New St Johnstone coach, Jordi Aluja Berengue, has travelled along a unique football career path.
It has taken him from Catalonia to Cambodia and now Finland to the Fair City.
All before he’s turned 30.
Courier Sport delves into the background of the latest member of Simo Valakari’s backroom team, officially appointed after being granted a work permit.
Early mentor
Aluja, brought up in Cambrils, a coastal town with a population of around 30,000, studied for his coaching qualifications at nearby city, Tarragona.
By this point of his life, the Barcelona fan knew that a professional football career as a player was beyond him.
“When I started coaching I saw it clearly,” he said in an interview in Spain four years ago.
“In the end you have to prioritise.
“I wanted to dedicate myself to football, and I saw that I was much better as a coach than as a player.”
It was while earning his qualifications that he met Oriol Mohedano, a pivotal figure in his career.
Having started on the coaching ladder with Spanish minnows, CF Amposta, at the age of just 21, Aluja got an invitation from Mohedano to be his assistant at Angkor Tiger in Cambodia’s Premier League.
“I quickly made the decision to leave,” he said. “I remember calling my parents and they told me I couldn’t waste it.
“I’ve been very lucky because my environment has given me the key to understanding that the most important thing to be successful in what you do is to feel that your people support you.
“That your environment accepts your decisions is essential for growing, both personally and professionally.”
Cambodian challenge
Aluja was thrown in at the deep end as Mohedano’s right-hand man.
With a language barrier to overcome, that meant putting in extra hours to ensure his training ground messages were put across correctly.
“The first few days were quite complicated,” he admitted.
“We had a translator, but I had to study before going to training, especially to know the technical words.
“Communication was complicated, but we ended up creating a coach-player vocabulary.
“We had internal rules to make things as easy for each other as possible.”
Aluja admitted he feared the worst when he arrived in the country, but his two-year stay ended up flying by, with big life and football lessons absorbed.
“We landed and the first image that crossed my mind was two guys on a motorbike without helmets,” he recalled.
“I thought: ‘Jordi, where have you gone wrong?’ I really imagined two very long years ahead of me, but I did not regret it at any point.
“Life and the people there are very different, and the experience I gained was fantastic.”
Back to Europe
In January 2020, Aluja accepted an offer to become the assistant manager and goalkeeper coach of Finnish second tier side, Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat (KTP).
“In the last part of the 2019 season we signed a Spanish player who had previously been in Finland,” he explained.
“I felt that my time in Cambodia was over, because I had no option to improve. I had to move on so as not to get stuck.
“This player helped me find contacts in Finland. He sent messages to his agent and based on my profile they took me. It was also a very quick decision.”
The move to Finland coincided with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
As was the case with his new club, St Johnstone, the Covid season proved to be one of historic sporting achievement.
KTP were promoted to the Veikkausliiga, Finland’s top division.
“If we had won our last three games we would have gone directly up,” he said.
“We lost one, so everything collapsed for us, but Kotka never gave up.
“Because of this defeat, we had to risk everything in two more games (a play-off).
“In the second leg, with seven minutes left in the game, we scored the goal that gave us promotion.
“I think I have never felt so much euphoria in my life. I even felt guilty for celebrating the goal too much because there were still seven minutes left in the game and anything could have happened.”
All hands on deck
Aluja’s expertise is split between the training ground and the world of football analytics, which it is understood made him an appealing appointment for Simo Valakari.
He was recommended to the head coach by people Valakari trusted back home in Finland when it became clear Saints were parting company with Alex Cleland and Andy Kirk.
There have been no staff cuts at McDiarmid Park following last season’s relegation from the Premiership but being multi-skilled is an obvious benefit as belts get tightened.
At KTP Aluja certainly showed a work ethic that will be admired in Perth.
“The club had many financial problems,” he said. “It was the most affected by Covid-19.
“We even came close to disappearing.
“The fact that we endured all this has been a success.
“During the quarantine, most of us who were part of the club had to manage.
“I even went to build houses, move materials, clean supermarket trolleys, throw away rubbish.
“I couldn’t go back home. Here (Cambrils) things were much worse.”
Aluja’s previous experience as head coach
In 2022, Aluja got the chance to be a head coach, dropping back into the Finnish second division with Käpylän Pallo (KaPa), the club where Valakari played his youth football.
The team’s front-foot style of football under his leadership caught the eye of Salon Palloilijat (SalPa) who head-hunted him, again as head coach, two years later.
Aluja pledged at the time: “We will play positive, aggressive football and we will strive to dominate games through ball control.
“At the same time, I want to maintain the strengths that the previous coaching team was able to build during their own era.
“SalPa was a very difficult team to beat and we want to continue to be so.”
He left there after the 2024 season, with the club suffering financial difficulties and changing ownership.
Veikkausliiga side, AC Oulu, hired Aluja in January to work with their reserve team but, when Saints approached them, they allowed him to cut short his stay after just a few months.
As pre-season gets under way in Perth, a new chapter for an ambitious, well-travelled young coach begins.
Aluja will ‘give all’ to Saints
He says: “It feels great to be part of this club and I must thank everyone for the welcome I have received.
“It is clear that there is a nice atmosphere at McDiarmid Park and around the city too.
“I have already witnessed that St Johnstone Football Club is a big part of the community.
“I will give my all to add value, skills, knowledge and something extra to the club and the team.
“As a staff, we need to provide the best information and service to the gaffer.
“Since I was a little kid it was always a dream for me to work in football in the UK.
“Now that I am here I am fully focused on helping to create a team that the fans can truly be proud of.”
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