Blackburn to Europe

During my time coaching in the academy at Blackburn, I was lucky enough to observe training from the likes of Sam Allardyce, Steve Kean, Michael Appleton and Gary Bowyer. 

The first team played a variety of different styles, but the club’s coaching curriculum to help develop future talent was about dominating and retaining the ball, and defending both boxes. 

A lot of the drills and set-play organisations filtered down from the first team, but at academy level the focus isn’t on three points. The ambition is to produce and sell players, and Blackburn have been experts in this area for many years.

There were some big names playing in the first team at that time, though. Roque Santa Cruz (below) was a big signing. David Bentley played his best football at the club before getting a big move to Tottenham.

I was proud to be an academy coach at Blackburn. Having arrived as a teenager, to be able to learn my trade as I did there for a number of years was a huge privilege. You become accustomed to the highest standards when all you feel is professionalism around you. I look back at that time with nothing but great memories.

Phil Jones and Grant Hanley were among the players who broke into the first team from the academy set-up. It helped, also, that while the first-team manager regularly changed through that period, the academy manager didn’t. The leadership was consistent from Bobby Downes, who had instilled a strong working culture.

I still think about Sam Allardyce’s authority – defined by both his size and presence –today. His first steps over that white line just oozed respect; he didn’t need to speak. He was a dominant force with his work, but his smile made you feel very settled when you were invited up to observe and learn.

"uwe was a coach who knew how he wanted to operate on and off the pitch"

Having those experiences in my late teens and early 20s – of managers changing, and of having to communicate with department heads in their 50s and 60s, who question things – gives you a seriously thick layer of skin. That has most definitely shaped my strong mentality. For all that there was a respectful culture in place, you can’t keep your job at a club like that without performing and hitting your targets.

Even when the club were relegated to the Championship, the club was still operating at Premier League level off the pitch. They have continued to do so since. 

After Blackburn, I had a few months under Graham Alexander at Fleetwood. During my time there, Steven Pressley – another with natural authority – replaced Graham as manager. 

Steven (below) was very clear in his expectations. He wanted the environment at the club to be as close-knit as possible, but he was also straight down the line. There were no ifs or buts with the playing style, which I liked a lot. Partly because of that, we quickly got on and built a friendship as well as a working relationship.

We were very aggressive in our training, pressing and playing principles. It was a difficult period; he arrived three-quarters of the way into a season spent battling relegation, but he quickly created a must-win environment. 

He was a positive person, and demanding in a good way. He soon told me he wanted me to work closer with him around the development squad and first team.

Uwe Rösler (below) succeeded Steven in the summer of 2016, and he was another who knew exactly how he wanted to operate on and off the pitch. We have similar personalities, and under him I learned a lot about blending in different styles and cultures than at any other period in my career. 

"when we won, we'd celebrate with a cigar and a pizza dripping in chilli oil"

At 8am every morning, Uwe’s brown briefcase would hit the table, a meeting would start and we’d go through an hour’s worth of planning. That planning would be excellent; all staff would be clear on their daily tasks.

He favoured a 3-5-2 that incorporated good team organisation with counter-attacking moments and different styles of pressing. Everything he envisaged, he put across to his staff perfectly. That bred professionalism at a higher standard than League One.

I quickly became very conscious of everything around me in terms of my own planning and tactical preparation. Ensuring 12 people around the same table are all clear on what you are doing is a skill of management.

Gabriele Cioffi, who offered me the role of assistant manager at Crawley Town, lived and breathed for the game. He consistently looked and dressed smartly, and his identity and presence was something I hadn’t witnessed before. At the start of our working relationship, Gabriele was conversational in English, but not quite fluent. We supported each other in every aspect, and his speeches were prepared in advance to help with that clarity.

Gabriele had worked with some of the best and had been influenced by the likes of Alberto Zaccheroni and Henk ten Cate.  He had previously been assistant to both Gianfranco Zola and Luca Gotti, so his regime was influenced by the Italian way while also adapting with a more ‘modern’ approach. That's something we see in another Italian coach who influenced him: Maurizio Sarri. 

His approach was focused on one-on-one duels, matching up and being aggressive. Tactically, though, it was at another level in terms of preparations. I also learned a lot about other aspects of football that you don’t study with a football federation: how to game-manage, manage referees, get inside the opponents’ heads.

"the job at colne gave me the chance to show that i could lead a team and gain experience in a different environment"

Gabriele (below) was also very humble, though, and his personal skills really impressed me. He knew that if he supported his staff, they would support him. His personal release came in being among his family and friends, and he took me under his wing like a brother.

We won seven of our first 11 home games in the league, increased our gates and even attracted the interest of a club in the Championship. It was a really good time, which extended to socialising with Gabriele. When we won, we’d celebrate with a Montecristo cigar and a pizza dripping in chilli oil.

Two months after leaving another position at Carlisle – under Steven Pressley once again – and in the conditions imposed by the pandemic, I accepted my first job as a manager. I took over at Colne, in the Northern Premier League.

I wanted to keep working to remain sharp and, unlike higher up in the pyramid, non-league football was continuing to operate. It represented a good opportunity to build a team. It was seen as a risk, but for me it was a chance to show that I could lead a team and gain experience in a totally different environment. 

I brought in Chris Kirkland, who I’d stayed in touch with since he worked with my wife at Liverpool, as my goalkeeping coach. I knew what his profile could do for the club. Chris would work with the back four, as well as the goalkeepers, and interact with players who needed that extra support one-on-one.

We also recruited Ryan Taylor. Non-league football can be very territorial, and we had a strong dressing room that had to be led – but having Ryan and Chris listening to instructions and wanting more helped. Ryan played right-back and in central midfield; his quality and ability at free-kicks, combined with the energy and desire of those around him, made our football a dream to watch at times.

"i was aware that i needed to return to a full-time football environment to fulfil my ambitions"

When you surround yourself with people who have played at the top, you get complete professionals. You also get complete people, which in turn helped me with managing upwards.

The pandemic brought a further reminder that communication is even more important. We were all introduced to Zoom calls. Some players would turn their cameras off, while some would leave them on. That could sometimes tell you who was and who wasn’t struggling. Personalities were often worked out from behind a screen, instead of face to face. During this period, I was also appointed head of coaching at Port Vale. I combined the roles for both clubs for that season.

Colne were top of the league after 12 games, looking solid and scoring for fun, but unfortunately the season was curtailed and the opportunity of promotion was taken from us. Our environment was brilliant and, according to the players, unlike any they had experienced at that level.

Despite the fact that I did enjoy it, I was well aware that I needed to return to a full-time football environment to fulfil my ambitions. I left with a heavy heart after some tremendous achievements, including a match that went viral, and started working towards obtaining a full-time role. 

By the time the opportunity at FC Magpies in Gibraltar (below) presented itself, I knew that I wanted to focus on being a head coach within a UEFA-recognised league. 

I started investigating. I learned that it would operate differently to most clubs in Gibraltar, because of its board, and that was really attractive. 

Dean Holdsworth was a director, and part of a hierarchy, alongside former Watford vice-chairman Haig Oundjian, that wanted to improve the club’s performance.

"we came out aggressively. we could run for 90-plus minutes, and we swarmed teams"

“We need energy and a different way of working,” I was told. “We’ve got so many blends of players. We’re not training how we need to play; the intensity has dropped.”

We needed to win two games to make it into the top six. I knew the average age of the squad I was inheriting; I knew that they could run, and physically go even further than they had been. 

That research also meant that I was confident we could win those next two games, and compete with the top six to reach the Europa Conference League. It was going to be a tough challenge to get the two wins, let alone push for Europe, but I went in with the intention to go for it. From day one, everyone bought into the project.

It became a whirlwind, though. I had to leave my then fiancée in England at a time when we were planning our wedding. 

We won both games, which gave us momentum. After that, we came out aggressively. We could run for 90-plus minutes, and we swarmed teams. In the Gibraltar National League, around 75 per cent of squads are made up of Spanish or South American players – but we changed from a more possession-based mentality to an intensely pressing one. 

In less than six months, we went from regularly conceding goals to recording clean sheet after clean sheet. We reached the Rock Cup final, in which we led 1-0 until the final minutes. We eventually lost 2-1 to Lincoln Red Imps – the giants of Gibraltarian football and regular participants in UEFA competitions. Despite this, we qualified for Europe with three matches to spare.

In Gibraltar, 75 per cent of the players are given professional contracts. The other 25 per cent are on a hybrid contract that involves different responsibilities on certain days of the week. There’s also a quota that means five of your starting XI have to be from Gibraltar. Both were things I had to adapt to.

I also had to take into consideration the fact that matches often kicked off at 9pm, and think about how that should affect our preparations and recovery times on the previous day. Every player wanted to eat at a different time, and some had children, which could affect the times they could travel. I had to balance being the dominant figure at the club with ensuring the players felt I was there to support them and improve on past times.

"we made another rock cup final against lincoln red imps – but this time we won"

I also moved into an apartment in the centre of La Línea, in an attempt to mix with the locals and buy into the culture. We were training at facilities over the border in Spain, and our players lived on both sides of it. I had to remind them all of what they ought to be striving for. I had to go all in with everything that I had.

Operating as a high-pressing team risked burning the players out, so I trialled different approaches. I also realised that my approach was not being used by any other teams; it’s important to be different.

I rotate between a back four and a back three, and demand that my players know how to play against low, medium and high blocks – and how our principles of play need to change accordingly. The approach isn’t fixed, but the principles are.

Lincoln Red Imps were the favourites again in my second season. They’d not lost for two and a half years domestically, and had a good run in Europe too, before we eventually beat them in the 2022/23 season. I believe it was the longest unbeaten run in Europe, if not the world, at the time. 

We did it again in the Rock Cup final, a repeat of the final from my first season. This time, though, we won on penalties. That was another sign of progress; in two seasons our team went from being in the bottom half of the table to two consecutive European finishes, and two consecutive cup finals, winning the second. Prior to that, the team had never been to Europe or a cup final.

In some of my free time, because of how close I was to Spain, I watched second and third-tier Spanish football. You could watch the Real Madrid and Barcelona B teams. The football is so advanced, although I suppose playing in the sunshine every day is a huge advantage.

I considered my preferred way of playing, but then also how much I could integrate the largely Gibraltarian and Spanish cultures with a mix of African, South American and British-based players. I was managing, while continuing to lean on what I had learned from past coaches and experiences that I’d encountered along the way.

Without necessarily travelling that much, I feel like I’ve become a much more cultured coach through my experiences. Getting FC Magpies into consecutive Europa Conference Leagues might be recognised around other football leagues, but my main task is not focusing on whether others are watching me. It’s about ensuring I give my players the tools to give their best on the big stage.

My hometown is Blackburn. I am always looking for their results, and I would love to see them in the Premier League again. It’s also where this journey started for me, and who knows? In the future, I may get the opportunity to return there in some capacity.

Author: The Coaches' Voice

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