Well when a vacancy came about at Aston Villa I sent in my CV. I've played Academy as a junior so that always helps too! At the time I was Level 2 qualified, a member of FACA and had worked both here and the USA. It was a pretty good CV in all fairness for someone my age (only 22 then). As I play semi-pro too that always helps because it seemed like all we spoke about at the interview was the playing side. Unfortunately kids on here telling each other you dont have to be a good player to be a professional coach is a bit false and deludes many people. Obviously there are exception but very rarely!

My advice, take one step at a time.
Get your Level One., get a few years experience coaching kids, get level 2 (takes 6months), coach teenagers or write to your local pro clubs for community coaching, keep your eye out for vacancies or send out a few CV's. It is very difficult to get into but if you build up your awards and experience sooner or later you will be just what someone is looking for. Also if your quite academic go to uni and get a sports management (or similar) degree, it always looks good!

good advice that cshipley. reminded me of a thread about managing tiny international teams to get in the back door. For me it is going to be a long slog and I know it, but coaching is something I have long term plans for, there is nothing i would like to do full time more than wake up knowing im doing a job where i will get imense satisfaction.

It being my 30th birthday, I am still relatively young and would be happy doing it till way after Bobby Robsons age. Teams will look for the best person for the job, even if it is an international team like afghanistan, it is a bit naive to think that an international side is going to snap you up just like that, it is naive to think anyone other than the local pub team is going to want your services, after all there are plenty of coaches out there, and as Brian Clough pointed out, being a coach and being a manager are two very different things.

Getting as much experience as you can along the way from your level 1 upwards to eventually the UEFA Pro Licence, and as mentioned getting some sort of degree to go with it is ideal. Meanwhile coaching at a junior team or whatever will help get confidence and experience at coaching. Then if you are very lucky, you may land a management position one day or get in at a youth acadamy. I would imagine an acadamy like at Aston Villa, or any club with one will be great help, not just for the coaching experience but the contacts and of course being able to learn from more expereinced coaches along the way.

Either way to get to a proffessional league management, even many semi-pro none league sides would take years of a proven track record. More than likely those jobs will be snapped up by ex-pro's from the lower leagues, so you really would have to proove you are the Jose Mourinho of Sunday League to make the step up.

If anyone thinks they are just going to walk into football management should be prepared to understand there is a big difference between championship manager and the real thing. It only takes a few minutes to install championship manager.

Do you have to be a good player to be a coach? Its not essential but it would be an advantage.

mourinho, wenger, luis van gahl. never great players themselves so it can be done and it can be done successful just like these have proven. al tho alex ferguson was a player (not a great 1) never played for his country and hes successful so even being a low class player you can still be successful as a manager

All of those you mentioned were professional footballers! So unless you area Professional and have played higher it's fairly harsh to say they were not great players! Ferguson had a better than 1 in 3 strike rate for gawds sake!

Next you'll be telling me Aidy Boothroyd wasn't a pro...!

I think it would be fair to say that if talking about great scottish footballers then Alex ferguson's name would not really trail off the tongue regardless of his strike rate. However, case in point with regards to modern football in this country at least. The more high profile, famous, talented, successful you were as a player then the less likely you are to succeed at the same level as a manager. Steve Bruce, Bryan Robson, Kevin Keegan(apart from 1 second place finish), Stuart Pearce, Sammy Lee. Its only a matter of time before Roy Keane adds his name to that list. I am not suggesting that the aforementioned are not / were not good managers only that they have not succeeded in managing at the same level at which they played.

An interesting point is that those players mentioned all went straight into management at big clubs that. It would seem that in itself could hold an answer to that problem. i.e Dennis Wise cutting his teeth lower down may well serve him better in the long run and the same with Paul Ince - Maybe that should really be the way forward.

In summation, being a good coach/manager has very little to do with being a good player.

Look at the top managers today and tell me if you ever remember hearing their names as top players.Arsen wenger the best in the game right now........never heard of him.ferguson......who!Youmay be better off asking what top footballers became top managers,you can count them on one hand.

Good post.

Sorry the answer is yes.Both Wenger and Ferguson played professionally so they were above the norm.They weren,t outstanding but you have to have played at at least good semi pro level or pro youth level to get the early insights in to the game and to have been in a serious football culture..Ferguson did play for Scotland.So he couldn,t have been too bad!!
However there,s the odd exception to the rule Jose Mourhinio was no great shakes but his father was a pro coach so he lived and breathed professional coaching from an early age.
However not many great players become successful coaches maybe it came too easily to them and they didn,t have to analyse their play and work on their game.
All managers and coaches in the English leagues from Premier down to conference played professionally at some level.
However there is always an exception to the rule and I ,ve probably missed the odd one that wasn,t.So good luck in life if you want it bad enough anything is possible.

The idea of having to be a good footballer to be a good coach does of course apply to the standard of player that you are coaching. Under 9's learing the game is totally different to Under 16's and Grassroots football is of course different again to Academy and CofE football.
At times a coach will have to show his team how to do certain things. And of course knowing how to do these things breathes confidence when talking about it…

If we really want our kids to get the best coaching then the same applies.The most important ages in player development are from 5/6 to 15.Unfortunately because there,s not much money in it thats where we often get the worst coaching,not always I might add.In the uk we,ve got to find a way to get quality coaching available to all kids who take up the game by ex players who know the game and are keen to be trained to transfer that knowledge.
As from my previous post being an ex player gives the coach, if he,s any good, that extra coaching knowledge and credibility

You most definitely do not have to be a good footballer to be able to coach. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise. Being a professional football player does not necessarilly make you a better player than someone who is not a professional. If that were the case why year after year do so many none league clubs progress in the FA cup at the expense of more illustrious league teams. When Teams get relegated does that make them worse than the teams that now fill their places in the league above. Becoming a pro footballer relies on many factors such as Luck, Right place, Right Time, Right face, Connections and Ability. Some of you may seem surprised but that order is probably not far off being correct.

You are right strass you do not have to be a good footballer to coach BUT you do have to be a good footballer to be a good coach.Thats why you don,t see any teachers running clubs.Those non league clubs who knock out the league clubs are coached by ex players!! And by good I mean to have at least played good semi pro or in modern times young lads who as a minimum have been through a club youth system or been at a college of F.E. academy.
As for the recruitment system for clubs I agree its pure luck but thats because the system was set up by Howard Wilkinson at the FA!! Which started selecting out at too early an age.At our local pro club academy they are using part time coaches some are good ,some are ordinary none are exceptional the exceptional ones are in the full time jobs.
Because of the academy system we have 11 yr olds travelling from the midlands to play Southampton a 5/6 hour round trip 2 hours getting change,warmed up and changing back after the game ,an hour for the meal and an hour for the game! because of "overuse". So in a 9/10 hour day they play for 1 hour.What a waste of time money and resources.On average 5/6 players from the academy system come through in to the Premier League each year.Not good enough.And YOU defend the system

Craig Brown was a school teacher and coaching Clyde.f.c and finally managed Scotland also.

So your wrong Colin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Brown_(footballer)

There are always exceptions to the rule but Craig Brown was a good player ,he chose to go the teaching route,but he was a good player.Not great but good.
Put it this way look at the worst players in the kids teams you coach and ask the question to your self will they be good coaches.99% you,d say no

Craig Brown was not good at all. Who told you this?

Thats why you don,t see any teachers running clubs

Oh. I do. So do 2 of my colleagues. We must be mistaken.

You don't have to be a good player to be a good coach. You DO have to be a good player to become a top coach is what you are saying, and I agree.

I'm not tooting my own horn, but I'm probably 4/10 playing wise, whereas I am doing L3, coached over 8 years, currently run 2 teams and a 'for all' Saturday club.

Interesting Ian. So if im reading you right are you saying that because you only rate yourself 4/10 playing wise that you are not going to be a top coach? Also are you saying that if there was a guy in your team that you rated as 8/10 then he will go on to be a better coach than you? Thats the impression im getting unless im missunderstanding you.

The biggest hinderence to you being a top coach or classed as 1 is the fact that you dont and you havent played professional football which means that it is highly unlikely that you are going to get on the A licence course and then pass it and then from 2010 you will need to have aquired your pro licence in addition to the UEFA 'A' to coach in any of our professional leagues. Another thing, if you managed to overcome that mountain of a hurdle then which club would take a chance on you since you havent played professional.

Think of the worst professional player you can imagine and then realise this fact. He stands more chance than you of managing in league or non league for that matter than you. Why? Because he has that al important fact on his cv - He has played pro football at some stage and thats enhanced even further if he hits the management trail not long after his playing days.

Gerrard Houlier has recently come out and said that in france its impossible to begin a career in management so soon after your playing days never mind combining the two roles as player manager.

Yes strass that is what I believe. I could potentially be as good a coach as Tony Carr or Bobby Robson, but I won't do it at their level. Maybe one day soon I'll get the chance to coach at the academy, but I doubt I'll ever, ever reach full time pay from working with pro's.
Some of my players are genuine 7-9 out of 10s. Will they become better coaches? That's unanswerable.
Have they more opportunity to become top coaches - if they continue playing, yes.

There are many top coaches who are probably not as good as the better grassroots coaches, and I always wonder when a young manager goes in straight from playing(eg Southgate), how many ideas they have.

Ian
I meant teachers running league clubs

So you think that you are capable of being as good a coach as an England manager!! Self belief is very important in your coaching as it breeds confidence from you to your players, but you have to draw the line somewhere. If you are as good a coach as you say you are then get yourself into your local academies or centre of excellences and start working with the better players and you will get noticed as a quality coach and then see how you rate.

I do agree with your statement about past professional players and believe that some non league and lower professional league managers given the same budget etc could do a better job than the likes of Bryan Robson. The reputation gets them the job but it certainly doesn't keep them the job or in the league