Looking At The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

There are some books that are obvious reads for anyone in sports; where there are clears lessons to be had in texts aimed directly at people within sports.  Other books are not so obvious.  Yet although these are not directly aimed at people in sports it is still possible to learn from them.  Indeed arguably reading such books is even better because it opens up the way you think about various issues.

Mark Manson’s “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life” is one such book.  On the face of it – as one can easily deduce by the title – it is an aggressive attack on a lot of pop-psychology that is circulated these days.  The idea that positive thoughts can be enough to lead to a happy life, for instance, is one that particularly irritates the author.

Though Manson is primarily a blogger, there is a lot of substance to his writing.  As with a lot of articles online, the title is aimed at getting people curious and willing to check it out rather than because it is all about creating controversy.

Indeed it is in the explanation over what he means about ‘not giving a f*ck’ that this starts to emerge and the value of the book for football coaches becomes obvious.

Manson makes reference to Alan Watts’ “backwards law” which goes something along the line of the more that you pursue feeling better all the time, the less satisfied you become as pursuing something only reinforces the fact that you lack it in the first place.

What this essentially translates to is not looking always for positive experience and that, if you learn off it, a negative experience can end up being an extremely positive experience.  It is only human to want to be comfortable but sometimes that leads to apathy.  It certainly doesn’t lead to development.

In football terms, if you get too comfortable coaching kids within a certain age group you may opt to keep on doing so not because you know that it is best for you or what you really want but because you keep getting high on the feeling of being good at it.  You don’t go looking for new challenges – which might ultimately bring with them further satisfaction – but chase the easy fulfillment.

It is around such feelings and search for easy comfort that this book is focused.  Indeed the whole philosophy of the book deals with not caring too much (if at all) on what may be thought of you.  Indeed it lays out three rules that end up applying to anyone within the game of football as much as they do in everyday life.

The first centres around being comfortable with being different.  It is not easy when you are trying to do something that is not conventional.  There were many who criticised and ridiculed Arrigo Sacchi when he first spoke of his ideas that centred around zonal marking and pressing.  He was seeing things differently in a country that had been dominated by catenaccio - the religion of ultra-defensive football  - for more than two decades so this reaction was hardly surprising.

Perhaps a weaker man would have folded and gone the conventional route.  But Sacchi, a manager with no history as a player and who had spent most of his adult life working to be in a position to try out his ideas did not, to paraprhase Manson, give a f**k about what others thought of his ideas.  He was comfortable with being different and that brought about a revolution in the game.

Sacchi is also a pretty great illustration of the second of Manson's rules: that in order not to care about adversity you must first care about something more important than adversity.

This might seem to be pretty obvious but is not so. For some people the headache that might come with trying something new can be too much.  There are countless coaches out there who come up with new ideas but many fail to try out these ideas because they fear the challenges that players might put up or how fans will react.  They care more about not facing the problems than they do about the potential end result that might come through them.

Sacchi didn't care about players not accepting his ideas.  What he really cared about was seeing his ideas being executed; that is what drove him.  He coached his players so they understood his ideas, explained what he wanted them to do and then made sure that they did so.  Not everyone appreciated it and he certainly had his fair share of set-backs.  Still that didn’t really matter to him as he was convinced of his ideas.  Of course, he was a great communicator and his enthusiasm ended up driving his players but that is essentially a secondary aspect.

This leads into the final point that Manson makes: that you’re always choosing what to care about whether you realise it or not.  You have to decide whether you are going to focus on your ideas and what you want to do or whether you are going to give in to what others might say or think.  

As a coach you often have to make difficult decisions especially if you are doing something that goes against the accepted norm.  It is perfectly fine to choose the option that leads to least resistance but you have to be conscious that you’ve essentially given power to the possibility of criticism or failure.  And once you’ve given up that power it is very difficult to claim it back.  

How many teams fail to deliver on their potential because a manager starts deferring to some or all of his players on major decisions?  Indeed a clear sign of a manager nearing the end of his career is any news of that manager making decisions to keep certain of his players happy.

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Book Review: Inverting the Pyramid

The biggest revolution in football writing came about in the eighties when fanzine culture got hold of the game and, suddenly, people were writing about it like never before.  Whereas the establishment considered it to be a diseased sport and the media threated it likewise, fans started showing that there could be studied, intelligent debate about what was going on.

Eventually this way of seeing things took over the mainstream.  Despite this, however, any talk of tactics was frowned up and people who did so were viewed as pretentious.  It took even more time for those ideas to start gaining a foothold.

One of those who worked to make such conversations more acceptable was Jonathan Wilson.  It was his fervour for the topic – as well as his knowledge – that helped kick it all off.

Wilson eventually took this knowledge and packed it all into Inverting the Pyramid, a book that talks about the history of football tactics and how these were shaped by different eras.  

Given that Wilson is a fine writer who can pick up any topic and make it interesting, it goes without saying that this is a great read that will be enjoyed by anyone who follows the sport regardless of their interest in coaching (although the latter will probably have more reason to pay closer attention). 

What is particularly masterful is the way that Wilson has managed to link together various footballing schools of thoughts, identifying how different modes of viewing the game influenced each other.  Throughout the history of the game there have been few ideas that have been completely original and most of the changes are the fruit of evolution; they are the result of managers carrying out the tweaks needed for a system to work better.

This means that there is little that managers can do in the future that hasn’t been done in the past.  It is why they have to know how tactics have evolved since in that knowledge lie the seeds for any future evolution.

Book Review: Mindset

As someone who tended to do well at school, quickly getting to grips with ideas that others struggled to absorb, I grew up thinking of myself as rather good academically.  My teachers told me I was and so did my parents so eventually that became part of my identity.

On the other hand, I always struggled with more manual and physical tasks.  Sports, for instance, didn’t come as naturally to me and so, while I loved watching it and envied those with greater ability than me, I never really did anything to challenge that concept.  I simply accepted that I wasn’t cut out for sports.

In time such beliefs spread elsewhere.  I loved writing, finding it easy whilst others sweated at it.  When I tried learning French, however, I struggled massively and eventually concluded that languages weren’t my strong point, even though I was fluent in three by that point.

Why am I sharing all this?  Because those beliefs are what this book is all about.  More specifically, it is all about how we – and those around us - straightjacket ourselves through such belief.  The words that we tell ourselves or are told have a powerful impact on how we think.  As Dweck points out in the book, there is research which shows that tests can be impacted negatively simply by reminding people of their racial background before the test kicks off.

Mindset is filled with such examples and how they impact people’s daily life.  It is such, frankly, a life changing book that will lead you to question your own beliefs, how you act and what you tell others.  This is a book that everyone should read regardless of where they are in their life.

Naturally, it is much more valuable if you have a group of players in your care.  It makes you appreciate more how to deal with them and how to talk to them if you want them to progress.  It also makes you realise that regardless of a player’s ability, you can make them better by guarding the way you talk to them so that you don’t put artificial limitations on them.

The Reality of Being A Football Manager

Book Review: Living on the Volcano by Michael Calvin

I take my daughter swimming, early on Sunday morning.  We also go out for a coffee, and walk around the local lake…One day we were laughing, messing about.  Someone came up to us and said ‘You find losing so funny, do you?’

In a book filled with poignant comments that was, for me, among the most shocking.  There are a lot of fans who think that a manager’s job is an easy one – a belief that has been strengthened further by the popularity of games like Championship Manager – and, whilst I’ve never held such an illusion I also never really appreciated the complexities of the job.

I had never appreciated the stress of having all that expectation resting on you, the constant thinking about the minutest of details or the difficulty of trying to get young players to appreciate the opportunity they’re being given.  And I certainly hadn’t thought of the possibility of having an afternoon with your children interrupted by an angry fan.

All that – and more - is laid bare in ‘Living on the Volcano’, Michael Calvin’s latest masterpiece of a book.   The concept is fairly simple – interviews with various managers about how and why they do the job they do – but the execution is masterful.

Indeed, as he had done with his previous football themed book The Nowhere Man, Calvin has threaded together the various interviews intelligently, teasing out the stories of the compulsion that drives these men and the harsh realities they face without ever allowing these to become either frivolous or overbearing.

Surprisingly, the least revealing chapters are those where top flight managers – Mark Hughes, Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers – are involved.  There is little which they haven’t revealed elsewhere although Rodgers’ admission that these past four years – which, professionally, have brought him huge success – have been hard on his personal life due to the death of his parents, divorce from his wife and his son being accused  (and, eventually, exonerated) of rape.  Again, those are the kind of managers’ personal emotions that fans either are not aware of or else willfully ignore.

Rodgers is a recurring theme in the book with practically every manager interviewed (again, bar the established ones) mentioning him as a role model and inspiration.  They talk of him and his methods in a tone that approaches awe which is partly down to his achievements – he is, after all, the only British manager at a club with genuine top four expectations – but also due to his generosity in mentoring others.

Overall there is very little talk of tactics or playing styles and you get the impression that, whilst each manager has a clear idea of how they want their teams to play, pragmatism rules the day.  All are aware that good football won’t keep you in a job; results will.

It means that ultimately the job of a football manager is like that of any other manager in an everyday job: it is essentially about recruiting the right people and then getting them to perform.  With the fairly significant differences that corporate managers don’t expect to be sacked after a bad set of results or to be insulted in a park over how they have performed on the job.

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Full disclosure: a review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

Book Review: Let’s Talk Soccer by Gerard Jones

Often what distinguishes a good coach from one that isn’t as capable isn’t their knowledge of the game – most tend to go to the same courses and have access to the same information – but their ability to put their message across.  Because ultimately it isn’t important how knowledgeable each individual coach is, what is important is how much of that knowledge he can transfer to the players in his charge.

Yet that step in the coaching process often tends to be forgotten or overlooked.  Indeed it is often assumed that a coach will be able to deliver his sessions in an effective manner.  To be fair, this isn’t something that happens only in football: in corporate culture, for instance, it isn’t uncommon to see people who were very good at their job getting a promotion only to then fail miserably because they weren’t capable of delegating work to others or explaining what needed to be done.

It is why there is a whole industry that provides leadership seminars.

Not in football, however, where the problem tends to be ignored.

It is for such reasons that books like Let’s Talk Soccer by Gerard Jones are important.  It provides coaches with a set of ideas and templates for how to communicate during their sessions that will help them look at what they are currently doing and then identify what they could be doing better.

Some of what Jones says might appear obvious - for instance, the starting point for every coach is to determine what his ideas are so that he can better frame the messages he wants to put out – yet that does not mean that such practices are common place.  Often, coaches have a rough idea of how they would like their team to play but not really a solid overall view that incorporates different scenarios and talent level.  Without such a clear idea, it is difficult for the message to be anything other than confused.

In general, however, this book is bursting with intelligent and practical ideas.  The cornerstone of Jones communicating philosophy is game calls – calls by players to tell those around them what they should do – and this is explained in thorough detail as is how it should be implemented.  There is also a look at a number of other ideas like the non-verbal communication of a coach, how a message is delivered and how best to solicit feedback from the players.

In other words, it provides coaches with a wide range of ideas about communication in the game, ideas that will get them thinking and, hopefully, improving how they talk with their players.

If you want to read more on the subject of communication in football, check out our interview with Gerard Jones here.

A review copy of this book was provided by the author.  If you purchase the book by following the links in this article, a tiny fraction of the overall price will be given to Blueprint for Football, thus helping in the running of this site.

Book Review: Developing Game Intelligence in Soccer by Horst Wein

“Today most players have good technique and physical preparation so what separates the very best players is their level on game intelligence. It has to be considered the most important ability on the football field.”

When, back in 2013, I had the honour to interview Horst Wein that was the reply that particularly made an impression.  Many coaches, when asked about the most important attribute of a player will turn to the usual; skill, ability, talent.  Wein’s reply was different.  For him, it was how they thought which was of particular interest and, I have to admit, that from that point on I started judging players based on that particular ability.

There are innumerable talented players who fail to hit the heights that they should for the simple reason that during games they consistently make stupid decisions.  Runs which will lead to nothing or else, staying static when movement is required.  Inversely, there are players who can read the game better than most and these tend to be managers’ favourites even if fans do not always appreciate what makes them special.

Little wonder then, that the man who could change my whole way of viewing the game is considered to be one of the greatest instructors of our time.  Indeed, Wein has blessed coaches with innumerable conferences and texts.  Yet, given the impact of that opening comment, the one that is of particular interest to me is Developing Game Intelligence in Soccer.

This is essentially, the complete text as far as intelligence in football is concerned.  It starts with a  thesis defending the importance of game intelligence before delivering another important aspect of his philosophy: no player is born with game intelligence.

This is extremely important because if intelligence isn’t a natural phenomenon then it is something that can be coached.  Which is precisely what Wein tries to show in this book where, through a series of exercises he aims to let the player reach a conclusion for a particular desired course of action which, in turn, will increase his ability to instinctively read the game when he is playing.

As with any book, this is only a starting point for any coach (not least because Wein has written a number of books that deal with similar themes and which are all brilliant reads) since ultimately it is has application and ingenuity in making necessary changes which will allow him to teach the basic principles to his players.

Yet, as starts go, there are few better than this

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Books Every Coach Should Read

The beauty of being interested in football and coaching these days is that there is so much out there to help you learn and develop.  Indeed, if you want something a bit more in depth and with more meat to it than articles that can be found on various excellent sites on the internet (including this one) then you can turn to a multitude of books that deal with various aspects.

This list features books that I feel everyone with more than a passing interest in football (let alone coaching) should be reading.

I appreciate that this is not an exhaustive list - indeed the aim is to eventually keep building on it via a permanent feature on the main site - but it is as good a starting point as any.  It will also be updated on a regular basis.

I won’t attempt to fool anyone into thinking that they’re at the same level as the other books on this list but I do think that Blueprint According to Volume 1 and Volume 2 (US readers can go here and here) – two e-books produced by Blueprint for Football and which contain a total of thirteen interviews where football coaches talk about their ideas – can provide a whole host of new ideas to anyone who reads them.

And if you want something different, might I suggest Il Re Calcio, my book with ten stories from Italian football including that of Emiliano Mondonico, how he led Torino to a UEFA Cup final and how their historical bad luck thwarted them.

Please note that by clicking through the links you will be directed to the books' Amazon page and that I will receive a small percentage from any purchase made.

Let’s Talk Soccer by Gerard Jones
Often what distinguishes a good coach from one that isn’t as capable isn’t their knowledge of the game – most tend to go to the same courses and have access to the same information – but their ability to put their message across.  Because ultimately it isn’t important how knowledgeable each individual coach is, what is important is how much of that knowledge he can transfer to the players in his charge.

Yet that step in the coaching process often tends to be forgotten or overlooked.  Indeed it is often assumed that a coach will be able to deliver his sessions in an effective manner.  It is for such reasons that books like Let’s Talk Soccer by Gerard Jones are important.  It provides coaches with a set of ideas and templates for how to communicate during their sessions that will help them look at what they are currently doing and then identify what they could be doing better.

Developing Game Intelligence in Soccer by Horst Wein

Intelligence – specifically footballing intelligence – is essential in the modern game where players are asked to perform in an increasingly more tactical environment.  That is apparent today but Horst Wein has been saying it for a long number of years, so much that he has developed what should be the prime text for any coach looking for ways to increase the intelligence of their players.

Developing an Elite Coaching Philosophy in Possession by Tim Lees

Whilst philosophy has become something of a ‘buzzword’ there is very little out there that concretely tells prospective coaches how to go about setting up their own philosophy.  This relative lack is what makes Tim Lees’ “Elite Coaching Philosophy in Possession” such a welcome book as it provides not only the ideas behind a footballing philosophy based on dominating possession of the ball but also the coaching drills that can be adopted to help instill this philosophy into the team being coached.  A full review of this book can be found here.

Coaching the Tiki Taka Style of Play by Jed Davies
On the face of it, this is a coaching book. Yet it is much more than that. True, there are coaching sessions listed throughout it but it should not discourage those who are not into coaching because what Jed Davies has done is try to explain a style of playing – Tiki Taka – by going into the development of the style and how that philosophy is then drilled into the team. 

Legacy by James Kerr
There are few sporting entities as universally associated with excellence with the All Blacks.  Of course, having a whole nation as focused on rugby as New Zealand is will inevitably result in the development of exceptional talent in the sport.  Their success however, transcends this and is the result of a whole culture that constantly works on improving.  It is this culture that Kerr has analysed in detail, identifying the salient points and then dissecting them in order to provide an explanation of why such behaviour has this sort of impact.  And, for anyone worried that this might be a book about rugby, don’t: this book is aimed at corporate managers so it can be easily applied and adopted by people working in football.

Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson
I am a big believer that if you truly want to understand a subject you have to know its history; to get a feel of what happened in the past that led to the current situation.  Obviously this applies to football as much as anything else and there is no better book to assist you in doing so than Jonathan Wilson's Inverting the Pyramid.  This is exhaustively research and, more than that, insightfully threaded together by Wilson who expertly guides the reader into understanding the impact of each innovation and how this was modified later on.

Making the Ball Roll by Ray Power
“Philosophy has become a bit of a buzzword in coaching, and is sometimes either very generic or very unclear.”  That is what Ray Power[https://twitter.com/power_ray], this book’s author, told me when I interviewed him last year and that is also the feeling that I often get. People talk a lot about having a philosophy without truly understanding what it means.  Indeed, for many it simply extends to a belief that ‘their’ teams should be passing the ball rather than hoofing it.  In reality, that isn’t a philosophy but rather an idea of how your team should play.   

Power is someone who has gone about building his own philosophy in the right way; a youth coach who has devoted time  to  look at what is meant by a philosophy and how one – anyone, irrespective of level they’re coaching – can develop a philosophy.  That process and his thoughts are contained in this book and will prove invaluable to anyone looking to go through the same process.

Moneyball by Michael Lewis
First of all, a confession.  Two actually.  The first is that Michael Lewis is one of my favourite authors and I will anything by him (indeed, his book on parenthood is great as are those on finance).  Few people have his ability to investigate a story, get to its roots and then present in a way that enables the reader to understand the whole process.  The second confession (ironically) is that I didn’t understand even a quarter of the baseball jargon he talks about in this book.  

It doesn’t matter because for me this is more than anything a guide on thinking in a different way; of not simply doing things because that is how they were always done.  Sadly this book has become largely associated with the use of statistics in sport but, in truth, the real lesson at the core is that of trying to look at areas that the traditional approach has neglected and try to use them to your advantage.

Last updated on 21st June 2015. Latest reviews on top.

Book Review: Developing an Elite Coaching Philosophy in Possession by Tim Lees

“From the second players turn up at 5.00pm to when they leave at 6.30pm, every single movement, exercise or drill they do should look like a section of the game has been cut out from above and dropped onto the training pitch.”

That piece of advice that Tim Lees - the author of this book - was given early on in his career has clearly had a significant impact on him so much that it features in the introduction of Developing an Elite Coaching Philosophy in Possession.  

Currently coaching Liverpool’s Under 14s, Lees previously worked at Wigan where Roberto Martinez’s approach to the game and his desire to retain control of the ball clearly had a big say in the formation of his philosophy.

That is a key word.  In the modern game there is a lot of talk about philosophy, particularly that which is based on possession of the ball, but for many the gap between ideas and implementation remains a huge one.  It is fine to want your players to dominate the game and keep hold of the ball as much as possible but that is effectively the easy part.  The difficult part is to get the players to do so and that can only be achieved by getting your players to work in a focused manner on the training pitch.

That it is where this book comes in.  Contained within it are a whole host of sessions that provide clearly laid out plans for coaches looking at developing various aspects of a possession based game.  From One v One Situations to Counter Attacking, there is a range of sessions that will assist coaches in their formulation of their own sessions.

It also contains ideas on how to structure a session and how to develop one’s sessions so that a long term target (like that of dominating 1 v 1s) is achieved.  Equally insightful are the personal rules that Lees imposes on himself which are the guidelines on which he maps out his work.

For those coaches who do not have the luxury of visiting a big club to see how it works this is an ideal book to gain that knowledge. 

Copies of 'Developing an Elite Coaching Philosophy in Possession' can be bought here.

Disclosure: a review copy of this book was supplied by the author.

Book Review: Universality by Matt Whitehouse

The idea of teams having players who are capable of interchanging into different roles has been around since the early sixties.  Indeed, it could be argued that the most successful team over the decades – at least those that have had lasting success –have been those sides who have had players that were particularly good at doing this.

In the modern era, the man who really revolutionised tactical thinking in this respect was Arrigo Sacchi.  Today he is more remembered for his high pressing game that operated clinically thanks also to the supremely talented Dutch trio of Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten.  Yet Sacchi’s Milan was much more than that: it was a side that had been coached to function as a whole, with players knowing where to move based on what others did during the game.

Indeed, Sacchi predicted that his team had actually only been the start of a tactical evolution that would eventually see teams where players could fulfil any role equally well.  His vision of the game went beyond the star individuals and was centred around the strength of the team.  For Sacchi, that was what was paramount.

Ultimately, his views were seen as being overly extreme – which is why his reign at Milan was relatively brief despite his success – but it spawned a generation of coaches who took his ideas and went to work with them.  Today, it is impossible to find a top level coach who hasn’t been influenced by Sacchi’s thinking.

Matt Whitehouse is certainly one of the admirers.  It could be said that the premise of this book is that of proving Sacchi right; looking over the different tactical evolutions over the past three decades, analysing what kind of an impact these have had and comparing them to his prediction.

That of analysing the game’s tactical development is a job that Whitehouse has done particularly well here as his most recent book, Universality, highlight how football has evolved to its present state.   He isn’t overbearing – there never is a sense of a coach speaking down to others - but it is obvious in the way that he writes that he’s not only researched this subject but also thought very deeply about it.  
Ultimately, it leaves the reader in no doubt of that Whitehouse sees Sacchi’s prediction becoming reality.  Indeed, he has pinpointed Pep Guardiola as the man who not only has the vision to achieve this but, at Bayern, the players that can carry it out.

Whether this proves to be the case remains to be seen; far too often in the past tactical innovations that looked set to sweep all before them ended up being overtaken by other developments.  However, what this whole book manages to conclusively prove – even though it wasn’t its stated aim to do so – is that the future of the game lies in the hands of those who not only think deeply about the game but who are also capable of shaping future evolutions.  

Anyone who stands still will be simply left behind.

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Full Disclosure:  A review copy of Universality was provided by the author.  

A Different Kind of Success

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Fifteen years ago, one of the finest British players of his generation made his professional debut.  The story goes that Gerard Houllier went to watch Liverpool’s U18 team played and promptly picked a scrawny teenager by the name of Steven Gerrard as someone he wanted to put into his first team. 

Put that way, Gerrard’s selection might seem fortuitous but people within the game had long predicted that he was going to be quite a player.

“We’re all aware of how many games he [Gerrard] has taken by the scruff of the neck in his career.  Well, he was doing that from an early age.   Technically his ability was second to none but probably what separates players like him from the rest is that they've got the drive and inner determination to go on where they want to go.”

So says Mike Yates who knows something about Gerrard having grown up playing alongside him in Liverpool’s youth teams.

“When I was young, I’d always found goals easy to come by and there had never been a defender who could stop me from scoring.  I hope that this doesn’t come across as arrogant but that was how it was for me.”

“I’d heard a few things about Gerrard and the first time I saw him I knew that he was a player by the way he struck the ball.  When I played against him it was the first time that I’d found it hard.  He nudged me, tugged at my shirt and did anything in order to get an advantage even though he was eight years old and add to that he could play!”

Like Gerrard, Yates had been spotted some time earlier by Liverpool’s network of local scouts.  “I was spotted as an eight year old playing for Burscough Dynamo.  It was Tommy Galvin, a local scout who had links with Liverpool, Everton, Blackburn and other clubs in the area who recommended me to Liverpool.”

“Hughie McAuley came to watch a game which we lost 8-1 but I scored the only goal and after the game he asked me whether I was interested in going for a trial at Liverpool.  I immediately accepted, the trial went well and I joined Liverpool.”

His was a well-trodden path that mirrored those of Steve McManaman and Jamie Carragher who spurned their youthful allegiance to Liverpool’s neighbours.  “Actually, my family were all Evertonians!  In fact, my biggest worry was about how my big brother was going to accept the fact that I had joined Liverpool.”  

“It was also difficult for me to find a football shirt to wear for the trial because all I had was Everton shirts!  Eventually, I found a Real Madrid one which I wore.”

Those loyalties were quickly forgotten as Yates started progressing through the system, eventually coming within touching distance of the first team.

“My first year YTS happened to be after Euro ’96 and a lot of the players hadn't come back so there was an opportunity for us to train with first team.  I did well and managed to get into the reserves, played a game for them and did well.  In my own mind there was an opportunity to push on.”

“My parents always told me to be prepared if it didn't happened.  Mum and dad always encouraged to look at other things.”

“That said, I always believed that I was going to make it.   It is important that you get the balance, that you keep your feet on the ground, however you always believe that you’ll keep on progressing.  When I was 16 we saw Jamie Carragher making it into the first team and it becomes more real for you.”

“Unfortunately I broke my arm and that was a real sliding doors moment.  I don't think I ever recovered from that.  The others pushed on during those two and a half months and I struggled to catch up, I made it to the reserves but I couldn’t make the next step.”

“There was a Youth Cup game and I was left out of that, which was strange for me.  Then Steve Heighway told me that he wanted to come round to my house and immediately the alarm bells started ringing.”

“On the day I went to Melwood, cleaned the kit of the staff members and then went for training.  Afterwards I rushed home to wait for Steve to come around.  When he did, he told me that they felt that I wasn’t going to make it and they weren’t going to offer me a professional contract.  I was in a daze to say the least.  For ten years I had been working really hard and suddenly it was all gone.  There had been plenty of sacrifices, not just by me but also family, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”

A key figure in Yates’ story at Liverpool is Steve Heighway.  Sadly, there are those who belittle Heighway’s time at Liverpool’s academy, choosing to remember him instead for the battles that he had with Houllier first and Rafa Benitez later over the control of the academy.  That, however, overlooks his work in overhauling the whole youth system putting in place the structures that helped produce a host of Liverpool’s finest players of the past two decades; the likes of Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen.

More than that, however, he was a man who managed to find a balance between the club’s best interest and that of the kids that had been put in his charge.

“In my opinion, Steve has done nothing but good for LFC and for a lot of players, not only players who have gone to play professionally but also those who didn’t will tell you that.  There are a lot of players doing other jobs who still thank Steve for what he did.  He gave them skills for what they did in life and not just for the football pitch.”

“As soon as I set foot I was immediately made to feel at home and there was a real family feeling.  It didn't take me long to feel part of the group.  The likes of Hughie McAuley, Dave Shannon, Frank Skelly and Heighway himself made sure that everything was fine and that there

weren’t any problems.

I was also lucky in that my parents instilled in me certain values such as the importance of looking the part and of time-keeping.  Those were values that the people at the club also made sure you observed.  And along the way I played alongside some really great players.”

He had also acquired other skills, as the club was very adamant on the importance of their youth charges doing so.  They also insisted that they had to do their coaching courses and it was this that led to Yates being offered a new opportunity on the day that his dream of playing for Liverpool had been shattered.

“Steve told me ‘we've seen you coaching and we'd like you to stay on board as one of the first five academy coaches’.  Rather than be a player Steve wanted to keep me within Liverpool FC.  I was devastated not to be progressing as a player but it was a confidence boost.  Part of the deal was that I could keep on playing non-league football and so I accepted.  A lot of young players can say ‘thanks, for offer but I’m going to prove you wrong’, but I’m glad that I didn’t have that reaction.”

Although he admits that he was confident that he was going to make it, Mike was one of the lucky ones who had people telling him that there was the possibility that this would not be the

case.  “I think that it is really important,” he says of this awareness. “There is a statistic that 98% of players after age of 25 won't be playing football.  The dreams and rewards are huge, so you think that you’re going to have a great career.”  

“However I do think that seeds need to be planted so that they are prepared.  Is there another avenue you can move into?  Today there are loads of other jobs in football: analysis, sports science, loads of ways to be involved in the game.”

It was this desire to pass on a message that not making it does not mean the end of the world that led him to write his story in the form of a book; “Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen…and Me”.  

“Original idea was to give something back for my mum and dad as they’ve made so many sacrifices for me.  Dad had kept loads of scrapbooks and I wanted to give him something back.”  

“Also with me being a coach I was becoming aware of players who were staying and those who were leaving.  Eventually you come across players who completely disappeared.  You have chat about somebody and nobody knows if they're still in the game or what happened to them.”

“I wanted to highlight just how hard it is but also highlight that because you could not make you can't have a happy life or be successful.  The ‘me’ in the title refers to me but it can be any of the many, many players who can't succeed.  If parents can read it, if it helps one youth player or a parent then the job's done.”

“That’s the purpose of me writing the book; I wanted to send a message to those who are in the academy system.  I've got a great family, I’m married, have an amazing wife and I am enchanted by our beautiful daughter.  My point is that not making it as a professional is not the end of the world.  There are many people who would love to be in the position I am in.” 

“The book was ghosted by Keith Miller.   I was on holiday on Barbados and he heard that I was on the island.  We met, had a few drinks and told him that it was my ambition to write a book.   He told me, ‘you see those books on the table? Well, I wrote them.  I'd love to help you do it’.  At first it started as a labour of love.  Our first port of call was the PFA and we spoke to Gordon Taylor who thought that it was essential to get a book like that out there.  He actually ended up endorsing the book.  When I spoke to all the other players they were pleased and flattered.  The PFA have been very, very supportive and hopefully it will help some young players and their parents.”

“One thing else the book does, I think, is that it raises some questions for the young players.  If you think you're doing enough, it makes you ask ‘am I?’   There are many interviews and comments which provide food for thought.”

His experiences have given him a unique perspective on the continuous debate about the state of grassroots football in England.

“From a Liverpool perspective, I think that our programme is doing a really good job.  

As for grassroots football, facilities is a big one for me.  We've got academies, and that is great, but lower down I don't think that there is enough where young players can go to play football.   I’m not simply thinking of purpose built areas but the possibility of getting on your bike to go to a park and play.  That is what I did as a kid and we could develop outside of a structured environment.  By where I live but there is a grass area where a lot of kids meet to play.  However, they’re now going build houses on it.”

He also has a clear idea of what it takes to make it to the very top, and it is not always skill, citing Jamie Carragher as an example.  “Some have to work hard but he's had to go the extra yard to get there.  It is one thing knowing where you want to go and another to do what is needed to get there.  When he got a professional contract he wasn’t celebrating but thinking ‘well I've got this but now I need to get to the first team’.”

As for Mike, himself, he did eventually get to play professionally.  

“I was playing for Burscough and with me coming out of Liverpool there was a lot of local media attention.  I did really well, breaking a record in scoring 12 goals in 10 games.  Manchester City and Oldham came to have a look but Dundee wanted me to go for a trail.  Steve was very good about it and told me to go for the trial.  I did well there and Jocky Scott eventually said ‘we'd like to sign you’.”

“It was a tough decision but ultimately my dad told me ‘well, what have you always wanted to do?’  The answer was to play professionally so I answered my own question.  Again, Steve was great and told me that if things didn't work out the door was always open for me.”

“My time in Scotland was great.  I played in the Scottish Premier League and scored there, which had been my dream.   I ended up with the surreal experience of playing with Claudio Caniggia who joined when Ivano Bonetti was manager.  Unfortunately, he brought in a lot of foreign players and a lot of British players got forced out.  I was told to find a new club so travelled back home after trialling at Stockport and Hartlepool.”

“Eventually I spoke with Steve (Heighway) and he gave me a job at the academy.  It was brilliant to get back and be involved.”

Today, Mike has moved on from coaching at Liverpool’s academy since then and today he is their International Academy Programme Manager.  “When we see coaches or players act in certain way it is instantly recognizable, a philosophy we call ‘The Liverpool Way’ the football club will always be here and people will transfer through the club, but that has to be a defining thing. Liverpool Football Club consider all players a success, whether they make it to the top professional league, play in the lower leagues, become a football coach or whatever they decide to do. In my opinion the development of footballers is important but the development of people is paramount.” 

“I believe I owe this club a lot. I'm happy that I took the opportunity to stay in the game.  Just because you don't reach the top doesn’t mean that you can't have a happy life.”

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The Lessons of Tiki-Taka

One of the founding tenets of Blueprint for Football was that of shying away from the coaching side of things and for one simple but fundamental reason: I am not a coach.  My interest in the development of players arises from a fascination with the process rather than an interest to replicate the coaching drills that led to it.  I’ve always been more attracted  by in the ideas behind a certain style of play and the philosophy that went into developing that way of playing.

As a result the attention devoted to that area has largely been a passing one.  It is for this reason that there are no coaching tips on the site; there are much better qualified people who do a great job of sharing their ideas (if that is your area, I strongly recommend that you follow The Coaching Family on twitter).  And that is why coaching books haven’t been featured.  So far.

Because with “Coaching the Tiki-Taka Style of Play” I’m making an exception and there’s a reason for that: this is much more than a coaching manual.

In fact, I’d go so far as saying that the real juice of the book lies away from the coaching pages.  That should not be seen as a slight on that part of the book because the coaching drills are well explained and brilliantly illustrated.  With fifty drills, there is more than enough to satisfy those for whom that is the prime focus.

For me, however, the really interesting aspect of the book was the work that Jed Davies has done to thread the evolution of tiki-taka.  His is not a knee-jerk reaction to Barcelona and Spain’s domination of world football but has used that as the catalyst in order to identify what led to this philosophy evolving in the way that it did.

He has achieved this by studying both the work and the background of the people who helped build this system.  More than that, he has spoken to a number of established coaches in order to get their views on the different systems and ideas that he talks about, helping form a picture of how a style evolves according to the environment in which it is being implemented.

There are far too many people who talk about the need for a ‘philosophy’ without knowing just what needs to be done in order to get to a point where a club (or a country) has a clearly identifiable style of play.  That is the process that this book highlights and that is why, for me, it is such an important book.

Jed Davies can be found on Twitter and is always a great source for coaching tips. 

Full disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher