The temperatures were close to freezing, darkness had fallen, but Mike Phelan was giving back to the Manchester football community. “What I will stress as a coach is: be yourself,” he told a group of 150 aspiring coaches. “You can’t be somebody you’re not. I can’t be Pep. Pep can’t be me. Footballers most definitely take you for what you are. Believe me, they will work you out pretty quick.”
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It was 48 hours since United secured the 2-0 win over Villarreal that clinched qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League. Two days earlier, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been sacked after the 4-1 loss at Watford. Despite the tumult and travel, and a day’s work at United’s Carrington base, Phelan honoured a promised evening appointment at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Platt Lane complex to deliver two sessions to young people and children, and give answers to questions posed by those watching.
At that stage, November 25, the day The Athletic broke the news of Ralf Rangnick’s appointment as United’s new manager, Phelan’s future at the club was uncertain. Michael Carrick, Kieran McKenna and Martyn Pert would go on to leave and there were thoughts Phelan might follow. But now, into January, the 59-year-old remains in situ, providing Rangnick with crucial insight into the squad and club structure.
On match days, Phelan has taken a position in the background. At Old Trafford, he stands against the dugout, leaving the shouting to Rangnick and Darren Fletcher. But behind the scenes, he is an important voice, with reports surfacing that he has been asked to use his experience to smooth the edges of a squad containing unhappy players.
For the visits of Villarreal and Atalanta earlier this season, Phelan was the most advanced member of staff in the technical area, ushering instructions to players as United summoned two comeback victories. He may return to prominence for the games against Atletico Madrid.
Despite experiencing football at the highest level — winning 11 major trophies on United’s first-team staff and four as a player, as well as a Premier League manager of the month award while in charge at Hull, where he helped bring on Harry Maguire, Jarrod Bowen and Andrew Robertson — he has a humble appreciation for his origins and tours the country intermittently to offer advice free of charge.
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“I don’t coach as much now as I used to because there are a few different coaches (at United),” Phelan told his autumn audience. “What I do is analyse the coaches that come up.” Chris Armas, Ewan Sharp, and Sascha Lense have been added to Rangnick’s staff.
Phelan added: “When I was coaching I did go over my sessions. Was I getting what I wanted? Or why didn’t I get it? Sometimes you put a session on and it just flows. Wow. You don’t have to step in too much. But you analyse that as to why it did flow well. Then there are areas where it could be better. You say, ‘Where can I take that session? Do I add a bit, take a bit out?’ I’ve had sessions where five or six things are going on — fitness, skill, finishing, technical — when really I only needed two. So you separate.”
Phelan reflected on his career. “Going into coaching you think like a player — how he might want to do it. You quickly progress, because you’ve got to give the player what he needs, not what he wants sometimes. I don’t have all the answers but we keep trying to put down certain basics and progress it.”
Under Manchester Met’s dome, Phelan put on two sessions, the first for a mix of male and female university students. There were four practices, with one being a three-v-two box rondo, where three attackers looked to keep the ball away from two defenders. The attackers scored a goal if they completed six passes within the 10×10-yard space. The defenders got to swap out when they won the ball.
The second group came from Salford schoolboys, with one of two practices being a seven-v-seven game with four small goals directed inwards. Either side could score in any of the goals, with the idea to encourage players to find space and supporting angles for passes. At one stage, Phelan stopped the drill to show how the players had neglected a good area of space where he was standing. He called a player over and the drill continued.
The sessions were filmed by the Coaching Manual in partnership with Sensible Soccer Ltd (video below) and sent to those who signed up. Some travelled from London and Ireland to watch.
It was a window into how a coach who won the Premier League and Champions League under Sir Alex Ferguson operates, and what he offers to the modern United. He has worked with personalities as diverse as Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes, and is respected by the current group of players.
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Phelan said: “You spot an individual who might be a bit chatty, the quiet ones, the less confident ones, the ones who are really out there. You’ve got to analyse that and get them all together. You’ve got to give them energy. If I come in and I’m a bit flat they feed off that. You have to bring that to the table.”
The next generation includes Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood, and Phelan spoke about how his approach to young players is tailored. Speaking generally, he said: “The first thing is they have ability, but sometimes you’ve got to really, really break it down to get it out of them. I’ve always been a believer in working on strengths, not weaknesses. People will say, ‘He’s not good at this, he’s not good at that’. But they’re not at the level they’re at because of those things. They’re at the level they’re at for what they’re good at.
“I’m not going to coach Ronaldo into how to score a goal. He scores goals. I’m not going to show Rashford how to run because he can run already. But what I’m trying to do is give them an understanding of why they are doing those things. There is a reason Rashford has to run — to get in the box. There is a reason we supply Ronaldo with the ball. All that as a coach comes into the way you think about the practices.
“Match day is what everybody sees. But on the practice ground is where it all happens, the place where the coaches have to come into their own. Sometimes it’s coaching, sometimes it’s advice, sometimes it’s just getting a little bit more out of them. Sometimes it’s not about coaching, it’s about letting them express themselves.
“There are various set-ups. I’ve done it many times when there have been young players who step into a big group, and they just do it, they surprise you. So then you don’t have to step in and coach, you let them go. It’s getting that understanding of, ‘What are you there for as a coach?’ You’re there to assist them to get to the level they need to be at.”
Part of Phelan’s remit now includes recruitment. He recommended signing Jude Bellingham after scouting him when Birmingham City played West Bromwich Albion. He does use data but feels a personal touch is important.
“Technology brings a bit extra,” he said. “I’ve got to that point in my career where my eyes don’t deceive me. As long as my eyesight is good, I can see what’s going on. There are a lot of people now within the game, because the game can afford it, (for whom) analysis is big. iPads, computers, they all play their part. But a computer has never won a game of football.
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“It is useful but it doesn’t give you a feel for what’s actually going on. It’s easier to present those numbers to a player — kids today understand that world, they want to see how far they’ve run and everybody buys into that. A midfield player now in the Premier League has got to run 14 kilometres, 15 kilometres, which is enormous. But I’ve still got it in the back of my head — why? Why have you got to do that if you can play in a team? Does it get you the outcome you want? Not always.
“Stats can give you evidence. I prefer to see it. I’m still pen and paper. I’m not on a laptop, press a button and it all comes up to you. I can get somebody to do it.”
Phelan has been known to watch night matches back immediately, into the early hours. “I’ve done a lot of that lately,” he said.
But he added: “It helps and it hinders. It does back up what you’ve actually seen. But I find sometimes that if a game is on my mind, to watch it again is not clear enough, I need a gap in between to collect my thoughts. I could look at it maybe in the morning, whereas the younger guys would be straight on it. The game is finished — it’s there, highlights, stats delivered to you. If you want to flick that page and go again, you can go through it for three, four hours. I now tend to leave that to them, and dip in a bit more after the event when my mind is clear. I look at it from a different angle.
“Gone are the days when I get angry at certain things. I still do, but it’s a little bit more calculated than it was before. I am more responsible now for analysing the game, giving a clearer view, than just lecture. I’m tired after watching a game. I feel as if I’ve played three games. I need a glass of wine and something to eat. But it is non-stop. As soon as you finish the game, it’s hard to look back because you’re onto the next one. So we’ve got to keep moving on.”
Phelan keeps his mind sharp through books and documentaries. “Funnily enough, the older I’ve got the more I read,” he said. “When I was younger I thought, ‘I can do this no problem’. The more you get into it the more you’re looking for something fresh and new. I tend to look outside of football, to other sports. They don’t give you all the answers but sometimes they back up your way of thinking. You might have a thought in your head, think it’s unique, but then you look it up and see the problem is shared, rather than just yours. The hardest bit is transferring that across. Some people want to listen, some people don’t.
“The one thing about the youngsters — they give you energy. They do absorb quite a lot. Part of that reading process is me, at 59, I’ve got to get down to a 17-year-old’s level. Tell me how hard that is!
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“But they’ve also got to think about what I know sometimes. I’ve been there, I’ve seen it, I’ve experienced it, so ask me, feed off me. It’s not brand new. It’s still 11 v 11, the same sized pitch. OK, the balls have changed, different rules. But the game is the same it’s always been.”
(Top photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
