Want to be a top manager? Then head to Wales
AQ&A session with Pep Guardiola for candidates studying for coaching qualifications under the Welsh Football Association in Newport is by no means a guaranteed part of the course each year, but in December 2017 the man himself turned up en route to an away game at Swansea City.
There are universities and businesses all over the world who would pay handsomely to have Guardiola address them on his specialist subject, although on this occasion it was the small matter of a favour being called in. Among the cohort for the Uefa Pro Licence, the qualification now mandatory for anyone wishing to be a Premier League manager, was Guardiola’s then assistant, Mikel Arteta, who persuaded the coach to stop off before a 4-0 win at the Liberty Stadium.
By then the Football Association of Wales (FAW) Trust programme had already seen a few big names graduate. The new Arsenal manager followed others who would also like to be in his position one day: Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg, Sol Campbell. The former Swansea and Everton manager Roberto Martinez was another Pro Licence graduate. So too, Marcel Desailly. The course has gained popularity in recent years as footballers of all profiles coming to the end of their careers come to recognise that coaching is a profession which itself requires study and qualifications.
The FAW Trust saw an opportunity in fast-tracking players through the system. Many of those with an eye on coaching gain a Uefa B Licence qualification towards the end of their playing careers and it is understood that, under the FAW Trust programme, they can be enrolled on both the Uefa A Licence and the Pro Licence within 18 months. It is no slight on the quality of the course, but these are very often individuals in a hurry to get on with their careers, and keen to get their qualifications as quickly as possible.
At the end of a long round of press conferences and interviews on Friday evening, Arteta reflected on his time in Newport gaining his qualification and how many other managers the course had produced. “It has some magic, yeah?” he said. “It’s very well run. The process is fantastic. They adapt very much to the needs of every coach or player that’s in different phases.
“They’re very persuasive as well, and convince you this is the way to do it and your preparation is right. They touch every single aspect. I can only say great words [about them]. They were superb with me, so helpful. I really enjoyed that process with them.”
The requirement for a coaching qualification has helped break down football’s traditionally hierarchical establishment, where those who played the game are assumed to have an insight unobtainable to the rest. That has been helped by the rise of Jose Mourinho and other successful coaches with no playing career to speak of, but there has been a cultural shift, too.
Former footballers such as Arteta, who have played at the top level, accept there is much for them to learn and that an education is not just a box-ticking exercise but a preparation for management.
The trend for former players to be appointed quickly into relatively big management jobs – Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Arteta, Jonathan Woodgate – means that there is little time to waste. Traditionally the process was slower.
The A Licence is a 12-month course based on building up a coach’s education before the candidate goes on to prove he or she can indeed coach. In time, the Pro Licence is intended to be taken alongside peers who could share their experience in the game, whether they are managing in the Premier League or much lower down the pyramid.
The challenge for associations such as the FAW, with fewer resources than their English counterparts, has been to attract big names to their courses to give them the kind of profile that makes them attractive. At the same time they have to serve their own grass roots, and educate the coaches who do the difficult job of developing players at all levels. The Pro Licence has to be renewed every three years and the FAW Trust has built up such a list of alumni that the May refresher course has become an event in itself.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder, a coach for almost 20 years, has been on the FAW course recently to obtain his own Pro Licence.
The same was the case for Tony Pulis, who graduated when the Pro Licence became mandatory in the Premier League. Swansea manager Steve Cooper, whose England Under17s won their World Cup, was the course’s youngest Pro Licence holder at 26. Tim Cahill is currently combining his media career with studying for a FAW Pro Licence.
The FAW Trust course was created by its former technical director, Osian Roberts, an assistant to Chris Coleman during his time in charge of Wales and since the summer in a similar role in Morocco. Roberts’s successor, Dave Adams, a former assistant manager at Swansea and Middlesbrough, was an instructor on the Pro Licence course that Arteta completed.
“He is a very thoughtful individual, very analytical and I know Pep works in very much that way,” Adams said. “Mikel delivered a session at our national conference in 2017. He has a very strong presence on the pitch. Off the pitch he is quite a bit softer. He balances the way he is off the pitch to get the players to work. You have to have that to be an effective leader to deal with the bigger egos. I remember him being very dynamic, very extrovert, on the pitch.”
Arteta is indeed part of a new generation who accept that coaching is a specialism for which playing alone will not prepare them, and coach education is a booming industry. The question many players are asking themselves is where best to do it, and just how quickly.