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So, without any further ado, I'm going to start by introducing our guest, and what we will say is our guest, Mike, has kindly said we can answer any questions at the end, we'll do a Q&A at the end, and this webinar will be recorded and put on thecoachingmanual.com, so without any further ado, I'd like to introduce Mike's playing background with over 485 professional appearances, that's resulted in over 100 appearances for Burnley, Norwich City, Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion, former England international, and in terms of honours as a player, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, European Cup, Winners Cup with Manchester United, along with Football League, third division titles with Burnley, and second division title with Norwich City. That's only the start because obviously Mike's pursued an active role as a coach and as a manager at the highest levels of the game, so that's resulted in assistant manager roles at Norwich City, Blackpool and Stockport County, reserve team and manager and first team coach at Manchester United, obviously assistant manager at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, caretaker manager role at Norwich City and first team manager role at Hull City, sporting director at Central Coast Mariners, and that really takes us up to Mike's current positions as assistant manager at Manchester United Football Club and director and chairman at sensiblesocker.co.uk, so a very long introduction Mike, but absolutely privileged and honoured to have you on this evening or this afternoon wherever we are in the world and really share your experiences, so welcome. You're more than welcome, it's good to be here. Brilliant, so obviously this evening Mike, we're looking at covering, you know, the art of coaching and you've been kind enough to send through some slides and some information that I'll show periodically through the presentation, but first off what we'd like to start with is where it all began for you both as a player and then your journey into coaching, obviously being a burner lad football, it plays a very prominent role in the town of Burnley, so really if you could share with the audience how your love of the game developed first as a player and then obviously moving on into a coaching and managerial role. Football always starts when you're your kid and you get that ball thrown at you and you take to it straight away. I was fortunate enough to have a little bit of a gift which was being able to kick that ball around, so very early I started off at a local boys club and then that progressed obviously through the ranks of your town teams, your schools and then into your county set up and that's when you get involved in being scouted, like most kids. That obviously then resulted in me joining my local football club which was Burnley Football Club and it progressed from there as a player, you know, apprenticeships in them days were part of a work and play really, you had to learn the basics both on and off the field and that then took me onto a career path of football and it was a good career path on from Burnley to Norwich, Norwich to Man United, Man United to West Brom and then back to Norwich, so it was an interesting journey for me. Coaching wise, it all came to an end a little bit abruptly, I was starting to get injuries as you're doing football, you get a little bit older and a little bit wiser and then it was a case of, you know, do I really want to go into coaching? I always had an idea about coaching, I was always interested even when I was playing, you know, listening to coaches talk, listening to all the elements really of how you go around organising training sessions and things like that, so for me it became a natural progression in going into coaching, obviously from that you have to gain experience and get your badges in order to continue coaching, so it was really interesting and along that journey being around some very, very good coaches, some really good coaches that sort of helped me blossom and helped me create the career that I've had. Fantastic, you actually mentioned it there about having, you know, having an idea that even as a player you wanted to go into potentially having a look at coaching and management. During your playing career, were you encouraged to actively, you know, assess and analyse games, or was that something that some players naturally picked up over, went about performing the role and that was it for the end of the day? I think it started really whilst you were a player, you get to that certain point in your career as a player where you have an opinion, you have an opinion about the game, you have an opinion about how you want the game to be played and it's just an extension then that you can really dig a little bit deeper and start asking questions, the important thing was to ask questions and I was fortunate enough in my career both at Burnley with good coaches and at Norwich with good coaches that they were quite open, they were really open about why we were doing things as players, why we were doing things as a team and it was a case for me to just gain all that knowledge and then really dissect it in my own way, pick my own, my own sort of style and my own way as to how I would want to coach going forward. And in terms of gaining formal qualifications because, you know, we feel now that there's so much work being done by national governing bodies and coaches are really encouraged, even players now are encouraged doing their own YTSs and apprenticeships to get on the ladder of coaching early. What was your pathway in terms of introduction to formal coaching qualifications and how did you find those experiences? I started early and got what was then the B license right at the beginning, that was just a couple of weeks of learning from the coaches and then sort of relaying back what the coaches had already given you, you know, as an insight into coaching. Then you moved up to the A license which is a little bit more structured, a little bit more detailed and it requires, you know, quite a lot of attention, quite a lot of attention and that's on and off the field. But then whilst you're playing you start to analyse the games a little bit more and in my time early on, yeah a lot of it was a little bit different because it was more paper and more diagrammatic, that type of thing rather than actually on the screen sort of analysis. But you quickly picked it up because there was a lot of people who wanted to give you information and if you were willing to listen you would gain a lot of knowledge quickly and then you just have tried to apply it and that's the way I started through qualifications but then getting out there and at the lower levels or at junior level or just in the general park, you know, with a group of young lads, just try and put yourself across as a potential coach and do a few drills and a few things, you know, and just listen to your own voice, you know, because your voice is different when you hear it, you know, how you translate that voice, how does that come across to the people you're coaching. So all that was an early learning curve or a good learning curve. Did you feel that obviously your outstanding playing experiences, did you feel that give you a bit of advantage as well stepping into that coaching arena or was it a case of this is completely different to playing and you know I need to start from scratch. It did sort of give me confidence because you know when you when you're playing and you're playing at the level that you're playing there's a lot of tension, a lot of pressure, a lot of sort of appreciation for what you're doing so you take that out onto the training ground and you try and be confident. It's not easy because it is different, you're addressing different people, you know, you are that person on a football field when the coach is talking to you but now you're the coach, you're the guy they're listening to so it's important that you try and communicate those ideas across to whoever you're coaching, whatever level you're coaching at, as quickly as you can and also gain their trust, gain their trust and their bit of respect that they understand and appreciate what you're trying to do. Fantastic and we'll move on to obviously your early years as a culture and I'm just going to share one of your slides, what you sent through if you don't mind Mike because I thought this was you know as a coach myself I was looking at this and thought there's some absolutely fantastic words here but if you can just obviously dive into your early years as a coach as well and you've got some key words up there that I'll let you talk around and how important those early years you know cutting your teeth and getting grass under your boots as we tend to call it, how important that was in terms of mentioning that in those small small sort of words really but because they escalate into bigger words the further up the coaching ladder you go but I always felt as though as a player I would like to start coaching the players as I would like to be coached so it's more or less taking some of the coaching situations that you've been put through back out onto the field to see how people react to it so I was very open really and really learning on my feet to try and get that message across and I was observing as well you know those words are there but I was observing the reaction of those people no matter what age groups I was coaching what was happening with those people how did they take in that information and then letting it go really letting them encourage me to do more and that way I felt as though I was part of this growing experience that I was trying to get in those early years and obviously depending then where you pitch and you're then moving to the professional coaching setup it's slightly different because then you do have to gain that respect yes you can give a little bit of knowledge back but you also have to be organised you have to definitely know how to organise certain sessions be individual collective groups but that comes you know that comes by being expected by those players and you know for most of the time they do listen you know you can't you can't always get that message through to everybody at the professional level but you just hope that if that message goes into one or two players then that carries a bit of meaning within the group and it starts to grow. One word I'm going to pick up on here Mike if you don't mind is mistakes and obviously the game is so dynamic and at the top level you know you're under the spotlight 24-7 never mind when when you're dealing with a youth team or a group of kids and you're under the spotlight with the parents looking on how important is it for coaches to be open to to trying things to experiment and into accepting that listen we're not going to get it right every time. Yeah I think that's I think it's incredibly important that you you try to do something which isn't always correct but through trying it and trying to appreciate what you what you are trying to feed into players that you're going to make mistakes the big thing is in making mistakes is analysing them afterwards be honest be open you know open to discussion sometimes you know that at the professional level it is good to ask the players what they think of that session you know and it's also good to ask them to really add something to it you know the challenge is at the level I approached up is giving information and knowing how they interpret that information you can see it with your eyes you can hear it but you really want them to buy into what you're trying to do for them it's really important that they grasp what you're trying to give them and then for them to try and do it you know so these mistakes not only on the coaches part but there'll be mistakes from the players part as well but that's all part of the learning curve and then obviously you try and lessen those mistakes but mistakes make you a better person they do make you think a little bit harder than sometimes all the good things that happen brilliant just for all the attendees that are joining us obviously webinar on the art of coaching with Mike Feiland brought to you with TheCultureManual.com and SensibleSoccer.co.uk and we are asking for voluntary donations for our fantastic NHS service on the Just Giving page if you search TCM or TheCultureManual so just a quick plug again just to encourage people Mike so if you want and again you've been involved in developing players at all levels of the game for a number of years now and seeing those players come to fruition from you know from boys into men and into professionals who are playing at the highest level what do you have a process in terms of how you see these players developing into young and then established professionals and you know what are the key traits as a coach to develop players at the highest levels of the game? I think it's important to relate to the players because nowadays players come from different cultures different backgrounds they've all got their own sort of agendas you know and you've got to try and get to know those players both individually and collectively in order to to get that translation across you know football is is pretty common it doesn't matter what language you're talking most footballers understand how to play the game it's just a case of how do you how do you put those jigsaw puzzles together in order to make them better now there's a combination of things there which is obviously communication then there's obviously the the way that you are going to get that message across that's really really important and then really you've got to let them grow you've got to let them accept certain things and then you've got to let them really experiment and be patient with them patience is not an easy word these days in football I must admit but it it's got to be done from a young player's point of view yes there are different learning strategies for them but the expectation is still the same you want them to do well you really want them to to create momentum in in their ability to learn and then to translate that from the training ground on to the football field and then you've got the blend you've got the blend of youth and experience and you know maybe that little bit of flair you know that player that is slightly different slightly off the off the curb sort of thing not generally you know the lower part of it not at the high end the one that will take risks so it's learning as a coach to blend all those things and be available for all those different players to feedback to give information to help them grow because as much as I don't have all the answers they don't either they play the game but sometimes they play this only play the game they don't think the game again you know I demonstrated the slide down some fantastic you know ideas and processes there you touched on it there at the end but in terms of feedback how important is feedback for players at all levels not not just that the young children learning the game but even you know these professionals who are playing week in week out at the highest level how important is that feedback to those players I think it's huge and I think it's huge at all levels and at junior level and and sort of amateur level I think everybody wants to be appreciated for what they're trying to do what they're trying to achieve obviously the more you go into coaching and the deep you get into it the feedback is is is something that you give as and when it's needed or when you feel it's needed and that can range for a lot of different things because some players can take on information differently you know some need it need to be shown it some need to be you've had it written down so that it's it's there some need it verbally it's it's finding out those what makes those people take what what what can they take on board which isn't too much but it can improve them because all players top players in particular they want more and more they they're sponges they want they want everything you can give them and they will drain you right they will definitely drain you right and and it's also good as a coach to actually accept sometimes you can't give them everything because you haven't got everything but you can find ways of doing that so it's relationships it's relationships around those groups so for me yeah it's it's in it's really important how you get that message across how you translate that message you talks about relationships and and going off the back of feedback and and you're looking at the current club you you operate at Manchester United you held various roles at the club why do you think then in terms of player development Manchester United have consistently produced professional football as if you look at the stats you know the number of academy graduates coming through Manchester United who earn a career in the game are those relationships valued highly at the club all the way through it and is is the process you've just talked about paramount through the club do you think yeah I think what's what I learned along the coaching journey is there's always a team behind the team and the team of people that are now in the game are vitally important to service those football players they demand that and at every level I've coached that and particularly at Manchester United the attention to detail is paramount and that's individually and and the collective really and the message is pretty consistent everybody who wants to join Manchester United joins because they want to leave something a legacy behind which is achievement and that's the most important thing and coaches want to be able to facilitate that so there's a lot of areas at Manchester United that every player at that club gets attention and the right attention at all levels so that when they finally pass through the system from academy through into the to what you could call the youth and then beyond that into the professional environment they understand the culture the culture of the club and at Manchester United the culture is there for everybody to see if you're good enough you're old enough you know and it doesn't matter at what age and if you're showing those progressions and those traits that you can handle that and you're a better person for it because we do we do push the you know we want better people all the time not just good footballers but better people then eventually you'll have a career in the game and that's that's an important thing as a coach you want players whether they're young older or you know more mature you want them to have a career in the game and that is a difficult pathway a real difficult one but if you put the time and the effort in and they listen and they want to learn and they have an open mind and they can put all those things together then there's plenty of examples at Manchester United that have made that career path all the way through and I still consider it a career it's not just a job it's a career and that goes for both coaches and players fantastic um we'll we'll move on in terms of um the next question and you've been involved in the game for a number of years both as a player as a coach as a manager as a director how have you seen the the game develop over the years in terms of coaching now in terms of the evolution of coaching uh to get to the point we're currently at because there's been there's been a huge shift even in the last five years from from what I can see so how have you seen it at the top levels it's shifting day by day really you know there's a lot there's a lot going on in the game now one thing that has changed over the years is definitely uh relationships with departments a lot of departmentalisation now at the uh at football clubs particularly at the top end and and I do believe at amateur level everybody has a place in a in an amateur football club in order to produce their best for that club but certainly the higher level you know a coach now is surrounded by groups of people you know we've got analysts we've got sports science which is a major player now in in football um we've got medical now which is you know top of the tree really as far as Premier League clubs go and I'm sure it's it's siphoned its way down through through the the law leagues um so it is evolving on a on a daily basis the biggest thing for a coach now with all that is how you join it all together what is important or what is more important than something else is it all important but somebody has to bring that together and that is the job of either management or the coach and certainly going higher up at the senior level you know at the the at the height of the club the the people that run the club so it's all got to be coordinated now so there is just an evolution of the coach there's an evolution of football you know it is moving on and it moves on rapidly it doesn't wait for anybody and players players change that change you know players evolve going forward they make you a better coach sometimes because if you're lucky enough to come across players that really challenge you you know and I've been fortunate enough to to be to have been involved with those players there were now those and the Sebastian Verons and the Wayne Roonies of this world and and many more of the current crop of players now at Manchester United they definitely challenge you as a coach because if you can't deliver for them they quickly turn off and it's important that you're ahead of the curve all the time and you're you're always pushing and pressurising yourself and the players to do more so the game the game evolves all the time we're in a period of time now where we're all reflecting because we have you know a little bit of isolation you don't normally get much of that when you're on it 24 seven seven days a week at the top end but it is refreshing so you can you can have a little look at how you can improve things and believe you me when everybody starts going back to to the football clubs there'll be massive new ideas suddenly within that first week of being back everybody hell I've done some research I've done some some extra curriculum work and it'll be it'll be busy yeah I agree with you 100 I think you know the period of reflection that everybody's got and you work at the very the sharp end of the game I'd call it is you're forever moving forwards and staying ahead of everyone else and yourself and your players but now we've all got that opportunity to reflect and it's exciting as well when we do finally get back hopefully sooner rather than later just looking at the evolution of coaching though and and you mentioned earlier the culture of Manchester United and the club and you know I'm privy to to the culture within the club myself how important is it though that those core values still run through them because the core values do they ever changed you know in terms of of what I've been involved with I've always tried to understand what what is that culture of that club because you know I live in and I always have lived in the the northwest of England so there are a lot of football clubs in the northwest of England all vying for you know being the best team that they can be but they all bring something different you can go 15 miles 10 miles from Burnley you've got Blackburn then you've got Buried and you had Burry and then you've got you've got your Manchester clubs a little bit further on you've Liverpool to this world all got something special about who they are they're all different they are definitely culturally different and I think if you combine to that pretty early then you understand also then what the supporters relationship is with their clubs and what do you have to give to those supporters to make it work for them so you know the identity of Manchester United is attacking flair get buttons off seats you know be exciting score goals you know when they don't feel as though they get it because that's their history then you know as a coach you're not doing the correct things you're not appealing into the Manchester United way and that's massively important and that's also important to keep them you recruit for those supporters they demand that they see Manchester United play when I was at Norwich they demand the Norwich way you know we talk about other football clubs you know Burnley were completely different look at the town you know the town relies on its football club and right now it's flying high superb Manchester United's demand is to entertain to play attractive football to score goals to win football matches to win leagues you know it's a completely different a different vibe at Manchester United but that's as a coach that is what you've got to translate to the players what it means to win unfortunately you know when you have won a few things you know like you mentioned at the start you can pass on that experience of winning you know and the hard work that goes into winning because everybody sees that winning game or that final or that one moment that they remember in a season but for a coach it's an ongoing process it happens every day and it evolves and you tinker with it and you play with it and the joy is at the end when you achieve something and you feel as though you achieve it together it's a it's a great feeling a really really good feeling but there's a lot of work goes into to that if you can you know it's all degrees of success yeah um great stuff Mike so again thanks to all the attendees for joining another plug thanks for Mike Field and obviously sensiblesocker.co.uk and theculturemanual.com privileged and honoured for Mike to join us we are asking for voluntary donations on our just giving page for our fantastic NHS service if you search tcm or theculturemanual.com and all donations for our fantastic NHS are welcome I'm just going to stay for a bit longer on the evolution of coaching Mike because you've already mentioned some of the players obviously you've had the had the privilege to work with first standard people like Cristiano Ronaldo Wayne Rooney coming through to the club and then the young boys coming Marcus Rashford and then Mason Greenwood being one of the you know newest debutants of the club who's been there since he was seven years old. How do you think all those systems with the evolution of coaching along with the club culture have have those systems directly influenced and supported that development path for those players do you believe? Yeah I do believe that I do believe that I mean coaches do come and go within the system yeah but I think stability is is important because with stability those coaches can provide some kind of emotional emotional well-being in a way you know because familiarity is good to some degree when you're younger because you build up that trust you build up that reputation and you can be a second parent to those young players because you know they come into your care we take them on and we try to bring them through the system to be better people and also to be better football players so I think it's really important relationships I think it's slightly different at academy level and and then moving into that sort of youth rank but certainly higher up you judge it on certainly results but I think you have to take a backseat sometimes as a coach and where everybody else is losing their heads and losing their minds because one result's not not getting any better or or you're losing this game and that game I think as a coach you have to put it into perspective that you're hoping you're in it for the long haul and you can keep evolving those players and you can keep evolving yourself but once in a while you know I was I was involved with Sir Alex Ferguson and those players that you talked about the one thing about Sir Alex Ferguson was he gave you the opportunity to coach his longevity was excellent you know 20 odd years on football club probably never be repeated again in the grand scheme of football these days but what it did it gave you an element of security to actually work at your job work at it learn with it develop and also a continuity of players that you could work with you know and some very very good players at that we mentioned some of the top of the tree there but there's a lot of other players there that all brought something to the the trading ground both as people and as players so you could coach them you know the foreign players brought so many different challenges to you you know and and how do you create an individual player into a team player Ronaldo sticks out quite well there you know I always felt through coaches not just myself but other coaches at Manchester United who were around Cristiano he was like a sponge he wanted more he challenged it for more where you had to try and get Cristiano to be a team player and he he got it he did get it in certain things we did in training which which made him you know do things which he didn't really want to do but eventually when the success came and then he moved on particularly to Real Madrid there were certain things when you observed games he plays at Real Madrid that he definitely picked up at Manchester United and he was translating that you know further up the the ladder of of excellence really and so that's important and there's a satisfaction you know I don't claim to have created Cristiano Ronaldo that's one thing I wouldn't do because there's a lot of people influence Cristiano but the biggest influence has been himself his drive has been fantastic and there's other players as well fantastic and you mentioned then about evolving you know in improving yourself as well you've held numerous roles at the highest levels of the game how what are the keys to that improvement to be able to be sustainable and not just be sustainable but be successful at the highest levels of the game strong backbone everybody can do better than the person doing it at the time that's that's a fact in football because everybody has an opinion so you know on a on a day to day matchday basis whatever everybody who sits there and watches football is a perfectionist they want more and that's good but I think from my point of view as a coach developing is is massive you have to you have to look to improve you have to go outside of yourself sometimes to to find out what's going on outside of your own football club and what I mean by that is find out what is going on in other sports because other sports can relate to things in football um you know I'm quite interested in in in ice hockey I don't understand the game but there are movements in ice hockey which are are relative to maybe a shooting session or you know finishing session so you can find these little little things you know what what can you improve on from a fitness aspect get out there ask people you know listen to things um don't be shy ask questions you know we all feel as though sometimes we don't need to ask questions because we've got all the answers but believe you me we haven't you know there's always ways of learning um and not necessarily in football that you can bring to the game but I think it's that's that's a key to improvement really on a personal basis and and also the roles that I've had I quite like to create groups of people who can interact and and and and try and experiment and grow and and and and also ask me questions and through experience and a little bit of knowledge for them to go away and maybe I've reinforced their beliefs you know because that's how I I learned through listening to people and and translating what I'm listening to into the way I was thinking and and sometimes it gives you a little bit of a geoclip a little bit of confidence to to know that you're on the right track so those roles that I've had they've all encompassed that thing and that you know I like to to understand and talk to people and find out what is it that I can do or help to make them better you know and that's that's that's not just football players that's that's other coaches or other areas of your football club so it's bringing people together and having a go really so touching on that then how important is it to surround yourself with good people and build that network and like you said those people may not even be involved within your own sport they may work beside you on a day to day is that an important part of being successful at the top level surrounding yourself with good good people I think your experiences along your journey bringing contact with a lot of good people I mean there's a lot of good people in work in football and there's a lot of good football people out of work it's just the nature of the beast but I think as you grow you you mix with people that you feel comfortable with from the point of view of you are you are in the game because it is all absorbing it takes up so much of your time so you do surround yourself with people you feel comfortable with and you have to because you more or less live in each other's pockets you know you're living hotels now you're travelling all the time you're playing in Europe so you're on the journey you're then back at your training ground so your hours are precious and you spend a lot of those hours with those people that you need to make it work make your coaching job and make those players better so yeah you you are choosing but you've also got to have those dynamics within the group which are slightly eccentric or different challenge you yourself you know if you don't want people that old nod and say yes how you're doing and and what a lovely morning it is today when it's not you need the people to just look you in the eye tell you straight that this isn't working we need to look at it differently so it's it's getting the right amount of people and the right combinations of people and then hopefully you can breed that culture and that success and you can relay that back to the to the players brilliant and how how how much does pressure play into that strive to to be ahead of the game and continuing to develop and improve because you know most of your roles have been at the top level at the sharp end of the game is is that pressure there or is it a case of it's more for myself and for the people around me in the club I work with so stay ahead of the game is it a mixture of everything I think it's a mixture of everything I think in the early the early part of your coaching you want to prove your work you want to prove that you can do this you want to prove that to other people probably more than yourself sometimes I think that's human nature you want to be accepted I think as you do it more and more in your game more experience and you've coached for a long time you can you can sort of separate the pressure from the job from the work that you're doing and you understand that it's always there at the the back of your mind that you want to keep progressing you want to keep learning you want to keep giving the information to the players and be around the players in a football club that's not always the case but you try to avoid the pressure moments but then they do come they do come through at the highest level results and progress are you making progress throughout the division are you challenging for honours and things like that but but then you it's a slightly different thing then because you have a will to win but you rely quite a lot on the players as a coach a coach can give only so much information the players have to take that on board mix it up with their ambitions and then deliver it on the football field so you you become a bit reliant on the players so the more good players you have and the more you can blend them together in that jigsaw puzzle it may take you where you want to go so it releases the pressure a little bit it's something that I think everybody accepts I don't think most people like it but some people thrive on it that's for sure but when you're at a free club a professional club the pressure becomes a little bit easier until you lose that one game if you win more than you lose then you're okay absolutely and then you know once you are in that position where you've got the role and you're established at that sort of level how important is it to stay ahead of the game and obviously a lot of press interest and you've got a huge fan bases in all the clubs you've worked for you know what is it that that you can do as a manager as a coach as a member of staff to stay ahead of the game liaising with with those industries but keeping true to yourself and your beliefs of yourself in the club and what you're trying to do yeah I think that I think what you said there is is staying true to yourself you are what you are a coach you know there's no if you are a certain type of person then stick to that way of being because if you try to be something else there's somebody else it's quite easy to see through that I think I think it's that's that's not a good reflection on yourself and believe you me football players can see through those types of things if you're on it up front if that's your sort of persona then get that out there you know get amongst it get that out there when you're coaching and and stay stay true it is it is it is relative that to be who you are and be accepted for that and it will work and it won't work you know we can't please everybody that's that's the mantra I have sometimes you have to please yourself but it's it's it's an ongoing thing improvement and staying ahead of the game requires a lot of research a lot of a lot of understanding of like I've said what's going on out there in in the world of sport but also keeping keeping ahead of the game means knowing what your competitors are doing that's important you know um what are they up to if you can get that information or there's certainly something behind every successful football club be that an individual or a process or a strategy or is it great recruitment you know all these things play a part but you have to be for your position and your football club that you work for you have to be slightly in front of where you are right now because like we said in previous parts of this talk you know every day is a different day at a football club it brings different challenges players or old individuals they have you know highs and lows you know you can finish the training session at the end of the day and you're really on it and everybody's happy you can come in the morning everybody's depressed all that's happened is they've left your football club coming back in the morning a lot of things have gone on in their own lives so you have to rebuild those building blocks straight away is a coach always you know ahead of what's going on as far as being in a good mood when everybody's flat what's your mood like you know how do you translate that mood because if you're in a problem all the time you realise that they'll soon realise this is a bit down it's a bit dower it's not working don't like this so you've got to appreciate a football club and the football players and their expectations on that day to day basis so your mood's got to be good regardless of anybody else's it's got to be on it and that doesn't matter what level you're at if you're enthusiastic I think your players can feel that and I think then your enthusiasm will translate to what you're trying to give them and they will then try and carry out those actions and enjoy their training which is the most important thing is to enjoy the training and challenge themselves in training to get the best out of them brilliant and you've mentioned you know researching and staying ahead of the game and and as a coach continuing to develop are there any areas what are really of interest to you in terms of research and development that you've looked at in in recent years that you think you know what that's a key area I'm really I'm really after getting getting more knowledge on I quite like the new research into the reality stuff that's out there now it's I think it's ahead of its time but I think you know having been involved with the company and based in Manchester then it's you know it's progressing it's progressing really quickly and it is a tool that can be used within the sports science arena for for all different reasons it's been used in medical situations now so I think players are evolving they have you know video games they're on the internet all the time they want different ways of practice I think with the VR it can definitely improve cognitive cognitive research into how players think and react and you know when they're injured how they can get back onto the training pitch quicker by using VR beforehand but I'm also interested in things of how people learn how do people accept information it's that's always been one of those things as to I can sit in front of a group of 20 football players and give a team talk and I can I can express my views on how I want the gameplay and then I can guarantee every one of those players and you'll have had this we'll look at you and we'll nod and smile and and all these things and yeah they're taking it all in and then you think they've got it and then five minutes later they'll ask you a question about something which they haven't understood but you think they have so they're all receptive in different ways and that is why I'm interested in you know is it talking to somebody is it showing somebody on the training ground is it visually showing them you know on a screen those types of things because everybody accepts information differently not not everybody in that dressing room is at the same place at that moment in time so there's a lot of skills you've got to learn those skills of how receptive can you be and who you need to talk to and who you don't need to talk to so I like to think about those things and to try and translate that into good communication really and like I said if if I don't know all the answers which I don't then I'll try to find out I'll try to find out what makes that work or how does that work and then I'll try to translate that to the football players if they've asked me the question or I'll introduce them to somebody who probably has better answers than I do you know I'm not afraid I'm not afraid to do that and I don't think coaches should be afraid to be be you know don't spread yourself thinly use people I think it's it's a benefit to everybody yeah and you mentioned that I think at the very start about that open-mindedness and being open to say you know what I'm not sure I'll find out for you though and that was that was one of the things one when I left Manchester United when Charles Ferguson left I had that moment of reflection and there were a lot of things in my head that I was thinking about but I couldn't actually work on the training ground with because it was intense it was just 24-7 move on to the next game don't look back look forward but then when I discovered you know the the VR and my hype or the company that are doing it then it opened my eyes to the fact that that's what I was thinking about but I didn't know it existed but it was only when I was out of the game for that period of time I found it and I got involved and the guys there were terrific you know we we talked about certain aspects of how to deliver this and they've put thoughts onto paper or into reality for me and and you know that's that's a blessing in some some ways because with all those coaches got massive ideas and energy and enthusiasm but we just sometimes don't know how to put it down on paper or how to get it out there and we have to learn these skills and ask people how do we do that you know and I think what we shy was you know being quesitive I think that's important brilliant so name it name in the end we've got a few questions lined up Mark but before we put some questions to you that's okay just to just to let people know we are looking for you know voluntary donations for the NHS I have been notified that we've actually already surpassed our target which is fantastic really appreciate all of the attendees who've contributed to that and obviously Mike on behalf of sensiblesocker.co.uk for giving his time up and and there are a few minutes left we are going to um finish the webinar shortly after we've posed Mike a few questions because we're aware at 8 p.m is is the clap for the NHS we want to make sure people can can log off it and do that but before we do Mike we have a few questions that have come in if that's okay to ask you yes carry on yeah yeah so um let me let me pull a few of these up so in in uh in regards to your way of playing and a playing philosophy um as a first team manager do you do you feel that that change is dependent on the opposition or do you just make slight tweaks to ensure you can you keep a consistent message to your players what what's your approach on that one yeah I think you have a your own philosophy it's how you want to coach I think you build that up over time and you you find out through all the things you've talked about today through mistakes really what your philosophy is and what you can deliver from that I think you you find out what the dynamic is that you're trying to put in there what is the group dynamic you know because when you move from club to club or you get more established and you work with better players the dynamic is a little bit different so how do you how do you put your message into that dynamic you know because believe it or not coaches can upset that dynamic by by being individual so you have to be you know on board and collected with with with what you want to try and do um I think it's really important to to feel as though you belong with that group you know and what I mean by that is that group trusts you with their careers with their their the process that you want to put in place will make them better you know and make them achieve because they all want to achieve that's that's the top and bottom of it and it requires different skills you know one player can't do it on his own although you could say a message is quite a bit on his own and just y on and on but there's quite a bit on his own but in general one player doesn't make a team it could be the difference in a team but there's a collectiveness there that requires you know everybody to join in so that's important to coach and you've got to grow you know you've got to grow you've got to grow as a club you've got to grow as a staff you've got to grow as a as a group of players so I think that's that's in the main I think what I'm trying to say is it's a collaboration of things you know it's everybody's got to to join in and want to go on that journey you know I'm a big believer in journeys it's it's not a short pit stop it's something that you want to build on and when you've been on a journey and it's been successful you want to share that with with people you know and because it's a great opportunity it's a great thing to do um and the rewards are great but it is it is a collaboration I think of everything brilliant um a question coming from Matthew here um what what would be your best advice for a 20-year-old culture who started coaching men in the game and that that could probably carry on to what would be your best advice for a culture's full stop who want to make an impact in the game I think um to to start learning to be a culture is to do as many sessions as you can think about what you want to do keep it simple keep it relative um get out there and be part of that group you know offer offer a little bit of insight get your drills simple you know and then build from your drill you know I think it's important to have some sort of connection start small and start to grow your sessions a little bit add a little bit more detail as you go along but I think for me the one thing that I will quickly was how does your how does your voice come across to people because we all have accents we all have dialects we all have different ways of expressing ourselves but sometimes it's a little bit of a shot when you listen to yourself so you've got to understand the players you're coaching how they hear your voice so it's I think when you're putting on a session get in there mix it up a little bit don't be rigid there's no need to be rigid be flexible you know if it's not working stop it start again there's nothing wrong with that you know there's nothing in the rule book that says you're going to start at A and finish at Z and it's going to be perfect it's it doesn't work like that so don't be afraid you know find your voice overcome your nerves a little bit because you will be nervous I can remember those days when I'm nervous and I'm still nervous now when I'm standing in front of a load of players and you know everything about the game but I think it's important you find yourself and get out coaching coach at any level you can get out there whether it's kids because they're all going differently man fantastic so um there's there's so many questions coming in Mike and and we've got very very little time left unfortunately um what I will say to the attendees is obviously we're hoping to develop this relationship with Mike and with sensiblesocker.co.uk and thecoachingmanual.com so um finally from from me Mike obviously and on behalf of the coaching manual a massive thank you for giving up your time and obviously um a big shout out to sensiblesocker.co.uk and you can follow them on twitter at soccerltd um Mike any any final words from yourself in terms of of the current climate and coaching and what we can do moving forward? I think in the present situation you know everybody's I could say reflecting on on on what the future is going to hold I think we have to be conscious of the fact that there will be changes there will be changes in in every walk of life I think going forward I think we need to um need to understand where we are right now and where we want to go as as human beings really not just cultures I know that when we go back as a group of players to Manchester United and the group of staff we'll be excited again excitement's great it's like a new start over even though we're coming towards the end of the season so we need to just think a little bit more clearly respect respect what we're doing respect the people around us and really enjoy life you know what I mean it's a serious game football but we can make it less serious by smiling and I think people buy into that you know and let's entertain people professional sport is about entertainment you know but not necessarily for the individual who's participating in it but certainly the people that are paying to watch it's an entertainment sport so give them as much entertainment as you can find ways of doing that brilliant um Mike been an absolute pleasure to to talk to you and thank you so much for your time and obviously theculturemanual.com and sensiblesocker.co.uk I keep plugging massive thank you to everyone who's attended the webinar today and a huge huge huge thank you to everyone who who made that voluntary donation to our fantastic NHS great work being done across the country and obviously professional clubs like Manchester United as well and their appreciation to the NHS alongside other professional clubs across the across the country really so massive massive thank you and we hope to have you on again and really appreciate your time the recording the webinar recording will be on theculturemanual.com as well so anyone who does miss it or wants to re-run it and we hope to have your back on a webinar in the near future Mike and thank you for your time you're welcome you're welcome you're thanks Mike thank you everyone for joining and it's very safe and thank you be safe