Developing to win

The coach needs to meet the project.

Not every coach meets every project. You see managers and coaches going into clubs and it just doesn’t work.

The big thing that drove my decision to become Lincoln City head coach was how they took time over the appointment. I liked that, because it showed that the club was thinking about the future, not just the here and now.

In football, it is really easy to only think about winning in the present. I was pulled to the vision of the board and the chief executive, Liam Scully. You can see it in the decisions they have made over the years, like building a new training ground.

I had to figure out: “Do I meet the elements of this project?” For me, that was a League One opportunity, at a club that is stable, to give me time to build something special.

Lincoln City have a real strategy about developing and winning. Of course we need to win – that's football – but they’re prepared to develop players as well.

"I don’t think I’ve ever divorced winning and development"

It has probably taken me longer to get to a first-team head-coach role than a lot of others. I worked as director of football at Loughborough University, then coached and led the England national futsal team programme under Dan Ashworth. I left the Football Association for a while, to work for UEFA and do a few other things. Then the FA’s technical director, John McDermott – who was brilliant – brought me back to work with England’s Under-18s and other age group teams.

I worked with Ryan Garry with the Under-18s. We had some of the top youth players in the country, like Manchester City’s Rico Lewis, Sammy Braybrooke at Leicester, and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens at Borussia Dortmund. By then, my coaching background had different elements; Leeds and their sporting director, Victor Orta, thought it was a good mix to develop the next generation of Premier League youth talent. They wanted a top-end specialist in development who could take Under-21 players into the first team.

It was fantastic to go there and help the next generation of players, like Archie Gray and Mateo Joseph, come through. The other part of the job was to get the team promoted to Premier League 2’s Division 1, which we achieved because we had some super talent.

It was about helping the players understand what it takes to win, and developing them. The whole package, because when they go into the seniors it’s about winning. I don’t think I’ve ever divorced winning and development. That’s the secret to development… you can’t!

Sometimes, as coaches and as people, we like to think it’s either or. I’m not sure it is, especially from 18 years old and up. Take some of the Under-18s I coached for England. They were going out into Premier League clubs and having to win. Then, as they develop in their own ways, as their own people, that's where they start to flourish as better players.

Every player I've ever worked with – whether they are 20, 25 or in their 30s – has always wanted to develop and improve. They want to know that you can make them better.

"managing against manchester united was a great experience. i loved every minute of it"

I transitioned across to the Leeds first team before Christmas that season. Jesse Marsch was head coach. They wanted an extra coach with the first team, as more of a transitional coach, because a lot of the older youth players were starting to come through. Archie, Mateo, Willy Gnonto, Darko Gyabi – they were all starting to push through.

I was around, supporting that, when one of the other coaches left, so I stepped up. Unfortunately, Jesse lost his job in February 2023. I was then asked to take charge for a huge game at Manchester United, which was followed by another game against the same opposition at Elland Road, and then a game at Everton.

People always ask: “How did you find it?” I was fine, because it was about keeping people calm. I’ve been lucky enough to lead and work in football for quite a number of years. You can only go back to what you’ve learned and lean on that.

That was making sure the players were on the same page, making sure the staff had clarity about what was going on, and supporting the club. It was a great experience, and I loved every minute of it. Lots of pressure but, in a way, not really – because I was the new kid on the block. I thought: “If you do what you do every day, and know that what you're trying to do makes good football sense, then everything else takes care of itself.”

I had three days to prepare the team for the game at Old Trafford, but only two days with the players. The first day, I brought the staff in and talked about what we were going to do next; how we were going to steady the ship. Of course, we also had to build a tactical plan to go out at Old Trafford.

The next stage was getting the players ready to perform against United. That meant lots of tactical stuff, lots of work off the pitch, on the pitch, and picking a team that was fit to go to Old Trafford. Probably one of the biggest games of the season for the Leeds fans.

"We used terms like ‘pause player’, which allows you to pause to get back into shape"

The biggest difference was dealing with the media, but I’d had exposure to that in my FA roles. I had done lots of media and press conferences when I went abroad with the England futsal and Under-18 teams. Even being in front of people when I was a teacher; it's not exactly the same, but it uses a very similar skillset. It wasn’t something I wasn’t used to.

Tactically, I put my own touch on how I wanted the team to go out against United. Jesse had a brilliant way, which I agreed with a lot, but I wanted to put my own fingerprints on the team. In those games, we played with a little bit more width. We were aggressive in the wide areas, and put Gnonto and Crysencio Summerville in the team. I thought both carried more attacking threat.

We allowed certain players to have the ball, because we didn't think they were as much of a threat. Allowing centre-halves to have the ball, then stepping in and closing the space, was different for the players. We used terms like ‘pause player’, which allows you to pause to get back into shape. Then we’d go aggressive on negative passes, hips facing backwards, and some things I’ve learned over the years to simplify decision-making for players.

I personally learned a lot, including that the Premier League is brutal. The first game, we drew 2-2 at Old Trafford. The second game, at Elland Road, we were doing really well. After half-time we were the better team by far, which the data backed up. On 80 minutes it was still 0-0, though, and then boom! Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho won the game for United. 

The top players can change a game in an instant. I don’t think we, as fans of football, respect that enough. The tide can change in an instant. You can view that as a positive or a negative, but at the top level the margins for error are so, so small.

My experience in League One is that it is the same. The higher you go, though, the more damage players can do. You think you know that, but it is a very different place when you’re at the coalface, in the dugout.

"i don't feel that lincoln city is a club that makes rash decisions"

I had opportunities to go to the Championship and League One before the role at Lincoln came up, but they weren’t what I’d call stable opportunities. I also had opportunities to assist in the Premier League. But I felt like it was the right time to do it on my own, and not just as an interim.

In some ways, Lincoln is a selling club. That is similar to an Under-21s programme, where you’re trying to develop players to go on to another level. At the same time, we have aspirations and the ambition to be a Championship club.

The club is making the right decisions around putting money on the pitch, which can sometimes be seen as a money plaster. At the minute, some clubs are making rash decisions and in a lot of financial trouble because of that. I don’t feel like Lincoln City is a club that makes rash decisions. For someone diligent like myself, that’s really where I meet with the project.

Evolution is how I feel this club, with our budget, can be competitive and play exciting football. We want to play front-footed football. Every day, I can use my skillset with the coaching staff, in Chris Cohen, Tom Shaw and Scott Fry, to coach the players and develop their understanding of that.

After the first four months, I would hope that people think the team looks a bit different to where it was when I came in. Hopefully, in another four months and beyond, it looks different to now. That takes time, coaching, transfer windows and a board engaged with the building process.

When I came in, my priority in terms of the football was to make sure we didn't lose our defensive stability, which the team is really good at. Then, it was to add a little bit more possession to their game higher up the pitch, where they had low levels of possession. 

"Training mentality can make the difference – and not just in the players, but in the staff too"

You can win games with low levels – this is where it’s not black or white – but the team hadn’t been sustaining attacks for long enough. So another priority was how do we go from not having the ball, to having the ball and being effective in transition? If we don’t do that, how do we stay on the ball a little bit longer? We don’t just want to go back and defend; we want to keep teams in there a little bit more.

Most of my success over the years has come from making sure we’re really good on the training pitch, every day. As a coaching staff, everyone has to work hard every single day, and give the players the most opportunity to be successful. A lot of success in football doesn’t come from Saturday; it comes from work during the week.

Training mentality can make the difference – and not just in the players, but in the staff too. Making the team stronger and faster, using data, using sport science. Making sure we achieve gains in each performance area, so that the whole team and club structure becomes better and strongly aligned across the multi-disciplinary team.

I’ve brought a game model, but it doesn’t matter how I want to play if we’re not aligned. Where I’ve been and seen success before, the on-pitch was really connected with the off-pitch: data, performance analysis, physical data. Everything needs to be aligned in terms of what we were trying to achieve. It goes wrong when things aren’t in alignment.

My first game with Lincoln City was at Stevenage, where Steve Evans’ style of play is renowned. Good or bad football is irrelevant to me – there are 101 ways you can play football. If you see the alignment they have there at Stevenage, they have been really successful on the budget they have.

Probably the hardest challenge in League One has been playing twice a week. You don’t have as much time as you would like to implement your way of playing, so you have to subtly get it into training, every day.

"One thing we have done this year, which I think people have found a bit strange, is change shape within the game"

There are days when we have to match-plan, of course. But if you don’t have a Tuesday game, for example, there might be one or two days where you can actually work more on evolution football, and your game model.

Without the ball, I want my team to be aggressive. Counter-pressing, to get the ball back quick, and having a structure behind the ball to keep us strong without it. It is instilling performance behaviours, not just tactics, in the players.

With the ball, I want us to be really vertical and direct when we have the opportunity to play through teams. To be really aggressive with the ball and have a structure around the team to do that. 

One thing we have done this year, which I think people have found a bit strange, is change shape within the game. Whether it’s a 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1 or 3-5-2, it is getting the players to understand that football is fluid and we can change shape.

The first time we did it was against Peterborough. We were 4-4-2 without the ball and 3-5-2 with it. How could we tip the balance in our favour with and without the ball? Peterborough like to play in a 4-2-3-1 (which can look like a 4-box-2), so physically we could match them and stop them playing. Then, we thought we could overload areas of the pitch in a 3-5-2.

I’m not sure if that is different for League One, but at Premier League level it happens all the time. The challenge is to teach that throughout the week, to put a competitive team on the pitch who understand it and know how to implement it. Players can cope with information if it’s coached in the right way. The group has had some success with that.

"How we skilfully neglect some things is really important"

I build the game in five places: in possession, out of possession, positive transition, negative transition and set-pieces. In possession, I like to build, play through the middle and the thirds. Also, how do we have stability behind the ball? Out of possession is pressing, counter-pressing, being aggressive, and rest defence. 

Transition is really important. I learned a lot from futsal, but other coaches talk about it. You need to make a secure first pass forward, passing centrally rather than wide early, to control the centre of the pitch.

Negative transition is about controlling the centre of the pitch without the ball. If you control what I call the axis – the middle of the pitch – you control the game. Most teams are wrestling for that control all the time.

Everyone tells me set-pieces are one of the biggest things at this level, but I haven’t seen a level where they don’t play a big part.  At every level – whether it’s a World Cup, English football, the Japanese league, you name it – 33 per cent of goals come from set-pieces.

At Lincoln City, we are nudging improvements in each area. But we’ve still got a lot of room for growth in everything we’re doing. We have to nudge each area, and then the whole game becomes better.

There might be games where we have more of a focus on one of those areas, because we know the opposition. How we skilfully neglect some things is really important, but it doesn’t mean that area is not important. It just means we’ve got to win while we’re trying to develop the team.

The fans also have a big part to play in the development of what we’re trying to achieve. Lincoln is a one-club city, like Leeds. The fans are passionate about the team, and really get behind them. If we’re aggressive at home and front-footed, we can make it a hard place to come and play football.