FA keen to get more former stars to help England development teams

25 July 2016 14:53

Football Association technical director Dan Ashworth is keen to take former England stars out of the television studios and into the national coaching set-up.

New England boss Sam Allardyce never represented his country as a player but landed his dream job last week and began building his backroom team with the appointment of his old Bolton assistant Sammy Lee.

Lee won 14 caps during his playing days but Ashworth, part of the three-man panel that selected Allardyce, is eager to bring some more recent Three Lions stars into the fold.

Gary Neville fell on his sword alongside Roy Hodgson in the summer, but the idea of drawing some of his contemporaries in to pass on their wisdom to the county's up and coming players is a priority as Ashworth and Allardyce look to forge the way ahead.

"One of the things I've tried to do is get our ex-players into that journey from player to coach," Ashworth told Press Association Sport.

"We've had quite a few ex-England men not make that journey for one reason or another. Some go into the media, others aren't interested in coaching, but for those that are we need to give them the vehicle.

"What we don't want is to have that knowledge and experience from ex-internationals lost forever.

"We want to get that know-how back into our development teams. It's silly not to use that experience and get those players back on the coaching pathway.

"We have been getting ex-England players involved. Gary Neville was with the senior team, Phil Neville, Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Tony Adams and numerous others have come in for short, sharp stints with our development teams.

"And now we're trying to formalise a programme of bringing ex-England players in and Sam is in full agreement about that."

Ashworth was seen as the key 'football man' in the hunt for Hodgson's replacement, working alongside FA chief executive Martin Glenn and acting chairman David Gill.

Part of his brief at St George's Park is to identify future coaches.

And while that means he will already have cast his eye over Allardyce's credentials before England's woeful departure from Euro 2016, it also means he is already looking ahead.

Allardyce has a two-year deal, with a willingness to double that if all goes well, but Ashworth will be keeping his eyes open for future England managers with a view to embedding them in the system.

"One of my roles at any time is succession planning," he said.

"I need my finger on the pulse of what happens if a manager falls ill, what happens if they get another job - things that do happen in professional sport.

"Two years is a logical cycle because it is a tournament cycle. We hope that we get through to at least 2020 but it gives an opportunity for both parties to see 'does it work? is he the right person for the role?'.

"We firmly believe he is but that's a natural time look at things, after the first tournament."

Source: PA