Training Ground Guru Podcast

Our guest on Episode #60 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Radhi Jaidi. Radhi is a true legend of Tunisian football, having played 105 times for his country and won every trophy there was to win at club level there. Fans in England will know him best from his time at Bolton Wanderers, where he played under Sam Allardyce and helped them qualify for Europe.  Since 2018 he's been a coach, working with Southampton U23s, Hartford Athletic in the USL, Esperance in Tunisia and now Cercle Brugge in Belgium, where he's assistant. Radhi told me about his tough upbringing, his best memories from Bolton and his experiences and ambitions as a coach.  SHOW NOTES => 02:05: Working as assistant at Cercle Brugge since 2023. Second spell at the club. 04:30: Same ownership as Monaco. How this impacts what happens at Cercle. Recently had a training camp in Monaco. 07:48: Why he chose Cercle. Background in youth development. Balance between development and results. 13:17: Importance of relationship building. 15:26: Duties as assistant manager. Main duties are as defensive coach, especially with the centre-backs. 16:45: Growing up in Tunisia.  21:26: Rare in having gone direct from Africa to the Premier League. 34:09: 15 different nationalities at one stage but gelled together. Importance of Tuesday team meal and being fined for missing his first one! 43:00: Childhood. Father died when Radhi was 11 and he had to grow up fast.  44:43: Are young players too pampered today? 50:30: Differences between the generations. Generation of young players have a big problem with distraction. Malcolm Frame, psychologist at Southampton, had a good mnemonic, the 4 As: Accept, Assess, Adapt, Apply. Generations and environment might change, but core values shouldn't. 55:31: Ambitions for the future - "the ultimate is to succeed with a European team as a Head Coach. I still have the ambition, the desire, the energy, the obsession to make it." Unconscious bias. "The day I get the opportunity I am going to explode." 57:53: Importance of his Muslim faith.     

Our guest on Episode #59 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Reading manager Ruben Selles. The highly-rated coach gained plaudits for the way he managed Southampton for the second half of last season and there were high hopes when he took over at Reading in the summer. However, an ongoing financial crisis has plunged the very future of the club into doubt. In this episode the Spaniard gives us insights into the challenges he and his players have faced, while also looking back on his career to date and ahead to the future.  SHOW NOTES => 02:07: Challenges as Reading manager. Pre-season with nine pro players. 06:48: Transfer embargo in January window. Will fight to hold onto players. 09:13: Foregoing wages in November along with Director of Football Mark Bowen. "As Simon Sinek says, leaders eat last." 10:41: Having impressive infrastructure at the club, in terms of Academy and new training ground. "Yes, but you can have an amazing house and very cheap furniture. The real thing is to build a culture inside the club and make people feel safe." 12:05: What is situation regarding ownership and potential sale? 12:58: Has the project been what was promised to you? 13:30: Started coaching at 16 and gained Pro Licence at 25. Was it an advantage starting so young?  20:37: Travelled around the world as a young Spanish coach: to Greece, Russia, Azerbaijan, Denmark and England.  25:09: Move to Southampton. Had been tracked by Rasmus Ankersen. Mentored by Matt Crocker. Difficult being parachuted in as an assistant rather than the Head Coach choosing you himself? 30:02: Innovative club: individual coaching/ specialist coaches/ Playbook etc. How did it work? 32:44: Taking over as Southampton Head Coach when Ralph Hassenhuttl and then Nathan Jones were sacked.  37:48: Management is all-consuming. Impact on family. Using psychologist support for both himself and his family. "The kids were suffering." 45:53: Could you have stayed at Southampton after Russell Martin came in as manager? 48:59: Did you get offers from other clubs after leaving Southampton? And why did Reading appeal to you? 50:25: What is your playing philosophy?  54:47: Proving he is a development manager.  56:08: Working with young talented players. Example of Rasmus Hojlund, now Manchester United, at Copenhagen. Convinced he will become world-class. A "mentality monster." 1:00:25: Ambitions: for the rest of the season and remainder of career.   

Our guest on Episode #58 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Chris O'Loughlin. Chris is the Sporting Director of Union Saint Gilloise, one of the most innovative and interesting clubs in the whole of Europe. Despite having a stadium with a capacity of just 9,400, and a budget that’s dwarfed by the biggest clubs, they are top of the table in Belgium.      Chris told us how the club scout for character and how they use data to punch way above their weight.  SHOW NOTES=> 02:13: Background. Born in Limerick, move to Cape Town at a young age. B Licence at Larne in Northern Ireland. Break with Bibey Mutombo at Orlando Pirates. 09:25: Move to Belgium with Yannick Ferrera at Sint-Truiden. 12:09: Becoming a Sporting Director with Union Saint-Gilloise. Strong believer in culture. In his experience, clubs hadn't included considerations about culture in their decision-making, especially in terms of squad building. 14:48: History of USG. Potential in Brussels. Stadium is romantic/ 104 years old. Budget is low and has been growing step by step. About building a foundation and strategy. 17:07: Never met or had a conversation with Tony Bloom. Alex Muzio is the day to day President and now majority shareholder. Reasons why the duo chose to buy the club. 21:48: First role was to create a behavioural culture and performance culture for the club. Establishing five key values for the club. Recruiting to those values. Human being qualities they look for. People can get confused about what humility actually means.  30:40: Example of Victor Boniface. Went deep into his social media and found how he had helped a mother in Nigeria. 'We don’t need an angel, we just need a person with a good soul.' 32:33: Creating a 'common denominator' among the players/ having something common in their spirit and soul, which creates cohesion and togetherness. Richie Barker at Charlton told him about creating a common goal. Looking for hungry, humble players. 35:47: Analytics used as a filtering system. Look for undervalued, underrated players. Don't recruit for a specific style of play. 43:54: Ambitions for the club - new stadium, focus on Academy, challenging for trophies in Belgium and qualifying for Europe regularly.   

Everton Director of Football Kevin Thelwell discusses the club's strategic pillars, the importance of data and philosophy in building a successful team, and the evolution of manager Sean Dyche's style of play. They also explore the use of data analysis in football, the challenges of the summer transfer window, and the positive signs for the club's upward trajectory.

Jes Buster Madsen, Head of Research and Development for FC Copenhagen in Denmark, discusses the role of cognitive neuroscience in football. Topics include the importance of ecological psychology, visual cues, working memory, game intelligence, simplicity in neuroscience, and the neuroplasticity of the brain.

Mark Leyland, prominent football analyst, discusses his journey from VHS analysis to coaching at top clubs. Topics include feedback delivery, player-driven analysis, and the evolving role of analysts in player development. Insightful anecdotes on working with Klopp and Howe.

Sarah Rudd, former VP of Analytics for StatDNA and Arsenal, discusses her work at Arsenal, challenges of sustaining an analytics department, data v human eyes in scouting, and her experiences as a woman in a male-dominated industry. She also talks about the top clubs for data science in the Premier League, leveraging tracking data, and the future of data analytics in football.

Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders reflects on his career, Liverpool's youth development, and his special relationship with Jurgen Klopp. Highlights include the importance of building an 'inside pathway' for young players, the progression of coaches and analysts at Liverpool, and Lijnders' admiration for Klopp's coaching style.

Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders discusses pre-season preparations, counter pressing, Trent Alexander-Arnold's role, Roberto Firmino's impact, the importance of top players, and the team's intensity. They reflect on the importance of compactness, balance, clearness, freedom, individualism, and unpredictability in football. They also emphasize the significance of dominating the midfield. Lijnders mentions the impact of fatigue and the need for new players. The chapter ends with a mention of a game where they lost the Premier League in the last 20 minutes.

Episode #52 of the Training Ground Guru Podcast, in association with Hudl, features two guests: Bolton manager Ian Evatt and his Sporting Director Chris Markham. Simon Austin sat down with the duo at the club’s Toughsheet Community Stadium ahead of the new season. It’s rare to get a manager and Sporting Director speaking together like this, so we hope you enjoy it…   SHOW NOTES => 01:53: Having a blank canvas when they arrived at the club. 05:35: Setting a game identity, which then helps with recruitment. 09:58: Establishing this identity at Barrow, where it became known as futbol club de Barrow! 13:45: Pressing strategy and splitting the pitch into five zones. 16:00: Scouting process. Allying data and video. Chris being a data translator. 21:50: Ian seeing a big part of his role as a manager being to develop players. 'Re-recruiting players every day.' Looking for hungry players. 24:02: Scouting for character/ psychology. Young players having a problem dealing with adversity/ not being resilient. Mental health and wellbeing. 26:35: Treating people as individuals/ realising they are motivated by different things. How to give feedback. Young players want detail. B team.  33:36: Progression of the game. Playing in Premier League with Blackpool and not doing opposition analysis/ having any out-of-possession strategy. 37:16: How a manager should behave on the touchline.  40:16: Loans. Why big clubs want to send their players to Bolton. Difficult for big clubs to develop young centre backs. James Trafford. 48:11: Academy/ developing their own players. Having a genuine B team.  53:09: Using Hudl and Wyscout for the B team and first team. Having an analysis culture. 54:43: Chris's work on penalties at the Football Association. 56:28: Chris: ambitions for Bolton in next few seasons. 57:17: Ian: personal ambitions. Wanting to become the first manager to take one club from League Two to the Premier League.