I was inspired by Bell, Edwards – Coley
Highly regarded coach Miguel Coley listed St George’s College’s charismatic coach Neville ‘Bertis’ Bell and Barbican’s history-setting women’s team coach Charles ‘Charley’ Edwards as two of his biggest influences as a coach. Coley said that the two were very important to his development not just because of their tactical acumen, but for their appearance and deportment. “I like Mr (Neville) Bell. It used to lead me when I was at Norman Manley to go ‘George’s to watch their training. I used to go to Barbican as well to watch the females and Charley Edwards,” Coley told STAR Sports. “Those persons showed me it is not all about the coaching. It’s about how they portray themselves. As a coach, I wanted to see myself in that light. I didn’t want to be a coach that came in the worse shirt,” he revealed.
“It’s ironic that you are coaching boys and telling them they can do it, but when you look at the coach, he is not doing it. So those two coaches, based on their demeanour, their interviews, based on when I went to their training, how they dress and how they conducted themselves, were big influences.
“It was not just about tactics, or what they really did in training. It was how they conducted themselves, and I saw that as something I should adopt. So those were the two coaches that I used to go to watch,” he said.
EVERY OPPORTUNITY
Coley added that Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola, Mile Gully’s Barry Watson, and former Norman Manley coach Alrick Clarke were also instrumental in his development.
“Alrick Clarke got me into coaching. He asked me why I didn’t come and help him with the Manning Cup team. He made me the assistant and he gave me every opportunity. I used to coach Mile Gully with Mr Watson, and my coach at Holmwood, who wanted to play football, was also a big influence,” Coley added.
Coley led Jamaica College to five straight Manning Cup and Olivier Shield titles, while also winning the FLOW Super Cup and Walker Cup crowns. He is expecting to join Iranian club Esteghlal shortly, where he will serve former national coach Winfried Schafer as an assistant coach – a position he also held with the national senior team.