Modern Soccer Coach Podcast
Gary Curneen
Our goal is to bring in-depth content to coaches with a combination of interviews, chats, and personal thoughts on the topics that really matter in the beautiful game and elite-level sport. Enjoy and thanks for listening! - Gary
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 8, 2019 • 1h 7min
Jonathan Harding - Lessons From German Coach Education
Gary is joined by writer and author, Jonathan Harding, to discuss his phenomenal book, "Mensch - Beyond The Cones" and coaches from the UK and USA can learn from German coaching.
- Is coaching education too comfortable?
- Is coach education too expensive?
- Should pass/fail still be implemented?
- How important is leadership from national team coaches?
- What is the perception of coaches like Jesse Marsch?
This and lots more!!!
Please let Gary know what you think on Instagram
www.instagram.com/garycurneen/
This podcast is brought to you by Sportslab360, an interactive Soccer IQ platform that will help coaches get the absolute most out of their players. Please check them out at www.sportslab360.com/ and listen to the podcast to get a special offer!

Dec 2, 2019 • 37min
Chris Hughes - Coaching 4-6 Year Olds and the Role of Laughter
Gary is joined by Pre-Academy Football Coach and Manchester United FC Foundation Coach, Chris Hughes. Chris has built a unique philosophy with the younger age groups and is the author of 'The Complete Series to Coaching 4-6 Year Olds' , which has just been released on Amazon.
Chris discusses...
- Does fun have a place in a coaching philosophy?
- Influence of the coach… the balance between an entertainer and a facilitator
- Role of parents - managing expectations and building a support network
and much more!!
Let me know what you think on Instagram...
https://www.instagram.com/garycurneen/?hl=en

Nov 18, 2019 • 31min
Winning the Set Piece Battle - Inside the MSC Webinar
Gary gives coaches a sneak peek into the upcoming MSC webinar on Set Pieces that will take place on Wednesday, November 20th, at 4pm ET.
The webinar will be FREE to all members of the Modern Soccer Coach Community Platform… you also get access to ALL THE CONTENT on there…a range of webinars, 250+ exercises and weekly content,… go online and take a look…
www.modernsoccercoach.com/community
- Oliver Gage
- Mark Spalding
- Rade Tanaskovic
- Peter Ramage
- Cam Meighan
They will discuss the following topics:
- Attacking set pieces
- Defensive set pieces
- Using analysis in your work
- Effective ways to train them
- How to scout them in opposition
- Zonal v man marking
and lots more…

Nov 10, 2019 • 57min
Ben Garner - Life on a Premier League Bench
Gary is joined by Ben Garner, a UEFA Pro License coach, who has worked in the Premier League as an assistant coach at West Bromwich Albion and first team coach at Crystal Palace, where he also worked in the academy. He has also coached in the Indian Super League with ATK.
He talks about the following:
- Difference in working with academy and pro players
- What environment youth players need to become pros
- Being mentored by Jose Mourinho on his UEFA Pro Licence
- What kind of discussions happen on Premier League benches?
- How did Tony Pulis structure his set piece training?
- What advice does he have for coaches looking for mentors?
All of this and much more!!
November’s Modern Soccer Coach webinar will be on Wednesday November 20 and the topic will be ‘Set Pieces’
We will have a couple of special guests and discuss:
- Attacking set pieces
- Defensive set pieces
- Effective ways to train them
- How to scout them in opposition
- Zonal v man marking
and lots more…
The webinar will be FREE to all members of the Modern Soccer Coach Community Platform… you also get access to ALL THE CONTENT on there…a range of webinars, 250+ exercises and weekly content,… go online and take a look…
www.modernsoccercoach.com/community

Nov 3, 2019 • 57min
Dr. Fader - The Challenges of Motivating Teams and Individuals
Gary is joined by Dr. Jonathan Fader, a Sport & Clinical Psychologist with 11 years experience in some world class sports environments such as New York Giants and New York Mets. He has just released a new book called 'Coaching Athletes to Be Their Best: Motivational Interviewing in Sports.'
Gary wants to challenge his own views on motivation and specifically how it applies to the current state of the game with variables like pay-to-play, scholarships, parent influence, commitment levels, and how they impact our coaching and cultures.
November’s Modern Soccer Coach webinar will be on Wednesday November 20 and the topic will be ‘Set Pieces’
We will have a couple of special guests and discuss:
- Attacking set pieces
- Defensive set pieces
- Effective ways to train them
- How to scout them in opposition
- Zonal v man marking
and lots more…
The webinar will be FREE to all members of the Modern Soccer Coach Community Platform… you also get access to ALL THE CONTENT on there…a range of webinars, 250+ exercises and weekly content,… go online and take a look…
www.modernsoccercoach.com/community

Oct 24, 2019 • 60min
Tony Elliott - Improving Communication with GKs and GK Coaches
Gary is joined by current Bristol City Women FC (FAWSL) GK Coach, Tony Elliott. Tony has a vast range of experiences as a coach as a player, also with @ngland Blind Football GK Coach, and as FA National Futsal Goalkeeper Coach Developer. He is author of the book, 'A Modern Approach To Goalkeeping’
Tony tackles the challenges of not just incorporating goalkeepers in training sessions, but also in the environment itself. He covers:
- Creating both camaraderie and competition between starters and backups
- Role of GK coach during the game
- Who should pick the starting GK?
- How would you hire a GK coach?
- If he was Sarri, how would he deal with Kepa incident?
- What can we learn from other sports?
And much, much more!!
COACHES: October's monthly webinar is now available on the Modern Soccer Coach Community Platform. In the 45 video session, Gary takes an in-depth look at ‘Breaking Down a Low block’, and pinpoints 10 ways that a coach can play against a team who "parks the bus" including tactical analysis, session ideas, and a discussion on player development.
The monthly webinars are FREE to all MSC Community Platform Members. It's easy to register and once you do, you will receive a free 14 day trial to check it out… after that it’s only $6 a month and you get access to the monthly webinars, weekly content and discussions, along with over 250 video training exercises on there.
Please check it out:
www.modernsoccercoach.com/community

Oct 13, 2019 • 54min
Nick Montgomery - Sheffield Utd, Australia, and Coaching Usain Bolt
Gary is joined by former Sheffield United defender and current assistant coach at the Central Coast Mariners in the Hyundai A-League, Nick Montgomery. Currently working on his UEFA PRO License, Nick played over 400 games for Sheffield United, some against the very best in Premier League history, and also played 5 years in the Australian professional league.
Nick talks about:
- The "crazy genius" of Neil Warnock
- How did Sheffield Utd produce Kyle Walker, Gary Cahill and Harry Maguire?
- Challenges of youth development in Australia
- Spending time with Man United staff on their pre-season tour
- Mental health issues of ex-professionals
- What he learned working with Usain Bolt
And much, much more!!
The second monthly webinar on the Modern Soccer Coach Community Platform is coming up next Monday (Oct 22) where we will take an in-depth look at ‘Breaking Down a Low block’, where we aim to challenge coaches to look at little closer at what they can do to help develop teams and individual players to excel against deep defensive blocks.
The monthly webinars are FREE to all MSC Community Platform Members. It's easy to register and once you do, you will receive a free 14 day trial to check it out… after that it’s only $6 a month and you get access to the monthly webinars, weekly content and discussions, along with over 250 video training exercises on there.
Please check it out:
www.modernsoccercoach.com/community

Oct 7, 2019 • 48min
Jonas Munkvold: Developing 1v1 Specialists
Gary is joined Jonas Munkvold, UEFA 'B' holder, BA in Football Studies, and author of player development eBooks. He talks about player development, specifically on 1v1 play, focusing on the model that he has put together and the work he has heavily researched.
They cover the following topics:
- How should you design sessions to focus on technical work AND game context?
- Can coaches facilitate decision making more effectively than saying "do this, do that"?
- How do you coach 1v1 moves whilst still allowing the player to be creative?
- Why are we not developing as many dribblers any more?
- Along with a unique look into early specialization from a European perspective
This podcast is brought to you by Sportslab360, an interactive Soccer IQ platform that will help coaches get the absolute most out of their players. Please check them out at https://sportslab360.com/ and listen to the podcast to get a special offer!

Sep 28, 2019 • 47min
Lee Scott - The Tactical Concepts Behind Guardiola's Man City
Gary is joined by Lee Scott, Lead Analyst for Total Football Analysis and author of the brand new book, “Mastering the Premier League - The Tactical Concepts Behind Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City”
Lee discusses the aspects of the book that stood out to Gary: evolution of recruitment, player profiling, structure vs creativity, Pep’s management style, coaching jargon, how to beat this City team and much more!!
This podcast is brought to you by Heja, a free and simple all-in-one team communication app for all you coaches, team managers, parents and players out there, for easy and simple interaction with your whole team on a daily basis.
Instead of juggling email conversations, messaging apps and spreadsheets, Heja was designed by coaches and players themselves to bring you smooth communication with everyone on the team, and easily organise your games and training sessions right there in the app.
If you’re coaching more than one team, Heja makes it simple to manage all of them in one place. Players can easily mark their availability to upcoming events with the “going” and “not going” feature, and even leave a note to tell you why they might not be joining that practice!
If you haven’t already checked out the app, please go to modernsoccercoach.com/heja ... from there you can click your way over to the App Store and Google Play to download it for free and try it out for your team.
It only takes minutes to sign up ,and it’s 100% FREE for everyone to use!

Sep 21, 2019 • 52min
Christopher Malenab - Mental Health and Coaching
Gary is joined by professional coach at Reno 1868, Christopher Malenab. However, instead of discussing tactics or training, they focus their conversation on mental health which Christoper is a huge advocate for
He’s going to share his personal story as well as give the coaching community some advice and education in how to deal with it in our teams and our coaching community.
- How do we remove the stigma of mental illness with our players and our colleagues?
- With so much technology used today with players young and old to track physical data, how can coaches be more aware of the mental state of specific players?
- Where are there specific mental health challenges in the coaching profession?
- How can coaches educate themselves more about this area?
This podcast is brought to you by the Modern Soccer Coach Community Platform, an online resource with daily coaching content, over 250 video exercises, tactical analysis pieces and a NEW monthly webinar feature that starts on Monday, Sept 23 where Gary take an in-depth look at defensive transitioning.
All monthly webinars are FREE for all members… it's only $6 a month TONS OF CONTENT…. You can get a free 14-day trial at modernsoccercoach.com/community or go to modernsoccercoach.com/shop and you can get an annual pass along with an Modern Soccer Coach book of your choice for only $60!!


