11 Questions with Jonas Munkvold

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football scouting journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Jonas Munkvold, Academy coach at Nottingham Forest:

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

I was playing football for my local club (Vålerenga IF) from an early age, but as I realized I was not going to realize my dreams of becoming a top player I started doing other things around the club. Initially helping coaching children and refereeing youth matches. With time my interesest for coaching grew and I coached a team of my own despite little coaching experience and a small age difference between myself and my players. This was a very good challenge for me, as it meant lots of practice as well as a place where I could try out a bunch of different concepts. 

At the time I had very few own ideas, due to limited experience and education. I therefore spent a lot of time reading and watching others, and ended up copying a lot of their work. This was not very successful. Only when I started taking «the best» of each stolen concept and merging it into my idea of how football is played and trained could I start delivering a consistent message to the team. That was a break-through moment for me, and lead to a lot of reflection of what type of football I wanted to represent. A very fruitful journey which I am still on.

What attracted you to coaching? What’s more intriguing now winning or developing players?

Coaches job is to help players develop the tools to win games. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing players execute something which they haven’t been able to in the past, which also helps us perform better as a team. This is psych-social as much as it is tactical or technical, which is why coaches must adopt their practices and methods to their players. There is no fail-free way of coaching and we must seek a balance which helps the group we work with as well as every individual within it. 

Michael Beale has said that he does not appreciate the saying that «there is no I in team», as he believes there are many. This is a message that stands by the way I view the role as a coach, we are here to help all the individuals who make up the team develop. As a result the team will improve too; but the players must be the starting point of practice.

I was attracted to coaching through a combination of getting opportunities to «coach» very young children through my club and playing Football Manager. As a result my early coaching days with a team was very oriented to the tactical side of the game. However, I quickly learned that the man-management part of the role was more important - especially in the context I was working within. The ability to motivate, inspire and demand an effort to learn was key to maintain good attendance in trainings as well as consistent performances on match days.

Who is the first coach/teacher that resonated with you? What stood out?

There are so many, too many to be mentioned. However, there is a quote I have borrowed from one of my coaching mentors which I would like to share and interpret. He quoted Bob Marley and said the following: «Steal a little and they throw you in jail; steal a lot and they make you king». The way I interpret this is to be on the look-out for concepts to steal and add to your thought process/methodology, and the more people you steal from the richer will your coaching process be. 

Let’s say a coach is only inspired by Pep Guardiola; they can only ever be the 2nd best there is. However, by taking all the concepts which you like and merge them together you constantly challenge and improve your ideas. This way you can be the best you can be.

What is the biggest misconception in football? Why?

Good question. For me it is that players must learn technique before they can play. These things go hand in hand the way I see them but playing is crucial to learn techniques. How is a child meant to understand and make sense of a dribble or a pass if they have little to no experience from playing the game? I would argue players must experience the game and understand the place of the different actions before there is much value to practice it in isolation from the game. 

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

Ah, there are so many that come to mind. However, I believe the ability of a leader to unite a group and make individuals want to develop themselves and each other is key. What you call this skill I’m not sure, but you cannot coach without. After learning that skill the coach has a good foundation to learn other leadership traits such as developing a good motivational climate and developing healthy and inspiring relationships with their players.

This is all dependent on the coach being open to learning, and knowing how to. That starts with the coach accepting they do not know much about the world, or even their role. Once that is an accepted truth it becomes easy to find learning in the world.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? Which would you start with?

Raymond Verheijen has done some amazing work to help coaches understand this question. The starting point for all activity must be the game itself, this has some objective references - a football action consists of communication, decision making, execution. In that order. Player development is helping players understand or execute either of these better. HOW you do that is an art of coaching. 

With this in mind we can agree that science is the starting point while the application of the science is an art. I highly recommend Verheijens work for anyone wanting to understand this better, there is written so much about it already and in a better way than I can do here. 

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

Diego Simeone and his Atletico Madrid have been a source of inspiration for me for a long time. I love and adore the way the whole team, club and fan base represent the same ideals and traits. Everything seems so right, and it is beautiful to watch. It is a perfect example of a coach/club finding the right people and place for them, Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool FC is another example of this, Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan was the same. 

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into coaching/scouting/analytics?

Speak to as many people as possible, and always try to elevate the level of conversation to add some value for yourself or other participants in the discussion. To do this you must read, practice and watch a lot, so that you have something to bring to the table in every discussion - if you don’t make sure you listen to what’s being said and make a conscious effort to learn.