Writing the Academy Performance Plan for a football clubs EPPP is an education within itself, as the more you read into it the more you actually realise how powerful this is going to become to our nations football future.
With the Premier League just cashing in on a £3 billion pound TV deal you naturally start to get concerned or excited about the positives and negatives of where that money will go?
With 100,000 less people not participating in grassroots football last year these are worrying times for the national game and it's future. Worrying that is ...if ...we do not sow the seeds for the future game in this country now with the harvest of what WE the people have paid the TV companies that bought that Premier League deal.
The real danger is that the money filters through to the 'fat cats' in football like agents, foreign players, clubs etc and the crumbs that are left go back in to academies and grassroots football which will kill the game. It's is the football families DIVINE right for this money to sustain and support the academies with the new EPPP or else the PL will reap what they sow.
There is no doubt in my mind that many academies of old were just glamorised community football clubs that poached all the best local players. Then they claimed to be a machine that had this magic wand of developing players when really the player developed himself. Coaches who screamed and shouted using verbal whips and threats...and then when they saw their team win they claimed this was the way forward. (Yes this happened at the top level)
A top four premier league manager told a good friend of mine this story and it's relevant to everything above!
There's a donkey and a vicious master with a whip who needs to get the donkey to jump over a fence. There's also another master who is trying to get the donkey over the fence with love and a carrot hanging from a stick at the front.
The master with the carrot jumps over the fence himself and sets an example of how to achieve the goal and encourages the donkey with a mellow loving voice to jump.
Meanwhile the vicious master at the back of the donkey is kicking and snarling at the donkey to jump and cracking his whip. The donkey throws a look of hate at the vicious master and turns to look forward with love and ignores the vicious master and focuses on the love and reward that the true master is showing. The donkey jumps over the fence into the arms of the true master and as he does he kicks out at the vicious master and kicks him in the face with his trailing hoofs .This leaves him on his knees and confused and dazed on the floor in tears.
The true master gives the donkey his carrot and from that day on the donkey follows him everywhere he goes without a carrot and without a stick.
If you want to know the true Art of coaching you just read a book by Dale Carnegie called "how to win friends and influence people" . When you read this and master it's principles you may just realise nothing is impossible for you to achieve for others and yourself.
Kindest regards
Simon Cooper
Head of Academy Coaching
Oldham Athletic Football Club
YOUTH
DEVELOPMENT
Simon Cooper
Head of Academy
Coaching (9-18)
Oldham Athletic Football Club
MAGHULL UNDER 14's
MERSEYSIDE
We play in the Walton & Kirkdale League on a Sunday and our home ground is The Jeffreys Humble Playing Fields, Long Lane, Walton, Liverpool, L9 6DG.
We are currently top of the Walkton & Kirkdale JFL..
Training is at Litherland Sports Park on Thursday evenings between 7 and 8pm.
For more details please email [email protected]