Billy Garton when he was a Defender for Manchester United in 1986

Great Coaches on Great Soccer: An Interview with Billy Garton

Billy Garton is Director of Coaching with Carmel Valley Manchester, which he founded in 2001 with his former coach and mentor Jeff Illingworth. Garton played defender at English powerhouse Manchester United and brought the lessons he learned there to coaching. He has particular views about coaching and working with players, and sat down with SoccerNation to share them.

SNN: What do you think about the new U.S. Soccer curriculum emphasizing coaching education?

Billy Garton: It reminds me of England in the 1980s when they had a complete overhaul of the way that youth soccer was being developed. It was needed in England, and although it was a big concept, it was the little steps that were important. The important most signficant change was the modification of how old players where when they went from small-sided games to the larger 11v11 games.  This was huge.

SNN: What was changed?

Billy Garton: At certain ages you would play six-a-side and then you would increase to eight-a-side as the player aged. Then you would stay eight-a-side until you got to U12 when you went to the full size field. They also adjusted the size of the goals and stipulated you could only play with a certain size ball.

There was also a huge emphasis on the technical development. They actually produced a curriculum that every soccer coach could purchase from the FA, and it would guide you through some basic, fundamental soccer skills. It was something that was needed, but I think it took a lot longer to actually see the benefits and reap the rewards than they expected. I think this is similar here. This is not going to be a quick fix.

When I read the contents of the U.S. Soccer curriculum, I get the feeling somebody has been watching my practices because that’s exactly what I do.

I think my style is born out of playing at Manchester United; that’s the way I was educated and that’s the style of soccer that was ingrained in me.

That’s also the style of soccer I think the top clubs are showing they play, with small touches. Dribbling is becoming a thing of the past; it’s about moving the ball quickly and keeping the tempo of the game high when you’re attacking. Making sure you focus on defending correctly and being an organized defense is also important. You want to make sure your players know what their role is as defenders.

SNN: How is this reflected in what you do at CV Manchester?

Billy Garton: I think it’s necessary for people to be made aware that you have to follow a particular pathway to ultimately get the best out of your kids.

As the Director of Coaching for our club, I have constant reminders about this going out to our coaches, especially at our coaches meetings. You can’t just decide to do a shooting drill, or because the shooting drill was boring switch over to a small-sided game. You look at your games, you look at where your team could be improved and you build your practices according to that.

We introduced a little slogan that every kid in our club will get a thousand touches of the ball minimum during practice.

SNN: A thousand touches in a practice? That’s ambitious.

Billy Garton: It is ambitious, but if you do a juggling session for 15 minutes or you do a dribbling session for 15 minutes, or a drill that includes manipulating the ball in small areas, players will bring this skill into the game.

So for all of its mystique, juggling does bear a great value, especially for younger kids.

For me, juggling is about getting a good feel on the ball, a good touch on the ball. The evidence is that for the kids that I work with, juggling has become an integral part of what’s made them better players. It’s about learning the touch – the first touch when receiving high balls, being able to move a spinning ball back to where they want it. I think that’s one of the main reasons why you do it.

SNN: So it’s a concise way to practice those different touches.

Billy Garton: Soccer is one of the few sports where the more touches on the ball you have the better you will become, irrespective of coaching.

That’s a fact.

I always use this example: I’m a useless golfer. It doesn’t matter how often I play golf, I’m probably not going to get dramatically better unless I get lessons. But soccer is different because no one coached me until I was 14. Everything I learned was out in the backyard, out on the field, out in the park at the back of the house or watching TV.

SNN: And when did you go to Manchester United?

Billy Garton: I went to Manchester as a “school boy,” as they call it, and then I was pro at 16.

SNN: So you were good enough without any real coaching to be recognized for your talent by Manchester United?

Billy Garton: First I went off and played for my town team, and then I played for my county, which is like playing for the state, I suppose. And then I got spotted by one of the Manchester United scouts and that was it; the rest was history.

SNN: On coaching education, how important do you think it is that coaches have more licenses?

Billy Garton: I think it’s very important. One thing I will say, though, is I don’t think people should be misguided by a coach with a license. If we’re going to bring a coach into our club, I’m going to watch him coach. I’m not going to read his resume and say, “Hey, you’re great.” I’m going to watch him coach because resumes are great but this is a people skill. It’s interacting, and you’re actually – with younger kids in particular – you’re not really a coach, you’re a teacher.

If you do not have teaching skills, it doesn’t matter how extensive your resume is or how many books you’ve written, or how many different clubs you’ve worked for or whichever countries you’ve worked in. You have to have the essential, fundamental, necessary attributes to be a good teacher.

SNN: What do you think about the Centers for Disease Control’s new program for teaching awareness of concussions or the symptoms of concussions?

Billy Garton: It’s becoming a much more prevalent and important part of youth sports, for obvious reasons. I can’t condemn the fact that contact sports will include some form of injury. And it doesn’t matter whether you play basketball, hockey, football, or rugby or cricket in England. Every sport has its physical risks, and soccer’s main physical risks are injuries to knees and ankles in young people.

Concussions are obviously a huge topic at the moment. I don’t know how you can control the number of concussions that may occur without telling kids they can’t touch other people on the field or that you don’t want them going to head the ball.

The information available now on concussions and the emphasis that after a concussion you spend a certain number of days or weeks out of the game is great.

I know Chicharito from Manchester United had a concussion and missed the first three weeks of the season. So even at the highest level they are being ultra-cautious these days, and rightly so.

Again, I applaud the willingness to be diligent about what they do after somebody has had a concussion. I’m not sure you will ever be able to fully control the number of people that get concussions in a sport, particularly in a sport that is absolutely a contact sport. Contrary to what some people would believe, soccer is a very physical sport.

SNN: Do you think we’re doing enough to train or identify our special players in the United States?

Billy Garton: If I have one major criticism of the game as it is played here in the U.S., it’s that they don’t produce enough playmakers, enough truly creative players.

I think that the U.S. has predominantly been known for producing athletic, strong, dedicated kids. But there needs to be a change in mentality, and maybe it will change – maybe I’m seeing evidence, but in the U.S. Men's National Team I don’t see evidence yet.

When you look at the greatest teams playing this game now, they all have players that you could call creative geniuses. I think that’s the one area here that needs developing more, and less focus on picking the big kid and the fast kid. You need to pick the kid that maybe has a great eye for a pass, or somebody that has a great sense of awareness and can open up a defense with a clever move or a disguised pass. I think that’s missing at the moment.

SNN: How do you teach that? How do you coach for that?

Billy Garton: I think most of it is born out in getting it in young. I don’t think if someone is already 14 you’re ever going to be able to develop it to an extent where they’re going to be able to play at the highest level.

SNN: So what age do you really need to focus on for this?

Billy Garton: My belief with soccer, and with any sport, is the earlier you can get the kids practicing those fundamental skills, the easier it’s going to be for you to coach them down the line.

And the easier it’s going to be for them to be a dominant, capable, efficient soccer player.

I coach a U9 team and I’ve had this team since these kids were six. They’re juggling now and they’re manipulating the ball well now, and they have great eye for passes. I’m not saying they’re the finished article, and I’m not saying this is a team that would dominate any team they played, but I can see the evidence already that these kids are developing

SNN: They have talent.

Billy Garton: They do, but I’m nurturing the talent. We’re not just saying, “Get the ball and whack it long and let’s chase it down the line,” or “Give it to Jaden, he’s the fastest kid on the team and let him run to goal.” These kids play a passing game. But I think in order to develop that creative player you have to be getting into their heads early.

You see, I don’t know whether a kid that plays sweeper now isn’t going to be a forward later, or whether the forward isn’t going to become a sweeper.

You’re hoping that you’re developing all of these players to have a greater understanding of the technical side of the game and a greater understanding of and awareness of what’s going on around them on the field. It’s knowledge of the game, of knowing that, “in this situation this is what I need to do.”

I think that’s why I said before that it’s not coaching, it’s teaching. It’s finding a way to come up with drills and games and words and delivery of those words that allow the kids to understand what it is that you are actually trying to get them to achieve.

It’s frustrating when you play some teams. You know you’ve been the best passing team and the team that looks like the more dominant team in the game, but then they have one big kid up front who they whack the ball forward to and he runs away and scores two or three goals against you.

The sad part is that most of the other kids on that team just don’t get touches on the ball because it’s all about getting the ball forward to Johnny because he’s going to run and score three goals.

SNN: So that’s not a team....

Billy Garton: It’s not a team, and it’s one of the criticisms I have about coaching education here in this country – and it’s the same anywhere, but it is more so here. There are some people coaching who just don’t have the skill or the expertise to be able to develop elite soccer players. And as much as I give them kudos for giving up their time, there are people in charge of the best players who are not capable of developing them. And that’s the reality, and that will need to change.

I don’t know if it will ever change, though, because the club scene here is so competitive. It has become about business, and therefore it has become very cutthroat in terms of coaching. Some clubs seem to feel if you can get somebody for half the price of somebody else, you’ll take them to fill that spot on your U8 A team that needs a coach. The guy is bubbly and energetic, he’s young, he’s got a funky hairdo, or he’s got tats on him or something, and the kids love him. But really, is he capable of developing the elite team in your club or an elite bunch of players in your club?

When I was a teacher in England for a number of years, the principal of the school used to put all of his strongest teachers in the youngest ages, and then one strong teacher in the last year before they left elementary school to go to high school. That’s what we do as a club. You look at our club; no other Directors of Coaching are coaching the younger teams. Jeff Illingworth and I have always coached our youngest teams because we understand the importance of getting those fundamentals in. We think that your best coaches should be with the younger players. Of course, you’ll have to have strong coaches with some of your elite teams as well.

One problem is that there’s like a real disrespect for younger teams at times and almost like a feeling that it’s an insult if you give someone a U7 developmental team. You might give somebody the U9 team in your club and their attitude is, “Hey, I’m only used to coaching high school kids,” or “I’m the guy who takes the kids off to college.” In our club, you look at our coaching staff in the U7 through U10 teams and we have our strongest personnel there. That’s our strategy.

I tell our coaches, and I believe this for myself, if I’ve coached a team for three years, every single kid on that team could go and play on any team they wanted to play on. Give me three years to rotate that team and get into the third year of development.

SNN: Is that the magic amount of time a coach should have with a team?

Billy Garton: I think in one year you can’t do that because you might inherit a team with some weaker players who you know are never going to get there. In the second year you’ve had a chance to adjust and fine-tune it a little bit. And then in the third year you’ve had two years to be able to develop and work with the kids and start your own style on the team. Also, then you’ve had a period to be able to recruit and get players in that you think are capable.

I think any player on my U13 team could go on nearly any other team in Southern California and fit in well. Players who come to me and they’re not the very best but are willing to work, when they improve - that’s huge. That’s success, and that’s me doing my job.

Soccer is not just about recruiting. There are great recruiters in this business, and they recruit a great team, but show me that you can coach as well. Why not keep half the kids and say “I saw the talent in that kid or the potential and I’ve made him into a player.” That’s the thing that I love, when I see my weakest player become a starter in the team, or you see one of your guys who was a fringe player become the main player on the team.

That’s what soccer is about It’s about developing players to make a great team It’s about how much you can squeeze out of your weakest link and help him or her improve. And every team has a weak link.

Related Article: Great Coaches on Great Soccer: Billy Garton