He represented the likes of Coventry City, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, and Hull City, earning a reputation as a tough-tackling, dependable midfielder. Among his career highlights is leading Middlesbrough to their historic UEFA Cup final appearance in 2006.
After hanging up the boots, Boateng pursued a coaching career, which has seen him take positions with Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers and Ghana’s senior national team, before he joined the staff at Coventry this past summer.
Just after George left the Sky Blues following Frank Lampard’s appointment, he sat down with Tribalfootball.com for a lengthy and entertaining chat about his playing career, the teams he has been part of and his burgeoning coaching journey.
What were your best and most difficult experiences as a player?
"The most difficult one was definitely at Feyenoord because at the time I was coming through the youth teams and I had to prove that I was good enough to make it to the first team. And when I got to that point playing every week for the first team in important stadiums it required a lot more than I thought in the beginning.
“That was very difficult but when I made my debut I established myself very quickly as a good young talented player who had a very good understanding of the game.
“For me, the most enjoyable time was clearly my time at Middlesbrough when we had players like Juninho, Southgate, Hasselbank, Viduka, and a lot of other very strong players. We won the Carabao Cup, played the UEFA Cup final and with the fans over there at the stadium at the time it was like a dream come true. So yeah that is definitely the best club where I had my most successful period.”
What about Feyenoord? You came in contact with the likes of Ronald Koeman, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, and Henrik Larsson…
"So yes, you have clubs that are very close with the fans and clubs that aren't so close with their fans. I can say that Feyenoord was the club by far that had the closest relationship with their fans and that the fans were very involved in the everyday functions of the club. Koeman came from Barcelona at that time and from watching him on TV and being able to play with him was a huge experience for me.
“Also for Larsson the same and he continues to be one of my closest friends. He always guided me on what to do as a youngster coming to the first team, how you should behave etc. Yeah with Giovanni we grew up together and I can just say the best words possible for him and his career speaks for himself more than I can do.”
And you played for Arie Haan at Feyenoord?
"Haan was a coach that was very attached to the players, he was almost like one of us. He was very close with us and very direct as a person. I can say that he had a German mentality in coaching and working, he helped me a lot and I learned a lot from him. It was difficult to work with him in the beginning but I was able to convince him for a starting position in his formation. I enjoyed working with him and I have only beautiful memories of him.”
Tell us a little about leaving Feyenoord for Coventry…
"Yes the reason why I chose Coventry is because I love English football and I thought it was a really good step for me to go and play in the Premier League. I also had other options from Italy but I thought the type of football in England would fit more my qualities as a player than the type of football in Italy. I thought that Coventry would be the best option for me to go there to improve myself and make another important step in my career.
"The culture was different from what I was used to in the Netherlands but when I arrived I was really lucky. The other players of the team treated me well from the first day and made me feel at home. The level of professionalism there was really good and they helped me to settle there. I learned a lot of things regarding the game, I started to see the game differently and I think we finished that season 11th or 12 from the bottom that we were in the beginning. For me, it was a successful period at Coventry City.”
You also reached the FA Cup final with Aston Villa…
“Yes we had a really good team that season with young players but very talented managed by John Gregory. For us, the toughest game to reach the final was against Leeds United which at that time had a really good team. We somehow beat that Leeds team in the quarter-final and about the final we knew that Chelsea had an old and aged team and we had a really young team.
“We knew that we had to play fast football in order to get them tired. In the last 20 minutes of the game, they seemed to concede a goal but unfortunately, we made a mistake and they scored from a set piece. In the end, all the players seemed keen to change shirts with Zola or Desailly but for me, there was only one player that I would want to swap shirts with and that was George Weah because he was my idol. And when he came on in the final for Chelsea I had my eyes only on him in order to get his shirt and I can say that I retired happy because I have a George Weah shirt!”
At Villa you counted on Gareth Southgate as a teammate…
“Gareth was one of the most respected players in the dressing room and I was lucky enough to play with him at Aston Villa but also at Middlesbrough. Gareth has always had leadership qualities and the way he behaved on and outside the pitch was always a great example for us other players. I realized that Gareth was the type of person and player that if you had any problem on the team you could go and speak with him and he would do anything in order to help you.
“He would listen to you and see how he could help you. Also on the pitch I had a really good relationship with him and I loved my time playing and working with him. And yes I thought that he would become a great manager because he had all the qualities in order to achieve it, had leadership skills, man managing skills, a great understanding of the game, and also was a great human being.”
What about that Villa team? David James. Alan Wright, Gareth Barry, Darius Vassell, David Ginola… tell us a little about the quality…
“When you play you don’t realize how vibrant your squad is and when I look back now and see with what players I was lucky to play I understand how strong that squad was. We were all strong characters there, super talented, and our minds were so creative in finding ways to win games and how to manage ourselves and the group to become a successful team.
“And I think if we had won that final it would have been a coronation of the hard work and all the sacrifices and the strong team that we were. It was such a pity that we lost that final because I think that team deserved to win a silverware. But despite this, I look back at my time at Aston Villa with great pride and I have only good memories of my time there.”
And then came Middlesbrough, where you’d spend six years…
"As I said earlier Middlesbrough was the most successful period of my career and I was lucky to spend 6 years there. I believe at that time we had a top 5 or 6 squad. I remember beating United at home 4-1 in the league. That was just an unbelievable performance from us. I remember the first year we qualified for the Europa League and got knocked out by Sporting Lisbon and in the second year we reached the final of the competition which was something incredible for us.
“I remember those two games against Bucharest in the semifinal in which we were 3-4 nil down and we managed to return the score and qualify for the final. It is something that I will remember always.”
How did you find Steve McClaren as a coach?
"I have always said this and I really believe that Steve is one of the best British coaches out there. I say this because I have worked with him for a long time closely and I know him very well.
“In those 4 years, I learned a lot from him, he had a huge influence on my development as a player. I remember once I went to the national team and we were doing a practice under Van Gaal and I was like oh I know this exercise well because I have done it at the club with Steve. So when I went back to Middlesbrough I asked Steve to guess what we did as practice with the national team just as we have done it here. And he looked at me and told me, ‘oh you think that we don't know what we are doing here? Only Holland knows to do creative things in training?’ And I said to him, ‘gaffer I said this in a positive way it was like a compliment’. I really loved training and playing for him and he had a huge influence on me not only as a player but also on me as a coach.”
What can you tell us about playing for Holland in the early 2000s?
“Yes is true I have been very lucky to play with lots of great players. Among the best that I have played with is for sure Patrick Kluivert, we came from the academies of Feyenoord and Ajax and we have played against each other a lot of times also in the first teams and I think that I have lost all the games against him.
“He was unbelievable, very athletic, very good movements, very intelligent and he could score goals in different ways. And for me, if he hadn't had injury problems, we would have seen a lot more from him also in England when he came to Newcastle. Also, I would mention other great players like Van Persie, Robben, Davids, Seedorf.
“Yes, (Louis) Van Gaal gave me my first opportunity to play for the national team. I remember we were going to play away against Denmark but before going there we had 3-4 days of training in Holland. When I arrived the coach called me for a meeting and he asked me about my family, about the things at my club, the situation at Aston Villa and he told me that in this game he would start with Davids and maybe in the second half you can enter and I said to him ok I understand.
“This conversation took place on the first day and we had three days of training and during every training, I said to myself that I needed to impress the manager and to let him know that I was ready and I could do this. I trained very well and we flew to Denmark and the night before the coach always liked to give the team the formation of who was going to play and Van Gaal told me that I was going to play and Davids was on the bench.
“At that moment I looked at Edgar and was like what is happening here because he told me that I was going to the bench and now I am going to play. So the next day before going to do the warm-up before the match the manager came to me and said ‘George I watched you these three days and I think that you are ready for this so enjoy the game’.
“This was how I made my debut under Van Gaal. He is a top manager and also he had a lot of influence on me on the way I coach, how I present myself to the players. He has inspired me a lot in my development as a coach.”
What about your coaching career? How have you found the career path?
“It has been a journey for me until now for sure. I started as a coach in the club that I stopped playing in Malaysia (Kelantan). You always look at management and you want to build a successful team which can compete and win games. But you don’t realize what coaching and management is when you actually coach a team.
“In that time I realized that 10% is only staying on the grass and training and 90% is problem-solving. During that time I thought if I wanted to become successful in coaching then I needed to start from the academy at the base. I went to the academy of Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa to learn about coaching, and to understand what coaching is about.
“I think that if you are a successful player then you will not automatically be a successful coach. That's why I went from the first team environment in Malaysia to the academy of Blackburn Rovers. Then I went to Aston Villa in U18 and U23. That was the foundation of my coaching. Then the opportunity came from the Ghana national team to go back to the first-team environment, to qualify for the World Cup. I thought that this is a very good possibility for me. I have done three years of academy development and now is time for me to enter the performance level.
“We qualified for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar, it was unbelievable for me as a coach to be in the World Cup. I really enjoyed that experience and it made me realize why people speak so highly about tournaments like the World Cup.
“Then the opportunity came with Coventry City which I thought was a really good step up for me regarding my future and where I wanted to be. So coming to Coventry as the first team coach in the Championship was an amazing experience, I loved everything about it and it added something to me as a person but also as a coach.”
Going back to the Ghana experience, how did you find working with Thomas Partey and Mohammed Kudus?
“Two different players but with great qualities. Partey is more of a defending midfielder, a holding midfielder and Kudus a more attacking player. But before talking about the players I want to talk about the human beings.
“Partey is a lovely boy who has a very good humanitarian way of living his life and he does a lot for the community in Ghana. You can talk to him, he has a very good understanding of what the society is about and he gives so much respect to the coaches and his teammates. As a player Thomas has done unbelievably well, he is such a valuable asset to the club and when Arsenal is playing without him you can see that the team is different.
“Regarding Kudus, I think that he is one of the most creative attacking players that Ghana has had and he is constantly developing. He has a great dribble, so strong physically, powerful, and very technical. He is a very quiet and shy boy and I have a huge admiration for him.”
So George, after Coventry, what will be your next move?
"I have been coaching now for 12 years and I have to say that it has been a great learning curve, a good journey filled with great moments. I have been an assistant in the last few roles that I have had and right now I feel that I am much more advanced as a coach and that I have learned a lot now and evolved myself and I am ready now to take my own team whether that would be in Australia, Europe, US because I don’t mind and I am up for a challenge as long as the club has the same philosophy as mine.”