We sat down with Kaspars Gorkšs, former captain of the Latvia national team, who completed his MIP course in 2019 and served as President of the Latvian Football Federation from 2018-2019.

We delve deeper into his journey into the game, his time in English football which saw him win two promotions to the Premier League, and his different approach to the sport as he navigates new roles off the pitch.

So first of all I want to take you right back, where has your love of football come from?

That’s actually easy, it came from my dad. He was and still is an absolute nutter for a game of football and somehow he got that bug into me as well. I never had the ambition to be a professional football player, but I really enjoyed watching and following football and eventually training as well. I really enjoyed being around the game.

You mentioned your dad being a big influence on your passion for football. He’s now the chairman of FK Auda where your two brothers play. Would you say that it was a competitive household growing up?

That’s an interesting question. I never felt that my dad demanded much from me, it was more about the feeling of responsibility I felt and I never wanted to let him down.

I think that followed me in my future career as well, having the mindset of demanding more from myself. I saw that my dad really would like me to succeed and he was always my biggest critic and that transferred into my mindset throughout my career, and now in my administrative career.

Other than you in 2012/13, no Latvian has played for a Premier League team in over twenty years. What initially attracted you to English football?

I remember the exact moment because I wanted to finish playing football and get into doing something else. I played for a team called FC Ventspils in Latvia and we were drawn against Newcastle United in the Europa League. We went to play them at St. James’ Park, and I remember that feeling when I got on the pitch. When you see the stand in front of you and then this massive amount of noise, I thought, Jesus, that is what football is all about! I felt I had to do everything I could just to try to experience that. So from then on, I think that was the first time my goal was set to see if I could succeed in England.

Football everywhere else is like a very long-lasting hangover; chasing the same feeling to happen again and you never get it. There are still crowds, nice stadiums, clubs that are historic and old, but it never feels the same as England. That is with the biggest respect to every other organisation I represented but that’s how I felt.

You have recently been inducted into the Forever R’s Club… congratulations! How did it feel being back at Loftus Road to celebrate your career?

I must say that English teams know how to make ex-players feel special! Lots of things come to you when you reflect on your career, that you unwillingly start to take for granted. It was great to be back at Loftus Road and to meet so many people who supported me through the three years I spent there. It’s unexpectedly nice to be recognised and remembered. I think that it was a great, great honour and a privilege to have that day.

After retirement, your first job was President of the Latvian Football Federation – how did you find your transition into a non-football career?

To start thinking about life after football is one of the weirdest feelings. When you get into that loop of thinking about quitting football or not enjoying playing football hoping that your skills, health and everything else will come back to you. Consciously, you understand that it is over, but you prolong that decision because of the uncertainty that might come after.

I didn’t want to leave the game feeling unsatisfied or angry about something, so I had to have a final season playing that gave me peace of mind and the opportunity to prepare for that transfer.

Would you say that your MIP course helped with that transition?  

I jumped on the opportunity to start the MIP course, it was great for me to realise what is required. I remember in one of the first sessions, I wanted to choose something to bring back to Latvian football, so that was when I set my goal to become the president of the Latvian FA. It gives you confidence because you start to pick up things that you already know through a different perspective as a professional athlete, and then that academic knowledge that you are lacking which gave me a lot of confidence to make the next steps.

Was there a key moment in your MIP course that stuck out to you? 

You get asked to give speeches to youngsters who have just finished school, and that was the moment when I realised that I was in exactly the same position as them. The only difference is that they are eighteen and I’m thirty, and that was an interesting realisation.

I think that’s when I understood I have to do the same that they do, I just have to do it quicker. Football has taught me a lot of things, so I have a lot of cognitive instincts that I will have to rely on in normal life now.

I have seen your recent work in the media and for confederations, what is next for Kaspars? Where do you see yourself heading in the next few years? 

I have purposely moved away from sports because I wanted to expand the attributes and knowledge I had. I finished my law degree and completed an education course for coaches to see how the system in Latvia works from within.

I was always attracted to building and leading teams. You hear the word ‘team’, in the corporate world much more often than in football, because I think in football, being a team it’s something self-explanatory. Without a team, you cannot win the game. In sports, when you start talking too much about being a strong team it means that probably the manager is getting sacked! In the corporate world, it is the opposite. I think the actual management of people, that you also have in sports is something that I found interesting.