Some people have called him an innovator others see him in a different light, for a man only in his thirties, Simon Clifford has made a big impact on British football. A policeman’s son from Middlesbrough and former teacher at a Primary Catholic School in Leeds, he made a life changing decision after returning to the U.K from Brazil in 1998, he decided to follow a passion of his; football.
The reason why he had travelled to Brazil was to make contacts and gain information into a game called futebol de salao, after a chance meeting with the father of Brazilian football player Juninho when he was playing for Middlesbrough. The game futebol de salao entails a size 2 ball with less bounce and played indoors, it has been played in Brazil for decades. This game helps children at a young age gain good ball control skills and agility because of the tight spaces and lack of bounce from the ball. After his return from Brazil and the steady growth of his Brazilian Soccer Schools he decided in 2003 to introduce a pre-school coaching programme called ‘Socatots’ these franchises have grown internationally in places such as Holland, South Africa, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the U.S. In the same year he decided to make the step into management and club ownership, he bought a club called Garforth Town who were then in the Northern Counties East Football League First Division, which at the time was ten divisions below the Premiership. After buying the club Simon Clifford’s first statement to the fans was that his desire was to have the team in the Premiership in twenty years. In the years since they have had two promotion seasons out of three and are now playing in the Unibond Northern League. He has tried to get the club into the media limelight in persuading football legends like Socrates, Careca and Lee Sharp to play for Garforth Town.
In December 2004 the then Director of Football of Southampton Sir Clive Woodward contacted Simon Clifford regarding his interest in becoming his assistant at the club. He was appointed that month but unfortunately that venture did not work for the best with a backlash from the management and coaching staff stating that he was a disruption to the harmony of the club, he left by mutual consent five months later. But within that time he did have a positive effect, he was able to work with a promising youngster with the name of Theo Walcott. Within that time Clifford had such a positive effect on Theo Walcott that his father, Don, stated that he had a tremendous impact on his son and that the day he left Southampton, Theo lost a mentor.
After his brief spell with Southampton Clifford went back to managing his team Garforth Town and working with young talented players from his Soccer academies, some graduates from his academy have made huge impacts already, as before mentioned Theo Walcott the youngest capped England international, another being Micah Richards the youngest England defender ever in November 2006. The list has started and with the growth of the his academies it would not be a surprise to see more England stars originating from Simon Clifford’s programmes. The man himself does have what some may call a ‘arrogant nature’ he once stated ’In the Future I will have half the England team’ which now is not as far fetched as some people may believe. His views on his contribution to English football is also interesting ‘In the last decade no one has done as much as me for grassroots game in this country’ he insists ‘People will be very surprised with what my organisation achieves’. He has stats that backs his statement, his empire is growing daily and with 850,000 children involved in his academies in the UK alone he is a pioneering the way in soccer development. Professional footballer Jay-Jay Okocha is full of praise for him ‘Normally what you see in other children is just the basics of the game. He is saying that nothing is impossible. If English players can learn the qualities Simon is teaching, then it will be good for the country’.
The key reasons behind the success of Simon Clifford is his personality and utter confidence in his soccer programme. There is no doubt that he has a great ability in teaching, he states ‘The ball is more difficult to manipulate so you have to be more precise, you only have two choices, the dribble, or the clever pass, because the aerial ball isn’t an option to get out of trouble. You can’t lift it off the floor. The small court adds to this because the gaps are so small’. Some academic analysis has been done on Clifford’s Method, a thesis was written regarding these coaching techniques and concluded that it would take eight FA sessions to get the benefits of one futebol de salao session. Also with this it still comes down to one main aspect and Clifford himself agrees ‘Facilities don’t make a good footballer. What does is putting in the hours and good coaching’. Even with the best coaching the lure of the Premiership for his graduates is a great pull and Clifford understands the implementations that comes with that and he is determined to have some type of control over his players careers. He has founded a sports agency along with a London based literary and actors agency PFD to look after the careers of his players. He says ‘If a club wants to buy a player I will say, ‘OK, but he is doing two hours a night training with me.’ If you don’t like it he is not coming to Man Utd.’’ This is the only way he states that this will stop his players falling into the trap of the lackadaisical culture prevalent at all the big British clubs.
The reason why he has such a drive and certain protection of his players may originate from his younger days when he was in his twenties he fell while playing football, causing a giant haematoma in his lower back, his was later hospitalised and need one of his kidney’s removed. Clifford now say that the whole experience that he went through helped him come to terms with death and has installed in him a drive and purpose to make the most out of the talent that he has. He does have an idol in which he tries to base his work ethic on, that man in question is a hero in English football he is Brian Clough.
Just like his idol Clifford likes to rattle a few cages when he talks football, when he talks about the state of English football it is in, now he states that the FA’s youth programme is doomed to failure because it values match results more than skills and fitness training. With the recent failure of qualification to the European championships by the national side, who is to say that he is wrong. With the mans self drive and need to teach the country and further a field he has decided to set up a magazine called ‘COIN’ it is a mimic of Jamie Redknapp’s recently published magazine called ‘ICON’, he is trying get the magazine distributed nationally joint with ’The Big Issue’, it will have interviews and articles from varied sources from around the football world.
Whatever may be said about the man, no one can say that he does not have a passion for the game and that he is one of those characters that people need and want deep down. Also who is not to say that one day Garforth Town will not be in the Premiership. With the state of English football and the promises the FA have been making about an upheaval through the whole structure from grassroots up, you can not look further than this man to have a hand in pushing English football to the next stage.