Dan Micciche has a reputation as an innovator and someone who encourages creativity in player development. Player Development Project, Editor Dave Wright was lucky enough to have 90 minutes with Dan to discuss his own story and pick his brains around session design, creativity, positive learning environments and more. In part one of this two-part feature interview we went on a journey inside the mind of one of The FA\u2019s most talented young coaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a number of years working his way through the academies of Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur, Dan became Assistant Academy Manager at MK Dons. Working under Mike Dove (Academy Director), Dan was responsible for working with a number of players who have gone on to professional careers, including Dele Alli \u2013 a young man taking the Premier League by storm with Tottenham in season 2015\/16 after learning his trade at MK Dons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The son of Italian immigrants but born in England with an older brother and sister, Micciche grew up on a healthy diet of Italian football. A Juventus fan after being converted to the Roberto Baggio style during the 1990 World Cup, he initially worshipped Maradona, watching Napoli, his family\u2019s hometown club: \u201cMy first real memory of football was the 1986 World Cup. I was a Napoli fan at the time; I followed Maradona and being in an Italian family meant we followed the Italian League (which at the time was a very strong one). There was no Sky TV in those days, so one of my cousins used to send me a 4-hour season review show each year on video.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Micciche speaks of his evolution into a Baggio fan saying, \u201cAfter this early period, I grew up watching AC Milan and Napoli. But in 1990 I really started to follow Roberto Baggio and as a result became a Juventus fan. My football culture came from watching European football. I used to visit Italy once or twice a year and watch the Milan Derby or the Rome Derby with my brother. These experiences shaped the lense through which I watch the game. The pace of the game then was slower but very technical and focused on controlling games with and without the ball. Watching on TV, the post-match show used to engage me as much as the game itself, it would go on until 1am in the morning and I loved watching and listening to the analysis of the matches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Family was a huge influence on Micciche\u2019s development, both as a young football player and then as a coach. He was taught from a young age to \u201cwork hard to get educated\u201d. He continues, \u201cMy Dad has 8 brothers and sisters, and my Mum has a huge family too. As a result, there are a lot of cousins and we\u2019re very close. What I really remember growing up is playing with my brother\u2019s mates, a lot of players who were bigger or older than me.\u201d He speaks with energy about his childhood but is self-effacing about his own talents as a student. \u201cI wasn\u2019t great at school if I\u2019m honest,\u201d he says. \u201cMy parents didn\u2019t speak much English growing up, we spoke Italian at home and they taught me about work ethic and making sacrifices to achieve in life. I had a private tutor two days a week to help with Maths and English.\u201d And in terms of his time as a player, Dan explains, \u201cI played a bit of football for the school team but could never play for the county as I went to Italian school twice a week while the games were on. I played a bit of Sunday League and non-league football but didn\u2019t enjoy the physicality of the matches to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outside of school and playing football with family and friends, Micciche\u2019s youth was scattered with trips to Italy to see family and take in football. This is where he learned a lot of his strong people skills. \u201cOur family holidays were about getting back to Italy to see family which took me out of my comfort zone as this really tested my Italian as none of them spoke any English and I faced a lot of socializing with people older than me, particularly at meal times. One of the things with a lot of Italian families is that whatever age you are, you sit at the table with adults and you don\u2019t get intimidated by those kind of \u2018heated\u2019 conversations,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Micciche achieved highly in his education, securing a Masters in International Management and an MBA in Football from Loughborough and Liverpool Universities respectively. This led him to feeling like he would \u201cgo down the business route\u201d after doing a sports science degree, also utilizing his new-found Spanish language skills. However, things changed as time went and he began feeling like perhaps there were \u201ca number of people in the room who were more employable than me commercially\u201d and that \u201cmodules like marketing, law and accounting perhaps weren\u2019t for me\u201d. As it turned out, many people in his Loughborough network headed towards the practical side of the game, with many of them currently at big clubs including Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan explains how his route took him to the Crystal Palace Academy: \u201cI had friends working in academies at that time and went in and had a look and just immediately thought, \u2018I\u2018d quite like to do this, it could be suited to me!\u2019 Paul Holder was at Crystal Palace at the time and a friend of mine knew him so he introduced me. I had my UEFA B license by then but not a lot of experience. When I went and saw Paul he gave me an opportunity which I will forever be grateful for. If I look back now I realise how little I knew, particularly about child development and the coaching process. On the upside I had no bad habits. I learnt on the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This observation opened my eyes to working on a \u2018can do\u2019 rather than a \u2018can\u2019t do\u2019 basis and raising the bar high and being patient in terms of players succeeding.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
A Defining Methodology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Dan had his own views on how the game should be played but says he didn\u2019t go in with a view as to what coaching should look like. \u201cI just had my \u2018open\u2019 personality,\u201d he explains. \u201cIn terms of methodology I didn\u2019t have a lot of idea. Paul Holder, a disciple of John Cartwright\u2019s \u2018out of the box\u2019 thinking, opened my eyes to being imaginative with practice design and stretching the players. I remember working with the U10s and I asked if he could coach them so I could watch him work. He agreed and put them into a really tight space playing a 7 v 7 and worked on \u2018passing into feet or space\u2019. I said to him \u2018these kids might struggle with this, they are only 9-years-old!\u2019 However, he persisted. He spent the first five minutes just saying \u2018unlucky\u2019 and \u2018nice try\u2019, and waited for a player to do something well and said \u2018show us all what you did there\u2019. This demonstrated to me the power of coaching the positive and, of course, peers learning off each other.\u201d He continues, \u201cWithin five minutes, the practice was too easy for them and he had to make it harder by making the boxes they were passing into even smaller. This observation opened my eyes to working on a \u2018can do\u2019 rather than a \u2018can\u2019t do\u2019 basis and raising the bar high and being patient in terms of players succeeding. It\u2019s good for players to earn success rather than giving it to them. In Paul\u2019s eyes it they didn\u2019t have to \u2018get it\u2019 today and it wasn\u2019t about the session looking ‘good’ and ‘clean\u2019. It was about supporting them on the way within an enjoyable and challenging learning environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n