Englishman Gary Stempel makes coaching mark in impoverished Panama

When a middle-aged Gary Stempel took a "major risk" and moved back to Panama with his family in 1996, his father's homeland which he originally left as a 5-year-old, he found it lacked the necessary infrastructure for professional football.

Football fell some way behind baseball both in the country's preferred viewing and participation, thanks in part to local hurler Mariano Rivera, who emerged as a star reliever for the New York Yankees. The beautiful game was left jostling for attention with boxing and basketball.

After toiling in soccer schools and picking up odd coaching roles to make ends meet, Stempel's ability to speak Spanish and the coaching badges he attained in England led him to a role overseeing the now-defunct Panama Viejo and the national Under-22 team.

Remarkably, Stempel led that youth team - made up of players he found anywhere from the dusty streets of Panama City to the country's dense interior - to a silver medal at the 1997 Central American Games, a rare taste of success for Los Canaleros.

These successes aside, Stempel was instantly aware he was looking at a country suffering from deep-rooted deprivation.

"They're all in poverty. Every single one," he said. "Many of them at the age of 15 are already dads, some have been in jail. I've got one player called Pistolero - it means a shooter, and it has nothing to do with football - he has that reputation from the age of about 13 or 14."

But he couldn't have imagined the scale of the odds stacked against him and his charges.

"By the time they're 8 or 9 years old they know more than I did at 17 or 18 years old about life. They become adults very quickly because they have to survive on the street," he said.

Despite these obstacles, Stempel has helped lift many of his pupils out of dire straits, including Pistolero, better known as Jose Garces, who cut his ties with Panamanian gangs and went on to represent Academica de Coimbra in Portugal. He is now reunited with Stempel at Panama's San Francisco FC.

Luis "Coco" Henriquez was a newspaper seller who Stempel used to see when dropping one of his daughters off at school, before the coach started paying for his public transport so he could attend training. Henriquez is now back in Panama after eight successful years with Lech Poznan, where he pitted himself against the likes of Alessandro Del Piero and Yaya Toure in European competitions, and was a teammate of Robert Lewandowski.

"Harrowing experience" in El Salvador

Stempel, managing San Francisco for the fourth time, believes his job at Millwall, before he moved across the pond, put him in good stead for his roles in Panama. He was one of the founding members of the Lions' community initiatives, helping locals through sport - something that's been replicated by the majority of English clubs since.

Stempel's efforts have long gone beyond the walls of training grounds, too, as he has done plenty of work for UNICEF and helped in measures to prevent gang crime. He also runs a prison team called Tinajitas.

His expertise has even allowed him to travel the CONCACAF region as a FIFA instructor, teaching aspiring coaches in some of the most beautiful places on the continent.

It hasn't all been plain sailing around Central and South America, though, as Stempel described a "harrowing experience" of working in El Salvador with CD Aguila in 2007.

"It's a dangerous place," he said. "They have some very lively fans that were heavily involved - you'd get interesting calls late at night. I had a bad time, I didn't do well with the team whatsoever so it was really very difficult. It wasn't a pleasant experience."

The 58-year-old has also worked in Guatemala, and thinks that other coaches should try their luck abroad.

"I do (think more British managers should work in less developed countries). It's a great cultural experience. You really learn a lot," he said. "But more than anything it's a lot of fun. In the early days you learn something different or see something different every day."

As for his future, working for his beloved Arsenal or back at Millwall is out of the question. Major League Soccer does interest him, however, and he's worked with Roman Torres of the Seattle Sounders, the Vancouver Whitecaps' Blas Perez, and the San Jose Earthquakes' Anibal Godoy in the past. He also enjoyed a touchline spat with Quakes boss Dominic Kinnear when his old side, the Houston Dynamo, took on San Francisco in the CONCACAF Champions League.

For now, Stempel is content with the daily challenges that meet him as manager of San Francisco, and admits he does have an on-pitch conundrum. His team is struggling with consistency, a fitting reflection of the rich and varied life enjoyed by the former Londoner.