Former Manchester United defender Phil Jones is “itching to get involved somewhere” with management firmly in his sights, and already knows how he’d want his teams to play.
Speaking to the BBC, Jones outlined his ambitions for the future, which he is determined to spend in a dugout.
“I learned so much from all the different managers I played for and the team-mates I played with, in lots of different competitions at club and international level. I have built up and stored all of that information, and feel I could use it to really help players and get them to the next level.”
“I’d like to think I’ve taken a bit from each manager and created my own coaching identity. I dislike the word ‘philosophy’ but I know the way I’d want my teams to play.”
Jones also explained that he is finally able to reflect on his career with pride after overcoming some major personal battles: “When you are playing you never really look back and reminisce about the good days, like the trophies you have won or big games you have played in, because it is always about the next game, and the next one after that, and so on.”
He called time on a career cruelly derailed by injury in August aged just 32, and has opened up on how he had to go back to square one to move forwards: “I had to re-evaluate everything and unpick myself personally and professionally, with therapists and psychologists, to find myself.”
Now, Jones’s attention is fully fixed on coaching and management. He kicked off his coaching journey last season, working with United’s Under-18s while completing his UEFA A Licence, and confirmed that he is moving towards the final stages of securing a Pro Licence.
“I am looking forward to it because I am ambitious, I want to challenge myself and I love to put myself under pressure,” he said. “I am itching to get involved somewhere in some capacity and hopefully, in a few years’ time, I will be in a position where I can put all of this to the test.”
It’s an extraordinarily positive approach from a man who admitted that, due to the injuries which plagued his playing career, at times he “didn’t even want to speak to [his] team-mates” and was “embarrassed” going into the club every day for medical treatment.
“Unfortunately there were times when I was at United when I did not look for help. My coping mechanism when I had any problems was to stay silent, and that was probably my downfall,” he explained.
“I didn’t open up to anyone, and I would hide my injuries from other players and the staff. I put a shield up so no-one knew what was going on, apart from my close family.”
He revisited one of his “lowest moments”, when he was trying to push through the pain of his ongoing knee injury with injections before playing. Named on the bench at Brighton and Hove Albion, Jones noticed that one of the starting centre-backs was struggling in the warm up and got the injection before kick off.
“It was embarrassing for me because I didn’t want anyone to see that I was struggling, or in pain – I was meant to be a tough guy as a defender, remember.”
Having spent more time than most on the rough side of professional football, Jones is clear that compassion would be an essential part of any managerial role he may hold, with an emphasis on making sure players felt comfortable talking to him about mental struggles or low confidence.
“Any manager going into a job has to be bang-on tactically, but in the initial phase, when they have just taken charge, I feel it is just as important to command respect and, to get that, the players have to feel they can trust you.”
“If the players feel that, and think they have that love and support, they are going to speak to you honestly. Some managers I played under did that well, and others not so well, but that’s what I’d be looking to establish if I am ever working with people on a day to day basis.”
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