In this episode of the Global Soccer Education podcast I speak with Mike Gilham, a grassroots coach who progressed to working full time in soccer development.

Mike has gained extensive grassroots youth coaching experience with Portsmouth FC.  He has also coached in elite youth environments with AFC Bournemouth and Fulham FC.

To help his objective of completing his formal soccer qualifications, Mike took a coaching position with the non-league club, Carshalton Athletic FC.

He eventually took a role with the national FA where he was tasked with modernising the grassroots game. This lead him to work in a development role with a regional county football association.

As part of his long term ambition in the industry, he enrolled on the prestigious Sporting Directorship program at Manchester Met University.

You’ll learn these 3 things in this episode:

1. What are the challenges of managing a coaching department.
2. How coaching roles can lead you to full time jobs in soccer development.
3. Where you can find learning opportunities away from formal coaching qualifications.

Enjoy the show!

If you enjoy listening to the podcast, I would really appreciate it if you left a review on your favourite podcast platform to help more people find out about the show.