Soccerwire.com Q&A: Manchester United GKs coach Eric Steele

-\r\n\r\nSoccerwire.com: As part of your typical routine at Manchester United, are you working with all the age groups, a multitude, or certain areas that you focus on?<\/strong><\/em>\r\n\r\nES: I oversee the whole goalkeeper development from eight years of age right through to the seniors, David De Gea, Anders Lindegaard and Ben Amos. I have two other staff that will work alongside, but we\u2019ve got programs in place right from eight years of age. So I\u2019ve done that in all the clubs I\u2019ve worked at in the Premier League \u2013 you\u2019re there to oversee. You want to see what\u2019s coming through. I want to know what\u2019s coming through at [age] 14, 16, 18.\r\n\r\nMy main priority job is naturally working alongside Rene Meulensteen, the first team coach, and Mick Phelan, the assistant manager. That\u2019s my prime role, but then I also want to be overseeing the development of our goalkeepers right from 8 right through to 18, when you become professionals and they\u2019ll hand it over to me.\r\n\r\nSoccerwire.com: What are your expectations for the 192SQFT Goalkeeping Academy this summer?<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\nES: I\u2019m going to be working at various levels. As I say, it could be right through from age groups from U-11 through the full senior level. I\u2019m just busy putting the program together, so I\u2019m more than happy to come and do that, seeing the different development stages that the goalkeepers are at. It\u2019s just a good opportunity for me, and I\u2019m hoping I can give the goalkeepers, in the four, five days that I\u2019m there, I can give them a little insight into the sort of work that we do, not just at Manchester United but in England as well.\r\n\r\nIf that helps, that\u2019s what it\u2019s about. If a little kid at 12 has five percent improvement, a kid at 14, he gets 10 percent, that\u2019s what it\u2019s about. And really that\u2019s what I\u2019m hoping to do, is just to come over with Andy Quy. He\u2019ll show what he does with the goalkeepers at Stoke City, I\u2019ll show what I do with Manchester United, what I did at Manchester City, Aston Villa in the Premier League. And if the kids come along and they want to learn, they want to work hard, I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll enjoy their time.\r\n\r\nSoccerwire.com: You were a leading figure in the growth of the goalkeeping coaching profession from a part-time field to the full-time job that we now take for granted it deserves. Why that was so late in developing, and what changed?<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\nES: Because of the way the game\u2019s evolved. If you look at staffing levels in most professional football clubs now, you see what they have now where we\u2019ve really progressed where we\u2019ve got sports science. Most of the managers that you talk to now, if they wind the clock back 20 years, you had a first-team coach, you had a reserve coach, you had a physical therapist and a chief scout. Some staffs now are up to 20, 25 full-time [employees] associated with the first team squad.\r\n\r\nIn the late \u201880s and then \u201890s, I was working abroad. Every summer I\u2019d go abroad to America or Norway or Germany. That really was the beginning of the goalkeeping coaching fraternity, where we were part-time. So I was working at the time in Derby County, Manchester City, Leeds United \u2013 so I was doing three clubs in a week.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s only really late \u201890s and then once we hit the millennium, that was the advent of full-time goalkeeping coaches. I went full-time in 1997, and I\u2019ve been full-time ever since.\r\n\r\nSo it\u2019s just something that\u2019s evolved \u2013 and thankfully it has \u2013 where by being part-time you tend to show the importance of having a goalkeeping coach within the club. Because the goalkeeping coach should be part of the team of coaches, which is very much what I believe in and it\u2019s something that I\u2019ve stressed. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s really been a natural progression.\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s why I\u2019m very proud that we work on the program with these kids from eight upwards. We give them a development program, and that\u2019s the importance of being the senior coach, that you have an input on that. And I think you can\u2019t do that on a part-time basis. I think that\u2019s evolved, as has sports science, as has physiotherapy, as medical. Not everybody had full-time doctors. That\u2019s something that\u2019s evolved now as well.\r\n\r\nSoccerwire.com: The coaching lifestyle at the top levels seems very stressful. Have you been able to find a balance where maybe it\u2019s not quite so soul-crushing?<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\nES: I think it\u2019s tough on the managers. I\u2019ve worked in the coaching education system in England since \u201998, and the one thing I always say to the coaches: \u201cYou must try and find [balance] \u2013 don\u2019t be totally consumed by the job.\u201d Working at Manchester United, it can be. You can easily find every day all day something to do at this football club.\r\n\r\n<\/a>We do a preseason tour, then we\u2019re off into the season, 60-game seasons, normally, because there\u2019s no such thing as a friendly against Manchester United. So I always preach that you have to try and find some down time.\r\n\r\nI spend time with my family. I love golf \u2013 I don\u2019t play enough, but you have to find time. I\u2019ve tried to find time to read, listen to music, just chill, which is very, very important when you\u2019re dealing with the sort of program that we have at this football club. And that\u2019s what I tend to preach to other coaches: \u201cMake sure you have your downtime. Coaches give opinions; managers make decisions. But you need time and you need to be able to reflect, walk away from the job and then make decisions.\u201d\r\n\r\n[ +Visit the 192SQFT Goalkeeping Academy\u2019s website for more information<\/a> ]”},”name”:”acf\/wysiwyg”,”mode”:”edit”} /–>