Kingsley O'BRIEN

[Kingsley O'BRIEN @BrienKingsley]

@JoshRobinson23

“Hi Joshua, I’ve read your books multiple times. I genuinely believe you understand football deeper than most people. I have one specific question that really matters to me. Would you be willing to give me a few minutes of your time?”

[Kingsley O'BRIEN @BrienKingsley]

@JoshRobinson23 Hey I’ve read both of your books, The Club and Messi vs Ronaldo. I noticed that the prologue and epilogue in Messi vs Ronaldo were stylistically much stronger than the main body. Did you split the writing differently? Who mainly wrote which parts?

[The Sporting Resource @TheS_Resource]

Dennis Bergkamp, one of the most technically gifted players the game has ever produced, and someone who spent years developing young players at Ajax said "The only team that needs to win trophies is the first team. The youth teams don’t need to win, they just need to make their players better."

Read all five points, then ask yourself where does the balance actually sit in your coaching right now? 👇

1️⃣ Bergkamp isn't anti-winning, nobody who played at the level he did and worked within the Ajax system could be. What he's doing is being precise about purpose, the first team's job is to win. That's clear, and nobody disputes it and the youth team's job is to produce players capable of doing that, winning technically, tactically, physically, and mentally, ready for the demands of the level above them.

When those two purposes stay in their right place, everything works. The problems start when the result on a youth team's matchday becomes the only measure of whether the coaching is good, the player's success or level of potential.

2️⃣ It's also worth understanding that this doesn't mean youth football should be consequence-free. Competition matters, learning to win and lose with the right attitude also matters. The pressure of a tight game, the experience of coming from behind, the discipline of performing when it's difficult, these are all part of what development looks like.

Bergkamp isn't saying to remove the competition. He's saying don't let the trophy become the point, there's a significant difference between using competitive situations to develop players and restructuring everything around winning them.

3️⃣ The balance also shifts as players get older, at the foundational phase, development has to be the overwhelming priority. The research, the governing body guidelines, and the experience of coaches at every level all point in the same direction. Children at this age need fun, participation, technical development, and the freedom to make mistakes.

By the time players reach the youth development phase and beyond, the relationship between development and results becomes more nuanced. Winning starts to matter more as players approach the pathway to senior football. The skill is knowing where you are on that journey and adjusting accordingly.

4️⃣ What Bergkamp's quote really challenges is the coaching ego that attaches itself to results regardless of age group.

The under 9 coach who plays their strongest players all game because losing feels like a personal failure. The under 11 coach who abandons the development philosophy the moment a cup run becomes possible. The academy coach who selects for the fixture rather than the individual because the result matters for their reputation.

None of these decisions are always wrong, context always matters but when they become habits rather than considered choices, that's where development gets quietly sacrificed for something that benefits the adult more than the child.

5️⃣ Ajax built one of the most admired development systems in world football not by ignoring results but by being absolutely clear about what youth football was for.

Players developed within a consistent philosophy, a coherent style, and an environment where making them better was the daily measure of success. Some of those players won things along the way but that was a by-product of good development, not the purpose of it.

The question Bergkamp's quote leaves every youth coach with isn't whether winning matters, it does. It's whether the decisions you make on a Tuesday evening in training and on a Saturday morning in a game are genuinely driven by what makes the player better, or whether something else has quietly crept in?

[⚽️Pedro Mendonça🧠 @PedMenCoach]

Situation Games with neutral players allow the team in possession to keep the ball for longer, increasing control and rhythm. For the defending team, regaining possession becomes much harder — only strong collective synchronization can solve it.

[Kingsley O'BRIEN @BrienKingsley]

@JoshRobinson23 „bunch of high school dropouts who have been millionaires since their teens because of their skill with a ball at their feet.“

[Kingsley O'BRIEN @BrienKingsley]

@JoshRobinson23
Please I need your help

[Kingsley O'BRIEN @BrienKingsley]

@StevenBarthol2 Steven, The Half Turn is one of the best books I‘ve ever read. You filled the void many football books lack. Fictional or not, I’m blown away.
Many Thanks for that

[Kingsley O'BRIEN @BrienKingsley]

@StevenBarthol2
Hi Steven, I’m Kingsley O’Brien, currently reading The Half Turn. Could you share the specific French, Dutch & Spanish coaching manuals you referenced (esp. Clairefontaine)? I’d love to use them for a football development project.