Step 1 - Theme Options
To begin customizing your site go to Appearance -> Customizer and select Theme Options. Here's you'll find custom options to help build your site.
Concussion Protocols and Why the Rule Is Absolute
I remember a Tuesday evening in mid-November, standing on a pitch so sodden it felt like running through porridge, watching a lad from our Under-14s take a heavy, awkward header. He didn’t go down screaming like they do on the telly; he just stood there, looking unusually quiet, staring at the goalposts like he’d forgotten
Team Culture Is Built in the Ten Minutes Before Training
I’ve sat through enough “team-building” seminars in drafty community halls to know that a group of lads doing trust falls in a gymnasium has absolutely nothing to do with how to build team cohesion on a pitch. You can spend a fortune on fancy retreats and psychological workshops, but none of that matters when you’re
Controlling Tempo Is a Skill You Can Coach
I’ve spent thirty-five years standing on touchlines where the wind bites through your coat and the mud is deep enough to swallow a shin pad, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that most coaching manuals are absolute rubbish. They’ll give you these fancy, multi-syllabic diagrams about “transition phases” and “rhythm modulation,” but they
Loans and Dual Registration at Lower Levels
I’ve spent thirty-five years watching managers treat the rulebook like a suggestion rather than a law, and frankly, it’s exhausting. You’ll see plenty of pundits on the telly acting like how loans and dual registration work is some sort of grand, mystical chess move designed by geniuses, but most of the time, it’s just a
The Complete Guide to Non-league Football
If you’re looking for a “complete guide to non league football” that involves fancy data analytics, high-tech GPS vests, or some expensive tactical spreadsheet, you can close this tab right now. I’ve spent thirty-five years standing on touchlines where the only “data” we had was the sound of a heavy tackle and the sight of
Managing a Niggle That Will Not Fully Go
I’ve spent more time on touchlines in the freezing rain than I have in my own living room, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that most “sports science” advice is absolute rubbish when you’re actually standing in a muddy car park on a Tuesday night. You’ll see players spending a fortune on fancy
The Complete Guide to Five-a-side
I’ve spent enough time standing on the touchline of rain-soaked pitches to know that most of what you read online about small-sided games is absolute nonsense. You’ll see these glossy websites offering a “complete guide to five a side” that reads like it was written by someone who has only ever played FIFA on a
How a Transfer Actually Completes
If you spend your Saturday afternoons scrolling through social media, you’ve likely been led to believe that how football transfers work is all about high-stakes poker games played in five-star hotels by men in designer suits. It’s easy to get swept up in the drama of the “breakdown in negotiations” or the astronomical fee that
Looking After Your Keeper When You Have No Gk Coach
I’ve spent thirty-five years standing on touchlines where the wind cuts right through your jacket, and if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you don’t need a fancy academy coach with a clipboard and a degree to develop a decent shot-stopper. I see too many young coaches scrolling through social media, trying to
Beating a High Press: Three Ways Out
I’ve lost count of how many “tactical gurus” on YouTube try to sell you a revolution involving complex positional rotations and expensive iPads just to explain how to build up against a high press. It’s absolute nonsense. You don’t need a PhD in geometry or a squad of twenty-million-pound players to solve this; you just