Vincent Kompany in the fight against relegation
Burnley manager Vincent Kompany has revealed that his father’s experiences as a political refugee drive him and determine him to lead the club’s fight for survival in the Premier League.
Burnley are heading towards relegation after a 5-0 defeat – at home – to Arsenal left them in 19th place with just three wins this season, but Kompany’s determination has roots far beyond the football field.
Explaining his hunger for success, the former Manchester City captain cited his father, Pierre, who fled what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo for Belgium as a dissident in 1975, having protested against the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko.
He set his son on the path to a brilliant sporting career and later became Belgium’s first black mayor. Offering an emotional account of his inner motivation, Kompany said on Thursday: “It’s a deep answer, it’s about where you come from.
“Where I come from is my father, who was a political refugee. He had to flee a country not just at war, but like a dictatorship where he was being whipped, in his twenties, because he was against the regime there.
“It’s fleeing from one part of the country to another, it’s losing family members, it’s everything you’ve experienced. That’s where I come from.
“You ask where does the motivation and desire come from? I have so many reasons to have that fire in me, every day. So many reasons why I can never do less. It’s bigger than a result, or a bad month, or any something like that.”
Kompany, whose team faces Crystal Palace, also rejected the idea that this season’s struggles are a new experience for someone more accustomed to lifting trophies than battling relegation.
“That’s most of the known experiences, yes. But a player never talks about his losses, right?” he said. “That (a winner) is what you see, but my experiences seem different. I feel like I had to overcome and do a lot to get to where I was.”
