A Day With: Al Jazira’s Brian Eastick

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  • Eastick has enjoyed a distinguished coaching career.

    Al Jazira’s quest to unearth the next Ali Mabkhout could not be in safer hands.

    In their academy’s technical director Brian Eastick, the Pride of Abu Dhabi count on a man who guided the fledgling careers of Manchester City centre-back John Stones, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson and countless other full England internationals.

    The 64-year-old’s distinguished achievements beyond nearly a decade spent in various roles at the Football Association, also include the honour of being Stuart Pearce’s right-hand man for Great Britain at London 2012.

    It is no surprise then that City recommended him to assess Jazira’s youth set-up in 2015, where he impressed so much a two-year deal to lead it was forthcoming that summer.

    How important was the Serbian tour you took the Al Jazira youngsters on this summer?

    I’ve just finished my first year in the UAE and they didn’t have an academy training camp last year. The club has worked hard to do this for us this year, with the Under-16s and U-17s.

    We were there for three weeks, which is a long time coming from Europe. I know from my experience as an England Youth coach (he was with the FA from 2005-14) that when you go away for a long period be it an U-20 World Cup or U-19 European Championship, part of the problem is managing the boys’ downtime.

    We took them into Belgrade and for meals. But overall, it’s been good for me as the technical director as it gives me more opportunity to learn about the players.

    al-jazira

    SR9 Event Management organised the training camp in Serbia.

    What have you made of your time in the UAE?

    I think it is very difficult to compare, as it is totally different. From my point of view, it has been great learning to deal with a different culture and different way of life.

    It is a case of me having to adapt, rather than the players.

    The opportunity came about, really, through Manchester City. I was first-team coach at Nottingham Forest and when Stuart Pearce left as manager (February 2015), I left at the same time.

    Manchester City then contacted me and said they’d like someone to look at Al Jazira’s development programme for about four or five weeks and do a real root-and-branch review of it. I gave my report to the board and then they asked me to implement the things I had recommended.

    It’s been a challenge for me I have to admit, because it’s a totally different way of life.

    But I have enjoyed it. I went home to England earlier in the summer and I told people how totally different it is.

    You cannot expect to manage an academy in the UAE in the same way as you would in Europe.

    What are the main things you have been trying to work on?

    We have about 20 young players in each age group, from the age of eight to 21. One of the challenges for me has been trying to persuade them it is about the individual development of the player, and not just the mentality of the winning team.

    In Europe, we would move a very, very good U-15s player up to the U-16s. Here, they like to keep the players within their own age bands as they want to win as many matches as possible.

    That is a challenge for me trying to change that mentality and explaining you have to look at the longer term and what is best  for the individual players.

    I know from my experience with England, Charlton Athletic and Nottingham Forest that when you are the first team’s coach, like Henk ten Cate at Jazira, then you have to win. When you are a development coach, you should look at the longer term effects.

    On U-21 duty with Stuart Peace and Phil Neville.

    On U-21 duty with Stuart Peace (r) and Phil Neville (l).

    The Olympics in Rio have been the main event on the global sporting calendar this summer. What are your memories with Great Britain from London 2012?

    It was probably the highlight of my career. I’ve been very lucky – I’m 64 and I’ve had a 32-year career as a coach. If you had asked me what were the best four weeks of my career, I would say London.

    I was talking to (Manchester United’s legendary winger) Ryan Giggs a year later when he did his Pro Licence at the FA and he said to me what a fantastic experience it was. Now, that is Ryan Giggs – one of the most-decorated players in the game – saying that.

    It was a different atmosphere. You had 75,000 Union Jack flags at Old Trafford for the opener against Senegal. The willingness of the people made it.

    How do you look back on the group game against the UAE from that tournament, when Team GB secured a hard-fought 3-1 win at Wembley?

    I remember it very well and one or two of the players here keep reminding me about it. The UAE started very well and then Giggsy scored a header, which he didn’t do very often in his career.

    Daniel Sturridge came off the bench and got a great goal, chipping the keeper.

    It was a full house of 95,000 people and I’m sure the UAE players from their squad will also remember it for the rest of their lives.

    What are your memories of working with Ryan Giggs?

    I have to say, he was the perfect professional player. Stuart Pearce was the manager and I was the coach. Stuart would pull in Ryan and Craig Bellamy, as they were the senior pros. It was a privilege to work with Ryan, he was a great player.

    Eastick working with England U-20 side in Armenia,

    Eastick working with an England U-20 side in Armenia.

    So many of the U-21 team you worked with have gone to become full England internationals. What are your recollections of training them?

    I look at the England team now, and I haven’t worked with Gary Cahill but he’s probably about the only one. They came through at the U-16s and U-17s, before joining me at the U-19s or U-21s.

    The majority of credit for that has to go to the clubs.

    They’ve all got different qualities. Jordan Henderson was an outstanding captain of the U-21s and I’d capped him at U-20 level.
    I look back at Chris Smalling and Phil Jones when they played as the centre-backs when we travelled to Denmark for the 2011 European U-21 Championships. They were outstanding.

    When I watched John Stones play in the U-19s, I looked at him as someone with real quality on the ball. If he can cope with the
    expectancy levels at Manchester City, he can go on to be an outstanding international player.

    SR9 Event Management organised the training camp in Serbia for Al Jazira’s Under-16 and U-17 teams. They are an experienced sports agency based in Dubai and holders of a FIFA Match Agent licence.

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