When Steve Kean left Hibernian to work in Georgia, he discovered a home from home. The people were warm and welcoming, the obsession with football reassuring. Referees earned danger money and from time to time passions overflowed. It felt just like Scotland.
The Glaswegian was appointed manager of Torpedo Kutaisi in May, arriving midway through a season that was going nowhere fast.
From being thirteen points behind a European slot, a run of one defeat in fourteen league games now offers a realistic chance of Europa Conference League football. The Scot is a contender for Manager of the Year.
Currently back in Edinburgh for the international break, the former Hibs academy chief will miss out on Thursday night’s Euro 2024 qualifier in Tbilisi. But the next time he runs into his old London dork Steve Clarke, he plans to shake his hand and thank him for improving the employment prospects of Scots abroad.
“I know Clarkey from his time at Chelsea,” said Kean. ‘I was at Fulham and he was an assistant at Stamford Bridge.
Steve Kean has been manager of Torpedo Kutaisi in Georgia since his appointment in May
Steve Clarke once coached Chelsea (left, with Frank Lampard) and was a stimulating force for Scotland’s international prospects
Before moving to Georgia, Kean worked in the Australian A-League with Melbourne Victory
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‘We’ve been to a lot of games together and scouted so many of the same players and talked to each other after the game.
‘He’s a really top coach and when he was at Chelsea, guys like Frank Lampard and John Terry lived in the same area as me and always told me how good a coach he was.
‘I think his work on the training pitch has created a club culture within the national team. They all enjoy going to meetings and they show up. And what a job he has done. It’s fantastic.
‘It’s actually great for me too. It’s always good when you work abroad and the national team keeps winning. That changes the way people look at you.
‘I was coaching in Spain (as assistant to Chris Coleman at Real Sociedad) when their national team was taking away every trophy. At that time we (Scotland) were always being fooled.’
Grinning, he added: “The national team continues to win now and I enjoy a little bit of the honor and reflected glory….”
Being a Scot in Georgia hasn’t always brought such highs. In 2007, an embarrassing 2-0 defeat effectively cost Alex McLeish’s side the chance to reach the 2008 European Championship. In 2015, under Gordon Strachan’s watch, another defeat left the national team without a chance to return to a major final at the 2016 European Championship.
Fears of another nightmare in Tbilisi subsided as the Scots secured their place at the 2024 European Championship last month. However, dismayed by their fourth-place finish in a disappointing qualifying campaign, the Georgian national team are aiming for three-in-a-row on home soil.
Scotland were less fortunate when traveling to Georgia in 2015 after the national team dashed their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016
The last time the two sides faced off was in June at the shockingly wet Hampden Park
Georgia is looking to make it three home wins in three after beating Cyprus in October
And Kean expects another hair-raising evening for the Scots.
“Scotland can be grateful that they have already reached the final because Georgia is going for it,” he told Mail Sport.
‘It doesn’t really matter to them how the campaign went.
‘As Scotland knows from previous visits, it will be a very hostile environment. They love to knock on the referee’s door and will do everything they can to win.
‘They are very passionate about their game. Even though the national team has had a poor qualifying campaign, the Tbilisi crowd is incredibly passionate.
‘When the national team goes there, they are immediately in front of it. They actually look a lot like Scottish people.
“They are so proud, passionate and patriotic that the previous matches and results do not count. Dead rubber or not, Georgia will be able to handle this.”
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s great success at Napoli has changed the perception of the Georgian league. Every time Kean walks into Torpedo Kutaisi’s Ramaz Shengelia Stadium, he is confronted with a painful reminder of the national sport’s legacy.
Shengelia, playing for the Soviet Union, famously took advantage of a mix-up between Willie Miller and Alan Hansen to race home and end Scotland’s hopes of progressing in the 1982 World Cup final in Spain.
More recently, Kvaratskhelia’s brilliance has forced Serie A teams to reassess the talent in the Georgian league. Kean has advised his old colleagues at Hibs to do the same.
“This is a country that produces very good players,” Kean said. ‘Giorgi Mamardashvili is a goalkeeper at Valencia and is in the spotlight. Kvaratskhelia has excelled at Napoli and when you see Georgian players at clubs of that size you think there must be more – and there are.
The meteoric rise of Napoli’s Kvicha Kvaratskhelia has shone a light on Georgian talent
Valencia’s goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili has also attracted interest from European rivals
‘It wouldn’t surprise me if English clubs start scouting as hard as the Italians. I also said to Ben Kensell from Hibs that he wouldn’t believe the technical quality of these lads here.
“Most international players don’t play in the Georgian league, but they all started here. So there is a lot of quality here and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Italian clubs have serious competition for players here. I’ve had a few managers ask me about players and I’m always honest with them. We have some great young players, including a very good 19-year-old centre-back, Saba Goglichidze, who is away at the Under-21s.
‘He is a top player. He will be a big name in the coming years. He is great, fast, aggressive and a good defender. It’s top notch.
‘I don’t think we can keep him because all Italian clubs are aggressively scouting in Georgia. He will end up with one of the big hitters.
‘Giorgi Arabaidze, our right winger, could play at the top level. Kvaratskhelia is great, but there are a lot of technical players like that in the league.”
Former Blackburn manager Kean has never been afraid to leave his comfort zone. In addition to his stint at Real Sociedad, he also managed DPMM FC, a club owned by Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah of Brunei.
There was a spell as assistant manager to former Hibs midfielder Grant Brebner at Melbourne Victory before an 18-month stint in charge of the Easter Road academy.
“It took something good to convince me to leave Hibs,” he admits. ‘I enjoyed my time there. It’s a great club and we’ve managed to get players very close to the first team, like Rory Whittaker and Josh Landers.
Kean previously managed clubs such as Blackburn Rovers (photo) and Real Sociedad
One stint managing DPMM FC – a club owned by Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah of Brunei (pictured in 2014)
‘I never really took the job at Hibs because I thought I would return to the first team. But then came the opportunity to manage a team that played European football.
‘We managed to win the Georgian Cup last year and playing European football, when I started leading the first team again, felt just right.’
While the defeat to Kazakhstan’s FC Aktobe ended hopes of meeting Bodo/Glimt and Besiktas in the Europa Conference League, such is Kean’s impact that the media are now touting him as a potential manager of the year.
‘I haven’t seen that,’ he claims, ‘but that would be a nice tribute. I’ve never regretted it.’