Alexander Nouri, former manager of Werder Bremen, Hertha Berlin and Ingolstadt, assistant to Jurgen Klinsmann in Berlin and, briefly, Gregg Berhalter with the U.S. men’s national team, is talking about motivation and creating a healthy team environment.“I think the same things drive people. To work in an environment where you are appreciated, where you are valuable, where you are a partner.“I really focus on creating a culture in the organisation, where the people like to come to work, without much bad feeling or pressure. I said, ‘Hey, we are all responsible for creating this atmosphere. We make the framework, we give the rules, we make the structure, but at the end, we define the principles, how we work together, and we need to bring it to life every day’.”Nouri, though, is not talking about a football team. Despite his experience in the game, which also goes back to a 13-year playing career mostly spent in the German lower leagues and a brief spell with the Seattle Sounders, Nouri has, in the past few years, turned his back on football.His last coaching job was with Kavala in Greece, leaving in 2022. In the intervening years, he had offers from various lower-league German teams, some from clubs in the Middle East. He shadowed coaches at a few clubs. But nothing came up that particularly excited him: certainly not enough to uproot his family for what could be a brief posting. The instability of football was becoming wearing. He wanted something more secure.Alexander Nouri during his time as head coach of Werder Bremen (Joerg Sarbach/AFP via Getty Images)“It didn’t feel right anymore,” he says. “And the job is so demanding that it needs 100 per cent of you. If you do it with 98 per cent, it’s not right.”So instead he’s putting his energy into his new life: running three branches of McDonald’s in north-west Germany.“I just felt at this moment, this was the end of that life story (in football). And so I have to begin something new.“It wasn’t a decision only of myself. It was a decision with my family, and we made it together after years of constant moves and uncertainty in professional soccer. We felt it was the right time to build a more stable future together.”Becoming a McDonald’s franchisee takes around a year, incorporating the application process, several interviews, some training and a five-hour assessment where the applicant is presented with a test case to assess, evaluate and come up with a business plan.Nouri did all of that, and took charge of his first two restaurants in January, adding a third in June. Across those three, he has around 150 employees. He isn’t exactly salting the fries and refilling the milkshake machines, and he has managers to run the day-to-day of the individual restaurants, so Nouri’s role is to oversee the three branches.