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Phelan sets sights higher

Winning both the Premier League and Champions League trophies in an incredible climax to a thrilling season will take some topping, Manchester United's first team coach Mike Phelan says that everyone at the club will be setting their sights as high as ever when they get back to action in August.

Speaking exclusively to TheFA.com as he began his study for the UEFA Pro Licence this month, Phelan admitted it will be a difficult task but the players at United are as hungry as ever.

When asked how they respond to such a successful campaign, Phelan replied: "You move the goalposts. We've got to look forward, and our players will definitely want to do what they do better than they did last year.

"That's just a natural progression for our boys, they'll be hungry to do it all again, we know that. Hopefully with new players who want to be hungrier, you can carry that through, and we want to win everything and move forward."

One failing from last term that Rio Ferdinand has already spoken about since the end of the season is The FA Cup; the competition in which United lost out on a place in the Semi-Final at the hands of Portsmouth. And Phelan feels that could drive the players on to achieve even more.

"You've got players of the mentality that are greedy, you know greedy for success. So we won two trophies, but we've failed in The FA Cup so that might be our drive to win it next year and carry on where we left off.

"It's a difficult one, but when you have everybody back together you find out what the mood is and they'll then get the directions of what we are looking for."

Speaking specifically about his own career, Phelan admits that coaching is something that always interested him while he was a player, and now he is on his way to completing his studies and hopefully attaining the highest coaching qualification available.

"It was something I always fancied, as a player you want to play as long as you possibly can and then something happens and you get an opportunity to coach if you're fortunate enough.

"That's the way it happened for me, and it's become a totally new experience for me, from player to coach there's masses to learn.

"It's a relaxed way of learning, and it isn't the intensity that you often think of other courses you have been on. It's structured with classroom work and practical elements. The group aspect with the open sharing of ideas has been really enjoyable, and that has surprised me.

"If you asked someone who started on the first course about the course now, they'd be quietly amazed as to the changes that have gone on.

"And I'm sure in the next five, six years there will be more adaptations to it. It's evolving all the time and I think it evolves with the game, it has got to."

In his role at Old Trafford Phelan has also been able to learn from two considerable, yet contrasting, coaching talents in the form of Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Quieroz.

"If you can't learn from them then you shouldn't be doing what you're doing. There is vast amounts of experience for a start, but I also think within that it shows how they've evolved from where they first started to where they are now, how they got there.

"I'm at the early stage of my career where I've been coaching now for ten years. But that's nothing compared to the likes of (Sir Alex and Carlos)."

Log on to TheFA.com to read an exclusive interview with Roy Keane on Saturday 5 July