Kieron Dyer: England U20 preparation was 'mind blowing'
Dyer played 33 times for England
Written by Simon Austin — October 14, 2018
KIERON DYER says he was “blown away” by the quality of England Under-20s’ training after spending a week working with the team.
The former England international, who is now assistant manager of Ipswich Under-18s, was invited to help U20s boss Paul Simpson last week ahead of internationals against Italy and the Czech Republic.
“Last Sunday I joined up with the U20 squad at St George’s Park and then on Wednesday we travelled up to a hotel in Preston ahead of Friday night’s friendly against Italy,” the 39-year-old told the East Anglian Daily Times.
“In those four or five days I learnt so much. Now I can see why England are winning all the youth tournaments and why the seniors are doing well because the attention to detail is mind blowing.
“They study the opposition like you wouldn’t believe. They have games plans A, B, C, D, E, F - my brain was frazzled by the amount of meetings and information.
“I thought I was doing alright in terms of the level of preparations, detail and player management, but now I’ve seen what England do and realise I am nowhere near. What they are doing is on another planet.
“I was blown away. The quality of the training was just... wow. I’m really excited. I cannot wait to get back to Ipswich and experiment with some of things I’ve picked up.”
Dyer, who played more than 100 games for Ipswich before joining Newcastle, revealed that the FA had first mooted the idea of him shadowing an England coach towards the end of last season.
“When Bryan (Klug) was caretaker, he called me up ahead of the Aston Villa game (in April) and said ‘can you come to the ground early for a chat’. When I turned up he put me in a room with England U18 coach Neil Dewsnip.
“Neil told me how keen The FA were keen to help me achieve my coaching badges as quick as possible and how they would like me to be involved with one of the England teams next season.
“In the end it turned out I couldn’t be appointed officially as a coach as I was still in the process of getting my A Licence, which was a bit of a bummer, but they said they’d still like me to be involved and come along to training camps.
"I think the FA realise that some of the players of my era have a lot of knowledge to pass on to the next generation. They are worried that so many of them are retiring straight into well-paid, comfortable media jobs.
"They are keen to make coaching worthwhile for us.”
Dyer, who stepped up to work with Ipswich U18s this season after a stint with the U16s, hopes to have his A Licence by next February or March, along with fellow Ipswich Academy coach Titus Bramble.
“I’m three quarters of my way through the A Licence now. A guy comes and watches me and Titus and films the sessions.
“That would qualify me to coach in the Championship and below, but I’d need to get my Pro Licence to work in the Premier League. I want to work through them all as quick as possible because you never know what’s around the corner.
“I look at the players from my era, the likes of (Lee) Bowyer, Joey Barton, Frank (Lampard) and Stevie G (Steven Gerrard), who are going straight into senior management after a year or so of coaching. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I want to be patient and learn my trade.
“We (Town’s U18s) are top of the league, which is nice, but it’s not really about results. My advantage is that I have got that experience of playing at the very top level. I know what a player sees and thinks on the pitch and what they go through off of it. I think that’s invaluable.”
England U20s beat Italy 2-1 at AFC Fylde on Friday and take on the Czech Republic in Budejovice on Monday.
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