THE MODEL PUPIL

Neil MacFarlane rose from the school of hard knocks to be mentored by Fergie and educated by Pressley and Neilson. Now he is applying all he learned to nurture tomorrow’s stars

THE long road from Dunoon has had its obstacles. Neil MacFarlane has encountered serious injury, administration at Airdrie, points deductions at Coventry, travails and trials at MK Dons and Kidderminster on a journey that has offered a deep football education, sometimes at the school of hard knocks.

Yet all of this and more has served to invigorate MacFarlane. ‘I am very privileged to still be in the sport I love,’ he says as he contemplates his latest challenge as head coach of Brentford B team.

It is, perhaps, best to list MacFarlane’s teachers before chronicling the professional timetable of the pupil. MacFarlane has been most closely linked to Steven Pressley who gave him his coaching opportunity at Falkirk and then took him to Coventry and to Paphos in Cyprus. MacFarlane has, too, worked with Robbie Neilson at MK Dons. He is effusive about the influence of the former and the potential of the latter.

However, it is also clear that MacFarlane is open to the teachings of what would crudely and inaccurately be called ‘old school’ and is now fully exposed to what would be termed ‘new school’.

He encountered the first in its best form in Alex Smith and Sir Alex Ferguson. Smith was the mentor for a succession of coaches at Falkirk and MacFarlane drew on his experience. He also took much from a three-day visit to Carrington, Manchester United’s training ground.

‘He was so welcoming and gave us so much access. I learned so much,’ says MacFarlane of Ferguson. ‘He had a total belief in young players and I have taken this on board. I share his main values, too, of discipline, honesty and trust.’

He adds: ‘Discipline is everything. You have to be disciplined in your lifestyle, your nutrition, your sleep. And Sir Alex taught me: don’t be late. Leaders are humble. They know who they are. You have to give your staff their trust. They must believe in you and you in them. If it is not going right, then you fix it but trust people to do their job.’

His commitment to the progress of young players is not just stated in words but franked in action. With Pressley at Coventry, he advanced the careers of James Maddison, now at Leicester City, and Callum Wilson, now at Bournemouth, who are now being linked with huge moves to the very elite of the Premier League.

‘It is so important to get young players to enjoy the game. You must push them but you must also be respectful to them. It’s a bit of old school, a bit of new school.’

His role at Brentford reflects the continuing evolution of modern football. The London club has ditched an academy to focus on developing players in another way. The strategy is overseen by Rasmus Ankersen and Phil Giles as co-directors of football.

Ankersen is a truly intriguing character. He is also chairman of Danish side Midtjylland and has written several books, most notably The Gold Mine Effect which is a fascinating investigation of the psychological element of football and the best ways to develop talent.

Midtjylland face Rangers in a Europe League qualifying tie next

week and will attempt to prove the efficiency of a structured system on and off the pitch.

‘There are good people at the club and the goal is to get to the very top. It is a forward-thinking club. Rasmus and Phil are thinking outside the box. They strive for excellence. I see that even this early,’ says MacFarlane who started his new job in pre-season.

‘The ultimate aim is the Premier League,’ he says of the Championship club. ‘We are going into a new stadium soon and we have a redeveloped training ground.’

His task is to develop players for the first team. Many have been discarded by the academies of the leading London clubs such as Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. ‘We push them in every aspect,’ he says.

‘No player reaches his full potential until he is at his optimum fitness level. Then we move to technical and tactical aspects. The first team and B squads are tight. We train next to each other and the players know what is on offer. We make demands but offer a structure. There is pathway here for a player whose career has stalled at a big club.’

MacFarlane knows what it is like to face problems in his career. He graduated from amateur football at Queen’s Park to a playing life at a series of clubs where enjoyment was laced with pain and even anguish. He suffered a cruciate injury as his club, Airdrie, was embroiled in a financial meltdown and was later consigned to life in the Championship with Queen of the South after playing with Hearts and Aberdeen.

Yet, typically, MacFarlane made the most of his spell with the Dumfries side, reaching the Scottish Cup final of 2008 before losing to Rangers.

‘The game is changing all the time but I always try to instil in my players something that never changes: work ethic. You have to have that,’ he says. ‘If I relate that back, when I first joined Falkirk I still stayed in Dunoon and travelled back and forward every day.

‘I was given a great chance by Alex Smith and by Steven but it all came from hard work. It all developed from there. I worked long hours and did a testing commute. I was learning how to coach but I also knew you hard to work for it.’

He adds: ‘When you are a coach or a player, you are going to have good runs and you are going to have setbacks. So you have to have a strong mentality and a determination. You are not going to get it all your own way. It’s the same as life. It is a big world out there and everybody is trying to achieve. You have to give it everything. It is how you respond to knockbacks.’

He learned much from the tough experience at Coventry City, a big club that had fallen on hard times. ‘Just before the start of the season we were hit a by a ten-point deduction,’ he says of the penalty for the consequences of administration in 2013.

‘We had to play away from home at Northampton. Steven went on to do a fantastic job and it was great to be to be part of it. These sort experiences did not deter me but instead it increased a burning desire to get to the very top.

‘I am now coaching