The 26-year-old spent four days shadowing Neil Dewsnip and his staff as they prepared the Young Lions for their double-header in Russia, staying with the squad at their camp in Cobham from Tuesday until they departed for Moscow on Saturday.
Wells, who already has his A Licence and his planning on taking his Pro Licence in the not too distant future, is the second up-and-coming coach to spend a week with Dewsnip after Chelsea U18s boss Joe Edwards joined the camp ahead of the matches against Switzerland in March – and it is an opportunity not to be missed according to the Spurs coach.
“It’s been such an interesting week and it’s been nice to see Tottenham players in another environment. It’s been fascinating to see how Luke Amos and Kyle Walker-Peters behave and interact with boys outside of the club and how they train at the very elite level,” Wells told TheFA.com.
“Also, it’s been great to learn a bit more about the characters of lads from other clubs. You can become institutionalised at your club, and you don’t always get to see the standard of other players, so that has also been really interesting.
'The more that relationship becomes tighter and continues to grow it will be key'
Matt Wells on the relationship between club managers and national coaches
“But from a personal point of view, being able to work with someone of Neil and his staffs pedigree has been really beneficial to me. We go on at least five international tournaments on our programme at Spurs, so this has been a massive social development tool as well as tactical to see how England run their trips. A lot has been similar, but you always pick up little bits like I have from Neil, but it’s been really good and I’ve fully enjoyed it.”
The relationship between club managers and national coaches is a key factor in the development of England and their sides at all levels.
As a young coach himself, Wells believes spending a week within the Young Lions camp offers others like him an ideal chance to build on those relationships while broadening their own knowledge.
“I’ve been in touch with Neil a fair bit over the course of the season as we have a few boys involved with England. He has been to a few of our games and we’ve had a lot of discussions, some related to the players and some just about football in general.
“He mentioned the trip to Russia and I enquired about the possibility of shadowing him and his staff for the get-together and thankfully he said yes.
“It’s something I’ve really wanted to do as part of my learning and development. I’ve been at Spurs a few years now and it is good to go and experience other environments, you never know what ideas you might pick up,” he added.
“One of the big things this week has been the huge amount of discussion on football. Me, Sean O’Driscoll and Neil have exchanged a lot of ideas in how we can improve and enhance that relationship next season. The more that relationship becomes tighter and continues to grow, and the communication remains good, it will be key – and it also allows me to give greater feedback to my players.”
Wells spent last week with England U18s at Cobham
Former England international and Fulham midfielder Scott Parker was also in attendance for Friday’s training session at Cobham, and Dewsnip is delighted to be able to offer aspiring young coaches the chance to have a taste of the England set-up and is keen to hear their thoughts on it.
“It’s been great to have Matt with us. The relationship between me the national coaches and our club counterparts is very important, as obviously they are trusting us with their players.
“But I’m glad that he has enjoyed it as much as we have had having him. It’s always good to share ideas with other coaches and to get feedback from them on how we do things.”
As well as Wells’ presence with the U18s, Brighton & Hove Albion first-team coach Nathan Jones was with Gareth Southgate and the U21s last week as The FA continued their Coach Development and club engagement programme across the national teams.
