Terry Phelan Exclusive: Insights on Coaching and Development at SUFC - The Grassroots Guideline to Revolutionize Indian Football

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The essence of Indian football's growth lies in the strategic development of grassroots initiatives, the improvement of coaching quality, and the establishment of a sustainable ecosystem.

South United Football Club (SUFC) embodies this approach, focusing on enhancing the performance of both players and coaches. The club prioritizes community building and caters to its surrounding area with a keen focus on self-sustainability and grassroots development.

In an Exclusive interview with MyKhel, SUFC's technical director Terry Phelan opened up on a plethora of football insights. The former Manchester City and Chelsea player spoke on his role, the Indian football as a whole and the path forward. Here is an extract of the interview-

His Role at South United Football Club

"I think with my role at South United Football Club, it started way back in 2019. And we had this great vision of taking a club from a little space to a big space in Bangalore. And that was really they acquired the club in the mid to late 2014-15. And then they had this vision of what can we do? We just don't want a field. We want something different. We want to build a hub. We want to build a community. We want to build a football club.

We cater to the community in and around it. And I think that's what makes us different is the self-sustainability. Then if we look at what we're doing at the bottom of the pyramid, we're the grassroots. My role in 2019 was to enhance the ability of not just the performance of the whole club as a whole, but the performance of the coaches, coach education, player education.

So it's about me going from maybe city to city, obviously with the coach education, player education, overlooking to see how the heads of departments are going, like the head of youth development and the head of the academies are going, what kind of help I can really engage with.

It's not just one set role. We play an awful lot of roles from engaging with the parents, And I think that's paramount to what my role is not just to oversee coaching. It's a role of participating in every little vertical I possibly can."

South United's Vision in Indian Football Ecosystem

I think if you look at South United football club as a whole and the academy we have a football pathway it's based on a long-term vision from the owner and from the CEO with clear actions, both short and long-term. The strategy, that we've been put together is a deep analysis of benchmarking, comprehensive research and a detailed consultation process within our club. And that's what we've done to actually build it.

The 3P Strategy of South United FC

Phelan also spoke about the strategic approach at the club, which has a distinct vision to promote grassroots football in Bengaluru.

"We have three core areas of our strategy, which we focus on participation, pathway and performance. That's the right way through the club. That's what we focus on at South United Football Club. Obviously, our goal is to increase the number of participations with quality, not just about quantity, but with quality engage with them. And it's an experience for all, from the tots to the first team. And that's what we're trying to do and build stronger, clearer ideas and in a rewarding pathway for the students who come into South United Football Club."

The recent conduction of a free training camp in Pune, conducted by Terry Phelan on behalf of South United, was another vivid example of their holistic approach.

The Indian Football Culture

When asked about the Indian football culture and the fabric of the sports in the country, Phelan acknowledges the talent pool, but also admits that the pathway to nourish those budding talents is impoverished.

"Listen, India is rich in the culture of football. Let's not forget this. When you look at the places like Northeast, which is really becoming a football hub, your Calcutta areas when the Calcutta teams play you've got 100-odd thousand there so let's not say we're struggling in India, you go up look at the Goans football with the Portuguese influence, then you look at hotbeds like Kerala and that South Brazilian and that South American football. We have got talented players in India, but when we start comparing them to Europe, let's not start doing that. Let's start comparing that to our counterparts in Asia."

It's outreaching it and that's what we need to do. We need to grow. We need to stop thinking about what's different from India and Europe. There's a lot of differences coach education, player education, infrastructure. Us at South United now, we're self-sustainable, we've built an infrastructure and now we're carrying it on we want to go bigger and better. We're adding more spaces to what we've already got."

The Importance of Coaches' Education

The All-Indian Football Federation (AIFF) has been proactive in encouraging young coaches to enhance their skills through coaching badges. This effort is pivotal for enriching the talent pool and fostering better players. SUFC, in its aim for holistic football development, not only nurtures players but also creates conducive environments for coaches, thereby generating employment opportunities and contributing to the sport's ecosystem.

"I think it's paramount. I think better coaches, better infrastructure combine with better players and depending what level you're working at. But the All-Indian Football Federation are doing a wonderful job now. A lot of more younger coaches are coming in that 19, 20-year-old up to the 32-year-old. We're seeing a lot of participation of coaches now taking the coaching badges. We at South United Football Club encourage our coaches all the time to study in their spare time, to take coaching badges when they can," Phelan says on te positive upsurge in India's coaching dynamic.

The I-League and Importance of Relegation

The Indian Super League has made a certain change in Indian football, but the 2nd tier I-League also needs a proper revival. Phelan says the financial structure of the lower tiers needs help and only then the whole ecosystem can thrive. He also says the relegation and promotion will be a key step.

"We had wonderful players and wonderful football clubs in the I-League. And it was very competitive and we had foreigners coming in. Obviously, I know around the corner there's going to be promotion and relegation. I think that's a great step. I think that's a great step because it keeps players honest and it gives the players now at the lower levels a chance to have their dream to go and play against the top level.

We have to feed the players with the coach's education. We have to look after them more, maybe with a little bit of sports science and injury prevention. I've played in the Championship with Fulham. We ended up winning it. It's one of the hardest leagues in the world. You look at the Championship and look what teams are down there.

You look at the I-League here, look at the teams that are in the I-League from yesterday. Dempo, Churchill brothers. These teams are good enough with their infrastructure to be in the ISL. But then it boils down to how deep the pockets are."

The Future of Indian Football - Baby Steps but Growing

Speaking about the Indian football team, Terry Phelan believes that the Blue Tigers have been growing slowly. But its a steady growth. He believes there will be time required to uplift the Indian team to the next level, but it is a process which will be fruitful in the coming future.

"I think it's slow steps. I think we have grown. I won't say it's all sort of like doom and gloom. We have grown. It's small steps and it's a hard job. It's a very, very hard job for any coach and every manager and I think any staff. We have to get behind them. We have to stick with them and everybody's got their opinions of where it should be and what should be and what we should be doing it."