New Professional Development Coach

[Puskas]

Andy Hughes, apparently
http://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/article/andy ... 74889.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And he's registered as a player.

But he's 36. And a midfielder. And we need a striker. What are you thinking Freedman? What is this madness? What is a professional development coach, anyway? Sounds new and trendy and I fear change.

Boo! Freedman out! John Beck in!

[BWFC_Insane]

Andy Hughes, apparently
http://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/article/andy ... 74889.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And he's registered as a player.

But he's 36. And a midfielder. And we need a striker. What are you thinking Freedman? What is this madness? What is a professional development coach, anyway? Sounds new and trendy and I fear change.

Boo! Freedman out! John Beck in!

Replacement for Sammy Lee is what I'd heard....

[boltonboris]

Better than having an amateur one I suppose

[Lord Kangana]

Is this just another overly wordy name for "coach"?

A bit like the sporting equivalent of myself?

[Puskas]

Replacement for Sammy Lee is what I'd heard....

Do you (or indeed, does anyone) know if he has the same coaching qualifications as Sammy Lee?

I was under the impression that, to gain academy status, we had to have the head coach with the top badges (as Lee has).

If he isn't as highly qualified, does it affect the academy status?

Or do we not need no stinking badges?

[BWFC_Insane]

Replacement for Sammy Lee is what I'd heard....

Do you (or indeed, does anyone) know if he has the same coaching qualifications as Sammy Lee?

I was under the impression that, to gain academy status, we had to have the head coach with the top badges (as Lee has).

If he isn't as highly qualified, does it affect the academy status?

Or do we not need no stinking badges?

It was my understanding too re requirement for badges.

Presumably he has the requisite badges which is why we hired him.

[Puskas]

Well, according to his Linked In page,he has a UEFA B qualification:
https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-hughes/31/995/256" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Andy Waller]

Great, we've been struggling for an adequate replacement for Robbie Blake.

[Prufrock]

That's only one more than I've got! If I'd known I'd have applied. I'm pretty sure he's less qualified than Keeeeebaaaaaab, wherever he went.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Well, according to his Linked In page,he has a UEFA B qualification:
https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-hughes/31/995/256" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...'pon which he says he is employed "as assistant development coach to Jamie Fullerton and assist the U18s". Which is fair enough. One of the problems of coaching youngsters is knowing what to do with them when they hit that 18-21 period: should they play for the Development side? Should they be on the fringes of the first team? Would it be better for them to go out on loan and get regular games, rather than ride the pine and get an occasional 10-minute cameo?

We have a number of players to whom that decision will become very real this season, and presumably in seasons to come if the Academy starts to produce possibilities (God, we hope so). Having someone coaching them who has been around a bit, another experienced pair of eyes to help make that crucial judgement, including not just when but where to go on loan, can't hurt.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

That's only one more than I've got! If I'd known I'd have applied. I'm pretty sure he's less qualified than Keeeeebaaaaaab, wherever he went.

Haven't seen Keeebaab in ages, bless him. If he has his UEFA A Licence he's one of only about 1,400 in England to do so – in effect, it's pretty much invite-only. Still, you'd expect him to get the invite if he asks for it, as his playing career winds down (I would be very surprised to see him turn out for Freedman's first team).

On the topic, there's a good breakdown here of the coaching badges (including numbers) across Europe, if anyone's interested. Under the UEFA numbers link you can discover that England has only four more UEFA Pro-Licenced coaches than Bosnia-Herzegovina (population 3.8m).

[Prufrock]

I thought you were saying you'd be surprised if KB turns out for Freedman's first-team for a moment there! Thought I'd missed something

Interesting counter from the guy interviewed on that link which might explain the number of B licence coaches, but not the A and Pros.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I thought you were saying you'd be surprised if KB turns out for Freedman's first-team for a moment there! Thought I'd missed something

Ah sorry, yeah - switched effortlessly and gormlessly from talking about my old mate Kebab to Bolton new boy Hughes. Apologies. For the record, the "if he has his UEFA A Licence" could apply to either, the latter "You'd expect him to get the invite" refers to Hughes... not that Kebab shouldn't get it, but he has full-time employers who may not look upon time away as kindly as a football club might...

Interesting counter from the guy interviewed on that link which might explain the number of B licence coaches, but not the A and Pros.

...that said, and linking in to your comment here, I do think there's a lack of impetus among the higher coaches to push on and keep developing themselves. And, I'd argue, the future: I heard a startling fact this week that 84% of Spain's "elite" coaches work with kids - not just at club academies but grassroots. Now, that could be because there aren't enough jobs to go round, or it could be because everybody in this country wants jam today, which only makes the "Let's Do A Germany" browbeating more facepalming.

So, anyway, good luck to Hughes, I hope he helps develop our kids so we can have Bolton jam by 2016 and England jam by 2018

[Devon White]

I thought you were saying you'd be surprised if KB turns out for Freedman's first-team for a moment there! Thought I'd missed something

Ah sorry, yeah - switched effortlessly and gormlessly from talking about my old mate Kebab to Bolton new boy Hughes. Apologies. For the record, the "if he has his UEFA A Licence" could apply to either, the latter "You'd expect him to get the invite" refers to Hughes... not that Kebab shouldn't get it, but he has full-time employers who may not look upon time away as kindly as a football club might...

Interesting counter from the guy interviewed on that link which might explain the number of B licence coaches, but not the A and Pros.

...that said, and linking in to your comment here, I do think there's a lack of impetus among the higher coaches to push on and keep developing themselves. And, I'd argue, the future: I heard a startling fact this week that 84% of Spain's "elite" coaches work with kids - not just at club academies but grassroots. Now, that could be because there aren't enough jobs to go round, or it could be because everybody in this country wants jam today, which only makes the "Let's Do A Germany" browbeating more facepalming.

So, anyway, good luck to Hughes, I hope he helps develop our kids so we can have Bolton jam by 2016 and England jam by 2018

He was well liked by charlton fans, one of the main voices in the dressing room, also worked for sky and apparently knows the technical side of the game as well as the man management side, sounds what we need to bring the younger ones through.

[thebish]

So, anyway, good luck to Hughes, I hope he helps develop our kids so we can have Bolton jam by 2016 and England jam by 2018

you're making me hungry...

[Lord Kangana]

But, and beautifully illustrated by Keynsey himself (god bless wikipedia!):

"For purposiveness means that we are more concerned with the remote future results of our actions than with their own quality or their immediate effects on our own environment. The “purposive” man is always trying to secure a spurious and delusive immortality for his acts by pushing his interest in them forward into time. He does not love his cat, but his cat’s kittens; nor, in truth, the kittens, but only the kittens’ kittens, and so on forward forever to the end of cat-dom. For him jam is not jam unless it is a case of jam to-morrow and never jam to-day. Thus by pushing his jam always forward into the future, he strives to secure for his act of boiling it an immortality."

For the Germany analogy - do I trust Ingerland, even with a promise of Jam tomorrow, to actually achieve jam tomorrow? Not really. I don't think the imagination exists within our footballing structure (albeit with the inevitability of small pockets) with sufficient quantity to effect change.

I also would extrapolate the same to our own situation. It may be easy to say wait and see, but the evidence so far doesn't hold much promise for future results. It looks like drift based on a lack of real results (on all fronts). Anyone of us can promise results. Far less can deliver them. We'll end up waiting and seeing whether its good, bad, or indeed indifferent anyway.

[bwfcdan94]

Excellent player and the definition of a leader, will be interesting to see what impact he has in the coaching role. As said above another experienced hand who will inevitably offer the young-uns a lot of good advice. Well done Dougie.

[Hoboh]

Andy Hughes, apparently
http://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/article/andy ... 74889.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And he's registered as a player.

But he's 36. And a midfielder. And we need a striker. What are you thinking Freedman? What is this madness? What is a professional development coach, anyway? Sounds new and trendy and I fear change.

Boo! Freedman out! John Beck in!

Idiot!