Reflections 2024/25
Progression, Comfortability and (Dare I Say) Regression.
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The Recap
2024/25 - a season that turned out to be far more than just a campaign on the pitch.
It became a season of immense personal growth. Not just in my identity as a coach, but more profoundly, as a human being who coaches other human beings — trying to guide, support, and challenge young players in their pursuit of becoming better footballers and better people while staying true to myself.
This was my second season — and first full one — at Welling United. With that came more responsibility, more expectation, and inevitably, more self-reflection. Like most things in football, this season began with a lot of hope and expectation: fresh energy, new goals, and a quiet belief that we could build something meaningful.
Staying for another season at Welling United hadn’t been part of my original roadmap - if such a thing even exists in football. I had envisioned a new opportunity, ideally in a higher academy.
This is my reflection on that journey: the highs, the lows, the hard truths, and the important lessons that all this leaves behind.
I did a similar reflection at the end of the previous season (2023/24) that you can read below.
My reflections and lessons for the 2024/25 season will be divided into 2 parts: On the Pitch and Off the Pitch. Starting with the key lessons on the pitch from this season that I will be implementing for the start of the upcoming season.
I wanted to truly reflect and understand what was done and why, what worked and what didn’t, and finally - what will this look like for the 2025/25 season.
ON THE PITCH
This season was full-on.
From the moment pre-season started, it was clear this wasn’t going to be straightforward. I had ideas. Ambitions. A vision for how we could play, train, grow. And to be fair, there were moments where all of that came to life - but also plenty where I felt like I was holding things together with tape.
Pre Season: Planning vs Reality
I put a lot into pre season planning. It felt like a fresh start: my first full season, a good understanding of the squads, and a real chance to mould the players and team around who we wanted to be. I came into it with intent: football conditioning planned, six week periodisation block to develop our playing style, and a clear identity around the players we had.
But it wasn’t long before the external challenges came around. Training venues changed more times than I could count. One week we had space, the next week we didn’t. It made consistency impossible. And the bit that really suffered? The football conditioning and playing style development.
There was one squad that didn’t suffer from this as they are based at one of our satellite sites and have access to a full 3G for every session. Although we didn’t have access to it from the first day of pre season, once we did we were able to really work.
I wanted to build a base through the ball using positional games and a mix of large, medium and small sized conditioning games to develop the physical and tactical. But that kind of work needs time and space, and we didn’t always have either. So that part never quite reached the level I had in mind.
Still, we did make progress and my teams slowly but surely demonstrated an identifiable playing style. The players had a better sense of what we were trying to build. I was able to identify that both squads I would be coaching would have the ability to dominate the game through the ball. But if I’m honest, we didn’t go deep enough on who we were trying to be - as a team and as a group of people. We didn’t have a proper meeting around identity or values. And looking back, that was a big miss and something that is a core part of my current planning.
Lessons for next season?
First two weeks we build the culture - on and off the pitch. Time to understand the group, get their input, and set shared standards.
Extreme clarity and intention around the planning and periodisation for the pre season. Push the club to make sure we get access to all we need to be successful.
Mid-Season Change: Taking Over a New Team
Around three months in, I took over another group in the club. A completely different team, new dynamics, new challenges. The biggest thing they seemed to need was clarity around what sort of team we wanted to be and a challenging but loving coach.
We started well. The players responded quickly, I slowly introduced different ideas in training and I gave everyone a clean slate - really trying to understand each one of them. Performances and results were good and behind closed doors we started speaking about the possibility of challenging for the title. But that initial bounce didn’t last. Performances dropped. Consistency faded. This coincided with the winter period here in England - once again the lack of facilities harmed us. We were constantly training in five aside cages, getting injuries and the reality of our collective limitations started to show themselves.
So what did I realise?
I hadn’t spent enough time learning about the group - who they were, what made them tick, what habits were already there. I assumed clarity in structure would be enough, but the cultural side hadn’t been touched. It’s hard to build anything sustainable without that layer in place. Motivation and standards quickly regressed back to the norm and we became complacent and inconsistent.
Upon reflection, my reaction to this was frustration. I wasn’t behaving the same way as when I first came in. My behaviours and interactions with the players had changed. I recently reflected deeply on this - and watching back footage saw some of my behaviours from earlier games.
A simple example from my first game was shaking hands with and hugging all players as they went in at half time. We were 2-0 up and playing well - with extreme confidence. I had only been in charge for two weeks. I had this soft skills and behaviours the first few weeks but when things started to get difficult? I changed. I wasn’t as caring. This is something I won’t allow to happen again. The players need challenge and care at all times. Not only when things (the result) are going well.
If I had my time again, I’d do two things differently:
Spend the first two weeks just observing: Watch the group. Understand the dynamic. Identify the unspoken standards.
Run a full identity session with them: Not me telling them what we’re going to be, but building it together. What does a “good team” look like to them? What do they want this to feel like?
If you’re a coach reading this and any of it resonates - the challenges, the growth, the constant reflection - you’re not alone.
My passion is helping develop better coaches, because that’s how we develop better players. That’s why I started my Coach Mentoring Program - to support coaches who want to grow, reflect, and build their own identity.
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Clarity on Playing Identity
This season really helped me understand what I believe in from a football point of view. I’ve always had ideas - a general preference for how I want the teams I coach to play. How do we want to attack? How do we want to defend? But this year, it all started to come together with more clarity and intention.
It became less about buzzwords and more about actual behaviour:
What are the (collective) tactical principles in defence and attack?
What are the individual intentions that allow us to be successful?
How do we adapt and prepare to and for different problems?
I started writing it all down. Properly. Not just vague principles, but specific ideas, priorities, and language that matched what I was coaching.
And more importantly - I realised it won’t be a finished document. It has to evolve. Context changes. Players change. So it’ll be something I keep reviewing. A working “Playing Identity Manual” that supports the planning process but never handcuffs it.
This off season I am working hard on the Playing Identity. Not just for next season. But forever. An evolving and live document that becomes more and more intentional and detailed over time.
If you’re a coach reading this, write your identity down. Doesn’t matter if it’s messy or unfinished. Get it on paper. You’ll be surprised what it teaches you about your own coaching.
Final Thoughts (On the Pitch)
If I had to sum up this season on the pitch in one word, it would be: revealing.
It revealed a lot about the players, yes - their resilience, their habits, their thresholds under pressure. But more than anything, it revealed a lot about me.
It showed me how much I have progressed but also how much more clarity I still need. In all areas. Understand what my Vision is and what that looks like in action. It reminded me that having strong ideas is important, but only if those ideas are rooted in reality - in the players in front of you, the sessions you’re actually able to deliver, and the constraints of the environment you're working in.
There were games where everything clicked: players flowing in and out of positions, pressing together with purpose, dominating space. And then there were days where the whole plan went out the window. But both versions taught me something. Both forced me to go back to the drawing board, reflect deeper, and keep evolving.
Most importantly, I’ve come out of this season with a much more refined sense of what my football looks like - not just when things are going well, but when we’re under stress, short on players, or forced to problem solve.
That’s real coaching.
It’s not designing the perfect exercise on a whiteboard or reciting a philosophy that sounds great on paper. It’s building trust when things aren’t working. It’s adjusting your plan when the pitch isn’t available. It’s staying true to yourself and who you are when things aren’t going well.
I’m not the finished article - far from it. But it’s a much clearer picture of the coach I’m becoming.
And as always, I’m just getting started.
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Much love,
J.A.