11 Questions with Stu Widdowsøn

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 Stu Widdowsøn, Head of Analysis and Assistant Coach Team Wellington FC:

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

When I first moved to New Zealand in 2015 I decided to really have a crack at coaching as a profession. I initially started coaching an U14 team & a senior social team. Both teams did relatively well & it evolved from there. The following season I coached a college team & a U17 team, where I found that coaching youth players was probably my niche in football. This led to a role with a National League outfit Team Wellington, which incidentally was senior players, where I was the team manager for two seasons. In 2018 I took position coaching the First XI at Wellington College, as well as heading up the analysis department for Team Wellington, after leaving the role of team manager. The 2019/20 season then saw a shift to coaching senior players for Team Wellington, as one of the assistant coaches.

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

Working in football was something I always really wanted to do from a young age, initially as a player. However, once you establish that not being good enough to be a pro footballer is a problem, you have to diversify. The biggest attraction to coaching is that I do not see it as work, it’s a job in its definitive form, but being on the pitch coaching gives me a sense of freedom. In terms of winning vs. development, I think it depends it what area of the game you work in. For example at senior level, it’s about winning, if you don’t win, you lose your job, as we see week in week out at the professional level. I primarily work with youth players, so development is the core focus, however the players also have to know how to win, so that when they move into the senior sphere of football, the ruthlessness doesn’t come as a shock!

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

There have been a lot of influences on my how my coaching & philosophy inside football look. The beauty of this is that it is constantly evolving. We are very lucky in the coaching community that everyone is very eager & willing to share their work. I use Twitter to follow people that are constantly exploring new ideas & use it myself as a platform to have my ideas evaluated & critiqued. Going back to the initial question, I think Marcelo Bielsa is a coach that resonates with me a lot on the global stage. 

Football is an obsession to him & his understanding of the game is unprecedented. However in terms of a coach that has helped me immensely & improved my understanding of the game is José Manuel Figueira. We spent three seasons together at Team Wellington between 2016 & 2019. The standards & they way he works have influenced me heavily in how I coach & the environments I try to create within the teams I coach. 

In my coaching I have developed a desire to try & be as tactically astute as I can be, amongst other targets & José gave me an extremely high baseline in this area. I have also been very lucky that the current head coach of Team Wellington, Scott Hales, kept me on his staff during his recent appointment. He has pushed me to give senior coaching my best endeavours & the exposure of working with some of the most talented players in New Zealand, as allowed me to grow & develop as a coach.

What is the biggest misconception in football? Why?

I think there are many misconceptions in football, but from a coaching perspective is the outside perception of the discipline. At the level I work at, we spend every evening outside coaching, rain or shine, every weekend coaching games & seldom have a day off. It’s part of the job & you acclimatise after a while, but it can be straining on family life. So in essence it’s the misconception that anyone can do it & maintain a decent work life balance. It’s virtually impossible, it consumes you.

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

Tough question, as I would work on everything, if I could. You always strive to be the best in what you do, so every skill you pick-up, you want it to be better. My biggest area to work on is probably more a mental skill - having the conviction to settle on a decision is probably my biggest flaw. I think this is born from being quite a diplomatic person & listening to both sides of an argument before making decisions, however in the heat of the moment in a football game I need to back myself & deal with the impact of the decision afterwards.

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

Both art & science have a big part to play in the development of a player & ultimately they go hand in hand, so for me neither takes a precedence from the outset. Are there times when one outweighs the other, yes for example, without the information from S&C coaches you can’t give a player the best environment in which to display their creative talents. I do think that science has crept a little too far into the game at time, but with the money on offer in the top levels of sport, the smaller percentages can be the difference between existing & not.

What is your favourite sports moment? Why?

Good question…I think a lot of my favourite sporting memories come from childhood more than anything & they have shaped my love of the game. Three tournaments in particular come to mind, Euro ’96 in England, France in ’98 & Japan/Korea ’02. These tournaments I can remember quite prominently while being at school & think the constant saturation of football has pushed me to be where I am today. All of these tournaments have defining memories for me, Gascoigne against Scotland in ’96, Owen against Argentina in ’98 & Beckham’s penalty against Argentina again in ’02. 

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

I’m a big Leeds United fan & was over the moon when they employed Marcelo Bielsa to take the reins last season. As previously mentioned I’m a big fan & to see his methods close-up & personal is fantastic.

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

Be prepared for long hours, minimum wage & a very slippery ladder of progression. Without question football is about who you know as opposed to what you know, this becomes secondary until you’re actually in a role. I did a lot of volunteering at the expense of a paid job (much to my girlfriend’s annoyance at the time) & it allowed me to develop relationships & networks which I continually try to grow & ultimately a job in the game. 

I recently spent a couple of days at Burton Albion FC, while visiting the UK. This would not have been as easily accessible, if I did not have a connection network. My biggest advice is to get a Twitter account & start following coaches you like, admire etc & try & post some meaningly content which people will read & subsequently give you a follow. It will take time & mine is constantly evolving & isn’t overly large, but I now have a contact all over the globe. But most of all, are brave, don’t follow & copy, take ideas & put your spin on them.

What is your favourite app/tool to use (for fun only!)?

The app I use most is TacticalPad & Twitter when it comes to coaching. TacticalPad allows you to design sessions that look clean & presentable. In the landscape I work in, having good visual aids around what you’re coaching helps immeasurably.

What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work? Why?

I don’t watch or do an awful lot of sports other than football…however I think there are some very good coaches doing good things in American Football, Basketball & Rugby Union. It’s always wise to keep abreast of how these environments function, as most ideas, to a point, are transferable to football.