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During the past week I spent a very enjoyable day at the Professional
Football Coaches Association coaching clinic held at West Bromwich
Albion, where Alan Irvine, the former assistant manager of Everton,
manager of Sheffield Wednesday and Preston and now Academy Manager
at Everton, gave a very valuable and detailed account of his coaching
career in the different staff positions he has held, which included the
various coaches and managers that have influenced his past career.
I have mentioned in previous programmes about the attention to detail and
how important it is in the scale of things today. During his time in the game
he, like us all, has witnessed many changes to our game in many ways.
Things like agents being the norm, not only in the pro game at senior level
but also at Academies. Transfers and signings used to be done by just
three people: the manager, club secretary and the player. Now a player
could have ten people involved in his transfers.
He mentioned the people that have influenced change and the bearing on
our game. For example: tactics, formations, foreign players and coaches,
training methods and sports science. The standards and philosophies that
managers and coaches have influenced him include Kenny Dalglish, Jim
McLean, Bobby Robson, Ray Harford and Ruud Gullit. He recalled when
he infamously left the two main forwards on the bench, Alan Shearer and
Duncan Ferguson, for the game against Sunderland, ultimately costing
him his job shortly afterwards. Another insightful example was David
Moyes’ take on the game which was all about doing the best for the most
important people within a club, the players. An example of this was when
the new manager Roberto Martinez, on his appointment at Everton, said
there was nothing he wanted as everything the player wanted and needed
was in place. He held meetings with his staff when you didn’t look at your
watch because a meeting with Moyes could last hours and would include
all aspects of the finer details which over time became big details and
could have had a major influence on decisions that may or not have been
taken.
Another example of detail included the preparation for a Champions
League game. The night before these games the away team usually has a
session in the stadium, usually just a light hearted session to get a feel of
the surroundings and the playing surface. No one is allowed to watch these
sessions, but Alan would watch hidden away in the police control room so
as not to be seen, just in case they revealed their starting line up or what
formation they might play. On one such occasion, Louis van Gall, who was
in charge of Ajax at the time, did just that and put on a session showing
how his team would line up.
Gavin
18
thePitmen