As a kid growing up in Glasgow nothing made me happier than running around playing football with friends; be that during school, with football teams or having a good ol' kick about with friends. Now, just because I loved the game didn't mean I was ever any good at it. I'm not one of those guys that gives it the 'big un' saying they could've made it professionally if it wasn't for this, that and the other. No, I was never anything better than an average player in my age group. My best attribute was my lightening quick speed and incessant thirst for a slide tackle, combine both those attributes though and the end result is a hospital visit for someone! As I've said though, I loved the game so it was never about ability more about taking part. Once I had reached the age of around fifteen and in the midst of high school the taking part started to fade away much to my disappointment. I had reached the age where other lads my age wanted to start going out drinking at the weekend and couldn't be bothered with football whereas I had no interest in those activities at the time. So as a result I only ever got a kick about with my younger cousins up until it started to be frowned upon joining in on their games at twenty years old! So I then found myself in a bit of a dilemma... Am I happy not being in and around football games, only being a spectator from that moment on? Well the answer to that question was a definite no. With that question answered the only thing I could think of was to start coaching football instead. I knew I was never going to get a professional job coaching but I wanted to be involved in the game somehow.
Luckily for me my friends dad helps to run my local community centre and through that connection I was able to get myself a voluntary job coaching under 12's which was initially just a kick around for the lads when I joined. After a couple of months in the job and after constant badgering from the boys convincing me to get them a proper team started up I finally relented. However, before I could do this I had to get myself some badges to really get myself on the coaching ladder. With some funding from the community centre I was able to make the initial steps required to coach the age group I was intending to work with. In the time that it had taken me to get those first coaching badges the start of a new season was around the corner and we were able to get our new team registered for our debut campaign. With a bunch of lads not very well accustomed to discipline and structure much less tactical familiarity I knew I had a major battle on my hands that's for sure. However, as it was for me growing up, football was an escape from lives pressures and worries for them and that began to show on the pitch as my initial worries started to fade.
As the weeks and months passed in my first ever experience as a football manager it has to be said that I am shattered almost every night as I try to plan and perfect every minuscule detail involved with the job. From getting a regular pitch sorted three times a week for training and games to arranging pick ups for lads whose parents don't drive. Then there is the planning ahead for the opponent's which involves a little scouting which of course I have to do myself. Add to that the pushy parents on the sidelines giving any and everyone abuse whilst dishing out their world class knowledge of the game. As well as working full time and fitting football in with that and arranging cover on shifts at times it is fair to say that management is full on! Even at this level. However, I am absolutely buzzing off of life because I've never been happier doing something in my short lifetime to date. I love being involved in football and more importantly I am loving the coaching aspect too.
With the feel good factor spreading throughout our small team we had begun to create a great bond and our training sessions were attended in full every week with each of the lads turning up with a smile on their faces. That positivity spread through to our games at the weekends and soon we were flying. We weren't playing like a newly formed team we were playing like a team that had went through the wars together; flying into tackles, backing each other up and most importantly scoring a whole lot of goals while playing some pretty nifty football in the process. Game after game we progressed as a team and achieved a whole lot too. We were sitting pretty at the top with a comfortable gap between us and our rivals and had won two cups halfway through the season. I thought things couldn't get much better from that point on... It did.. We only went and won every single one of our remaining seventeen games of the season. We added a further two trophies to our emm.. Well not cabinet since we have to return them but let's just say our growing collection. What a debut season we had and with the season now at an end I have no idea what I am going to do for six weeks!
Fast forward several years and the progress of our club has been outstanding as we've gained promotion up a couple of divisions and we also had a couple of back to back title winning seasons too. An integral part of our success has been the backbone of our squad; Robby McRorie in goal, his twin brother Ross in the centre of defence, Calvin Miller on the right wing and Jai Quitongo upfront. All of whom have been with us from the start and all have the potential to do whatever they want to professionally in my opinion. With the lads tearing it up in our team for the past five years the big boys are starting to sniff around and it looks like all four of those lads will be moving on. Alongside them another couple of the boys have dropped out due to a lack of interest in the game whilst another couple have left for teams around about us in the league.
The McRorie lads have been scouted by Rangers, Miller is likely to go to Celtic while Quitongo is heading for Greenock Morton. All of the moves are quite the step up and thoroughly deserved moves too. I really do wish the boys all the best of luck. What started as a casual hobby to get me involved in the game once again has led to a **** of an enjoyable five years of coaching football. With the squad breaking up so suddenly though we don't have the resources to go and find more players nor do we have the finances from the local council to keep the team going. An end of a pretty successful era in which we may see players who've come through our club make it professionally. Unfortunately this also spells the end of my football coaching unless I can manage to gain a position in which I will be paid for. At the age of twenty five I now need to focus on my own future and I can't commit to another voluntary role due to an increased workload over the past couple of months. I guess the timing of it all has been pretty good for all parties. Now to a football less future it would seem, yet it has become a lifestyle for me so who knows how I will cope.
With a constant nagging in my brain that I wasn't done with football I decided that I had to keep at it and suffer the consequences that come as a result. I decided to chance my arm applying for some positions around the lower leagues of Scotland and England but was given the same answer each time; too inexperienced, too young and unqualified. So yeah, nothing I could do about age or inexperience without someone giving me it however it was a bit of an oversight from me that I hadn't yet completed the necessary badges. I guess I thought coaching the youngsters and getting badges on that end meant that I was qualified, not quite. So I set to work on getting all three of my national licenses before soon running out of money and realising I had to get saving once again. I asked my manager in the factory I work in to give me any and all overtime available and I took on another job doing fast food deliveries... I will get money and I will do this, I enjoy it too much not to. All the time, effort and money put into this part of my life meant that another part was starting to suffer from it badly; my love life. As it turns out, girlfriends don't really like being a constant after thought to football and being turned down on every date suggestion because you are studying football 24/7. She felt that strongly against it all that she was compelled to issue an ultimatum; football or me. So we decided a mutual termination was the best outcome for all parties.
With no girlfriend, no kids or pets or any other such inconvenience/responsibility I was able to focus on my 'career' and sail through my coaching courses. By the time I had passed all three national badges I had saved up enough to start going through my continental ones. As luck would have it, the big break I needed would coincide with my training on the continental courses. It's funny that no matter what walk of life you are in there is always one saying that is so true in many ways; "it's not always what you know it's who you know." Now I feel like a know a fair bit but the who you know was about to come in pretty handy.
Whilst on a coaching course to gain my continental B licence I felt like I was in the middle of a meet and greet with football players as I was pretty much surrounded by ex pros. People like Barry Ferguson, Kevin Thomson, Gordon Strachan, Paul Hartley, Robbie Neilson Ian Murray and Malky Mackay. Some of them learning like me and some of them leading the coaching sessions. There were more than I could mention but I guess that's what is to be expected when you come on a coaching course at this level. It was only after finishing my first day of lessons that it sunk in to me... I'm learning to coach alongside ex players, not only that, players of a real high calibre and profile too. What the **** am I doing here? How can I compete with these guys for jobs?? Instead of dwelling on that too much though I decided I would use this opportunity to enhance my ability by learning from the best and being surrounded by them too. As it turned out, not all of the former players were totally clued up on the coaching aspect of the game despite their previous experience as a player. That got me thinking... If I can show myself in a positive light here and arrive as a nobody yet be more knowledgeable than my more illustrious peers surely I could put myself in a shop window. As the weeks went on I found myself in a group with Ferguson and Thomson and had to pinch myself considering that both of those players were real favourites of mine not more than a couple of years ago. Despite being a little star struck I was able to engage in conversation with them without them being too weirded out by the nobody latching onto them. In actual fact, I feel like we managed to build up something of a friendship although that could just be one of those things you go along with in the moment because the person is in your company for long periods.
I am tempted to say the "most important thing of all was successfully gaining my badges" and although that is true; I am happy to have also found a couple of contacts in and around the professional game that could come in handy one day. Like myself, Kevin Thomson and Barry Ferguson sailed through the course and we were soon parting ways. To my surprise though, the lads invited me out for a drink after our last session and so we decided to head back to the hotel for a right good knees up. It turns out that both of them had also been applying for jobs without much success. Ferguson of course got the Clyde job but, as he said himself, it wasn't the right job for him to progress his career. Kevin has only just finished playing but seemed keen to get right back in about the game straight away. We sort of made a vow that if either of us got a job we'd sound the other out about linking up if possible. To be honest I got the impression that it was just the drink talking in a lot of conversations we had but I'm appreciative of the experience and the knowledge gained from the group.
Over the next year I got through my continental A licence meeting some other ex pros along the way but none I knew too much about or got along too well with. So, seven years down the line I am one step away from gaining my continental pro licence which I believe is the highest you can get. I started on this journey way back then expecting to just plod along and do some voluntary work but my appetite for the game has gone from strength to strength and I believe I can do anything I set my mind to now. It turns out that I'm pretty good at coaching too which obviously helps. Now all I need is someone willing to take a punt on me while I set about getting my pro licence and a paying job in the sport.
Going about my everyday life as usual, I was in work and just sat down to eat breakfast when I noticed that I had a voicemail message that had been sent while I was working. Expecting it to be the usual nonsense, someone pocket dialling you or some spam message I decided to ignore it. I was about to enjoy breakfast after a hard first part of my shift I couldn't be bothered looking at my phone. These long hours and two jobs are really starting to take their toll on me I guess. I'm in the process of completing my pro licence and I've already paid it all off so hopefully soon I will be able to take a step back from at least one of my jobs. Then I can spend a bit of time researching how to blag your way into the game!! Or 'job search' to give it it's correct term. Well it was back to work before I could ponder on any more thoughts. Upon finishing my shift and driving home curiosity got the better of me though and I decided to check the voicemail.
"Hi I'm trying to get in contact with Christopher Burns', this is Claire Reid I am calling from the Scottish Football Association on behalf of Malky Mackay. If you could give me a call back on this number 07896*****3 that would be great."
Hmm that was a strange voicemail, I can't quite make sense of that one. I wonder if it's something to do with the course, have I done something wrong, is it getting cancelled, why Malky Mackay??? A million questions going through my head and I'd left it too late in the day to actually call back so now I have to wait until tomorrow! With that in mind an alarm was set for 9am tomorrow, I need to find out what this is about ASAP.
'Hi could I speak to Claire please, it's Christopher Burns' 'Hi Mr Burns it is Claire speaking, it's nice to hear from you, I was calling yesterday on behalf of Malky Mackay as you know from my voicemail, I believe he would like a word with you and I will put you through to him now if that's ok?' Before I could answer I was put on hold and through to Malky Mackay. 'Christopher, thank you for calling back. I won't make this a longer conversation than it has to be, quite frankly I have been impressed with your work the past couple of years and have been following your progress on our training courses. I understand you would like to get into the professional game as soon as possible is that correct?' "Uh yeah." I stumbled. 'Well I believe we have a vacancy right up your street Chris, would you be able to come in for an interview today?' "of course Mr Mackay, umm what vacancy are we talking about?" I enquired. 'Great. It is the Scot *inaudable* Claire send you the details and I'll see you soon then Chris! Bye now.'
****, the line started to break up at the end of our conversation there.. The Scotland national team could he have been saying maybe? No chance, as if I'd be considered for that!!! Well I've got the text from Claire confirming when and where I've to go anyway. Oh man, I'm going into this blind, I've no idea what job they are talking about.. Well here goes nothing.
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