Posted by Marketing, 21st December 2015
Last week, Global Image Sports was fortunate enough to sit down with Sean McAuley, Assistant Manager of our Professional Partner - The Portland Timbers, about a week after they became MLS champions for the first time in the club’s history. Sean had just completed his third season as Assistant Coach with The Timbers. He joined the club midway through the 2012 season after seven years with another Global Image Sports Professional Partner, Sheffield Wednesday, where he served as the club’s Academy Director. During Sean’s time with the Sheffield Wednesday Academy, he oversaw the development of several youth players who went on to sign with the first team.
Congratulations on winning the MLS Cup this week. What is your background and how did you become Assistant Coach of The Portland Timbers?
It’s a long story. I first signed an official contract with Manchester United when I was 14 years old. Back then, no professional club was able to take a player for a trial until the age of 13. Then, you officially signed at 14 if you were good enough. From age 14-20, I was lucky enough to play for Manchester United, then played professionally for a number of clubs in England and Scotland for 10 years when I got the opportunity to play for a season at Portland Timbers. From there, I went into coaching and then management. I basically took every opportunity to work at a football club whether it was caretaker, head coach, or manager. My main coaching career was with the Sheffield Wednesday Youth Academy where I spent 7 years managing the program.
When the Timbers moved from the USL to MLS, it brought more responsibility, more staff and many people trying to get the club to move forward. The GM of The Timbers offered me the position to work with the first team, and I jumped at the opportunity. That was three years ago. Working hard this year, we won enough games to win the MLS Cup.
You mentioned playing with Manchester United back in your youth, who were some of the players coming through the program with you back then? Was that the “Golden Generation” or just before?
A book has actually come out about the Manchester United youth system back then. There were two eras back then and you could say I was caught in between the both of them. In the first era, there were great youth team players and first team players like Mark Robins and Russell Beardsmore, Lee Sharpe and a number of others who made first team appearances. Then my era came right underneath the Golden Generation with Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, and Nicky Butt. In my age group, there were also a few who made it professionally. Darren Ferguson (Sir Alex’s son), Michael Pollitt, and a really good goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, who ended up playing on our first team and also at Aston Villa and Chelsea. We had a number of good players in our group, but were not as fortunate as the two other eras. It was a fantastic time and great learning experience.
Do you think being part of that era has helped you make the decision to go into coaching?
Yes. We had a fantastic youth coach, Eric Harrison along with the guidance of the managers. The values and the discipline he instilled in me made me think about the game a little bit differently. It made me think coaching would be a great option simply because they seem to inspire a lot people, and certainly inspired me. I thought to myself, when my playing days are finished, coaching would be a good route to take. If you look across the game now, there are a lot of ex-Manchester United players who have gone into management.
Going back to the win against Columbus Crew, did you feel at any point during the season, “this could be our year to win”?
Everybody talks about a specific moment, and we had a lot of them throughout the year. But once we got into the playoffs, we knew we had a good team, so we knew we had a chance of winning the whole thing. There was that one moment during the playoffs when we were hosting Kansas City at home, and it went down to the last penalty. We were all holding our breath when one of their penalties hit the left post, rolled all the way across the line, hit the right hand post and came out. It was at that moment that we knew we had a really good chance of winning.
This year and last year, there have been a number of superstars signed to the league like Frank Lampard or Thierry Henry and Portland really didn’t have a standout player of this calibre. Was it team cohesion that brought the success?
We look at the entire team being the star really. Although I would say we do have some really really good talented individuals. We also managed over the last 18 months to add young individuals with experience. We added Liam Ridgewell from the UK who spent a number of years in the Premier League. We added a new player from the MLS, Nat Borchers who brought experience in actually playing in the MLS Finals. That gave us a solid foundation and gave us a good mix of youth and experience, which gave us that team spirit. Also, the camaraderie within the group towards the end was phenomenal and unbelievable. The players who were unable to play had a huge part in that. We had quite a few really great players that couldn’t get on the pitch because we were playing so well, but we kept the group together. We are really appreciative of what they did, because even thought they maybe played 10 minutes here or there or came in for only one game, they did a great job getting behind everyone.
You played here in Portland when it was USL team and the game has grown during that time. What have you noticed to be the main differences between that time you were a player, versus now as a coach.
Mainly the support and the level of interest is phenomenal now. We had really good support back in 2002, but now it really is amazing. Every young kid has a Portland jersey. The marketing and club branding around town is phenomenal. And if you look across the league, it’s growing. Back then, there was not much difference between the USL and MLS and now it’s one of the strongest leagues in the world because of the people it’s attracting. Another major difference is talent of the youth players coming through. Every club now has a functioning Academy, and the youth players are a lot more talented than a few years ago. This allows the MLS clubs to get stronger and stronger because they will always have the opportunity to sign the superstars, but eventually they will start to produce their own talent.
Global Image Sports has known you for about 5 years, with our partnership with Sheffield Wednesday, when you were Academy Manager. How do you compare the development of the youth players here to that of Sheffield Wednesday.
I think the main difference is that the talent pool is greater here because there are more numbers playing. The players here have a lot more opportunity. I think it will change as time goes on as the young kids see the role models like Drogba, Gerard, and Lampard, the top players and the young ones that we’ve got. They aspire to be them. In the UK, soccer is the main sport and there is an unbelievable drive to become a footballer. Here, there is the same drive, but it is shared across different sports. We are competing with American football, basketball, baseball, but eventually kids choose one sport. We will see talent grow through the system and eventually reach the first teams.
What advice would you give to a youngster here who strives to become an MLS player?
Try and practice as much as you can and try to get as much contact with a ball as you can. I’m not against these kids playing different sports, as long as it doesn’t sacrifice the amount of time to play in the one they want to become elite in. I also think there is a pathway for each individual. You don’t need to be forced down one route to become an MLS player. The college system still provides players through the MLS draft in the U.S. The academies are growing and growing and that is an option. Each MLS team now has a functioning USL team which is actually a reserve team. So after school, you could go straight into that. It’s really finding that pathway that suits the individual and once they do that, making sure then that they stick to the things that are needed to become an elite athlete.
For parents, what do you think about the notion that kids need to train overseas in order to get good training.
It’s a fantastic experience playing in Europe and overseas probably more for an elite level. Each individual has to find their own level in order to succeed. There’s no point to being on a team or at a level when you won’t get playing time and sit on the bench.
If you live in an area without an MLS academy or a development academy, what can a parent to do help assure their child is getting the best training?
It’s tough because if you are in an area where you don’t have opportunity to play with the best players or trainers, then you have to seek that out. As long as you keep practicing and playing with the ball, you probably will get noticed somewhere along the line. That’s why kids may find their way through the college system since there is no MLS Academy in that area, or they may transfer to Europe and come back. As long as you have the talent, drive and ability to succeed, and never give up you probably will get to the level you should be playing at.
Does Portland focus more on home grown players or do they look outside for their talent?
Because of the league rules, it’s important you do try and grow your players because the homegrown rule allows you to manage your salary cap and home grown rules get players on your roster. We’ll do a mixture of both. As a club, we have a fantastic community program as well that reaches out to so many young kids who aspire to become professional footballers.
Back in 2012 Sean was asked what his hopes and dreams were when he came on board at Portland. He mentioned wanting to be part of a successful era in Timbers history. Well Sean, congratulations again for achieving your goal! We look forward to following you and your continued success story.
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