Professional Demands


Thomas Coupland speaks to The FA’s Neil Dewsnip and FA Professional Coaches Award candidate, Tom Curtis, about the new course that aims to develop a new crop of future elite professional coaches.


The FA Professional Coaches Award was launched in 2012 in response to the lack of English coaches being considered for top coaching roles.


Over the duration of the 18-month long Level 5 course, candidates are challenged to explore the technical and tactical themes in the modern game and challenged to consider how these trends can complement their own approach.


As part of the course assessment candidates are challenged to devise a game strategy for a Champions League fixture and how the detail would be communicated effectively to a squad of players.


Professional Coaches Award candidates were tasked with designing game strategies for Champions League ties. Tom Curtis and his group focused on how they would prepare Real Madrid to face Manchester United


In this article, course tutor, Neil Dewsnip, first provides some more details about the structure of the task and some of the desired outcomes, while course candidate Tom Curtis, Bristol Rovers Academy Manager, provides an insight into the considerations, thought processes and reasoning behind his group’s strategy for Real Madrid’s Champions League tie against Manchester United.


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