Mafia has new godfather: Moyes makes SFA an offer they can’t refuse to bring their coaching methods up to speed



The managers of tomorrow descended from far and wide upon the Ayrshire seaside town of Largs on Wednesday.

In their midst were the SPL’s record goalscorer Kris Boyd, the FA Cup-lifting Wigan Athletic captain Gary Caldwell and Paolo Di Canio’s Sunderland No 2 Fabrizio Piccareta.

Among the more recognised names at the SFA’s National Football Centre in Inverclyde were SPL journeymen like John Sutton and James Fowler, former Dundee manager Barry Smith, as well as aspirational amateur coaches and managerial hopefuls from Japan, Australia, Italy and Portugal.

The relatively unheralded 31-year-old Scottish midfielder Kevin Nicol, meanwhile, had travelled over from Oslo, where he plays for Norwegian side Asker FK.

But what binds each and every diverse candidate on the SFA’s A Licence, whether they knew it or not, was that what they were being taught had been shaped personally by the new king of Old Trafford, David Moyes.

Jim Fleeting, the SFA’s director of football development, recalled receiving a phone call out of the blue in the dog days of April.

Unbeknown to him, on the other end of the line was the new Capo di tutti capi of the Premier League’s Tartan managerial mafia, after the recent retiral of long- serving Godfather predecessor, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Big step: David Moyes will take over as Manchester United manager this season

Moyes quickly made Fleeting an offer he could not refuse.

‘David Moyes is fantastic,’ said Fleeting. ‘A week before he got the Manchester United job he picked up the phone and said: “Can I ask you about your A licence?”

‘I said: “Of course, don’t be daft, I don’t even know why you are asking, you know far more than we do up here”.

‘So myself, Billy Stark (Scotland Under-21 manager) and Donald Park (head of the SFA’s coach education course) met David at the Tickled Trout, just off the M6.

‘David is very good, he always says: “I hope you don’t mind…” but we just wanted him to tell us how it is!

‘So we sat there for three hours and we spoke about the A Licence and about football in general.

‘It was great, David wanted to influence how we deliver the coaching. He said he had seen so much in the past season and he told us what are becoming the modern trends in the game.

‘He wanted to influence how we deliver our coaching and 75 per cent of the things I have seen here (at Largs) in the last two days are very inclusive of what David was talking about.’

Moyes stressed that upcoming coaches must take as gospel the old football maxim that matches are won and lost in midfield.

But he also argued that more attention than ever should be paid to the engine room, given the unprecedented tactical variety of the modern game.

Unsurprisingly, the new Manchester United manager was left enchanted by Bayern Munich’s play en route to the 2013 Champions League title, but the tactical innovations of the Swiss side Basle have also left him entranced.

Big shoes to fill: Moyes will replace Sir Alex Ferguson, who brought an end to his long reign this season

‘David likes his coaching to be “game realistic”, said Fleeting. ‘He was talking about how everything these days goes through the middle of the park, so we try to play everything through that area (in our coaching).

‘If we were working on attacking wide areas, you still have to recognise that everything goes through the middle at some point — because that’s where the game is won. If someone is going to play three men in there, you’re going to want to play four in there.

‘Then there’s all the different shapes of a four-man midfield, while the Barcelona system, where they move about and there isn’t that consistency, is more common these days.

‘David spoke too about Bayern Munich and how much he admires their flexible style of football with Franck Ribery, Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben. Basle, too, and how they play with a three but with one coming in off the side.

‘I phoned David from here one night recently and said: “That’s us started on all that rubbish you were talking about”.

‘He said: “As long as it helps you out Jim, I’m not worried” then he invited us down to Carrington, as we’ve been to see him at Everton’s Finch Farm the last three years.’

As one supporter of the SFA’s coaching courses takes charge at Old Trafford, Fleeting hopes the retirement of the UK’s greatest-ever manager could lead to more input, perhaps guest lectures, from Sir Alex at Largs.

Waving goodbye: Moyes served as Everton manager for 11 years

Chatty man: Scotland coach Jim Fleeting

‘That would be heaven, but Sir Alex is great with us already,’ said Fleeting. ‘When he talks about coaching, he always mentions his time studying here alongside (Dundee United great) Jim McLean.

‘Never in a million years would I call him, though, I’d leave it to Billy Stark. I am not as stupid as that, I have learned from the past.

‘I went down to see Sir Alex about two or three years ago and wanted to give him a gift.

‘Someone said to get him wine, but I’m teetotal and I asked if Sainsbury’s sold good wine. Walter Smith, who happened to be about, said: “I don’t think you’ll get what he likes in Sainsbury’s!”

‘Walter gave me the address of a shop, I went there and bought a bottle for a few hundred quid.

‘I gave it to Sir Alex but the Monday after he phoned Starky to ask how the trip had gone and finished with: “Tell big Jim his bottle of wine was off!”

‘He didn’t want another bottle but he wanted to let me know because the wine cost a lot of money.

‘I emailed the company back and they sent another bottle direct to Sir Alex. When they had his name and address, it seemed to go a bit faster.

‘And, funnily enough, I got far better customer service once Sir Alex’s name was involved.

‘So Sir Alex is great with us, but so is David Moyes and (Cardiff City manager) Malky Mackay.

‘These guys will do anything for young coaches. You ask them to help and they say yes before they even know the question.

‘And last year we had the six Scottish managers from the English Premier League up here and all they got in return for their help was some Molton Brown shampoo.

‘The four national managers, Gordon Strachan, Roy Hodgson, Chris Coleman and Michael O’Neill, were here in February and all they got was a tie and some Molton Brown shampoo.’