Exclusive: Andrew Cole interview

In our second exclusive interview from the recent McDonalds Coaching Masterclass event held at Wembley, we chat to former Manchester United virtuoso striker Andrew Cole about coaching qualifications, this season’s title race, and why England always do badly at tournaments.

Rik Sharma: You’re helping out coaches at today’s event. Would you like to get into coaching?Andrew Cole: If I were to become a coach… well, I think the system we’re in at the moment is terrible. We need to go back to grassroots and fulfil the potential of the kids by having coaches who are coaching kids in the right way. I don’t believe it’s down to coaching qualifications, I believe it’s down to your knowledge of football and your knowledge of the game.

RS: What would you do differently then?

AC: We need to get back to basics. When I was growing up and playing football at a young age, coaches were trying to teach basic stuff. But now, a lot of coaches are dictating to kids what they should be doing instead of coaching them. Watch young footballers now and you’ll see parents and coaches screaming at them from the sidelines. That’s not coaching and that’s not helpful.

RS: But if you were to become a coach…

AC: I would like to become a coach. But when you retire from football you always want to try your hand at management, so if you coach, you want to manage. And if you manage, you have someone else that comes in and do your coaching.

But I would like to coach – I had a brief stint at Huddersfield working with the strikers and I loved it, and you could see the boys there, they were getting something out of it. When you’ve played at the level I have, you’ve got an advantage because people want to take your knowledge on board.

RS: Management then. Does that interest you?

AC: Yeah, you always think ‘management, I’d love to give it a crack!’ It’s a case of opportunities being given, but you need coaching qualifications and all that. But I’m not into qualifications.

Look at all the managers who have been managing for years – when they started they didn’t need qualifications. Football is knowledge. When you’ve played at the highest level for a number of years, which I’ve been fortunate enough to do, I’d like to believe my knowledge of the game is more than enough qualification to implement ideas on my team.

RS: If you needed help with anything, could you call up Sir Alex?

AC: Oh for sure! The manager’s been absolutely fabulous with me. He’s always said that he wants me to get in and do my coaching badges and give something back. I’d love to give something back, but coaching qualifications are long winded and drawn out.

People get themselves in that position and they want to dictate to ex-players ‘you have to do this’ and ‘you have to do that’. Look at how many players have walked away from the game because of that.

RS: Well, one manager – Fabio Capello – is going to have to make some difficult decisions when selecting his squad next summer. Which strikers would you take? How many?

AC: You can take as many strikers as you want. Wayne [Rooney]’s gonna be suspended for three games, so let’s think who else he can take on board. Obviously [Darren] Bent, and I’d like to think Jermaine Defoe can force his way back into that as well. Danny Welbeck has done extremely well to get into the squads at the moment too. Will he take Wayne? Or won’t he take Wayne?

RS: Would you?

AC: Would I take him? I think you’re gonna end up taking him. It’s gonna be tough as he’ll miss the group stage if he doesn’t win his appeal, so we’re banking on winning our group games and getting through, but really it all depends on the group we get given.

I’m looking forward to the tournament and watching teams like Spain and Germany. Whatever you say about the Germans… in the last World Cup in South Africa, they had no expectations because they were bringing young players through.

They said ‘we’re looking forward to the Euros and so we’ll put the young players in. We’ll bring them through and give them a good grounding for the Euros.’

England would never ever do anything like that. To put so many young players in and integrate them… England just thinks ‘we’ll pick the players that will go out and win it.’ But realistically, we didn’t have a chance of winning it.

RS: Maybe that’s what Capello’s doing now with Phil Jones, Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge and Jack Wilshere?

AC: It’s not before time if that’s what he’s doing. You can’t keep relying on the same old same old players. The England teams picks itself. You know ‘oh he’s gonna play, he’s gonna play’. You can’t do that. You have to integrate the younger players and give them a chance, or you never know if they’re good enough or not.

RS: What formation would you use?

AC: It doesn’t matter. People always talk about formations, but you pick the one that fits the players. People say 4-4-2 is dated. Why is it dated? You can’t play like Spain if you don’t have the players to. The formation doesn’t matter as long as it’s the right one for your players. Work with the tools you’ve got.

RS: What’s the difference between the game at the international level and club level?

AC: Strengths. At international level we don’t play to our strengths and that’s our problem. You can’t build a team round individuals at international level, but you can play to your strengths. Look at Spain and Germany, they play to their strengths. We don’t gel as a team. One individual might be doing this, and one might be doing that.

RS: Have you been enjoying the Premier League season so far?

AC: think it’s been fantastic so far. The position Manchester City find themselves in is amazing. It’s a great spectacle.

RS: Can they hold on to first place?

AC: They’re playing well but they’ve got to maintain it. They’ve not played Liverpool yet, or Arsenal yet, and not played Chelsea yet. It’s a great start over 12 games or so, but a season is judged over 38. We’ve not got to Christmas yet. The manager used to talk about ‘squeaky bum time’, and that’s right. There’s a hell of a long way to go yet.

RS: You’ve got to make a call though…

AC: Well, you know I’m Man Utd through and through. We’ve got the experience to chase teams down. One year Newcastle had a massive point lead on us. We went to St James Park and ended up winning the game 1-0, even though we rode our luck a bit. After that Newcastle capitulated and we won the league comfortably in the end. Manchester United have the experience and usually play very well in the second half of the season. But City playing like this is fantastic for the league.

RS: Which games did you enjoy most? League or international?

AC: My club was paramount. I enjoyed playing football for Manchester United. When you play football for England it is tough. The fan expectations supersede what you can really do, and the media spiel too… the media judge you out of ten. But I don’t see how anyone can judge you, it’s a whole load of rubbish.

They don’t know what the manger’s told you to do, and so you go out there thinking ‘what’s he gonna think’ and what’s he gonna say’, instead of going out and enjoying it. It’s supposed to be an honour, not a burden. But lots of players find it a burden because of the expectations and judgements.

RS: Is that why England don’t play well?

AC: For sure. Look at the media. Media hype it all up, saying ‘England are gonna win it’. Why? ‘cause we’re England… the Premier League’. So some fans who don’t really watch football start watching. Like the granny who doesn’t see football all year, and she will think ‘England’s gonna win it’, then we don’t, and we’re ‘terrible’.

If the media dropped their expectations then fan expectations would drop too, and then the players would be able to enjoy it a bit more. The teams we talked about – you can see the enjoyment. When England play at Wembley can you see the enjoyment? I don’t see it on the England boys’ faces.

I see them saying ‘we’ve got to get a result for the fans or the country.’ They’re uptight before they even enter the pitch. That’s wrong. Football’s about enjoyment, first and foremost. As a kid you want to play football to enjoy it. And it should be no different now.

Andrew Cole was speaking at the McDonald’s Coaching Masterclass at Wembley, where a number of grassroots coaches and their teams were given the once in a lifetime opportunity to be coached by legends of the game after winning one of 500 x £100 vouchers encouraging parents to gain coaching qualifications. To date, McDonald’s has helped train over 20,000 qualified coaches and will create 10,000 more by 2014. For more information on the McDonald’s Football Programme and how you can help young footballers shine, visit www.thefa.com/yourgame.