Today finally saw my managerial début. I'm not going to lie;
it wasn't quite as I’d imagined it over the years. No one in the terraces was
chanting my name. In fact, there were no terraces, just a primary school on a very
cold Sunday morning. I never thought I’d be managing a Kippax Athletic team at
my age. I thought I’d have to wait until I was a dad before I could do this.
After years of playing Football Manager and FIFA I was
finally able to live out my dream. It’s something I've wanted to do for a
number of years now and I'm so glad my good friend Danny Hall offered me this
opportunity. Aidrian Boothroyd said that he knew he wanted to be a coach when
he realised he was a crap player and I am very much the same.
I realised long ago that I have very limited talents on the
football pitch but always considered myself to be able to read a game quite
well. It’s a bit like having the extra yard in Teddy Sheringham’s head without
any of the ability to do anything about it.
I'm hoping that this will be a long term thing as I’d quite
like to be able to see how this group of kids develop and if any of them can go
on to play at a higher level. At 6 and 7 it’s very difficult to tell where they
might end up. I've seen one or two that have a natural ability for playing that
many others don’t possess but you just can’t say how they will be when they’re
11 in terms of both ability and physically.
Today was the first time seeing them in a match after
working with them a couple of times in training so gave me a great chance to
see what they were like under more pressure. I saw a lot of positive things and
a couple of things that will need work, but that’s to be expected. Although we
lost, there was a lot to be encouraged by and thankfully they didn't look too
disheartened afterwards.
I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season with
this group of guys (and a girl in goal). Hopefully we can get a few wins under
our belts and I can develop my coaching skills as well as the kids skills.
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