Coaching in England has gotten better and better over years, claims Joe Cole
Joe Cole confirmed that he left his position at Chelsea earlier this week
|Former Chelsea and West Ham star Joe Cole has opined that coaching in England has gotten better every year with the fundamentals not changing but with drastic changes to everything else. The former Chelsea coach left the Blues earlier this week but believes that he will be back with the Blues again.
With a transfer ban looming over them and Frank Lampard coming in to replace Maurizio Sarri as the manager, few would have imagined that the Blues could be in a Champions League place. The former Derby County boss has transformed the Blues and done it while using nothing more than the young players available at the clubs to help his cause. That has shone a spotlight on the youth academy not just at Chelsea but across the Premier League with others following suit.
But with football changing, the academies have been forced to adapt to that change with Southampton using Ralph Hasenhuttl’s system throughout the club. The same goes for Manchester City and their youth systems following Pep Guardiola’s methodologies with Chelsea also changing things about as Cole revealed. The former midfielder admitted that coaching in England has changed drastically with the Blues using a great system to produce a “stream of great players”.
“The fundamentals will always stay the same but everything else from the outside of it has changed drastically. Credit to people who have put these systems in play. I think coaching in this country in general has got better and better. The greats will always be the greats and that is the same with footballers but I feel football has moved on and improved. Like every industry where so much money is thrown at it, everything’s looking for the marginal gains,” Cole told the Guardian
“The way we looked after these lads in the academy was unbelievable. It blew my mind. It really opened my eyes up to the evolution of football and all the different ways of playing – but the different ways of teaching as well because a lot of coaching is actually teaching. You use the fundamentals and techniques that all the great teachers do. I learned so much from the people in the academy building over there. It’s no accident Chelsea are producing a stream of great players and there’s more to come underneath it.”
The former midfielder was once considered to be a great talent himself but injuries and other issues saw Cole fade away from the spotlight despite playing for Liverpool, Chelsea and West Ham. But with his playing career behind him, the 38-year-old has been training as a coach with the Blues although he revealed that he stepped down from that role before lockdown. Yet despite that, Cole added that he knows he will be back one day although he is not sure in what capacity.
“Just before lockdown I stepped down from my role at Chelsea. I had a great time there and learned so much. It was really important in my development but I was planning on doing study visits around the world with different managers and study visits within the FA. That all got put to bed because of covid but I’ll pick that up when I can and it’s back to normal.
“I loved it there. I’m sure one day I’ll return in some capacity but at the moment, for my development as a coach, I felt going round and going to look and listen and keep my ears and eyes open was the best thing for me. I don’t want to say any clubs because I don’t know if certain managers will be in charge when I ask to go back again. But I was working with the FA and I was looking to get with the younger age groups within the FA and see how that works,” he added.
