Changing football

Our Swansea City team played a significant role in the evolution of British football.

I worked there under Brendan Rodgers, who had been approached to take over as manager in 2010 because of the style of football he played.

We inherited a team that had been moulded by the work of Roberto Martínez and Paulo Sousa. Roberto had instilled the possession-based style that Swansea came to be known for, and Paulo had added defensive solidity. When we got there, there was a good base in place.

We had a very distinct style. The idea was to dominate the ball with a combination of purposeful possession and high-intensity pressing. This came at a time when there were very few teams playing a possession-based game in this country, especially in the Championship, and even fewer having success doing it.

Twelve years on, when you watch the Championship now, more than half of the teams aim to control the game with the ball. Most teams in the Premier League play that way now, too. These teams are playing with a degree of patience, which you just didn’t get back when we were in the Championship with Swansea.

You can see how the game has evolved in this country. The influence of Pep Guardiola and the goal-kick rule change have all contributed as well.

We were fortunate that we had a patient fanbase and understanding people in charge of the club. They all knew that if we made 15 passes before making an attempt to penetrate through the opposition, that was fine. There weren’t groans in the stands when we made a sideways pass. And the success we had meant that everyone saw the benefits of playing the way we did.

We got promoted from the Championship in our first season (above), winning the playoffs, and then in the Premier League we surprised a few people.

"I knew I had leadership qualities, so I felt I could still make a career in the game I loved as a coach"

We were determined to prove we could play that way, and we had a brilliant core of British players, playing under a homegrown manager, who gained respect at the top level for playing that way. That has helped British football catch up other countries, because we were behind the likes of Spain, Italy and Germany for a long time before that. A few coaches, including Brendan, led that.

I will always be grateful to Brendan for the opportunity he gave me as a coach. I first met him back when I was a young player coming through at Reading.

Back then, as a teenager, my dream of making a career as a professional footballer was getting closer to becoming a reality. Brendan was the youth team’s coach, and I was captain.

Then, at the age of 19, I picked up a nasty injury to my left foot. I was in a cast for a few months, but when I returned to training I struggled badly. The next move was to see a specialist in Harley Street, who told me I should look at other routes in life. I was devastated.

My contract at Reading came to an end, and that was that. I had been playing for Wales in the national youth team and the Reading reserves, and I’d played for the first team in a friendly. I’d felt close to an opportunity, but my dream was over.

Everyone at Reading encouraged me to stay in the game. I’d been the captain of teams growing up, and I knew I had leadership qualities. I felt that, with my understanding of the game, I could still make a career in the game I loved as a coach.

The PFA were very supportive, and they helped fund a move to Loughborough University, where I did a degree in sports science and my UEFA B Licence on the side. I did it at Arsenal’s Hale End, alongside coaches who were 15 or 20 years older than me. That included Martin Keown, who was coming to the end of his playing career.

"i had a few different options from clubs in England, but then came the call from Brendan"

I also did some coaching in Leicester City’s academy, incidentally, as they were the local team to Loughborough University. I learned an awful lot in that time and graduated with first-class honours from university, which I always say doesn’t mean much to anyone in football. But I’m still very proud of having achieved that.

I then got experience working all over the world coaching kids. During that time I developed how I communicated with players, my session delivery and my organisational skills. I also did a lot of work on improving the technical base of the players. That was my early passion – improving young players technically – but as my career went on, the tactical side of the game became a much bigger part of my thinking, and something I learned to love teaching. Once I took the step up to first-team football, that became my real passion.

In my early years, though, it was all about working on the players’ ability to manipulate the ball, their control, and precision of passing. Futsal coaching played an important role in this technical development. I later worked with Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool, who had such great manipulation of the ball. That was a result of him being brought up on futsal, like a lot of Brazilian players. It’s a great way to improve players at a young age.

At the age of 25, after doing some coaching in the United States and then in New Zealand with Jonathan Gould and his father, Bobby, I looked to make the step up to first-team football.

I had a few different options from clubs in England in 2010, but then came the call from Brendan. We’d stayed in touch over the six years since I’d left Reading, and he knew about my progress as a coach.

He’d just been appointed as Swansea manager and told me he had one job available to recruit to his coaching staff. He said he wanted someone to focus on opposition analysis and the tactical side of the game.

I had an affinity with south Wales because my father was from there, and because I’d played for the Wales youth sides. I’d enjoyed working with Brendan as a player, too, so it was a really exciting move for me.

"We didn’t just look to dominate teams through possession. we let them play and used the weapons we had in transition"

I was out on the grass with the first team on a regular basis, but I also spent a lot of time studying the game to build up my tactical knowledge.

My confidence grew as I developed a deeper understanding of tactics. I found I could hold my own and have a conversation with anybody about football. There was one occasion when Manchester United were playing at the Liberty Stadium, and Sir Alex Ferguson came into the coaches’ room when I was in there on my own. I haven’t been starstruck many times in my life, but I was when the greatest British manager of all time walked into that room. I wasn’t uncomfortable in that company, though, and I could feel my confidence growing as a result.

We had a great time at Swansea. Winning the playoffs was so memorable, and then finishing 11th in 2011/12 – just one goal off the top half – in Swansea’s first season in the Premier League got us a lot of attention.

At the end of that season, I was offered the job with the club’s reserve team. I was excited about that, but then Brendan’s success led to a call from Liverpool. They wanted him to take over there, and he wanted to take me with him. It was too big an opportunity to turn down.

The draw of managing players like Steven Gerrard (above) was huge. He was Liverpool and England captain at the time, and I would say the word I have for working with him was ‘reassuring’. That’s because he turned out to be everything I ever thought a world-class footballer should be. With his drive, competitiveness, humility and professionalism, he became a real reference point for me.

The second season we were there – the 2013/14 season – was memorable because of how close we came to winning the title. We created a team that could score goals in three different ways. We could create chances in open play through our possession and combination play, but we also had a really dangerous counter-attack led by Luis Suárez, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling. Against certain opponents at home – such as when we beat Arsenal 5-1 – and away when we played in a 4-4-2 diamond, we played on the break. We also had real set-piece threat, with Gerrard’s delivery and the likes of Martin Skrtel attacking the ball.

The key strength of that team was how adaptable and flexible we were. We didn’t just look to dominate teams through possession. Anyone who gave us the chance to invite them on, we let them play and used the weapons we had in transition.

"Celtic were used to dominating, but we took their control of games a step further"

We also had the huge emotional driving force of going for Liverpool’s first league title in a long time, which became a real motivator for the players. It was unfortunate that we just couldn’t get over the line.

After Liverpool, I had a short spell back at Reading in my first role as an assistant manager to Brian McDermott, who had been my reserve-team coach when I was a player there 11 years earlier. It was a chance to lead training day to day, and although it was a tough time for the club due to things going on behind the scenes, it was a good role for me and my progression. It prepared me for what was to come next.

Brendan got in touch again only a few months later, to say he wanted me as his assistant at Celtic. They paid to release me from my contract, and I moved my family up to Glasgow. There aren’t many places in the world that can rival Glasgow for the intensity of its passion for football, which made it some experience.

There, I got a chance to develop my media skills. Even as an assistant manager, I was regularly required to fulfil media duties. Every word was closely scrutinised.

The first season we got there was Rangers’ first back in the Scottish Premiership, and there was a lot of expectation around them.

But we were totally dominant. Celtic were a team that were used to dominating, but we were able to take their control of games a step further. We went the entire domestic season unbeaten, completing what they called the ‘invincible treble’. We won all three trophies without losing a single game.

The next season, we won the treble again. And, when we left towards the end of the following campaign, we were on course to win it again. The team won it after we’d gone.

"You need success to get buy-in. luckily, we had that"

The expectation there was immense. I did a press conference after a draw away to Inverness, and I heard the words ‘crisis’ and ‘panic’ used in the questions. The level of scrutiny was really high, but to be honest I liked it because I thought it was fair. It was aligned with reality. The expectation was to win every game, and I enjoyed that.

It was different when it came to the Champions League, though. The atmosphere at Celtic Park was incredible. I’ve seen elite players, coaches and staff members taken aback by the noise that came out of the stadium. I used to joke that the fans were like hyenas because of the screeching that came out of the stands.

We were often playing against the best – Manchester City (below), Barcelona, Bayern Munich, PSG – and we had some memorable nights in Europe.

I do think it’s difficult to be so dominant on a weekly basis in the league, often having 70 per cent of the ball, and then adapt to play such different games in Europe. It’s like a different sport. Moving in a block, and constantly running to cut off passing lines and keep your shape against the best teams in the world. It’s just so different to the way Celtic are used to playing on a weekly basis, where they are the protagonist. It was the two ends of the footballing spectrum, and it was challenging to adapt to that. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make any real progress in Europe as a result.

In February 2019, when Leicester came in for Brendan, we decided to return to the Premier League. I was a bit apprehensive, because I knew that Leicester had had such success winning the Premier League in 2016 playing a counter-attacking style. We were going in wanting our team to press the opposition high as much as possible and control games by having the ball. I wasn’t sure whether the players would buy into what we wanted to do.

As it turned out, the players really embraced it. We were able to control games with our style of play, but kept the counter-attacking threat with players like Jamie Vardy and Harvey Barnes.

You need success to get buy-in, and luckily we had that. We finished fifth two seasons in a row, missing out on the Champions League on the last day of both seasons after spending long periods in the top two or three. And, of course, we won the FA Cup and Community Shield, as well as making it to the semi finals of the Europa Conference League in 2021/22.

"I’m a pragmatic person, and I feel that transfers into my coaching. It’s about being an effective team"

At both Celtic and Leicester, it was my job to lead training on a day-to-day basis, managing the other coaches and working closely with the sports science department to implement our periodisation model. The training sessions were based on a combination of our core principles and the specific game plan for the next fixture. The day before the game was when Brendan would deliver his tactical session to finalise the game plan.

I also did lots of individual development work with players, which I really enjoyed. This was both on the grass, after the team session had finished, and then inside with the video analysts.

I'm particularly interested in central midfielders because it’s the position I played and it’s the most complex position, both in terms of body orientation and decision-making. You have to learn to deal with pressure from everywhere, and to connect the game from back to front. I find that fascinating to coach.

There was also a man-management side to this individual development that I really enjoyed. This is crucial to help keep the players at their best, and I’ve learned first-hand just how important that is.

I’ve always been open about my desire to be a manager. The next step will naturally be into a role as a head coach or manager, but of course it has to be the right fit for me.

I want an organised club that can be aligned with my vision. I feel I’ve proven myself as an assistant at the top level, and now I’m ready to make that next step into an exciting future. Alternatively, I may continue as an assistant for a while longer, depending on what opportunities arise.

"The target is to be successful at the very highest level"

I want to create an environment at a club where there is ambition to improve and to be successful, and enjoy what we’re doing while we do it. I’ve got a burning desire to win, and to do so at the top level.

I put a lot of detail into my work, but I also want my players to have the creative freedom to express themselves. I want a structure, on and off the pitch, that gives players the tools and space to flourish.

Controlling the game with the ball will always be central to my philosophy but, just like the Liverpool and Leicester teams I worked with, I want a degree of tactical flexibility to adapt to different opponents and different situations. I’m a pragmatic person, and I feel that transfers into my coaching. It’s about being an effective team.

When I was coming through the ranks as a young player, I set out to be the best footballer I could be. When that dream ended, I decided I wanted to be the best coach I could be, and that is still what I want to achieve. The target is to be successful at the very highest level.

For now, though, the aim is to succeed in whatever job I have next.

Author: Ali Tweedale

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