Mid way through the season, the cold dark nights are upon us, but it is heartening to the soul to drive past football training grounds and see players of all ages and sizes buzzing around. It reminds me of how far we have come when I watch the players in the academy train and I [...]
Well done to the first team who got their third win of the NRFL season last weekend against Albany. Albany are a good footballing side especially at home, where they have been particularly hard to beat over the last few years. It is always pleasing to come from behind to take the win and [...]
Another season has rolled around again. I remember when I was coaching a long time ago now - in the days when we had to walk to the football pitch in our bare feet. There was a thing called a summer break. Those days have gone and everything keeps progressing. Certainly at Franklin United we [...]
A guidance through best practice Our number 1 priority at Franklin United is to provide the best pathways and opportunities for our Franklin community. However, when considering the hot topic of improvement or striving to be the best you can be, it's important to not to preference quantity over quality: I need to have my child signed up to this; they [...]
2018 is coming to a close and it has been another eventful year at Franklin United. I would like to start off by thanking everyone involved in helping the club achieve its dreams – dreams which are focused on supporting the Franklin community. The board held a review meeting at the start of December, and [...]
What does winning truly mean? I have been involved in a lot of discussion around this topic of late. Several articles I have read, constantly repeat that the obsession for short term success is mainly about stroking your ego and generally destroys the long term possibilities for young players. We have all won something in [...]
On the back of my discussion focusing on Croatia, the small European nation which showed the world stage a thing or two in the latest World Cup, one of my old friends from my school days pointed me to an article focusing on Belgium’s football success. Belgium have scaled the world rankings over the last [...]
The TV channel and radio stations have been full of Football over the last 5 weeks, and why not, the biggest sporting tournament on this earth was at play – the Football World Cup. I really enjoyed this tournament. Of course the fact that England made it to the semi-finals was a big factor, because [...]
Following on from my last blog on Development over Results being the primary philosophy of the Franklin United Youth Academy (FUYA), I have been doing some more reading. And I was given an article called “Will English football coaches produce losers by focusing on fun over results” which was published in the Guardian. It was [...]
In the last version I started on the FUYA journey. As you already know, we have brought in Ben Fletcher and Mark Holt. Ben has now started full time and has set about building the academy, combined with a Franklin United Skill Development Centre and Coach Development Centre, while continuing with the good work we [...]