Life On The Road

So, my travels have brought me up to Boston where I’m helping a friend of mine, Tosh Farrell, run his soccer camp.

I’ve been to the area before and have some good friends up here, so it will be nice to meet up with some old faces and chat about times gone by. It’s some years since I’ve been in this part of the world – I’m just north of Boston, not exactly in Boston, on the coastline. It’s beautiful and I can understand why people love it so much up here – I think in recent months and years I’ve grown to appreciate everything like that a lot more.

There is some amazing scenery up here, and everything is so clear… I think if you look hard enough, you can see Ireland! It’s a different way of life and it is so nice – I had a long spell in Cleveland but that is a lot different. Equally nice, but very different.

Life as a player and life as a coach can be very different and not just where the obvious things lie, like on the pitch. In America especially, as a player, you’re always travelling and when you’re a lot younger all these big cities can blend into one. When you’re coaching, you can remain in one environment for a few weeks or months and it gives you the opportunity to explore the area. I honestly think it’s amazing, not just in the scenery but the area itself. The coastlines, the way of life, even the weather – you can be in an area prone to earthquakes one day and one prone to hurricanes the next. It’s incredible and puts everything into perspective.

To think, I’ve managed to do all this through football, the game has given me so much and I feel so blessed and thankful. As you might know, I’ve recently commenced work on my autobiography and my author was with me in the States in the summer. The look on his face as we travelled across the country and the things we saw gave me so much joy and a new found appreciation for what I see everyday but sometimes take for granted. Maybe take for granted is the wrong phrase, but you sometimes get used to it.

I do have to work for a living and coaching in Boston is much different to how it was in Cleveland. On the subject of weather again, Boston has a more British climate than you find elsewhere but the snow can hit hard! With the cold weather in mind as we approach the fall, the coaching is done in indoor facilities. I’m looking forward to the fall to see the wonderful colours, I wonder how it compares with Cleveland. I will make the most of these weeks up in Boston and do what I can to help the development of another cracking set of kids.

I receive a lot of questions asking me about my long term plans and it’s no secret that some kind of position where I can put a four or five year plan into place would be ideal. From what I’ve learned up here, Tosh is absolutely superb – he has a fantastic background in England and runs things the way that I would, with methods I endorse and believe in. That’s not always popular in North America but it is absolutely necessary for the evolution of the game and I think people are finally beginning to see that.

If you want to learn more about Tosh’s Soccer clinics, and if you’re in the Boston area, check out the website that has all the information on.