Regardless of how South Korea do in Australia and New Zealand, Colin Bell, their English manager, already deserves a winners’ medal. Our interview takes place via Zoom and his chosen background is a picture of Manchester City’s players celebrating their FA Cup triumph at Wembley in 1969, including his namesake. World-class.
Bell’s back story and CV are as interesting as any of the coaches at the tournament. Having come through the Leicester youth system alongside Gary Lineker in the late 1970s, Bell made his name in Germany, first as a lower-league player, then as a coach working with, among others, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
“I joined Leicester on schoolboy forms at the age of 14,” he explains. “After school, I signed my first contract with them and remained a reserve-team regular until I left –
