During his playing time at Manchester United, Alan Smith earned a reputation as a hard-tackling player and was noted for his high work rate. Currently, he is playing for MK Dons but harbours ambitions to further his coaching career.
Here's one of his recent interviews in which he talks of life at MK Dons and explains how he wants to help youngsters through his coaching role.
How is your coaching career going?
I’ve got to finish my coaching badges off but I’m going over to Northern Ireland as you can do them there. I’m somewhere in the middle of everything but I’d like to do what Paul McGuinness and Warren Joyce do, get involved and try and progress the young lads and get them through. I’ve had that experience of the other side of the fence where you do have to get through and relate to people who maybe you don’t remember playing. Hopefully, they will still remember me as a player and can relate to what I’m telling them. If the information youngsters are getting is coming from the likes of Ryan [Giggs], Phil [Neville] and Nicky [Butt], they’re all doing similar jobs at United, then I think that’s brilliant. People remember them playing not so long ago so the information they are putting across is taken on board straight away.
So does having that profile of being an ex-international earn greater respect from the youngsters?
At Newcastle, we did a lot of work with Willie Donachie and he told me that some of the lads didn’t even remember him as a player so, to them, he was just an old man telling them what to do and not somebody who had played at the World Cup and for Celtic, Manchester City etc. The young lads coming through the Academy didn’t have a clue about that. So it can be hard to get your points across but especially the lads at United will look up to Rio, Nicky etc having come through the academy and will have seen the development their careers have had. They will help them to try and listen and learn to develop players.
You took charge of the MK Dons Reserves last season. Is that something you want to do full-time?
I’m going to do that coaching again this year. We can’t get in the Under-21 Premier League obviously so we’ve got a big void between lads playing in the Under-18s and making the step up to the first team from the youth team. There is a big void in the middle and we were busy trying to create friendlies with bigger teams so we can play in stadiums and have actual games for the lads in between.
Is it becoming difficult to give them the games they need as the club has some talented players?
There’s no competitive football for them so it’s a little bit difficult and we’ve got so many good lads that it’s difficult to keep hold of them. We have youngsters that play with England who can potentially leave to go to a team in the Under-21 Premier League and see it as a massive stepping stone. So it’s difficult for us to give them what they need.
How are you handling the situation?
We have got one game against Tottenham in pre-season and then we’re going to try and get 10 games during the season in an attempt to develop them. There is training but it’s difficult to bridge that gap between the youth team and the first team as it’s not as competitive. The Intermediate League used to be like a first-team game as you knew that, if you played well, you had a chance of playing on a Saturday. But it’s a million miles away from the Under-21 league and I think motivation must be a factor as much as anything. If you go out and have something to prove and do well, you had a chance of playing on a Saturday but I don’t think that is the case anymore.
With so much debate about youth football in this country and St George's Park starting up, you have first-hand experience of this kind of system..
I went to Lilleshall at 14 and it was difficult as it was totally different from anything that I’d experienced. Even looking back then, I knew at 14 that I was getting taught things by the FA that was just chalk and cheese compared to my club. I believe your make-up as a player is down to where you are brought up as it’s where you actually develop as a player and I knew I was learning the technical side of things from the FA but the other side of the game was massively necessary for me. At 16, I needed to have a professional contract. I was doing training and what I wanted to do but it was a difficult balancing act to go to the FA where they teach you the basics and what they want you to learn how to develop but then you go back to Leeds at the time and they want you to be totally different to the FA side of it.
So was it awkward in terms of the different messages you were receiving?
You think the club is more important at that age than the FA and you might not ever get that chance to play for England anyway. You want to make a living in the game, first and foremost, so you have to be adaptable to how your club plays.
Note: This interview was originally published on ManUtd.com
Here's one of his recent interviews in which he talks of life at MK Dons and explains how he wants to help youngsters through his coaching role.
How is your coaching career going?
I’ve got to finish my coaching badges off but I’m going over to Northern Ireland as you can do them there. I’m somewhere in the middle of everything but I’d like to do what Paul McGuinness and Warren Joyce do, get involved and try and progress the young lads and get them through. I’ve had that experience of the other side of the fence where you do have to get through and relate to people who maybe you don’t remember playing. Hopefully, they will still remember me as a player and can relate to what I’m telling them. If the information youngsters are getting is coming from the likes of Ryan [Giggs], Phil [Neville] and Nicky [Butt], they’re all doing similar jobs at United, then I think that’s brilliant. People remember them playing not so long ago so the information they are putting across is taken on board straight away.
So does having that profile of being an ex-international earn greater respect from the youngsters?
At Newcastle, we did a lot of work with Willie Donachie and he told me that some of the lads didn’t even remember him as a player so, to them, he was just an old man telling them what to do and not somebody who had played at the World Cup and for Celtic, Manchester City etc. The young lads coming through the Academy didn’t have a clue about that. So it can be hard to get your points across but especially the lads at United will look up to Rio, Nicky etc having come through the academy and will have seen the development their careers have had. They will help them to try and listen and learn to develop players.
You took charge of the MK Dons Reserves last season. Is that something you want to do full-time?
I’m going to do that coaching again this year. We can’t get in the Under-21 Premier League obviously so we’ve got a big void between lads playing in the Under-18s and making the step up to the first team from the youth team. There is a big void in the middle and we were busy trying to create friendlies with bigger teams so we can play in stadiums and have actual games for the lads in between.
Is it becoming difficult to give them the games they need as the club has some talented players?
There’s no competitive football for them so it’s a little bit difficult and we’ve got so many good lads that it’s difficult to keep hold of them. We have youngsters that play with England who can potentially leave to go to a team in the Under-21 Premier League and see it as a massive stepping stone. So it’s difficult for us to give them what they need.
How are you handling the situation?
We have got one game against Tottenham in pre-season and then we’re going to try and get 10 games during the season in an attempt to develop them. There is training but it’s difficult to bridge that gap between the youth team and the first team as it’s not as competitive. The Intermediate League used to be like a first-team game as you knew that, if you played well, you had a chance of playing on a Saturday. But it’s a million miles away from the Under-21 league and I think motivation must be a factor as much as anything. If you go out and have something to prove and do well, you had a chance of playing on a Saturday but I don’t think that is the case anymore.
With so much debate about youth football in this country and St George's Park starting up, you have first-hand experience of this kind of system..
I went to Lilleshall at 14 and it was difficult as it was totally different from anything that I’d experienced. Even looking back then, I knew at 14 that I was getting taught things by the FA that was just chalk and cheese compared to my club. I believe your make-up as a player is down to where you are brought up as it’s where you actually develop as a player and I knew I was learning the technical side of things from the FA but the other side of the game was massively necessary for me. At 16, I needed to have a professional contract. I was doing training and what I wanted to do but it was a difficult balancing act to go to the FA where they teach you the basics and what they want you to learn how to develop but then you go back to Leeds at the time and they want you to be totally different to the FA side of it.
So was it awkward in terms of the different messages you were receiving?
You think the club is more important at that age than the FA and you might not ever get that chance to play for England anyway. You want to make a living in the game, first and foremost, so you have to be adaptable to how your club plays.
Note: This interview was originally published on ManUtd.com
