Best of luck to all the lads for the future!

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In December I attended a presentation evening for the London Coaches association. The award winners on the night included; Roy Hodgson, Don Howe and Hope Powell – all of whom have made a huge contribution to football in this country. The winner of the grass roots coach of the year, was a lesser known name, whose contribution to the community compares favourably to those outstanding coaches.

Colm Whitty was an apprentice at Fulham, who got in with the wrong crowd and ended up involved in drugs and alcohol. Having turned his own life around, he set up “AIR Football”, a football programme with a built in lifestyle support for people with drug and alcohol abuse and mental health problems as well as people at risk of offending.

On Tuesday, I attended a presentation at one of his centres, which run in Dagenham, Redbridge, Newham, Bexley, Barnet and Enfield.

Colm Whitty - the inspiration behind AIR Football

Colm gave an overview of what he is trying to achieve with the young people who attend. Football is ‘the hook’. By getting people down to play football, Whitty and his dedicated fellow coaches are able to help with their social problems. They have built a ‘family’- a place where young people can go in the knowledge that people care about them, trust them and respect them. They can play football but are given support in so many other areas.

With the important backing of organisations like the NHS, Met Police and several sponsors, Airfootball is working. Several of the young men and women who have benefitted from the scheme, bravely and impressively stood in front of the audience and relayed their stories. For many of them, just having the confidence to stand in front of that audience and speak was a massive achievement. But they have gone further.

Just some of AIR Football's success stories

There has been help with education – some are attending college or university. Many have passed FA coaching badges and some are playing semi-professional football. Others have been helped to find jobs with local businesses. Beyond this, all have been given structure in their lives,opportunity and hope that they don’t have to follow the wrong crowd. Much of the success is due to the staff going beyond the call of duty.

Many of the guys spoke about missing sessions and having text messages or visits from Whitty or one of his other coaches- Jeff and Leonard, dragging them back into the group. They realised these people cared and really wanted to help them. For most, they had never experienced this in their lives.

I can only say the day was an inspiration. The coaches at AIR Football know they have to put on good quality sessions and tournaments to attract people back. They are. The testimonies of those who have taken part and continue to stay in touch, offer the best recommendation for the scheme. The coaches, along with the support of all the partners of the scheme are changing peoples’ lives. They should all be proud.

The AIR Football 'Family'

To learn more about the project visit www.airfootball.co.uk

There are always various reasons given for managerial change and some of those managers were at clubs deep in relegation trouble. The owners will be hoping that the energy that occasionally springs  from a change of manager will be a catalyst to lift their club to safety.

It has to be said though, that changing the manager, rarely changes the circumstances of a football club. Many of these managers will have been working against a background of financial instability at their club, or an inadequate playing squad for the ambitions of the board. There is rarely a magic wand and it may take years of careful management to turn these businesses around.

Expectations levels around football are at an all time high and the ability of fans to show their decent so vehemently and immediately, through phone ins, or via the internet, increases the pressure on chairmen to make change.

Whether each decision is right or wrong is always open to debate, but the latest figures from the League Manager’s Association, highlight the precarious nature of a career as a football manager in England. The average tenure of the manager’s in League 2 at present is 1.76 years. In League 1 – 1.85 years and in The Championship, the most volatile league of all an average of 1.45 years.

The figure for the Premier League looks far more stable – an average of 3.53 years, until you take out Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger’s combined 40 years of stability. That brings the average for the other 18 managers back to 1.7.

They are truly startling figures for any aspiring coach or manager.

Given those statistics there is a further question for chairmen/ owners and even supporters. Where is the encouragement for managers to make decisions for the long term benefit of your club when the statistics tell them they are unlikely to be in position for longer than 18 months?

There is a danger that managers make short term decisions to allow themselves more time in the job and that will not encourage the development of young players and long term strategies. Clubs risk a continual cycle of change and little progression and I wonder how long football can continue to run its business in this fashion?

I am often asked if i am looking to return to football management. Newcastle’s sacking of Chris Hughton, with them lying 11th in the Premier League, reminds me why I am in no rush.

Of course I can relate to this situation, having lost my job when 4th in the league and one point off first place (Newcastle ironically). I always qualify this by pointing out that Middlesbrough could have sacked me when we were relegated the season before. However, the final decision left me wary of football management and wondering whether there is any point to it.

Hughton took over as manager during the fallout from relegation and following a turbulent pre-season, steered them to promotion as champions. Even with the biggest budget in the division, that was an excellent achievement and the players seemed to respect Hughton and enjoy working with him.

Since that promotion though, rumours have circulated regularly regarding his position. There has been a feeling that the hierarchy at the club were looking for someone of a ‘higher profile’. It was notable that contract talks never materialised and so it was difficult for Hughton to attract a replacement to Colin Calderwood as his Assistant.

Sure enough, despite a 6-0 win over Villa, an astonishing 5-1 derby win and a shock victory away at Arsenal, Hughton lost his job after a defeat at West Brom, where he was missing half his first choice team.

So where did Newcastle expect to be at this stage of the season?

Given that they have a weaker squad now, then when they were last in the Premier League (having lost Viduka, Given, Martins and Owen, I would say Chris Hughton has performed well to have them in 11th place. They have been inconsistent, but even the top teams have been this season and Hughton has not had top players at his disposal.

Chris, who has conducted himself with great dignity throughout all the speculation, will hopefully find a good job in football if he chooses to return. Newcastle meanwhile will presumably finish 10th or above this season?

UEFA’s action, in punishing Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho, for the farcical time -wasting episode against Ajax was a welcome step.

Of course players have got themselves a deliberate yellow card before, that doesn’t make it right and there has surely never been such a blatant and public challenge to the authorities. There was an arrogance about the act, played out in the full glare of the world’s media, almost daring UEFA to see if they were brave enough to react.

For any English supporters not convinced by the need to punish Madrid imagine the following scenario:

Man Utd/ Arsenal/Spurs/Chelsea (delete as applicable) are drawing with Real Madrid 10 minutes from the end of the first leg of the Champions League quarter final. They break and have a 4v2 advantage some 35 yards from goal, where Xabi Alonso deliberately brings down the attacker and accepts his yellow card. Because he has cleared his quota of yellow cards, Alonso can play in the return leg, where he scores the winning penalty as Real progress 1-0 on aggregate into the semi-final.

Clearing the decks of the yellow cards picked up so far would only allow Alonso and Ramos the opportunity to alter the outcome of a future game by another cynical act. Surely the only question posed of UEFA can be was the punishment meted out hard enough?

Thursday 7th October saw the 2nd Manager’s Cup take place. Backed by the League Manager’s Association the tournament features 6 a side teams of 16-25 year olds who are completing Prince’s Trust programmes in the North West.

Glenn Roeder proved to be the winning manager, with his team from the Manchester City Kickz programme beating a side from Toxteth in a fiercely contested final.

Along with Glenn, Kevin Blackwell, Dave Penney, Tony Mowbray, Phil Brown, Martin Allen, Alan Curbishley and myself managed the 8 teams.

It was a rewarding experience for all of us, as we saw the enjoyment of all of the youngsters who took part. Confidence is important for all of us and giving young people confidence is a key for any manager. We saw these young people grow and express themselves more and more as the day went on. The tournament was competitive but guiding the youngsters to respond in the right way to the victories and defeats will hopefully have helped them in a small way in the future.

LMA chief executive Richard Bevan said ‘The LMA are delighted to support The Prince’s Trust. Football has the ability to bring people together for a common purpose, working as a team, motivating individuals and improving lives.’

The Prince’s Trust focuses its efforts on those young people that need it most – there are over 1 million young people in the UK not in education, employment or training. For more information on The Prince’s Trust, follow the link on this website.

*Eddie Afekafe a key organiser of the winning team and the Manchester City Kickz project is a young man who has benefitted from The Prince’s Trust scheme. He was recently widely applauded for his speech in the England 2018 bid presentation in Zurich.