draws and one loss, and three consecutive K-League goals. Manager Kim Pan-gon wrote the history of the club and the K-League. Ulsan, led by head coach Kim, won 2-1 against Gangwon FC at Ulsan Stadium on the 1st and confirmed the league title early regardless of the results of the remaining two games.
It was significant that it was the result of a rapid reorganization of the team’s atmosphere, which had been greatly shaken when he took office. In fact, Ulsan’s performance fell in July in line with Hong’s national team issue. Until just before Kim’s appointment, the league’s performance was only one win, one draw and four losses, and the league ranking fell to fourth place.
However, soon after taking the helm, Kim drew players’ motivation and quickly settled the mood through internal competition. To achieve his goal of “dominating, controlling and winning games for 90 minutes,” which he declared upon taking the helm, Kim has gradually begun to make changes to his tactics and composition of players.
Above all, it was important that the team secured the most important result. Since Kim’s inauguration, Ulsan has failed to score points out of 11 league matches due to its 1-2 defeat against Suwon FC on Aug. 18, when the variable was premature exit. In the remaining matches, the team garnered overwhelming results with eight wins and two draws.
Cho Hyun-woo also cited the team’s atmosphere, which has changed significantly since Kim Pan-gon’s inauguration, as the driving force for the victory. “I had a lot of losses this year, and the coach gave me motivation at a time when I could lose the game. He changed the team a lot. Thanks to him, I was able to play stably,” he explained.
He displayed strong confidence in key players who had not scored for more than three months. Instead of ignoring such players, coach Kim Pan-gon always instilled confidence in them. After scoring a goal for the first time in 106 days at the East Coast Derby, which was a critical juncture in the competition to win the title, Joo responded by scoring a definitive goal in the match against Gangwon Province.
“Those around him must have been very upset, but I still felt that he trusted me,” said Joo Min-kyu. “I tried not to give up because I gave him faith,” he said. “It was hard for me, too. It was a time to reflect on myself thinking about whether I could stay silent for this long. I was able to get out of the long tunnel thanks to the coach, coaching staff and colleagues.”
With this victory, Kim Pan-gon became the fifth player and manager to win the K-League title, and the first player and manager to win both the K-League title in Ulsan. In front of Kim Pan-gon, he is now the head coach of the K-League’s winning team. 메이저놀이터
“I’m quite honored. I think I started on the 10th basement floor after 26 years of leadership,” coach Kim Pan-gon said. “After 26 years of absence, I was grateful that Ulsan suggested me,” he said. “I was so happy to be with good squad players. Actually, I felt a lot of pressure as I am looking forward to winning three consecutive championships, but I am grateful to the players and staff who helped me a lot.”
“When I came to Ulsan for the first time, I felt grateful, but in the past month, I had regrets about ‘what choice did I make’ and ‘why did I make a difficult choice,'” coach Kim said. “The players must have been confused, and I think they started with doubts, but they became more and more confident. The players’ trust and follow of the coach’s words gave me the most strength.”