Football in Vietnam - Can They Ever Qualify For The World Cup? | Richard Harcus S8 E5.1

Join The Community

Welcome to Season 8 of A Vietnam Podcast. Sharing the stories of people connected to Vietnam. My name’s Niall Mackay, I’ve been living in Vietnam since 2016, and hosting this podcast since 2019. I wanted to know more about the people that lived in Vietnam, both local and foreigners and share their story. We now share the stories from people around the world connected to Vietnam.

Richard Harcus is the CEO of Harcus Consultancy Group, a football consultancy company based in Asia and is also a UEFA qualified coach and Elite scout and qualified intermediary.

We also are both reformed conspiracy theorists!

In part 2, on a completely unrelated subject, we talk about a variety of conspiracy theories and why, like me, he believed them and how we came out of that rabbit hole…

In this episode we discuss...
🎤 his background in football including representing Scotland as a schoolboy
🎤  how he’s bringing the former Man City player Yaya Toure to Vietnam in June
🎤  his work in Vietnamese and Asian football
🎤 Football development in Asia.

And... will Vietnam ever qualify for the World Cup?

Follow Richard
YouTube
Facebook (Harcus CG)
Twitter
Instagram
Website

Follow us on Facebook or Instagram.

Buy us a coffee.
-------------------
Theme music composed by Lewis Wright.
Main Cover Art designed by Niall Mackay.
Episode art designed by Niall Mackay, with pictures supplied by guests and used with permission.
Audio Engineer Luke Digweed.

These are the programs we use to create A Vietnam Podcast.

These are affiliate links so they will give us a small commission, only if you sign up , and at no extra cos

This Season is sponsored by Premier Dental.

Discover the potential of a confident and healthy smile with the excellent dental clinic in Ho Chi Minh

The full list of winners is here. 

Transcript

Niall Mackay: 1:58

Welcome to season eight of a Vietnam podcast sharing the stories of people connected to Vietnam My name is Niall Mackay I've been living in Vietnam since 2016 and hosting this podcast since 2019 I wanted to know more about the people that lived in Vietnam both local and foreigners and share their story over the years we know share the stories of people from around the world connected to Vietnam My guest today is the CEO of Harkness consultancy group a football consultancy company based here in Asia And he's also a qualified UAF a coach an elite scout and qualified intermediary which we'll find out what that is in a minute We are also both reformed conspiracy theory So in this episode we're going to talk about his background in football how he's bringing the former man city player Yaya Turi to Vietnam in June his work in Vietnamese and Asian football and the development of that here And then on a completely unrelated subject Why like me he believed in the many conspiracy theories that are plaguing the world and how he came out of that rabbit hole My guest today is Richard Harkess and we have a lot to talk about so thank you for joining me

Richard Harcus: 3:17

Thanks very much for having me on the show Excellent I'm looking forward to it And I also I should say I feel bad that you're wearing a football top and I know

Niall Mackay: 3:28

If you are watching this on YouTube I am wearing the Holland retro 94 football job that I will specifically enriches on off of this podcast So I'm disappointed as well but that's all right No the other warning here is that we are both Scottish and we can add subtitles on the podcast that will be subtitles on YouTube I tend to get more and more Scottish the as I talked to someone from Scotland So we'll see how that goes as we progress So let's start let's start with football So first of all what is a football intermediary

Richard Harcus: 4:04

so basically it's the same as an agent a FIFA and their divine wisdom some time ago because they were trying to regulate who was an intermediate or who was a football agent and who wasn't It was trying to move away from the Arthur Daley car dealership type Wheeler and dealer attitude of people's conceptions Of what an agent was And so and their divine wisdom they thought we'll just change the name and they did So they started calling people intermediaries and I think it was maybe six seven months ago maybe longer than that Now they moved back to being an agent So there's people like myself who just say intermediary agent same same same thing There's nothing more mysterious or dark to it than that

Niall Mackay: 4:49

I love how we've already lost half the audience with the author daily reference This is like not only a very specific British reference it's a British TV show Anyone who's younger than like ferry five theory has no idea who also daily is You've managed to alienate the entire Vietnam podcast audience with one reference podcast finished No So but so you are used to you're a football agent then Comes with many connotations My first connotation is that's cool Then maybe a lot of people will be like oh dodgy agents And then I'm sure the truth somewhere lies in between us The truth normally does So what is the reality then of being a football intermediary agent

Richard Harcus: 5:35

so far for me really I didn't really intend to say to be an agent intermediary kind of whatever you want to call it I don't I also still don't consider myself an eight As such the reason why I started to look into it was an order to help players and give them a better background knowledge when they were speaking to clubs my my passion and my heart is very much in youth development And I realized that there was a gap in education coming from coaches to inform parents and inform players to allow them to have informed choices When they're speaking to clubs when they're moving from academy to professional football the legalities of contracts book deals all that kind of stuff So I wanted to have a bit of background knowledge in it and it turned out I was not too bad at it and ended up landing clients like store I kind of landed in there as default never really something up to do I still love coaching I still love the The the coaching side and the youth development side but I'm also very very aware of how agents are looked at because I look at them in that way as well So it's I I kind of always try to say that I'm an agent but I'm not like those other agents And I speak to a lot of very good agents who say exactly the same So it's very clear like any other type of industry there's good people and there's bad people the bad people usually get depressed and the good people are kind of shunned and ignored So yeah So I can appreciate the concerns and I know what comes with that type of mental as well And it's about trying to change people's perceptions

Niall Mackay: 7:22

But you know it's it's so frustrating because that is just the media right So it's actually interesting that we brought this up because two things have gone through my head Just this week One was actually about football agents because it was unusual Poor about agents have taken so much money over football and all this money goes to agents And I don't know I like to think of myself as a bit more of a nuanced person So I'm thinking about it And I'm like I'm thinking exactly what you're seeing these football players on though Being paid anywhere from 10,000 pounds a week or even 5,000 pounds a week up to 500,000 pounds a week right You've trained to do football your whole life How do you know how to do all that stuff You just said say no Contract the legalities Albert BookTube You don't know that that's not Expertise So what do you do you hire someone like any other professional you hire an accountant to look out for your finances You're hiring a mechanic to look after your car You hire someone who has experienced in that field and they know what to do So I'm just like yeah okay Agents are taken all this money but there's never been this much money in football before So somebody has to help these young people It used to be the manager managed the whole football club and walked in and said to this young boy he'll sign this contract And then like that was it So we've moved the power over now to the players And so so I can when you said when you explained that I was like yeah I mean that's the way I see it And my other thought about how the media treats things is have you seen the news lately about you know that captain Tom the guy in the UK that walked like a hundred laps Yeah Raised all this money for the NHS So there's been a bit of a Canada thing in the news this week about how has foundation that has been started in his honor has spent all this money on consultants and they've barely given any money to charity and blah blah blah And so I've worked in charity for most of my life and the charity responds like this is a brand new foundation We have set up costs Like we need to spend money on salaries and all this other stuff and I'm reading it I'm like get rid of these bullshit headlines that don't help charities They don't help anyone that like captain Tom's charity hasn't given away any money this year And it's like this is not the reality So sorry that's my rant on the media But it just it does tie into the whole kind of agent perception but I'm sure like you said the awesome good and some bad ones but I do think they are very very necessary So you are the agent for Yaya to read the man the former man city player that it's pretty cool

Richard Harcus: 9:46

Yeah I completely agree with you I would say I'm the Asian agent for AI Across Asia I work with his team that he has a PR team in England So I assist them with a lot of activities out here as I do other footballers as well with potential marketing advertising and stuff like that as well And yeah you're a hundred percent correct I hear a lot about people talking about how much now first of all what I would say how much players footballers get what people tend to always forget is they look at the toll pens higher earners and they forget that there's thousands of players all over the world that are not making anywhere near that type of money Now also those people are the top that have made it into the top of it made into the top of the game Most players are the percent of the percent of the 1% of the point 1% that have managed to take it that have been spotted that have gone to an academy that have came through a professional academy that have been selected for the first team that are good enough to it goes on and on and on But we all we tend to really look at the players at the tall top-end and they don't realize that there's lots of other players that are not on big wages Watts whatsoever but it doesn't sound paid But if you talk about these ones it doesn't you know it's not clickbait headlines Oh Like anything else in life they focus on the stories to to collect X asset

Niall Mackay: 11:51

I've said this exact same thing as well before that like I said it to my wife and we've been talking about like that guy makes 500,000 a week or 250,000 a week but it's like he is I've said the exact same thing as you use like the top 0.01% of football He's one of like 10 players in the whole wide world that makes that amount of money And it's similar with movie styles as well It's the same thing Like oh you get paid for imagery in a movie and blah blah blah Yeah There's about like 50 of them in the world They get paid that and the rest of movie stars are always struggle Movie actors are struggling

Richard Harcus: 12:26

But but the difference that people also need to take into consideration is that that movie star can make movies until he's an old guy the football or cat play at the top of him Now that football or might also get an injury and be out of the game And many of these players don't have a profession to fall back on So it's a case of trying to make as much money as possible the gone are the days for those top And I mean I was very fortunate to be friends with Billy McNeil the Celtic captain the Celtic manager and first British person She left the European cup in 1967 I massively privileged to have known him as a friend and he owned a bar in Glasgow This is you want to see David Beckham or schools or any you know David Peckham He won't own a bar to make money because you know it's it's completely it's completely different So yeah things have changed and times have changed you know you still see some countries Scotland particularly where they have the you know the benefit match for the for the player is he's coming to the end of his career And that was there as a net stake for them in their in their retirement years where You know that that's that's changed in football knows So yeah people need to have a little bit of a more open mind when they look at

Niall Mackay: 13:51

But as we mentioned we won't go too too deep into it maybe later on but is that always the media right And everything you see with the media you just have to take a step back and go like I said as well there's one side and there's another side and the truth is somewhere in the middle always in the media is only going to give you the clickbait version of it so to speak But from from your bio I mean so I'm I'm I've been a football fan since like I said the day I was born you have like the dream job to me Like you're a football consultant You're an agent a qualified coach I never tried to do any of that I did study sports science or I studied sport and exercise science at Strathclyde university and my my goal was to become a sport scientist I was really into physiotherapy and sports psychology things like that And then you talk about how you just fell into this job I mean I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't fall into their job Anyone you meet like how did you end up doing this Oh well funny story like ended up falling into it So I fell out of doing anything towards sports psychology But what is your background How did you end up here in Asia then What brought you from Scottish football coach to in Asia

Richard Harcus: 14:56

So for me I mean I fell into the intermediary thing purely because of my love for football coaching and development as I said I wouldn't necessarily say that fell into everything that I do in football similar to your show And Scotland you're born the first thing you're handed as a football And and they hang the little football boots from your parameter because you know that that's what happens the minute you're born like many countries in Europe That's what it's like And that's beginning to be like that in Asia as well which is great for me I played I played up school boy level I played at Dyna hubs and I played you know so I get to I got to pull on the colors of the team that support which you will which was great I played school boy football for Scotland as well which was brilliant which was excellent The reality of the matter though is I just I wasn't good enough it's took me years to really admit that I got an injury I got an injury years ago to my knee playing in a tournament in France and I always used it as an excuse but the reality has a pro wasn't good enough And it takes you a while to get that My second love was was music So I go into music and that's what I went to university to do to do the same engine engineering Through the music through my music I got involved in a lot of youth work helping a young people across Glasgow in music production and DJ and look in a Lennox writing And I worked a lot for Glasgow city council and Glasgow life which is our youth work organization And through that they kind of a lot of the boys and the ghettos that I worked with found out you know that had a love for football And I had a background in football So I used to come in and help coach them but I didn't have any coaching qualifications So Glasgow city council said to me we you can't coach the kids if you don't have coaching qualifications So they very kindly put me through my early coaching I kind of got the bug fell out of love with music and fell head over heels back in love with football but rather than being on the pitch it was the closest thing to be kind of on the sidelines So it kind of reignited my love and I was relatively successful I worked with Katie Moise team Bruma hill Davey Moises brother Kenny who is an agent And and so I worked with her is under fourteens I'd worked a little bit with with our heads as well I had the the honor of being able to go up to the training ground and the guys at headquarters were brilliant You know they welcome me up to the training ground I got to watch the sessions of the first team and just really I was up there all the time with a with a pad and pen taking notes I did a little bit work with Celtic And just kind of try to learn the trade As I said I was speaking to Bella McNeil at the time he was giving me a lot of advice and then I was offered a job to coach in Singapore So I moved over to Singapore and then got offered the job arsenal worked for awhile with arsenal and moved around the region got a job in Thailand moved to the states worked in the states for a year I moved from coach development Officer to director of football got offered a job in Vietnam As director of football came back to Vietnam worked a lot with Fox football which is by far the best development academy that a young person could have and not go to Vietnam I truly believe that the whole of Vietnam is not the whole of Southeast Asia and then I started my own consultancy company after creating a network which is what 10 12 years and Sophie stages which kind of brings me to today So that's the water time quick version

Niall Mackay: 18:42

I could keep listening to it's a that's awesome Yeah like I said I'm pretty jealous I actually went over to America to coach no coach quote unquote soccer at a summer camp Now by coaching soccer that just meant getting the kids to stop playing cards and just get up and kick a ball about So I was the head of football for about three years but the best thing I did I was so funny I had to even paint the lanes on the football pitch And I'd never done that before And you've never seen a squint or lane in your life like the whole pitch Like I couldn't wait for the grass to grow out till we could cut it It was so but I never realized that was such a skill to draw full straight lanes that meet our RA angle

Richard Harcus: 19:25

do you know it's funny you say that actually because I well I might contest that I remember playing a tournament at the waloo stadium and district four I think as while I was in district four district three but yeah just past the zoo and the sitting in the main stand it's two seven a site punches looking on a full-size pitch But when I stood in the main stand I could see that So you have two pitches one here and one here but the corner flag here in the corner frat flag from the adjacent pitch the lane joint to that corner flag and the corner flag here lanes to there of course supposed to be here to be here But the tournament had already started It wasn't me that did the lions organizers and yeah that that that might be the worst line I've ever seen along the along the top

Niall Mackay: 20:12

Well I I didn't I didn't tell you I actually volunteered for that tournament so no I'm just kidding No it wasn't me It wasn't me but it could have been it could well have been So tell us what is the so obviously football is massive here It's quite funny We both interchange I think without hesitation between soccer and football because to me I lived in America for five years and it makes no difference to me I say soccer probably even more than football these days And it was so so funny Cause I went over for the first summer and any time somebody said soccer soccer I cringed oh my God it's football You know And then by the next summer I was lied to everybody All right guys let's get a big game of soccer And then all the new recruits who were all from Britain they were all like oh Hey it's not soccer it's football And I'm like oh geez I've already told them I went to the dark side already But football soccer football is obviously massive here in Vietnam in Southeast Asia Thailand Well how is the state of football here in terms of their soccer developments here I just did it If I can just switch on a Dame football development what do we expect to see in the future But we'll we'll we will make the world cup one day

Richard Harcus: 21:19

Well well first of all to make you feel better as well I think there is a bit of confusion as to the term of soccer and football and the the actual history of the terms soccer itself Most people say that's an Americanism and it's not really an Americanism because soccer is are as a down version of the word association So you have association football like you have rugby football so you have rugger and soccer That's all that was And because in Australia they have Australian rules football and the Medica the automatic football in Ireland they have Gaelic football So when football went to America they use the as association football and they adopted the term soccer So the more you work at rosacea the more It's irrelevant as long as they play the game properly as long as they play the game Well and as long as they enjoy the game that solver can have really mattered Obviously the younger ones can enjoy it The older ones have got to win but you know that's that's another conference but I took the answer

Niall Mackay: 22:20

Oh sorry

Richard Harcus: 22:21

Sorry I was going to say but to answer your second point I think Vietnam could qualify for the world cup but it's still quite far off obviously I hope that I'm very wrong in that but I think that if you see how Vietnam played against Oman how the played against I guess it's Australia and the UAE They're certainly getting there the gap isn't as big as a lot of people think But speaking as a Scottish people we know how fine that margin is to get over that finish line Fortunately I'm I'm 45 years old so I've saw Scotland of five world cups but there's a whole generation of people you know the last one was friends 98 So there a generation of people that have only just Scott saw Scotland and the euros but yeah five world cups for me And for me it will normal to see Scotland world cup I grew up with it being completely normal And now as I said there's a whole generation So Vietnamese people haven't had an opportunity to really enjoy the same as Thailand I believe Indonesia is the only team that's ever qualified for the world cup but that was when they were the Dutch Indonesia but what's also worth mentioning is the Vietnamese women's team have just qualified for the world cup for the women's world cup as well So I love the fact that the women are leading the way showing them very similar to in Scotland The Scottish women qualified for the last one will cook and now the Vietnamese women have qualified So hopefully fingers crossed the Scottish women will qualify for this world cup with the women's world cup which is getting played in Australia And hopefully Vietnam and Scotland will be in the same group because that would be a definitely go to that game in Australia that would be an amazing game to go

Niall Mackay: 24:11

Yeah Do you think are you worried that if Vietnam ever qualified for the world cup that just hold the Vietnam would boom to the ground Cause I saw well when they got to the final of the under 23 world cup and I was here and it was the craziest thing the most amazing crazy thing I've ever seen in my life for anyone who doesn't know what they're talking about they call it D bow right The storm And what happened was Vietnam Did they win it I can't even remember No they weren't No They only got to the final They didn't even win it They got to the final of the under 23

Richard Harcus: 24:48

Is that under 20 threes of the AFS championship the Asia cup where they they got beat off of is Pakistan and the snow incredible goal from when van when Matt hi sorry what an incredible goal quite high It's still just one of my my favorite players the the the Vietnamese MSCI they call them But yeah that that goal that he spoke Ms. Snow was something very special I should point out though that that game should never have been played to that game Should never have went ahead It was Pakistan replaying and wait when it was snowing the bowl was white and then they changed the color of the ball The the it was Pakistan changed their strip at half time but they last the point socks In reality you know the players are look at the color of the shirt but the linesman will look for the color of the socks to decide what's onsite and offsite et cetera et cetera So they should have changed the color of the socks Now we can say that it's history and let it all go but it still annoys me that that game went ahead on another day Vietnam would have would have won that also should be should mention that Vietnam under 23 is just won the cup the other day which is the first time they've ever won it So that was the ACN the AFF AC and co that they beat Thailand one nil in the final and Cambodia and the model docks techno stadium in Cambodia So that bodes well for the future that they're under 23 So just one that but as you said it's about winning the Asia cup and then really turn to the first team and the Vietnamese national team winning But the great thing about AC and a football also is that it's developing and it's learning the passion is there The growth is there and it's really important to have those rivalries and Vietnam have that rivalry with Thailand When is Cambodia has that rivalry with Vietnam in the same way that Scotland has that rivalry with England but England has that rivalry with with Germany and Germany It has that rivalry with Holland It's important to have those regional rivalries It's nice to be have a friendly and it's nice to be nice but sometimes when it comes to football to me is war you can have a friend that may have a friendly but football is war It was the way I was brought it was the way I look at the game my wife I love her very much but she supports a different team to me So when our teams meet head to head it's war she knows that she appreciates that She feels exactly the same and that's that's just the way it is That's the way it should be But yeah Yeah

Niall Mackay: 27:33

Yeah well I mean there's always like that growing up a little bit with me at friends support us of different teams and you would go to the stadium and you'd find him show all sorts of abuse and then you'd meet up in the pub afterwards for our pain you know And it's like it's all forgotten about you know what I mean well one of the things I've noticed here in Vietnam that you've already

Richard Harcus: 27:50

maybe

Niall Mackay: 27:52

Yeah one of the things that Vietnam has already got a step up on Scotland is that they don't have gravel pitches for anyone that is not from

Richard Harcus: 28:44

Well

Niall Mackay: 28:46

please describe what is a gravel

Richard Harcus: 28:48

I was going to say they yeah So yeah so we grew up with these red Ash patches which were they were supposed to be multipurpose patches because it was to help the schools play I believe it was to help the schools play hockey But as a result you would as kids we were as daft as a brush and we would still have slight tackles So you would burn the side of your leg but at the end of the day you would wear that as a metal you would show off how much you that how much you were committed to the cause by these slight tackles The funny thing in Vietnam is that many of their patches are lettuce grass So they have different injuries from injuries that we have but I'm sure many Vietnamese children will have similar but different stories from from the surfaces that they have to

Niall Mackay: 29:41

Yeah Cause I w I was teaching in a school just last week and I knew it was they had like an Astro pitch by they say to the school not like what we didn't have this one I wouldn't do that When I was growing up I hated it I was one of those people that probably never developed as a football player because I was terrified of slight tackles I was terrified of falling on it Anytime a goalkeeper went in and slid in And I was just I was just amazed I was like why Because again to stress anyone listening imagine red stone hard sand This is what for some reason growing up in Scotland they decided to make football pitches made of this substance And we replay in the winter and like minus degrees or low to zero degrees wind chill freezing cold rain and wind And we had to go out there on a red gravel pitch and expect it to play And I remember I live in a side football when you're like 14 or 13 I would see the ball about three times I would just be standing there like running up and down Like you don't touch the ball I remember when they introduced seven a side I was like this is the best thing ever Like you play small games you get more touches Like it was amazing So where is Vietnam in that kind of development

Richard Harcus: 30:55

I was going to say when I was under 10 we were playing a live in a site on a full-sized pitch with a size five ball and all all the rest of it but I do remember it's funny when you have some of the best memories I remember a coach one of my coaches when I was a kid saying to me when I complained about slight tackles just the same as you said and he said a good defender doesn't need to make a slight tackle You've made a mistake if you need to slide tackle so you shouldn't be slightly tackling anyway So so he gave an excuse not to slight tackle anymore

Niall Mackay: 31:26

see that's a good coach My coaches were probably just like get into

Richard Harcus: 31:30

Yeah And maybe not even a nice way a few explosives thrown in there as well at the same time because there was no background checks or you could show what your linked

Niall Mackay: 31:40

he's also just your meats dad most of the time as well And so they will just always it was always the bass player His dad was the coach right

Richard Harcus: 31:48

yeah yeah exactly Exactly Yeah Yeah Well cause that's how he got picked and you know and if he dead coach was getting sacked and the dad would take over so yeah he would and it was normally the nicest women that watched all the cats as well So yeah proper good Scottish

Niall Mackay: 32:05

Yeah I know Jeff We hadn't landed lift If we hadn't lost all the audience Ellia we've definitely lost them Know that were reminiscent about red gravel pits and football jumpers for goalposts and stuff like that But before we move on tell us about so I've also you've also got an awesome YouTube channel focusing on football Tell us a bit more about that and what people can find on your YouTube channel

Richard Harcus: 32:27

So I kind of realized that there was a bit of a gap in the market and many many moons ago as I kind of touched on earlier I my when I went to university I did Simon engineered and guy was kind of interested in review and presenter And I had a show on the BBC years ago I'm using a show on the BBC So I've kind of I've always kind of liked the present of the site So being an age I realized that there wasn't really many people covering AC and football in English So it was kind of something that I wanted to do as a bit of a hobby I wouldn't say it's snowballed but it's getting there at the moment So Harkess CGT On YouTube we kind of we talk we touch on AC and football but I also kind of use as a vehicle to promote some of the youth programs that we're doing programs that we've done with Manchester city in Saigon Hanoi buying programs like that but also the youth development programs for my consultancy company but also there's some humanist things of interviewing former coaches They've got the former Vietnamese women's coach on there and I've asked CFR EFC delegate interview from Malaysia who has some incredible stories about being in Korea and you know getting guns pointed to him because he didn't allow a player to play And yeah so I've got a Dell didn't care who was the one in the league with Legionella and he's he was the manager of high phone and he's got some hilarious stories of him he was in just all social ridiculous situations and yeah so it's just more of a of a humorous look at ACN football and yeah and also what's interesting is I have a lot of Asian Lesnar's who use it really to help them learn more English because there's a subject about football so they love football And so they enjoy being able to listen to a Western or talking about Vietnamese football It's fascinating for them but yes they cover Singapore and we've all Cambodia and Malaysia basically all the countries of of the the ACN region and a little bit more than to Asia And we touch on football rules goals history of football stuff like that It's and if it's anything about football really but I try I try I try I try to make it more about AC and football We also just respond to people saying talk to me about Indonesian ultras So we did an Indonesian ultra video So now I've got more people asking me to do to do ultra video

Niall Mackay: 35:04

Yeah I saw that

Richard Harcus: 35:05

I yeah I wish I had time to do it full time I the reality is I don't and if Vietnam could just stop being good at football for a minute then I wouldn't have to do so many things to me He's very useful but I'm a double edged sword So yeah So Argosy GTV if you haven't watched it click on it as subscribe Tell me what you think And and I would love to hear people's thoughts on what I should do more videos off because sometimes you know you go down the wrong pathway of this is what I think people want to see And then I get a massive say no we want you to do this And it's a complete separate direction So yeah I really like doing it It's a good way for me to talk about football and normally football Invested or involved in the company just more through my own football passion So yeah something I hugely enjoyed doing

Niall Mackay: 35:58

Well check out the link is in the show notes So go down and check it out Make sure you do the what is it Subscribe turn on the notifications Every you've got to see that don't you it's like

Richard Harcus: 36:08

Yeah Click on the bale et cetera

Niall Mackay: 36:10

it

Richard Harcus: 36:11

Although I did see I did hear somebody say to me the other day that if you'd need to say subscribe and click the bail then you're doing something wrong because people should be doing that already And you're just taking a pipe So I was like yeah I might stop in that end because it might make me say like I'm begging for subscribers and I want people to subs enjoy it Not because I'm begging them to

Niall Mackay: 36:34

that's interesting Yeah Cause I w I want to get into more YouTube stuff with with this podcast and with those and it's just something that you see everyone does but that's a really good point Cause I don't think I've Subscribed because someone said that I've subscribed to heaps of stuff but it's always cause I'm like oh I like this I want to make sure I get this in my algorithm in my feed to like click it So that's a good point I bet you're doing I'd like to see some stats I like data So I'd love to see some data of having if people subscribe when they don't hear it versus when they do hear it you know but

Richard Harcus: 37:05

Exactly But that's what it's going to save It's interesting because you said about when this goes on YouTube you're preaching the translation on it as a study to let the subtitles because that's something as well I think it was the there was a recent study where they said that 70% of people watching YouTube are watching it on their phone when they're traveling So they don't have the volume on So they're reading the text I originally thought that the the text used to annoy me because I thought oh because I have a Scottish accent or because the guy has an Irish accent or whatever the accent was I personally took it as an insult because I made the assumption that The reason why the subtitles are there is because we don't understand what the people put The person's

Niall Mackay: 38:14

right I see I get

Richard Harcus: 38:16

reality The reality is because most people watch things younger people I should point out watch it all off And that's what it is So yeah So some times when you come to a conclusion you come to the wrong conclusion And I think the other one that I found interesting was we always have that Harkness consultancy group Advair at the beginning And that's something that I've considered switching off now because if people are on the child And they don't know what channel they're on then I really shouldn't be having to tell them And it's And when you look at your click rates of losing your audiences yeah As I said it's a fascinating subject just running a YouTube channel It's higher sales and I just don't have the time but I I I try to do as a hobby as much as I can but Hey I like anything else in life I'm learning as I go along some advice are less than just some don't but I'm I probably should listen to more but but yeah Yeah It's hugely

Niall Mackay: 39:15

Yeah no I mean it's something I'm looking to getting into as well but there is just so much and you're like yeah it takes time It's so funny because when you read I read several things you know you read things about how to make a passive income and things like this And one of the things I always read about is like just start a YouTube channel And you're like do you know how much time and effort goes in to making a successful YouTube channel seem some people are just idiots So they'll just start a YouTube channel I even saw people say start a podcast to make money Trust me making a podcast does not make you any money It costs you way more than you make which is nothing

Richard Harcus: 39:50

Yeah exactly I mean for to start on YouTube you have to have 30,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours that doesn't happen overnight You know you've got to put in a lot of hours to get to that level and and that's not easy It's not easy to

Niall Mackay: 40:07

I did like your video I watched the we say one food he cleaned he was a football player And then you're like do you played football for a team And he's like no if you go and check out the channel as we said it's in the shoe It's really funny video where a guy's telling Richard like I'm a football player and he's trying to get his qualifications which he has none I want to know Is that based I bet it is Is that based on reality

Richard Harcus: 40:36

So a hundred percent I was going to say so basically every single one of those I called that cities real life because every single one of those short videos are real situations I've had except the only differences is is VR for media or via emails And so I want that For my own sanity I thought I'm going to make these into short videos So the next time somebody says this to me I'm going to send them a link to the video rather than have to answer the parish And I have about another seven of those and growing that I need to do I had a guy recently telling me that he was Rinaldo genuinely telling me which were not And he wanted me to be his agent And I said the actual the real Rinaldo And I said I can't remember I I think I said the Rinaldo from from Brazil or the other Rinaldo And he said yes no well I'm from Singapore And I said okay you're from Singapore you're Rinaldo from Singapore And he said yes I just won the world cup I and like the real now though hasn't even won the world cup What are you talking about But yeah he was he was he then proceeded to tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about because I am supposed to be a football consultant and I've never heard of her an Alto but he didn't realize trolling them purely So I can now make this into a video for real life So yeah all those all those scenarios you know and also I don't want people to think that I'm using it to be harsh to people I'm using it as an educational tool or that's my excuse I'm using it as an educational tool to help because I get a lot of people that say I get a an email at four o'clock in the afternoon saying good morning And I'm like it's not morning And they'll say well this morning when I am not morning where I am and you're sending someone an email or a private message on the internet So you've clearly not shown them Interest in finding out where that person's from And again that goes across all business you should be contacting anyone on the internet writing good morning Cause even if it was morning where I am you don't know what time I'm opening the email app you know So it's trying to educate people to help them and the information they get and they learn If they don't learn the total learn I'm trying to help

Niall Mackay: 43:14

I've never held anyone get so worked up about email salutation You're going red in the face There

Richard Harcus: 43:23

well see if you get these if you get those emails about and I'm not exaggerating about 40 a day I have an algorithm now in all my social media that replies to them and occasionally I will go into the algorithm and they're speaking to the ball That's giving them the answer over and over And they're trying to enter into a conversation The problem is at some stage that bolt then drops them off Now if I do not go and answer the conversation that brings my company rating and stuff like that done So yeah maybe if you get 40 emails a day then yeah you might get as annoyed as I do when I message that's on Facebook on LinkedIn That's on Instagram I used to have a tech talk I do not want the hassle yeah

Niall Mackay: 44:17

I'll tell you what a bet I will guarantee by the end of 2022 you have a Tik TOK mark My words but let's wait and see now just quickly What was Rinaldo's What was your now do is end goal like he's guys clearly not right now Do he want you to be his agent What was he hoping was going to happen that you were just going to cause it was that guy in England they got signed up by a football team Remember that famous one They played like 18 minutes for south Hampton When he basically never played football in his life What was he hoping was going to happen

Richard Harcus: 44:46

Yeah So I believe that guy was it was a fight score I think there was a situation in Scotland as well when a player had scored five goals that they then I think he was brilliant As soon as that tried to sign him And they later found that they don't mean he played in a five and a site match And that was where the goals came Just ridiculous But as for the Rinaldo guy I have spoke to my wife about this on many many occasions because there was no end like I don't know

Niall Mackay: 45:17

you can issue up for a meeting and he'll let you do He's like yes I am renowned to

Richard Harcus: 45:24

He was offering to pay my flight for me to go over to Singapore to meet them And this is where I was like I don't know if you've ever watched the the Ted talk with the guy the troll people that spam them you know the Nigerian

Niall Mackay: 45:37

that one I haven't seen that one It's amazing

Richard Harcus: 45:39

Well I would I was kind of thinking along this line but I was also thinking how long do I take How long do I continue on with this Because Hey this is ridiculous B I got work to do And I see this is hilarious but what is his end game And for the life of me I couldn't work out what the end game was but like you I wanted to know and offering to get a flight to go to Singapore And I was thinking how how is this going to how is this gonna pan out Like

Niall Mackay: 46:15

I wish you'd done it You should have gone to being amazing You could have filmed it My guy showed up Hello on run out

Richard Harcus: 46:23

we'll look out for that video Cause it's coming

Niall Mackay: 46:24

Yeah Brilliant No last thing about football as well I have a favorite football agent or K it's not Hoggy Mendez It's not K Joe Chapman or whatever His name is my favorite football agent He has one client He's got no experience as a football agent and he had one big job to do last year and he couldn't No How did he keep his brother still by anyone who doesn't know how keen one of the top top football players in the whole world is he is represented by his brother His brother has one client and has no previous experience as a football agent Talk about the jackpot the dream wave

Richard Harcus: 47:07

Yeah Yeah exactly Well I think Heidi came recently invested in latent audience and I know the guys at latent audience I'll tell you a very brief story and you can Google this you Google my name and talk sport radio because I was discussed on talk sport again completely randomly because Yaya was when y'all came back from China Yaya was trying to continue to train as we were looking for them to get a new club Now the problem was this was during COVID So many of the clubs had a COVID bubble so they couldn't go to championship clubs They couldn't go to premiership clubs So I spoke to some of the people I know at Watford and even spoke to the cactus at the city football group I was saying we would love to come along great So I reached out to some of the guys that I know at latent audience and both Okay Yeah So so there was a situation that came up if you Google my name on a talk sport that's kind of backs up this insane story because it was right around the time when I was trying to get yang to come over to well I trying to get him contract a contract after he'd left the club in China Now this was roundabout the tape where COVID it starts it starts to be a massive program problem globally And So the problem that that created was you had players who wanted to who needed to still train to stay at the top of their game but players that were with the club couldn't clean So Yaya with the stature that he had I contacted people I know where the English premier ship and the championship some of the biggest teams there great clubs great people really good people working for them And they came back to me and they said we can't because of the COVID Bob bowl you know they're not allowed to come into the into the training facility because they're not under their insurance et cetera So all makes sense But league one league two teams you could speak to because it was under a different I don't know jurisdiction wherever whatever it was So I reached out to one or two people that I know in the admin from latent audience and So they put me in contact with they said this is the guy you should contact And this is his LinkedIn So I was okay no problem So I went into his LinkedIn and I contacted him and the of course the the of that was he thought that I was one of these dodgy agents pretend somebody like who who pretends you for now though for example And I can find if some random guy comes to you saying yeah I I'm the Asian agent of and he wants to come and train with you guys So he decided to try and call my bluff by by contact me back So I was like yeah no problem And he said oh you haven't gotten contact with me And I said no I think I was in Singapore or Vietnam at the time I don't remember But he was like oh you take ages to get back to me And I said yeah because I'm in a different country there's a subtitle zone It's a timezone thing And it was like ah right Okay So I still don't think he believed the guy that was trying to get Yaya to come and train with them so the I think the last joke was on me though was when a guy appealed up to the trading ground jumped out the car He had the mask over his face because of COVID and I think everyone just kind of died on the spot and Jaya told he walked into the training The next thing you had newspapers and England and all the media Oh yeah yeah Totally signed up for Leighton orient and then I was discussed on talk sport because some random agent that they thought was a joke Wasn't really a joke and Yaz contacted me as like what's going on here And I'm trying to get my club in Vietnam and getting contacts by talk sport And that in the UK is yeah So so the problem and people tend that they're Rinaldo this has a knock-on effect for people that are trying to actually do business as well Now you throw into the mix and yeah you have all sorts of problems but yeah checked if you Google I think there was an interview done with with the head coach of Leighton audience He yeah he was rather surprised that Yaya told he turned up to trading session and credit to the guys that lead the coaching staff were brilliant The AIA had a great time they got a lot of social media or that latent audience I've got a lot of respect for the yours finds as well you know with what they'd been through with previous ownership and stuff So it's a great club but yeah it's a great story

Niall Mackay: 51:50

And it's owned by Hattie Cain and his agent brother Bruin

Richard Harcus: 51:55

Yes It's known by Heidi Kane and his agent brothers Yes

Niall Mackay: 51:58

That was that was a great piece of agent And by his brother he's like right Harry we've got a great investment for you We're going to invest in leading Orien Okay It's a sound sound investment

Richard Harcus: 52:10

Yeah

Niall Mackay: 52:11

No no What we're going to do we're going to move on to the final questions that I ask everyone at the end of each episode But before we finish we're going to then delve into the conspiracy side of things because it is a different topic And we'll we'll actually add that on as a bonus episode for anyone that wants to keep listening and heal Cause it's completely a completely off topic to what we're talking about No So we'll finally get finished with these final questions if you could travel anywhere in Vietnam and stay there for one week where would you go and why

Richard Harcus: 52:44

how long bay cause I've not been so quite easy How long bay I've never been I think I've been to most places in Vietnam In fact that's quite rude of me I would say I think I've been to most places I've not been to I've not really spent a lot of when I've gone to Hanoi it's been to the train to the Vietnamese to the BFF training and either to football stadiums whether it's my den or whatever I've not actually really seen a lot I've not been to way I would like to go to

Niall Mackay: 53:15

You just said I've been most pleased He's in Vietnam You've not been anywhere You've not been a have a long day You've not been a Sapper You've not been away You haven't seen most of Hanoi in being anywhere You got to get out

Richard Harcus: 53:26

oh state again spoken out state

Niall Mackay: 53:29

similar I've been when people say have you been to Germany And I was like yeah I've been to Germany I went for a football game I was there for 24 hours Have you been did you ever go to Holland I went to Holland for a football game I was there for 24 hours You have been to France I went to France Yeah I was there for a football game I was there for 24 hours You don't really get to see the players Right Ma you got to go out more That is a ridiculous of being a mostly if you

Richard Harcus: 53:53

all fine Let's go to country

Niall Mackay: 53:55

Yeah for sure All right next one Then

Richard Harcus: 53:58

I've not been

Niall Mackay: 53:59

you're going to go there for a week Then What advice would you give to a tourist coming to visit

Richard Harcus: 54:08

CDSI and stuff are a funny answer

Niall Mackay: 54:11

give any

Richard Harcus: 54:12

beautiful a country as it is If you're a tourist come coming here don't drop your guard When you're walking along in the street keep your valuables either in the hotel in a safe or in your pocket don't be waving stuff around in the street because the Vietnamese people are beautiful beautiful people but there are some dodgy people out there and people to keep that in mind If you people people seem to think that oh if you were roped and you were stupid or you were doing something daft you know particularly during COVID no there's a lot of really desperate people out there and so it can happen to the best of us It can happen to the wisest of us So yeah Look after your belongings I would say and that's maybe that's maybe the the the one of the negative or the not so much nasty but the ones that people don't really want to talk about but but yeah from a more kind of a light your thing of just try stuff maybe which which actually seems like it's complete opposite of what I'm saying but some of the most some of the best nights I've had in Vietnam is walking apart past a lane and saying oh I wonder what's down there and you go down and it's a massive courtyard with like BR let bars Beautiful beautiful places But if you always kind of continually just wander around and like explore more I would say you know if you're a tourist come here try to explore be way but try to explore

Niall Mackay: 55:45

No it's good advice I think don't just wander down any dark alley but maybe get on the internet and find out what's down that dark alley the first but in terms of the snatching it is it is a problem here I don't think it's hugely bad It's no worse than anywhere else It's a supremely safe place Vietnam And in terms of nearly all crimes I don't especially for a tourist it's extremely safe but it does happen And it's like you said it can happen to anyone Or first time in Hanoi we were at the night market and someone bumped into Adrian and we were like oh and sure enough our food You know and it happened that quickly really Oh they just bumped into us but then I've also seen people in the street You don't have the full note weaving it taking pictures of traffic and I've stopped on my bike and be like put your phone away because that's just asking to get snacks because people will take advantage of that If you're weaving your footnote they'll just going to grab it out your hand So neither way is right But it can happen when you're not looking for it or it can happen We're not because you're looking for it can happen out of nowhere or it can happen because you're leaving your phone in the streets So you do need to be careful

Richard Harcus: 56:51

I think it's I think it's easy for a lot of guys to say it's not as bad but you know I I don't know many stories in the UK where people have been roped and I've lived you know what 25, 30 years in the UK whereas I know lots of stories of the battalion in Vietnam lots So I mean there is a difference in particularly if you're female as well you know being more vulnerable I I certainly think that that is an issue Sometimes It's very easy for guys to say I'm not getting a not speaking about you specifically but you know I think that there's a mentality of oh no it's really safe And your like sentence it may be safe more safe for for guys and we kind of sometimes fall into that mindset that it was okay for me So it's okay for everyone else and that's not always the case

Niall Mackay: 57:41

no that's a good point because there is a lot of problems that are held about them and know about it That women have been either attacked or assaulted that we probably don't even get close to seeing but I don't know the statistics but we know that happens in our home countries as well You know So it's kind of like you know I don't know what the exact rates of tremor and things like that but yeah I completely agree with what you're saying So there's this make follow one from this So obviously how long have you lived in Vietnam though

Richard Harcus: 58:11

So in Vietnam I have been here for Ooh coming on eight years I think it is eight years

Niall Mackay: 58:17

What advice would you give to someone thinking of moving to Vietnam

Richard Harcus: 58:23

do it but yesterday do it last week like immediately it will change It'll change your life and you'll wonder why you hadn't done it I have not spoke to anyone any the one that has regretted it not a single person Have I spoke to this regretted thing to to Vietnam you go through peaks and troughs you know sometimes are more difficult than others but generally as as a rule and what Y what I would say as an add on to that is that sometimes there's an expectation level that we have as foreigners coming to Vietnam And if you can just lower that expectation a little bit then you will Get as annoyed as you normally would And that's something I had to learn when I was here because I would say well this wouldn't happen And when I'm back home in Scotland or this wouldn't happen but you know there's lots of other things that there's a lot more positive things as well when things get too much I always have this expression I say to myself and I say to my wife and I'm like just look at the Palm trees look up at the Palm trees look at the sunshine You're know you're in a beautiful country with beautiful people and beautiful food a beautiful lifestyle And I I mean I wouldn't say I'm lucky to be here because you know you've got to work to to get to that stage but be thankful for what you've got and be aware of what you had before and yeah if you have the opportunity to move here or you're thinking about moving here do it do it because even if you came here for six months And you didn't like it Come come come here on holiday for a month Decide but I I know many people that have come here thinking they're going to pass through for a week or two weeks maybe on their way back from Australia And they end up staying here Cause that's what happens So yeah take the plunge give it a go You don't you know you won't know unless you give it a try

Niall Mackay: 1:00:22

Well I came here for six weeks and six years later I'm still here So yeah that's exactly how it works out Now Now this question is something that I often see come up on ex-pat groups here And we've talked a little about we can maybe talk a bit more in the bonus part We've talked a little bit about virtue signaling and I see this often and this is where this question comes from for you What's the difference between an ex-pat and an immigrant

Richard Harcus: 1:00:50

For actionable I would say I try to stay off these ex-parte forums because they are for the most part Horrible places they are full of So okay That's unfair because then I would be as biased as then to say this but there are many many really creepy people on there there are many kind of I would S so for me I never considered myself an expert I'm an immigrant I think that there's also X parts and sex part as well So work that taken consideration as well I think that there's a new generation of immigrants coming here which is very different to the old that that used to be here that I'm not seeing all the old people are like that many of my many of my friends that I drank with and equate with are kind of of that older era and they feel exactly the same If you were ever to look for a positive of COVID many of these people have left because of that Unfortunately we've also lost a lot of good younger people because of that as well But yeah for me I would say I'm an immigrant that if I was to give an exact definition there's there's a mindset and a financial level as well You know if if you were to come in on an ex-pat silently with an ex-pat wage and a typically export job with the ex parte benefits of health insurance and et cetera et cetera et cetera then I would understand how people would consider you as an ex-pat me personally as a working class parish and I feel uncomfortable at at how the word immigrant has become a dirty word and so therefore with my upbringing I pull them to sales to the underdog a lot more And so I would say I I'm an immigrant I am fortunate enough to be in Vietnam I'm fortunate to stay here I'm fortunate to have Vietnamese friends I think the term ex-pat creates an air of superiority that I don't really agree with that I don't want to be part of will it always be like that Maybe I don't know but I'm more comfortable being in a

Niall Mackay: 1:03:07

All right Awesome Thank you for that And so I've already shared my opinion on it so I'm not going to repeat it but you can go back and listen to previous episodes If you want to hear my answer I don't need to repeat it on everyone And then last question If Vietnam was a person how would you describe them

Richard Harcus: 1:03:35

I lost her that as as Vietnam was a pair of some

Niall Mackay: 1:03:38

I'll ask it again if Vietnam was a person how would you describe

Richard Harcus: 1:03:46

is she is she male or female

Niall Mackay: 1:03:48

That's up to you you decide we've had people say either also you decide

Richard Harcus: 1:03:54

if Vietnam was a person that's a great question if Vietnam Vietnam was a pair of I would invasion envisage them as very I know what I'm thinking I'm just trying to verbalize it Right a very kind of well close to the right word They've seen a lot They've been through a lot there are kind of the weather ward but they still have their pride and they still walk with our head up they their best years are still ahead of them I kind of I envisage it as as like an old Vietnamese auntie but incredibly strong with a huge family or around our that that that you know that that that love her and cherish her and follow her around big boss lady the kind of women you'd see at the side of the road Bossing everyone around I it would certainly be a female character for me would be male And that's something I also love about Vietnam is how the female figures are always seen as the strong figures as well so that's why I would be as a as a as a strong female figure Certainly an older woman that seem she's been through it and she's not going to fall for any of your nonsense

Niall Mackay: 1:05:14

I love that Yeah Perfect And then someone else said a female as well I think a couple of people when it's yeah I mean I couldn't imagine Vietnam being anything other than a female because the women are just so strong and powerful here

Richard Harcus: 1:05:25

Okay

Niall Mackay: 1:05:26

Thank you so much So that's going to finish the main part of the podcast before we go tell people where they can follow you We talked about H C G T V The links are going to be there where I was getting to follow You know more about what you can do We'll put it in the notes so people can go check it out

Richard Harcus: 1:05:41

Okay so very simple if you go to Harkess cg.com the website all the links are on the website to my social media whether that's Instagram on Twitter and on Facebook you can type in Harkess consultancy group where we are able to help develop football programs Maybe your child wants to go to university college and the UK Europe and the U S we can help development pathways for young players all the way through We also yeah we work in education We work in and and all those kinds of facets of football whether that's commercial work as well So we bring in players for PR events and stuff like that but yet go to Harkess cg.com and see all the services that we provide promoting Asian football and helping players even if they're not Asian if they are if there are kids here from anywhere in the world and they want to go on to larger football programs football connect clinics camps et cetera around the world it's all about education and trying to help develop people into the base people that can be on the touch and off the bench So yeah Park is cg.com and all our social media is on there

Niall Mackay: 1:06:47

Awesome And right now

Richard Harcus: 1:06:49

think I don't take that as assigned by

Niall Mackay: 1:06:53

and run now do from Singapore If you're listening please get in touch We want to know more We want to know what your end game is So a drop is a message Well look thank you so much this is the end of the main podcast but please jump out We'll publish the second part We're going to keep chatting about conspiracy theories So thank you for listening Rachel thank you so much for your time and I'm just going to grab you for a little bit longer and let's delve into the world of conspiracy

Richard Harcus: 1:07:23

Excellent

Niall Mackay: 1:07:24

Yeah Thanks for listening to this episode of a Vietnam podcast by Seven Million Bikes hope you enjoy hearing a guest stories If you haven't already please make sure to subscribe to the show and turn on notifications So you never miss a new episode Thank you so much to Lewis Wright who made the Seven Million Bikes music and continues to support us in every way Also to our audio engineer Luke degreed for sounds amazing for you Also a big thanks to the Seven Million Bikes community Thank you so much It's amazing to get to know you guys It's amazing to see how much we're growing and I look forward to seeing you at our next event You can join the community today The link is in the description of the shoe get three tickets to Seven Million Bikes events anyone else an extra special bonus content only for you invades the special member only events You will also obviously be pervading massive support so that we can keep sharing people's stories with you on a Vietnam podcast Also follow us on Facebook Instagram and YouTube we have

Main episode: 1:08:38

podcast

Niall Mackay: 1:08:39

stories to share with you check them out if you haven't already And we hope you can listen to future episodes to So you can laugh connect and discover Jews