Coaches seek top qualification

With the new season fast approaching a small band of coaches and managers have embarked on a year-long mission to achieve their UEFA Pro Licence, the highest coaching qualification in the game.

The Pro Licence marries the finer points of a coach or manager’s match preparation with other non-football specific modules including employment law, finance, the media and technology, business management and club structure. Subsequently, the overall purpose of the Pro Licence is to improve the skills needed to effectively manage top level players in the 21st Century.

This year’s intake consists of 17 coaches and managers, among them, Gus Poyet, Roberto Di Matteo, Steve Staunton and Paul Hart, and they all gathered at the University of Warwick on 22 June for the first residential week of the course.

John Peacock, The FA’s Head of Coaching, is also the Pro Licence Course Director and along with Dick Bate, The FA’s Elite Coaching Manager, he will mentor this group throughout the year until they graduate in the summer of 2010.

During this first week a number of expert speakers were invited to share their knowledge in their own specialised field for example, Mark Reynolds, founder of Catalyst consultancy group and Saatchi and Saatchi’s youngest MD, spoke to the group about the qualities required to become a successful manager. And Andy Cale, The FA’s Head of Player Development, focused his seminar on mental preparation and how to handle professional players.

Despite the emphasis on non-football specifics, match preparation took centre stage later in the week when the coaches were split into groups of three and given a hypothetical scenario to overcome. For example, Nigel Adkins, Julie Chipchase and Graeme Jones (the latter has completed the course this year) were asked to ready Everton for the first leg of a Europa League quarter final against Ajax. They had to construct a week-long plan and take into account a training schedule, team meetings, press conferences, time spent travelling and recuperation.

They then had to demonstrate to the rest of the group how they’d organise Everton both defensively and in attack, with Ajax’s strengths and weaknesses at the forefront of their thinking. Students from the local North Warwickshire & Hinckley College were used as dummy players and were asked to adhere to certain instructions in an 11v11 match situation.

After these practical sessions a debrief meeting was held where Peacock and Bate could give their feedback and it also allowed the other coaches an opportunity to ask questions.

One of the final tasks the group will have to complete is an overseas study visit where they will be required to observe the training and coaching methods of a particular team (this year’s graduates, which includes Gareth Southgate and Mike Phelan, had the opportunity to visit Benfica, Villareal, Porto and Real Sociedad). Conference calls and (domestic) club visits are two other key components of the course.

The Pro Licence is now the mandatory qualification in all major European footballing countries and from next year every manager in the Premier League must have the Pro Licence in their armoury.

Click here for a list of this year's intake.

TheFA.com was granted access to the University of Warwick to witness different facets of the Pro Licence in full swing and over the coming days we will publish interviews with both the new intake and the graduation group of 2009.