11 Questions with Inverted Fullback

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 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 Inverted Fullback:

What is your first memory of football?

​

Playing in the garden with my brother aged 4 but in terms of watching on TV my first memory was of Norwich losing 5-0 to Arsenal in 1988 and then deciding I would support Norwich!?! (I'm a Sheffield United fan so clearly, I have a type )

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

​

Football has been my life but when I was about 7, I was introduced to what was I think the first-ever football manager game on the spectrum by my Dad and I was hooked, I loved the strategy, the numbers and winning ...I knew at the age of just 8 I wanted to be a coach, not necessarily a player.

I can't decide, I want to believe they both go hand in hand (even though I can see plenty of counter-arguments) But if my teams are winning I'd like to believe it's because we are educating our players, developing the collective, offering innovation whilst giving the players a project to believe in.

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding coaching you’ve found in this space?

​

Only the "elite" can implement complex, technical and tactical playing styles - I was coaching at semi-professional levels between 2010-2014, this was a time that Pep had Barcelona destroying everything we thought we knew about football. I studied his teams among many others, and I wanted my teams to play in a similar vein. But every time I introduced a new idea or concept to the group it would often be met with resistance, mainly from other coaches or club members and not the players. 

Whenever I would talk to fellow coaches they would often say "You can't do that at this level!" - A classic example would be the playing out from the back with CBs splitting, dropping down the sides of the penalty area and maybe even having a CDM drop in between ....you would hear the jeers from the side-lines "You're not Barcelona you know" and this would often inspire and motivate me to prove people wrong. 

I'd played at Academy level in England where my face didn't fit because I wasn't 6ft 3 and built like a brick sh** house ...I used to get neck ache playing the British way as a CM because the ball would constantly fly over my head (one day I turned up to training wearing a neck brace to make my point )...I used to remember thinking surely there is a better way and so this has been a driving force behind a lot of my coaching.

Needless to say, myself and my teams have been able to win a fair few league titles and play some sh** hot football along the way which I think has gone some way to proving you can implement what's been done at the highest level providing you can coach it in context and guide players to find their own solutions when things breakdown (incidentally fast forward 10 years and you see grassroots teams on the local park playing out from the back as Barca was a decade ago).

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

As a player I'd say my cognitive skills - I was technically sound and rarely lost the ball, but I had no vision to make a killer pass. I would love to develop my ability to scan more frequently, to look forward more, process information quicker so I could be more creative.

What is more important: breadth of skills or depth of talent?

You often hear quotes like "hard-work beats talent 8 days a week" and there is good reason for that... for me the breadth of skills in relation to football means having 'plasticity' and being able to adapt to an ever-changing environment (which football is) I think it's crucial to have skills that allow you to integrate into a group dynamic, to work as a team, to handle setbacks, to lead and inspire other people, to be a good person and constantly give your all for the cause  ...these are the skills/values that underpin success but as cliche as all that is I must admit... I still have a soft spot for players who just have raw talent. 

What is more impactful for a player: psychology or environment? Why?

Generalizing I'd probably say environment especially if I view the team as a single entity because whether through either a natural state or one that a coach has to build, a good habitat offers players a chance to problem-solve, be creative, feel part of something much bigger than just football, learn good principles/values and write their own story together which often taps into the psychological elements.  

But whilst you need those structures for success you also need to consider the individual and it's arguably the best coaches who get the best of both worlds... they know how to build team unity whilst being able to tap into the psychological components of each and every one of their players. 

What three (3) coaches would you want to have a meal with? Why?

I'd want to sit down with managers who have contrasting styles who would offer a different perspective so:

Julian Nagelsmann because I think he has embraced analytics, tactics, and man-management which I think means we would have a lot in common

Juan Manuel Lillo because I want to tap into his philosophical way of thinking

and as much as I'd love to say Pep, Bielsa, Klopp, etc who off course I would love to ....I'm going to say Brian Clough because I think he'd chew my ears off with stories of yesteryear and then we'd get hammered and probably end up on some yacht just of the West Coast chasing down Dean Saunders trying to convince him to sign for us!

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into this space?

Understand what your goal is, why do you want to get involved, and thus your purpose. Because when you know that you can focus on making it a reality, for example, If you want to be a youth coach then map out in detail where you want to be and how are you going to get there....if you want to be the greatest youth team coach there has ever been then make it happen! 

But whatever you want out of football be it professional or leisure understand what sacrifice's you will have to make, what knowledge/experience you need to gain and who you need to surround yourself with to learn from to speed up the process. 

What is your favorite quote or saying?

"Create the game don't react to it" Cheesy but football loves a good quote.