10 children per coach: The importance of the 1:10 ratio

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10 children per coach

The importance of the 1:10 ratio

 

One of the hottest topics in the education sector right now is growing class sizes. A combination of factors including underfunding of the system and the Covid-19 pandemic has left primary schools across England trying to educate upwards of 30 children with only one teacher. These “supersized” classes which are fast becoming the norm across England and Wales are in stark contrast to the approach of We Make Footballers. We operate with a strict 1:10 ratio, meaning 10 children to one coach based on science, years of experience, and FA recommendations. With up to four coaches at every session, each player gets the individual attention they deserve to make the most of their potential.

The 1:10 ratio allows a coach to take a keen interest in a child’s development, both as a footballer and a person. At We Make Footballers academies in disadvantaged communities – who are usually the hardest hit when it comes to large class sizes – children will often get more attention than at any other point in their week.

This serves as a reminder that We Make Football franchisees do far more than just provide coaching. They offer a safe space for children to play, learn and express themselves under professional adult supervision. We Make Footballers deliver a community service at a time when schools – often through no fault of their own – are struggling.

Using 1:10 ratio means that players are under constant supervision. Coaches can identify areas where individuals can improve and come up with training plans to help them do so. They can see which players in the group need more help and offer them the support required to boost their progress.

Individual praise is vital when it comes to coaching children and that is made easier when working with a group of 10. Being able to constantly encourage a child boosts their confidence, which in turn makes football more fun and leads to improved self-esteem in other areas of life.

Coaching in 10s also allows for sessions to be safer and more fun. Coaches can be more vigilant and spot incidents as soon as they occur. For players, there is less standing around waiting to partake in a drill, something that can lead to boredom. When children are always involved, they are happy – and happiness is the key to ensuring they want to keep coming back.

To really understand the difference the 1:10 ratio makes, let us compare it to supersized classes. Supersized classes are defined as those with 30 or more children. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of supersized classes in England has increased by 20 percent with over 900,000 pupils now being taught under such conditions.

The pandemic made matters even worse. Children missed out on months of vital education under the guidance of teachers. Persistent absences increased from 15 percent in 2019 to 16.3 percent in autumn 2020. Some estimates have put the number of children who have not returned to school following re-openings as high as 100,000. 

In December 2021, England’s children’s commissioner launched a major investigation into locating these so-called “ghost children” amid growing concerns over the welfare of individuals who had dropped off the state’s radar.

Those who have returned to school have seen their education truncated. Teachers leaving the industry and self-isolation periods for both staff and children have caused disruptions and can be partly to blame for the rise of supersized class, but the real problem is the underfunding of the education system. A decade of education cuts has seen school spending per pupil drop by nine percent in real terms, down from £7,200 in the 2009-10 academic year to £6,500 in 2019-20.

Boris Johnson’s government pledged to commit an extra £7.1 billion in funding for schools in England in 2022-23. That still does not reverse the damage of the past 10 years, leaving spending per pupil still one percent lower than 2009-10 accounting for inflation.

Nor did the commitment impress the government’s “catch-up” tsar, Sir Kevan Collins. He felt that £7.1 billion was nowhere near enough to even start helping schools catch up, quitting his post shortly after the funding announcement in protest by saying it fell “far short of what is needed” to ease the impact of the pandemic on children’s learning.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), has made the case for the link between education cuts and supersized classes: “The increase in children in large classes is a direct result of government underfunding of the education system because schools are not able to afford the number of staff needed to maintain lower class sizes.”

Poor communities are the worst hit by an inability to afford staff, which in turn decreases social mobility and increases the class divide. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are often already playing catch-up when they arrive at primary school. 

They are the ones who would benefit the most from smaller class sizes, having teachers who can dedicate more time to their individual needs rather than working with in excess of 30 children. When schools cannot incentivize teachers to work in such challenging environments through decent pay, then class sizes balloon to the detriment of the children who need help the most.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders’ union NAHT, said when asked about supersized glasses in 2021: “It says a lot that the largest class sizes are in the most deprived areas, and that this has got worse over the past decade of government cuts to education funding.

“If the government is serious about equality of opportunity for all children, it must invest so that every family can be certain of a great education, in a great school, with great teachers, regardless of where they are in the country.”

Numerous studies have been carried out around the world over the course of many years advocating the benefits of small class sizes. One of the most famous was the Student Teacher Achievement Ratio – the STAR study – carried out in Tennessee during the late 1980s.

Students and teachers were randomly assigned to either a small class with an average number of 15 children or a larger class of 22. The difference of seven children was a reduction of 32 percent and was chosen to help distinguish what happens when class sizes drop by around a third.

After one year of education in these class sizes, children have tested their English and mathematics skills. Those in the smaller classes had an increase in achievement by an amount equivalent to an additional three months of schooling four years later – proof that size does matter.

Whilst the government struggles to appropriately fund the English education system and children’s learning continues to be damaged by supersized classes, We Make Footballers will always be committed to providing the 1:10 ratio.

When parents trust We Make Footballers to deliver a footballing education for their children, it is our job to do it by giving each player the dedication they deserve to help them make the most of their abilities.

 

Practice makes permanent – but how do you make repetitions fun?

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Here is one of the major dilemmas that you face as a football coach when training young players: To master a skill, a child needs to repeat it over and over. Practice makes permanent is one of the core principles that all We Make Footballers franchisees come to understand. But doing the same action repeatedly becomes boring pretty quickly – especially for children. How then do you make repetitions fun, ensuring that every player gets the required amount of practice at different parts of the game to achieve their potential?

A good starting point is to understand the importance of repetitions. The easy option would be to avoid asking a child to repeat the same action and instead just let them get on with playing a game, but there is no long-term benefit in that at all.

Practice makes permanent because when a skill is mastered, it becomes second nature. Watch Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and the rest of the world’s finest play and it is noticeable how effortless they make it look.

That is no accident. Years of practice mean that they do not have to think about the process needed to control a ball on their chest, turn and then hit a half-volley with their back to goal into the top corner. They have done it so many times on the training ground that it is easy.

We often look at free-kick masters for the best examples of the benefit of repetitions. David Beckham was famous for staying behind after training, spending hours on end practising direct free-kicks into an empty net. Unforgettable goals like his free-kick for England against Greece were Beckham’s prize for that dedication to his craft.

The science behind repetitions is well established. At its most basic level, the more we repeat a task, the more efficient the neuron cells responsible for transmitting information become. These cells talk to each other as well as send signals to the muscles needed to perform a skill. The faster the response, the better chance of success.

Say a player is in a tight spot, marked by an opponent on the touchline. If neuron cells are responsible for alerting the brain to where the space is into which they can exit quickly transmit that information to the neuron cells that fire the muscles required for a Cruyff turn out of the situation, the chances of getting away are greatly improved. Repeatedly practising Cruyff turns would have trained those neurons for that exact scenario.

Whilst a handful of children might be interested in science, most come to We Make Footballers kick a ball around, emulate Harry Kane or Mason Mount and improve their footballing ability. Not many are raised in military-style households where repetition is a source of pride either.

We have to find other ways to ensure that players get the repetitions they need without becoming bored by it all. With our youngest players, we do this by taking the most powerful tool a child possesses – their imagination – and using it to trick, hoodwink and bamboozle them so that they do not even realise they have been repeatedly practising drag backs for 15 minutes.

Children are suddenly having to escape pirate ships. Our coaches become monsters or aliens. There is deadly lava all over the football pitch which needs to be avoided at all costs. When a child is trying to flee a volcano or avoid their coach who has transformed into a zombie, then the fact they have just completed 50 stepovers is the last thing on their mind.

When a parent asks their child if they want to sign up for another 10 sessions with a We Make Footballers franchise, we want the child’s mind to think back to all the adventures they have had with us. 

By now, they have mastered that stepover through repetition. The skill is in the bank and their focus will be on the adventures that the next 10 weeks might hold. When football is fun, it is never boring.

A slightly different approach is needed with older children. They still have that wonderful imagination, but they don’t need to be spoken to like toddlers, nor can they be hoodwinked as easily as the younger groups.

Challenges still work when it comes to making repetition fun, but of a different sort. Older children need motivation and that can come from achieving a target or aim. How many goals can you score with your weaker foot? How many Maradona turns can you complete in a set period? 

If there is a purpose to repetitions rather than doing the same task simply for the sake of it, then it suddenly becomes much less boring. Reducing downtime also helps. Ensuring that players are always involved and not standing around in a queue significantly reduces their chances of being bored. This is why we operate with small group sizes at We Make Footballers, so every player gets the attention they need.

Finally, older children tend to respond best to enthusiastic, fun coaches. If the coach can instil that any drill which might be seen as repetitive is in fact fun, then that tends to rub off on the players they are working with. 

When a coach has a boring tone of voice or does not believe themselves that what they are putting their players through is enjoyable, then children are very quick to pick up on that and adopt the same attitude.

The very real danger when a player becomes bored is that they end up behaving badly or asking their parents to quit training. By making sessions as fun as possible, we do everything we can at We Make Footballers eliminate the chances of that happening at the same time as helping every child reach their potential through our practice makes permanent ethos.

 

Earning the right to win: How We Make Footballers challenge their players to reach their potential

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Success and victory in football are never guaranteed. Earning the right to win – a mindset that the best players in the world all share because the importance of it was drilled into them from a young age.

How do you make a child understand that success must be earned? For many, it comes with what they learn playing with friends and older siblings. When family or playground bragging rights are on the line, nobody is going to go easy on a younger child based on their age.

This teaches them that success has to be earned and when it comes, to savour it. The more gratifying and hard-earned a victory, the better it feels. And the better it feels, the greater the desire to experience that feeling again – breeding a winner’s mentality.

Take Declan Rice for example. Now one of the finest midfielders in the Premier League and a mainstay of the England setup, Rice grew up playing with his older brothers Connor and Jordan. 

They did not want to lose to their youngest sibling and so Rice learnt from a young age that he was going to have to try hard and earn success against his own family.

Speaking to the Football Association as part of their Growing Up series, Rice tells the story of how he was determined to become a better player to compete with his brothers.

Needless to say, as a future Three Lions international, he did that: “When I was six or seven, I’d be going to play with them at five-a-side and I remember dribbling around all their mates who couldn’t believe it, for a young kid to be doing that to them.”

Rice did not always win, however. His brothers would occasionally outdo him. And the failures he experienced were as instrumental in his becoming a professional as his success.

They taught him to deal with setbacks – and none was bigger than when Rice was released from Chelsea’s academy at the age of 14 after seven years with the Blues.

Through the lessons of his childhood and bouncing back from defeat, Rice knew that hard work could help him overcome the blow of being told he was too small to make it at Chelsea. He knew he could earn a chance at another academy by increasing his efforts.

Within a few months, Rice was snapped up by West Ham United. After a little over 12 months, he signed his first professional contract as a 16-year-old was handed a senior debut at the age of 18 and followed that with his England debut two years later.

There are hundreds of other stories like Rice’s, of players who were told they were not good enough but who had a steely determination running through them, thanks to their upbringing.

This is why belief in earning the right to win and learning from failure is an important component of the We Make Footballers philosophy. 

Our franchisees help teach children that work is the key to progression and that they should never take their talent or ability for granted. We ingrain this in our players by constantly challenging them to improve.

We do this by not shying away from taking decisions to move children up. If they are finding football too easy, then it is time to put them against older or better players.

Otherwise, they can be lured into thinking that football is so simple that they no longer need to work as hard as they can to better themselves. 

Whilst it can be tempting to leave the star player at an age group where they dominate so that the team does better, that is no good for the individual. 

We Make Footballers franchisees identify and prioritise what is best for the individual development of every player and will always take the right course of action for them.

The idea of challenging children to drive improvement is common across sports. In baseball, children initially learn to hit with a heavily weighted bat. They find this hard to start with but eventually, it builds strength in their arms.

Once enough practice has been done, the weights are removed. The child now has the strength and technique to hit the ball much further with a normal bat because they had to overcome the challenge of doing so with the heavier bat.

The same concept applies to children playing football as an age group up. They are facing more experienced opponents with higher skill sets. These opponents will not go soft on the younger child just because of their age, meaning that winning is achieved on merit. 

A young player will learn much more in this environment than they would dominate against children their age every week, where they can make mistakes that go unpunished and subsequently uncorrected, leading to bad habits. 

Alan Hansen once famously said of Manchester United’s Class of 92, “You can’t win anything with kids.” Not only did Sir Alex Ferguson prove that statement wrong, but by chucking Gary Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville into his senior side at such a young age, he presented all six with challenges to overcome.

That made them better players in the long run, capable of staying at the top of the game for over a decade. The likes of Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen thrived after being chucked in at the deep end as teenagers, having accelerated their way through age-group football. 

Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka are the latest talents to follow in their footsteps. Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling both burst onto the scene as teenagers and remain key components of current England set up several years later.

One of Ferguson’s predecessors at Old Trafford once said, “If they’re good enough, they’re old enough.” Sir Matt Busby was referring to his Busby Babes, who went on to overcome the tragedy of the Munich Air Disaster to become the first English club to win the European Cup.

The best managers develop the best players by challenging them to overcome more difficult assignments through hard work and learning, ultimately teaching them to earn the right to win.

We Make Footballers franchisees do the same – and there is rarely a better feeling in the coaching game than seeing a young player achieve the standards you believe them capable of.

 

Forget fear – why failure is something our young English players should embrace and learn from

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Fear of failure has hung heavy overall levels of English football for many years. Never was it more obvious than when England reached the knockout stages of a major tournament and some of the best players in the world become crippled by the pressure, unable to deliver the sorts of performances they regularly turned out for their club sides?

England’s Golden Generation could not get beyond the quarter-finals of Euro 2004 or the 2006 World Cup. They froze against Portugal both times, especially when confronted with the dreaded penalty shoot-out, which every Englishman feared above anything else.

At Euro 2016, the fear of failure meant that England was eliminated in the round of 16 without even making it as far as spot-kicks. The underdogs of Iceland played with freedom, knowing that nobody expected them to knock out England’s millionaires.

The moment that Iceland took their 2-1 lead, England became paralysed with fear. Nobody was willing to take the risks necessary to get the Three Lions back in the game, in case their risk-taking went wrong. At a time when England needed the inspiration to deal a blow to the plucky underdogs, nobody in white was able or willing to provide it.

Thankfully, a change in the way that English football approaches and deals with fear have been ongoing for some time at a grassroots level. Whereas in the past a mistake would result in punishment, mockery, and embarrassment, now it is encouraged as something to learn from.

Creating a generation of footballers who are willing to take risks and become better as a result will ultimately mean the crippling fear that England showed against Iceland becomes a thing of the past. 

We have already seen it beginning to disappear. England played with previously unseen freedom in reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018 and then the final of Euro 2020. Players like Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka were encouraged to take risks and express themselves on the biggest stage.

We Make Footballers want their franchisees to continue to produce a fearless nation of talent who view failure as an opportunity to bounce back. There should be no fear of making a mistake because mistakes are how we learn what works and what does not.

In all walks of life, failure is necessary for growth. Whether it be missing out on a promotion at work, being pipped on the line in a running race or failing an exam, when failure strikes, we should analyse why and learn from it. Failure is an opportunity rather than an ending.

Imagine you are coaching two young football players. One is fearless and willing to try anything. Shooting with their weaker foot, a Maradona Turn in a tight position, playing out from the back even when being pressed. 

They know that there is a chance that it might go wrong. But they know that if it does, it is an opportunity to learn. They might not hit the target but they will learn that next time, they should take a touch onto their stronger foot.

The Maradona Turn could prove to be the wrong option when there was an easier pass back up the line. And there are occasions when you need to put your foot through it rather than attempt to keep possession.

Failing in any of these given scenarios helps a player grow. Players who embrace the prospect of failure with a willingness to learn from their mistakes will ultimately benefit in the long run as they discover ways to achieve success.

Now imagine the other player. They are petrified of making a mistake. As a result, their body is tense whenever they play. They cannot relax through fear and are subsequently stifled.

In a game situation, they will only ever try things they know they are capable of. Nothing out of the ordinary, like a bicycle kick or a chest back to their goalkeeper under immense pressure, for fear of embarrassment or the reaction, if it goes wrong.

It is the same on the training pitch. They will not stretch themselves or do anything challenging because of the anxiety of it ending badly.

Out of those two players, the only one who is going to have a chance of fulfilling their potential is the one who is willing to fail, dust themselves down and try again.

The other will never progress because you cannot progress if you are too scared to try something new for fear of it not going your way.

We Make Footballers franchisees create an environment where there is no fear of failure. When there is a culture in place whereby failure is accepted as part of the process rather than a big deal, then fear evaporates. 

No child at a We Make Footballers academy will feel like that second player because mistakes are there to be learnt from, rather than punished. You can never get better unless you push yourself with challenges that might end in failure.

Take weightlifting for example. If a weightlifter just lifts the same weight over and over again, they are never going to get stronger and progress to lifting something heavier. 

To successfully lift the next weight, they have to practice at it – and more than likely, fail several times – before it becomes achievable.

A good football coach finds a way to stretch their players with achievable targets. As the weightlifter progresses, they would not suddenly quadruple the amount they were lifting.

Likewise, in football a certain amount of failure – but never so much as to make the player give up – will ultimately lead to success. We Make Footballers franchisees are taught how to get this balance right so that they can help their payers reach their potential.

Our stated mission at We Make Footballers is to contribute to England becoming the best footballing nation on the planet, creating a better football experience for all and resulting in a World Cup win.

Franchisees across the country helping remove the fear of failure from young players is one way to move towards that.

 

Making good practice permanent

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Good or bad practice permanently impacts players. It is one of the core principles of We Make Footballers and the print that we have on our shirts. And it underlines the difference that new WMF franchisees can make to children in their local area when setting up an academy.

When We Make Footballers arrives in a town, village or city, children have increased access to the sport. Increased access means the opportunity to play more which, based on the 10,000-hour rule, is only a good thing for their development as players.

The 10,000-hour rule is a concept that can be traced back to a 1993 University of Colorado paper written by Professor Anders Ericson. Titled ‘The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance’, the paper states that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. The definition of practice makes perfect if you like.

Professor Ericson based his findings on a study carried out on child violin players in Berlin. For three years between the ages of five and eight, a group of children in the German capital all practised the instrument for roughly the same amount of time.

At the age of eight, practice time between the children began to differ. Some continued playing the instrument regularly whilst the dedication of others dwindled. 

By the age of 20, the elite violin players amongst the group had amassed over 10,000 hours of practice each. The less able had less than 4,000 hours.

The ability of every violin player roughly corresponded to how much practice they had put in. There was no sign of any ‘natural ability; a child who had become an elite player after only 4,000 hours of practice. The study showed that the more you played the violin, the better at it you became.

But it is not merely enough to practice something – that practice needs to be overseen by a qualified expert, who can teach skills and pass on good habits which then become second nature. This is where We Make Footballers franchisees make a difference.

When humans learn a new skill, the muscles are trained to carry out the movements required until they become second nature. This takes time; our bodies and mind are often unsure and tentative at first.

After hours of practice though, we master the skill to the point where we do not even need to think about what we are doing. Think about learning to drive. At first, there is far too much going on at once to think about – changing gear, indicating, checking mirrors, braking.

By the time you come to your driving test, however, all these separate processes have become one activity that you can perform with ease through practice, practice, practice. 

You will not pass your test though if you have been taught bad practices along the way, like braking with the clutch down, not stopping at zebra crossings or honking your horn at other road users.

To put this into a football context, imagine a player going through one-on-one with a goalkeeper. A child who attends a We Make Footballers academy will have been taught and practised that when you get such an opportunity, you should prepare yourself for the shot by looking up and, if possible, getting the ball onto your stronger foot.

By embedding this as part of the shooting process, it becomes ingrained in the child’s muscle memory. Every time they get a sight of a goal, it becomes second nature to analyse what the ‘keeper is doing and make sure they are properly set.

A child whose sole football practice comes in the park with no guidance from a We Make Footballers coach will likely have a different approach. If they have never been taught what a difference looking up can make, they might end up keeping their head down when they go to shoot.

Years of doing this – or 10,000 hours – will mean that looking up never becomes a part of their muscle memory for the process of shooting. And once the brain has been taught and wired to perform a task in a certain way, it can be very hard to retrain.

Which of those two young players do you think has the better chance of scoring goals? The self-taught child with their head down or the player from We Make Footballers who are looking up, seeing where to shoot, and setting themselves to do so with their stronger foot?

This is what we mean by good or bad practice permanently impacts players. When a We Make Footballers franchise brings good practice to their area, it transforms the footballing ability of children by teaching them the skills and habits they need to become better players.

Thanks to the coaching of We Make Footballers franchisees, over 2000 children have already joined local grassroots teams. More than 160 players have signed with professional academies.

Those numbers will get even bigger over the coming year. Having already grown by 140 per cent in the past 12 months, We Make Footballers are looking to expand to 50 franchises in the United Kingdom and four internationally. This will help us deliver on our mission of contributing to England becoming the best footballing nation on Earth.

Good practice permanently impacts players. If you want to help ensure the next generation of players gets good practice at the same time as launching a career in football coaching, then you can find out more about becoming a We Make Footballers franchise on our website.

 

The 10 most influential football managers of all time

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Yes, it is another one of those most influential and greatest football managers of all-time lists. These are devilishly hard to produce as everyone has their own opinion on who is the greatest coach ever to sit in a dugout.

Each of the 10 men on our list was famous for the characteristics needed to succeed in coaching. From flexibility to organisation, to man-management, to being able to think outside the box, those attributes enabled each of them to leave a lasting legacy on football and help create the sport that we know and love today.

10) Rinus Michels

A four-time Eredivisie winner, three-time KNVB Cup winner and one time European Cup winner with Ajax. A La Liga and Copa Del Rey winner with Barcelona. A DFB Pokal winner with FC Cologne. A European Championship winner with the Netherlands.

And yet is it the team he managed who never won a trophy with whom Rinus Michels most influenced football – via Total Football.

That was the term lavished upon the playing style of his Netherlands side of the 1970s, considered by many to be the greatest never to win a World Cup. 

They came close, losing the final in 1974 to West Germany. It was the team in Oranje who lit up that tournament, delivering some of the most magical football the world has ever seen, led by Johan Cruyff as the on-field conductor.

Cruyff the manager will feature later on our list (no spoilers) as will several other managers who can trace their style and philosophy back to Michels and Total Football. That is some legacy.

9) Jose Mourinho

Heaven helps us if The Special One ever reads this list and sees himself only in ninth place. The ultimate Marmite manager, you either love Jose Mourinho or you hate him. There does not seem to be any middle ground.

In an era of possession football, attacking fullbacks and goals galore where money was often seen as the most important ingredient for success, Mourinho showed us another way when bursting onto the scene with Porto in 2003.

He led the unfashionable Portuguese outfit to a remarkable Champions League win in 2004. Inter Milan were perennial dark horses in Italy before Mourinho arrived. During his time at the San Siro, he won two Serie A titles, a Coppa Italia and his second Champions League trophy.

Mourinho’s success with Porto and Inter came because of a masterclass in man-management. His sides were drilled in how to win games and they highlighted how far organisation can take you. 

He did not need bundles of cash to succeed, although that helped him as league titles with Chelsea and Real Madrid proved.

Given what has happened at Manchester United since his sacking from Old Trafford, you could even argue that he did an excellent job at Old Trafford – a statement perhaps as controversial as the man himself.

8) Bill Shankly

Music and football dominated Liverpool in the 1960s. Whilst the Beatles were busy conquering the world, Bill Shankly was setting in place a dynasty that would last for 30 years and turn Liverpool into one of the most famous teams on the planet.

When Shankly arrived at Anfield in 1959, he found a rundown stadium and a club wallowing in the second tier of English football. He delivered the promotion back to the top flight in 1962 and his first league title as Liverpool boss in 1964.

Two more championships would follow alongside a UEFA Cup and two FA Cups, the second of which arrived in 1974 and was followed a few weeks later by Shankly’s shock retirement.

The silverware and taking Liverpool to the top of English football were only part of Shankly’s legacy, however. He believed in a strong connection between players and fans. 

He talked about the Kop having the power to “suck the ball into the net”. Shankly was a manager who tapped into the power of football beyond what happened on the pitch in a way nobody else really had.

That feeling of family was central to the concept of the Anfield Bootroom. Shankly was succeeded by his assistant Bob Paisley, who was succeeded by his assistant Joe Fagan, who was succeeded by his player Kenny Dalglish.

Shankly championed continuity and left the foundations in place for each of his successors to continue winning domestic and European trophies for Liverpool.

7) Matt Busby

Adversity is something that all coaches must face and overcome at some point in their careers. It is that ability to stand up and find a way through when all hope seems lost that turns a good football manager into a great football manager.

No manager in history had to battle adversity like Sir Matt Busby. He was already well on his way to immortality at Manchester United before the events of February 6th 1958, having led United to the FA Cup in 1948 and league titles in 1952, 1956 and 1957.

The latter two championships were won by his Busby Babes, a marvellously talented squad of fearless young players with an average age of only 22.

That squad would have won so much more too had eight of them not been killed in the Munich Air Disaster. Busby himself was badly injured. He then faced the challenge not only of rebuilding United but of helping to mend the broken hearts of everyone connected with the club.

Seven years after Munich and Busby miraculously won another title for United. Two seasons later and it happened again. 

Then in 1968 came his crowning glory as the Red Devils became the first English side to be crowned European Champions. A remarkable rise and recovery from the depths of despair.

6) Viktor Maslov

It is a travesty that so few people have heard of Viktor Maslov. In some quarters, the Russian is viewed as the inventor of the football we know today, having pioneered both the 4-4-2 formation and the tactic of pressing that are still staples of the sport 70 years later.

Up until the late 1950s, the formation played by virtually every major club in the world was 4-2-4. Teams would allow their opponents plenty of time on the ball, preferring to seize on loose passes as possession came towards the four front players rather than force errors.

Maslov changed all that. He figured that two extra bodies overloading the midfield would allow his side to dominate. Combine that with his players denying the opposition time and space through pressing, and his teams could win possession more frequently.

To play a high energy game, Maslov also had to focus on speed and fitness. That meant experimenting with nutrition to increase his players’ stamina. In the 1950s, all of this was completely alien.

Maslov ended up winning four Soviet league titles and six cups with Torpedo Moscow, Dynamo Kyiv and FC Ararat Yerevan. His methods soon seeped beyond the Soviet Union, leaving an everlasting imprint on football. 

5) Arsene Wenger

Before an unknown French bloke called Arsene Wenger rocked up as Arsenal boss in 1996, player nutrition consisted of 10 pints of Guinness.

Scouting went as far as driving 50 miles up the road to watch a game before turning around at the halftime. Tactics did not matter, as long as you played with passion and shouted a lot.

Okay, those are pretty sweeping generalisations – even if Wenger did famously ban ketchup from the Gunners’ training ground as one of his first acts in charge.

But the impact that he had on English football was massive. Wenger’s focus on diet, training methods and his desire to scout rough diamonds from across the world were unheard of – to the point that Arsenal’s players wondered if their club had appointed some sort of madman.

Arsenal hadn’t. In his first eight years in English football, Wenger won two doubles and led the Gunners to the 2003-04 title unbeaten, only the second-ever team to be crowned champions of England without losing a match after Preston North End in 1888-89.

His methods – once-seen as bizarre and farfetched – were quickly adopted by every club in the country. Wenger rose the standards and quality of English football across the board, helping the Premier League establish itself as the best league in the world. 

4) Pep Guardiola

Whenever Pep Guardiola features on one of these lists of the most influential football coaches of all time, the usual reasons are wheeled out as to why he is not worthy of a place amongst the greats.

Guardiola’s critics say anyone could have had success at Barcelona working with Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andreas Iniesta and the rest. 

Winning trophies at Bayern Munich is nothing special as German football is a one-horse race. And City’s dominance can be put down to being backed by the wealth of an oil-rich nation.

And whilst all those arguments are valid, you only have to look at the way football has changed since 2006 and Guardiola bursting onto the scene to see his influence. 

Tiki-taka became the style of play every side in the world adopted. It fed into Spain dominating international football between 2008 and 2012 in a way few national sides ever have.

That led to almost every national football association trying to copy the Spanish way. The FA’s own England DNA project – which has started producing Three Lions players good enough to reach finals at major tournaments – was based on what had made Spain a success. 

Spain’s success was based on what Guardiola did at Barca. His impact on English football, therefore, began long before City’s money lured him to the Etihad Stadium. His impact on world football stretches far beyond trophies with Barca, Bayern and City.

Guardiola’s greatest achievement might still be yet to come. He once said that his dream was to name a team consisting of 10 midfielders and a goalkeeper. 

No side in football history has ever won trophies consistently without a striker. If Guardiola can win the Premier League or a first Champions League using a false nine, then striker-less teams could be the next revolution in the sport. Now that is influence.

3) Arrigo Sacchi

Arrigo Sachi stands as a beacon of inspiration to coaches everywhere, his story proves that anyone with the right work ethic and ideas can go on to become of the most influential and famous football managers in the world.

Sacchi started as a humble Italian shoe salesman, something which led to questions over his credibility when he was appointed as AC Milan manager in 1987. 

Always ready with a fantastic soundbite, Sacchi responded to those who wondered whether a man who had not played professional football before was qualified to take charge of an Italian giant by saying: “I never realised that to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first.”

Of course, Sacchi needed to back up his words with success on the pitch. He did that by rewriting the rules of how football was played in Italy. 

Adopting a back four rather than a back three appalled traditionalists. In came zonal marking, a high defensive line and an aggressive press which went on to influence both Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp.

Sacchi won the Scudetto in 1988 and followed that up with back-to-back European Cups. The Milan side of that era is remembered these days for their defence – little wonder when Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini were part of a backline that conceded only 15 goals in the title-winning season.

Yet they were devastating in attack too, none more so than in the semi-final on route to their first European Cup success when hammering Real Madrid 6-1 on aggregate.

Sacchi changed the way Italians viewed football and set the foundations in place for Serie A to become the leading league in the world in the early 90s.

2) Johan Cruyff

21st century Barcelona is known as one of the most successful teams in world football, famed for tika taka and churning out world-class players from their famous La Masia academy at a rate of knots. It has not always been this way, however. Before 1988, Barca had won only 36 trophies in 89 years and had never been crowned European Champions. That all changed when Johan Cruyff returned to Camp Nou.

A popular figure during his playing days with Barcelona, Cruyff would go on to write his name even deeper into the history books during his eight years as manager. 

Having been the star turn in the Netherland’s Total Football side of the 1970s, it was no surprise to see him adopt the same principles once sat in the Barcelona dugout as part of a complete overhaul of the club.

It was Cruyff who introduced Barcelona’s style of play, indoctrinating every youngster at La Masia in his ways. The focus was on technical ability rather than physicality, something which now underpins every single football academy – but at the time was considered a questionable approach.

The result? Since 1988, Barca has won five Champions League titles and 47 other pieces of silverware. Players like Messi, Xavi and Iniesta have been unleashed on the world from La Masia and coaching disciples such as Guardiola continues Cruyff’s work to this day.

 

1) Sir Alex Ferguson

No manager in world football has delivered success over such a prolonged period as Sir Alex Ferguson. In the 1980s, he broke the Old Firm’s monopoly in Scotland by leading Aberdeen to three league championships and a European Cup Winner’s Cup success which involved eliminating Bayern Munich and Real Madrid along the way.

A move south of the border to Manchester United followed in 1986. Over the next 26 years, Ferguson would win 38 trophies including 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups and two Champions Leagues.

The secret to Ferguson’s success? Flexibility and a willingness to reinvent himself. His first Premier League title was won thanks to the Class of 92. 

Six years later and the treble Winners of 1999 were a different kind of United. Skip another nine years and Ferguson had changed approach again as Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez formed a deadly front three.

The best coaches are those who know that football does not standstill. They are constantly learning, adapting and comfortable in changing their approach. 

Such flexibility kept Ferguson at the top for three decades. No other manager in the world has a CV quite like it.

Think you have what it takes to follow in the footsteps of these 10 influential football coaches? Then find out more about starting your coaching journey with We Make Footballers.

 

 

 

Which Is the Best Country in the World to Play Football In?

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Which Is the Best Country in the World to Play Football In?

As the most popular sport in the world, football unites people across countries, languages and cultures. And there is no shortage of countries producing players and teams at the very top of the game. But, if there were a league table of the best countries in the world to be a football player (or, indeed, coach!), which country would come out on top?

We decided to find out.

We’re not just talking about actual match performance here, although that’s obviously important! We know which countries tend to do well at the big tournaments. We’re talking about funding, climate, history and more. All of these things come into creating the right environment for football to thrive. 

Using data from a range of sources, including FIFA and the World Happiness Index, we looked at the following metrics:

  • Climate (sunshine hours per year)
  • FIFA ranking (men’s and women’s)
  • Stadium capacity
  • Number and age of clubs
  • Top-flight revenue
  • Salary
  • World Happiness Index score
  • Cost of living

We assigned each a value out of 10 and then compiled the results into our league tables. 

And the Winner Is…

It should come as no surprise to us that, taking all the above criteria into account, the winner is… England! 

Despite not having the best performance at the international level, or indeed the best climate (shocking, we know), England’s unsurpassed footballing heritage and culture, the capacity of its stadiums and the revenue of its top flight clubs all helped push it to the top of the table. With both the highest stadium capacity, and the highest number of domestic clubs, as well as being the home of the world’s oldest football club, England really is at the top of the beautiful game.

Germany comes in a close second, followed by Spain, France and Brazil. Here’s the top 10:

Image showing a league table ranking footballing countries by FIFA ranking, culture & heritage, climate & lifestyle. England is at the top.

Interesting Takeaways

When it comes to actual footballing performance (using FIFA’s ranking), our top 2 actually fall down the list. That said, Germany’s women’s ranking is excellent. The top-ranked countries here are Brazil (men’s) and USA (women’s). 

Topping our climate and lifestyle league table was Australia. With its hours and hours of sunshine and laid-back lifestyle, it’s perhaps not surprising. Denmark’s happiness index score and high average salary puts it at number 2, while Germany comes in at 3. 

Image showing a league table ranking footballing countries by climate & lifestyle. Australia is at the top.

England isn’t even in the top 10, however, this just goes to show that we don’t let a little thing like the great British weather stand in our way to footballing glory! 

Brazil is the richest footballing country, coming top for revenue, with England and Germany not far behind, while in terms of footballing history, England is miles ahead. With nine out of ten of the first football clubs in the world having been founded in England (Sheffield FC is the oldest, founded around 1857 for those wondering), it’s hardly surprising. The oldest non-British club is Kjøbenhavns Boldklubb, from Denmark, founded in 1876.

England also has the highest number of domestic clubs (a whopping 942), followed by France with 636, Germany with 366, Spain with 265 and Italy with 177. 

Image showing a league table ranking countries by footballing culture and heritage. England is at the top.

England vs Germany… Again

Paying homage to the decades-old footballing rivalry between England and Germany, we also took a tongue-in-cheek look at the top two, putting them head to head once again in a battle of the footballing greats. As you can see, it’s a close run thing, but, as in the Euros semi finals, England wins out. For once, this one didn’t have to go to penalties…

Visual showing comparison between England and Germany as footballing countries, in a vintage poster-style

Sources:

FIFA Men’s ranking

FIFA Women’s ranking

World Happiness Index

Cost of living

Sunshine hours

Oldest football clubs

Number of clubs

Salary info by country

What Makes a Good Grassroots Football Coach

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What Makes a Good Grassroots Football Coach

 

What makes a good grassroots football coach goes beyond simply being able to teach a child how to play a 10-yard pass. 

The best grassroots coaches possess special characteristics that not only help players improve, but that also have a profound impact on the lives of the children they work with.

From the ability to take feedback on board to adopt a child-centric and player-focused approach, here are some of the attributes which the best grassroots youth football coaches in the UK all have in common.

A positive attitude and approach

A grassroots football coach must ensure that the players they are working with enjoy themselves. For many children, their future relationship with football is shaped by what happens through their early experience of the sport – the experience given to them by their grassroots coach.

When players enjoy themselves and look forward to every session, they will end up falling in love with football. It is a relationship that will last a lifetime, regardless of their ability, success or the level they go onto play at.

To have that impact on young players, a grassroots coach must be positive, enthusiastic and passionate about their role. 

Children better engage with coaches who show great enthusiasm in what they do. That enthusiasm is infectious to players. If the coach appears indifferent to the session ahead, that often rubs off on their players – and there is nothing enjoyable about indifference.

Players respond more quickly to the methods and teachings of passionate coaches. When children see that a coach clearly loves what they are doing and cares deeply about it, they will be filled with belief that what the coach sets out for them to do is geared to helping them improve. 

At the same time, the best grassroots coaches acknowledge that things might not always go to plan. When that is the case, a positive attitude is a must. No child is going to respond well to being embarrassed, humiliated or told off when they get something wrong.

Instead, the coach has to look for the positives. Identify why the player failed at the task, coach them through what to do next time and help them achieve their target. Praise the good and offer feedback on the bad.

There is no better feeling in football as either a player or coach than seeing an individual master a skill they had previously struggled with – and climbing such mountains can only be done through a positive attitude.

Being a great two-way communicator

It is not merely enough for a grassroots football coach to be a great communicator – they have to be a great two-way communicator. Listening to players and taking on feedback is every bit as important as being able to get a message across clearly.

When it comes to outwards communications, a good grassroots coach will know that talking is sometimes not enough. They will also use clear demonstrations or diagrams to make their point, knowing that different children find different learning methods beneficial.

Asking for and listening to feedback from players is one of the easiest ways that a coach can find out if what they are doing is working. An honest appraisal from a child or parent can inform the approach taken for an individual child going forward and open them up to further improvement.

Players will feel more comfortable giving feedback to an approachable coach. The best grassroots coaches show their players they are willing to listen and make them feel comfortable about saying what they think. It is to the benefit of everyone that they do so.

Being flexible

Receiving feedback from players or parents is only useful if a coach then acts upon it – which is why the best grassroots football coaches are flexible in their approach.

Every child is different and so a one size fits all approach to coaching is an ineffective method. Coaches who are steadfast and rigid in their methods will have far less success than those who are willing to experiment and be flexible.

When one approach does not work with a player, a grassroots coach should not seek to lay blame at the feet of the child or question their ability. Instead, it showed be viewed as a challenge – how can the coach help the player overcome their struggles and master the skill?

Children are not the only ones who should be learning with every session. Coaches too can always improve or reinvent themselves as time goes on, building their knowledge through trying new coaching techniques in a never-ending quest for becoming better.

Realising it is about the players, not the coach

One of the biggest traps a grassroots coach can fall into is thinking that they are Jurgen Klopp or Jose Mourinho – coaches with an ego to make it all about them.

There are numerous reasons why top Premier League managers are desperate for the limelight. Often, it is to relieve pressure on their players. Other times it is to try and coerce their board into a new signing or referees into favouring them or casting doubt on the integrity of the opposition. And some just like the sound of their voices.

Grassroots football is a world away from the billion-pound industry that is the Premier League. The best grassroots coaches know this and make everything about their player’s enjoyment and improvement rather than making it all about them.

Results are not important when it comes to children’s football. The best coaches do not worry or think that their team losing reflects badly on them; instead, they realise that failure is just another path to success and that individual improvement and enjoyment matters more.

The grassroots coach is there to help children have fun. They are there to serve their players and give them a football education. Child development should always come above winning, which is why the players are the most important part of any grassroots football academy. 

Setting a good example

Children are impressionable and that means that to be a success, a grassroots coach must lead by example. Many young players will look up to their football coaches as role models, so what a coach says and does matters.

Setting an example starts from appearances. A coach who turns up to a coaching session in jeans and a flat cap like something out of Peaky Blinders will not be taken seriously. 

Players will think if their coach cannot be bothered to dress appropriately on the training ground or professionally go about their business, why should they? Appearances set the standard for what happens on the pitch. 

A grassroots coach can lead by example by being punctual and organised. If the coach arrives five minutes before training starts and is still trying to layout drills or plan what is going to happen when the session is meant to be underway, then their players too can start thinking it is acceptable to be late or unorganised.

Everything that grassroots coach does whilst working with their players can make an impression and inform what they think is acceptable in football and life. Setting a good example is key.

Getting to know players as people

The best way for a coach to understand the players they are working with is by getting to know them as people. This is especially true when it comes to children through the impact that a grassroots coach can have as a role model.

Football can be a powerful force for good in the lives of young people. It gives them focus and can help keep them out of trouble. The professional game is full of players whose stories feature a theme of “I don’t know where I would be without football.”

A coach who takes an interest in a player’s life off the pitch is in a better position to understand their background. This in turn can help to make a positive impact on a child’s life, both on and off the pitch.

When it comes to football, a player will better respect and trust a coach who they feel is looking out for them. That leads to improved performances through motivation and hard work.

Away from the sport, if a child believes that their coach has their best interests at heart then they are more likely to look up to them and listen. A strong relationship between coach and player can be a vehicle for change.

We Make Footballers are the UK’s number one football coaching academy for children aged 4-12 years old. 

If you think you have what it takes to become a grassroots coach, please contact us through our website to find out more.