English Schools' Football Association

Last weekend, pundits and fans alike were scrambling over themselves to tell of the continuing magic of the FA Cup as National League leaders Lincoln City, overcame Premier League giant killers Burnley. It was the latest chapter in a fairy tale story for Lincoln as they became the first non-league club to reach the quarter-finals in more than 100 years.

While Lincoln’s overcoming of a side Eighty rungs above them on England’s football ladder is worthy of due consideration and exaltation, an equally interesting tale of prodigal talent was blossoming in the background. The miraculous success of ex PE teacher and now Lincoln coach Dan Cowley. Dan, with his brother Nicky, progressed from positions as teachers at FitzWimarc school in Rayleigh, devoting their spare time to coaching district schools’ teams, to roles at Concord Rangers and Braintree FC before taking the top job at Lincoln City. In less than Nine years, the brothers from Essex have swapped school playgrounds for a potential outing on Wembley’s hallowed turf.

While rags to riches stories are being penned about the brothers and job offers are abound, it would be easy to overlook the importance of their time spent in teaching and working with the English Schools’ Football Association. Dan Crowley himself has credited his time within the education profession as invaluable in preparation for life as a professional football manager.

The ESFA is responsible for the organisation and development of school competitions and festivals for boys and girls at primary and secondary school age as well as supporting coaches and players. Their role within English football is often overlooked but invaluable in the development of future stars both on the pitch and in the dugout.

As you may be aware, the trail from a career in teaching to professional football coaching is a well-trodden one. Roy Hodgson, Gerard Houllier and, more recently, Swansea’s Paul Clement and super-scout Steve Walsh have all emerged from careers in teaching to become influential in the Premier League.

One man with a keen insight into the Associations inner working as well as an understanding of what school coaches can offer is Andy Williams, ESFA council member and Chairman of the Development Committee in the north. Andy has spent more than 25 years working in the Northern Schools’ FA and feels that, while a lot of good work is being done, there is a rich vein of untapped talent within the Education Sector and a lot of clubs would benefit from paying it a little more consideration.

Andy said; “If you look across the landscape, professional football has always used teachers to support their youth development structures. You could go to any club across the country and you will find that there are teachers who are working part time within those structures. I, myself was at Tranmere Rovers and Liverpool Ladies very recently.”

He is just one of an army of full-time teachers who devote whatever spare time they have, to the coaching and development of young English players; and while he exudes a passion for his work, there seems to be a under riding concern about how the current system is functioning.

With the workload being put on teachers only increasing and working hours growing longer, the luxury of having free time to devote to a local or county youth team is being afforded to fewer and fewer.

“Because of the changing time restrictions on teachers it is very difficult to run those two jobs in parallel. The demands placed on teachers at school mean there are fewer younger teachers able to come through and take the opportunities to coach. When I worked with the Liverpool school side there was 6 of us, 7 of us involved with just 2 sides. Because of the current demands being placed on teachers, when the older guys are retiring there isn’t enough people coming through who feel as though they can commit the time to continue the coaching to that level.”

Andy is quick to point out that the onus of blame for this situation doesn’t fall solely on the shoulders of any one party. While the ESFA still does everything it can to support its players and coaches, the increasing demands professional clubs place on their young players is a further hindrance for teachers who wish to maintain their involvement in the ESFA while still fulfilling their professional and personal commitments.

“In years gone by it would be one maybe two sessions a week at your club as a player, now it could be four or five. High school players come out of high school on day release to train at One or Two in the afternoon, I can’t be leaving my job as a teacher to go and coach in the same way. If you are younger with less financial and family constraints, you can do. When you get a little older it becomes much more difficult. It’s a balance of risks for coaches. The greatest barrier is finance. For someone on my level I would have to take a serious pay-cut to work on that level. Dan Cowley mentioned in his interviews the risks he’s taken, but he knew it was a dream opportunity that he couldn’t turn down at that moment in time.

I’ve turned down jobs in football due to family commitments, it was too great a risk.”

It seems then, as in many walks of life, those who are blessed with time and the financial freedom can apply themselves to making the transition into professional coaching but for the rest it can be an insurmountable obstacle. Examples such as the Cowley brothers are far more of a rarity than they should be. The network of coaches within this county is invaluable in the process of ensuring the continuing health and participation of football in England and needs to be not just maintained, but encouraged, nurtured and rewarded.

What Andy seems to be implying is that the stumbling block in the progression from teaching to professional coaching is due to a systematic shift in the working life of a modern teacher. Budgetary cuts and increasing workload have created a reality where the working week of a teacher has changed in such a way that spare time is something of a pipe dream for some if not most; consequently, this is having a detrimental effect on schools’ football and its coaches. Additionally, not enough is done at a professional level to utilise the pool of talent that operates within the ESFA and the network of coaching teachers.

As well as concerns for the coaches within the ESFA and within English schools, Andy makes the broader point that maybe professional clubs are missing a trick.

“I think it’s a bit of a blind spot in the views of the professional clubs. When you look at the skill sets that teachers have, in developing young people and nurturing skills and abilities, it makes sense.”

It doesn’t take an enormous leap of the imagination to see how people within the teaching profession would be able to adapt their skills to working within a role at a professional club. An understanding of the concerns of young people as well as what is needed to develop them intellectually, emotionally and physically. There is a plethora of coaching talent that has gone unnoticed by the football league in place of the mundane predictability of fast tracking ex-players into positions without due consideration as to whether they possess the necessary faculties to succeed.

While this picture of English schools’ coaching may seem one of high risk and low reward, it’s not all doom and gloom as recent years have saw some examples of ex teachers taking big jobs in the big game. Paul Clement is probably the most recent coach to take a high-profile job in England following a series of dazzlingly illustrious posts that all started with a job as a PE teacher at a high school in Sutton back in 1995.

Andy says: “The avenue within the ESFA is very much still open for teachers. The avenue to work within the professional game yes, but only to an extent. In my experience, it’s about surrounding yourself with opportunity and taking every one you can to develop. Whether that be reading, using online outlets, travelling to watch games. How much you want to get out there and how determined you are to develop your own experiences and opportunities as a coach, the more you immerse yourself in the environment the greater opportunity you’ve got to develop quickly. I was fortunate enough to coach Liverpool schoolboys even after Six or Seven years of teaching and lucky enough to be involved in a system coaching a young Wayne Rooney. In terms of that landscape across the country lots of teachers of my age will be able to cite players of that size that they have been lucky enough to work with.”

In conclusion, it seems to be a world of contrasts; the frustration felt by a lot of teachers as time restrictions make it difficult to commit themselves to coaching is thankfully punctuated by the increasingly common stories of ex-teachers progressing through the coaching system. In-between those extremes is a network of passionate, tirelessly hard working coaches who give so much of their time to everything from recreational games for Six Year Olds, right through to fostering the next generation of superstars. If we want to see more stories like that of the Cowley brothers, for the sake of coaches and clubs alike changes need to be made but, with people like Andy Williams and his colleagues at the ESFA, the future is looking bright.

Article by Mark Hargreaves & Feargal Brennan