Former Sutton United head coach puts Army FA coaches through their paces
Former Sutton United head coach Matt Gray has been putting Army Football Association coaches through their paces in the first-ever Army coach development conference.
The scheme is designed to develop coaches within the British Army in the hope that it will boost the game and its individuals at grass roots level across the Army.
Gray, who has a wealth of coaching experience including spells as assistant manager at Eastleigh, Aldershot Town and Crawley Town, said that the Army are a "great group to work with".
He said: "I'm so pleased to be invited, the links between the League Managers Association and the Army is extremely strong and they help each other out in both ways.
"I've attended a couple of Army events at Sandhurst but last season, I also came and coached in a coaching session as well for the under-23s, and I know some other managers and coaches who have been down to do some other sessions as well.
"They [the Army] are brilliant, they're a great group to work with. I've really enjoyed the hour-and-a-half session I've just done there.
"They are very receptive and taking the information on board on what I'm trying to do to help them with and all of the different teams that they coach."
Despite the event being Army-led, there is hope that future coach development conferences will see all three services reaping its benefits.
Army FA Football Development Officer Issey Lee-Fisher said: "So moving forward, especially over this next four-year strategy, we want to come together, start planning and delivering stuff all together as well.
"Whilst we have the Inter Services, it obviously gets very competitive, for things like coach education we can come together.
"So we've got a UEFA C course which will be delivered in April through to June and that's with the RAF as well, and we also want to invite the Navy to those kind of things.
"So moving forward, this conference could become a tri-services event."
Following the success of this initial coaches' conference, plans are already underway for events next season.
Join Our Newsletter
