Football Coaching

[snoopy87]

2 hours ago, syston_fox said:

How did you get on mate? 

 

We didn't turn up at all. Finished 4th in the group, won our play off and then found ourselves stuck against the level 2 side that dropped into the Europa league  

That's who we lost to in the final. Absolute chancer. One of my teams parents watched their last couple of games and he said they manufactured their way into our bracket. He went on to tell me there's some in his side he needs to cut. Would you believe they didn't see the final and played in the group games he didn't want to win 🙄.

 

We weren't really up to much. Played one good game out of 8. Some of mine couldn't be bothered being there yesterday. Got our tournament this afternoon in a tougher group, so at least I should be finished earlier 😂.

Edited 7 June by snoopy87

[syston_fox]

Sick of bloody Northamptonshire teams coming up to Leicester and playing in the wrong level tournaments. 

 

Level 4/5 one today and 11 of the 12 teams all local. 1 from Northamptonshire.... Guess which one won with only one goal conceded all day. Their players even acknowledged they played at the highest level. 🤣🤣🤣

 

Organisers didn't twig until later on and could tell they were disappointed. I think it really needs to be a case of you have to show the registration cards of the squad on arrival as my lads ground out some really gutsy performances all day to make the final only to then hardly make it into the opposition half. 

 

It's just cheating at the end of the day and feeding a coach's ego one again. 

 

[Kinowe Soorie]

13 hours ago, syston_fox said:

Sick of bloody Northamptonshire teams coming up to Leicester and playing in the wrong level tournaments. 

 

Level 4/5 one today and 11 of the 12 teams all local. 1 from Northamptonshire.... Guess which one won with only one goal conceded all day. Their players even acknowledged they played at the highest level. 🤣🤣🤣

 

Organisers didn't twig until later on and could tell they were disappointed. I think it really needs to be a case of you have to show the registration cards of the squad on arrival as my lads ground out some really gutsy performances all day to make the final only to then hardly make it into the opposition half. 

 

It's just cheating at the end of the day and feeding a coach's ego one again. 

 

I hate tournaments for this reason. Pointless exercise when you get much higher level teams entering well below their level.
We lost our first match in a tournament recently, and they were much better standard than we were used to playing against (non local team) and I asked a lad what level they played at? He said he didn’t know?
The final was a division 3 team and a division 5 team (12 divisions), in a low level tournament 

[Kinowe Soorie]

Trying to arrange friendly matches, but our current goalkeeper doesn’t like them or tournaments 

[Kinowe Soorie]

Said goalkeeper no longer likes playing at all!

This will be fun trying to find another one.

[syston_fox]

15 hours ago, Kinowe Soorie said:

Said goalkeeper no longer likes playing at all!

This will be fun trying to find another one.

What age group mate? 

[Kinowe Soorie]

Just now, syston_fox said:

What age group mate? 

U12s this coming season.

[Kinowe Soorie]

Have any of you started pre season friendlies yet? 
Lost or gained any players?
Given up? 

[snoopy87]

On 08/08/2026 at 13:24, Kinowe Soorie said:

Have any of you started pre season friendlies yet? 
Lost or gained any players?
Given up? 

Given up. Took my lad away from a poisonous group of parents and kids and just get to watch him play now

[Kinowe Soorie]

3 hours ago, snoopy87 said:

Given up. Took my lad away from a poisonous group of parents and kids and just get to watch him play now

It’s a thankless task!

[snoopy87]

20 minutes ago, Kinowe Soorie said:

It’s a thankless task!

I didn't want thanks, just understanding. Hurts a bit because I considered a lot of these people as friends, turns out it was purely transactional on their part. Maybe that's where I went wrong, shouldn't have got pally with any of them. Lesson learned 

[syston_fox]

We've started back (going into u10s) with three friendlies. 

 

Won one, drawn two. Annoyingly my lad seems to have forgotten how to play football in the few weeks we've been off. Shooting is wild and started playing deeper than normally would. It's very odd! 

 

This is our second season now and had more parent issues in the two weeks back than all of last season! Joy! 

 

[syston_fox]

On 09/08/2026 at 13:55, snoopy87 said:

Given up. Took my lad away from a poisonous group of parents and kids and just get to watch him play now

Sorry to hear that mate! Has the team folded or are the poisonous parents doing it themselves (and no doubt regretting it already) 

[STEVIE B]

47 minutes ago, syston_fox said:

We've started back (going into u10s) with three friendlies. 

 

Won one, drawn two. Annoyingly my lad seems to have forgotten how to play football in the few weeks we've been off. Shooting is wild and started playing deeper than normally would. It's very odd! 

 

This is our second season now and had more parent issues in the two weeks back than all of last season! Joy! 

 

Hopefully it improves, if not, as long as he's having fun, that's the main thing. 

When l was on a coaching course, the assessor asked us all to kneel down & said 'that's the height of most children, they see things differently to adults, it's worth remembering that'. Maybe some of the parents need to understand that too ! 

Definitely made me think

Edited 16 August by STEVIE B

[snoopy87]

12 hours ago, syston_fox said:

Sorry to hear that mate! Has the team folded or are the poisonous parents doing it themselves (and no doubt regretting it already) 

Teams still going. Some of the parents have left, some still remain. My old assistant has took it on and roped some of the parents in to help else it would have simply folded. He found out quickly just how much I did to get games on etc. Wasn't just the parents, it reflected in their kids as well, as they had zero respect and were nobs an all! I stupidly didn't address the behaviour properly in an effort to try and keep the peace.

 

Lad had his first match with his new side yesterday. Difference is night and day. He's playing higher level, with kids who all want the same thing, against kids who all want the same thing and the standard of football was brilliant from both sides. He was instrumental in creating the winning goal as well. The smile returned on his face as well, even my wife commented on how much he looked like he was enjoying himself again. I got to just watch him play football as well. 

[snoopy87]

13 hours ago, syston_fox said:

We've started back (going into u10s) with three friendlies. 

 

Won one, drawn two. Annoyingly my lad seems to have forgotten how to play football in the few weeks we've been off. Shooting is wild and started playing deeper than normally would. It's very odd! 

 

This is our second season now and had more parent issues in the two weeks back than all of last season! Joy! 

 

They really do kill all the joy in it. Maybe a case of them thinking they have more say as it's no longer new and fresh. From recent experience, I would stick your flag in the ground now and tell them this is how things are. Do not give them an inch.

 

12 hours ago, STEVIE B said:

Hopefully it improves, if not, as long as he's having fun, that's the main thing. 

When l was on a coaching course, the assessor asked us all to kneel down & said 'that's the height of most children, they see things differently to adults, it's worth remembering that'. Maybe some of the parents need to understand that too ! 

Definitely made me think

Tried this with my lot so many times. Some just do not want to learn and better themselves, again, it's the parent attitudes being represented through their kids.

[STEVIE B]

22 minutes ago, snoopy87 said:

They really do kill all the joy in it. Maybe a case of them thinking they have more say as it's no longer new and fresh. From recent experience, I would stick your flag in the ground now and tell them this is how things are. Do not give them an inch.

 

Tried this with my lot so many times. Some just do not want to learn and better themselves, again, it's the parent attitudes being represented through their kids.

Absolutely. I was fairly lucky regarding the parents. Most were very supportive & didn't rant & rave at everyone & everything. 

 

This was at Harborough Town, over a decade ago. The club was very hot on the 'Respect' banner & behaviour. Obviously there was the odd issue, but it had/has a massive youth set up. 

Edited 17 August by STEVIE B

[Kinowe Soorie]

We had our first friendly of the new season yesterday, very rusty. 
Was quite behind at halftime, lads were really downbeat, told them we could get back in to the match. 
Equalised with a minute to go!

[syston_fox]

1 hour ago, snoopy87 said:

Teams still going. Some of the parents have left, some still remain. My old assistant has took it on and roped some of the parents in to help else it would have simply folded. He found out quickly just how much I did to get games on etc. Wasn't just the parents, it reflected in their kids as well, as they had zero respect and were nobs an all! I stupidly didn't address the behaviour properly in an effort to try and keep the peace.

 

Lad had his first match with his new side yesterday. Difference is night and day. He's playing higher level, with kids who all want the same thing, against kids who all want the same thing and the standard of football was brilliant from both sides. He was instrumental in creating the winning goal as well. The smile returned on his face as well, even my wife commented on how much he looked like he was enjoying himself again. I got to just watch him play football as well. 

It's a whole different world on the other touchline. I used to coach my eldest but long story short, we clashed over football and he gave it up. When he decided to get back into it, I wanted to be supportive parent rather than "coach" to him and enjoy watching him as a fan now. 

 

With my current team, we're trying to stamp it out quickly and most parents are supportive but like you say, complacency has kicked in a little when we said we didn't want to be one of those teams that "recruits" for better players over the summer. 

 

What team has your lad gone to now?

[snoopy87]

9 minutes ago, syston_fox said:

It's a whole different world on the other touchline. I used to coach my eldest but long story short, we clashed over football and he gave it up. When he decided to get back into it, I wanted to be supportive parent rather than "coach" to him and enjoy watching him as a fan now. 

 

With my current team, we're trying to stamp it out quickly and most parents are supportive but like you say, complacency has kicked in a little when we said we didn't want to be one of those teams that "recruits" for better players over the summer. 

 

What team has your lad gone to now?

This is me and my lad now. We clashed a lot, but again, there's other circumstances as to why we did. Whether I take the plunge again with the youngest is another story and two years away yet to be worth thinking about.

 

He's joined Wigston Willow. They're moving into the local college and have full use of the 3G for the winter, so shouldn't lose any home games at least. It's also the most local club to us, so travel time for training and home matches is way down. Could walk to them if he could be bothered!

[Soar Fox]

11 hours ago, snoopy87 said:

This is me and my lad now. We clashed a lot, but again, there's other circumstances as to why we did. Whether I take the plunge again with the youngest is another story and two years away yet to be worth thinking about.

 

He's joined Wigston Willow. They're moving into the local college and have full use of the 3G for the winter, so shouldn't lose any home games at least. It's also the most local club to us, so travel time for training and home matches is way down. Could walk to them if he could be bothered!

Is this the new under 10’s team?

[snoopy87]

10 hours ago, Soar Fox said:

Is this the new under 10’s team?

No, these have been around for a while. My lads played them 3 times and got battered in all 3 games. If you can't beat them, join them 

 

There's 2 new sides starting there at U10 this season I think.

Edited 18 August by snoopy87

[syston_fox]

We had a friendly last night and I have no idea what happened but it was one of those games where everything we've taught them and worked on in training suddenly clicked. 

 

It was like watching 7 kids who were all on the same wave length, working in sync and knowing exactly where each other was at all times. One touch passing, perfect weighting on through balls and most impressive, playing that extra pass to give someone else a tap in rather than having a shot when in on goal. It was a perfect team performance. 

 

We play at level 3/4 but honestly, I think we would have beaten a level 1 team with how we played last night.

 

Roll on the weekend when they inevitably have forgotten how to kick a ball again! The joy of youth football

[Soar Fox]

Team my lad plays for one of the coaches son plays. Absolutely awful, like he genuinely struggles to kick the ball. Yet every game there he is starting up front as they are only under 10’s it’s like playing with 6 players. I am sure the coach only volunteered to help is to make sure his lad plays. 
 

I’m trying to get my son to move teams. He played for someone else midweek did really well they asked him to sign and he will improve massively. But he likes his teammates at his current team and prefers his current teams kit 

[Bert]

First friendly for my lads team today. Lost 7-5 but was a decent/fair enough game. Lost a few over the summer so we had 3 new faces today and they all seem like good boys and decent players. 
 

Opposition parents were absolutely awful though. Had this one woman who was telling our players that they couldn’t stand in the opposition half when we had a goal kick. But she’s a ref so she knew the laws apparently, lo and behold she was wrong. Our manager had to tell her to shut up at one point. Walked past at the end of the game and she was on another rant saying “this is why she doesn’t coach, because it’s full of blokes who think they know it all because they’re blokes”. Embarassing stuff.