In this 10'000 download celebratory episode (Part 1) I chat to former Premier League & Republic of Ireland International, Andy Reid, about his playing career, coaching, character and helping develop players and people. Loads of golden advice for coaches, parents and players!

Reidy has been a long time friend after we worked together at Charlton Athletic. The questions we had on paper are listed below but there were so many more thrown in along the way! We decided we needed to do a part 2 as we chatted so much and the signal started breaking up towards the end. Some of the children at Pezzaz Street Soccer sent in questions and there will be more in part 2. 

Part 1

1. (Start) I often talk about football being about special moments. I tell the children and parents not to focus on winning things and getting scouted but to enjoy the journey. Likewise at professional level, you don’t need to have won lots of things to have had a good career and even an enjoyable one. What special moments stick out for you...?

1. (27:25) When did you start playing football and when did you know you wanted to be a professional? (From Archie Harkin)

1. (29:00) I’d like to talk to you about street football. I read an Irish article about how important, and popular, street football was in Dublin with different streets playing against each other. Even Connor McGregor has talked about it in the past. Modern buzz terms like bio banding, self determination learning, constraints led coaching and ball contact time (to name but a few) were all found in those games naturally. Do you think the lack of those games now has had an impact, not just in Ireland, and how do you think we can recreate that environment?  

1. (51:05) How did you cope with setbacks before or during your career and what did you do to overcome them? (From Antony Batt)

1. (102:50) How important is character, not just in the dressing room, but in terms of an individual fulfilling their potential and, is there anything in particular you can do to encourage characters to blossom?

1. (105:49) How would Reidy the manager/coach like to have had Reidy the player in his team?

1. ( 1:15:45) You talk about outcomes a lot in your roles at Nottingham Forest and Ireland your outcome is to produce players for the first team, and if you can’t, then someone else’s first team, but is there a moral responsibility to prepare them for different lives?

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