Eric Harrison has exerted a tremendous amount of influence at Manchester United. As United's youth coach, he was the off-field genius who not only supplied Alex Ferguson with a band of young players capable of sustaining the team's success post Cantona but moulded some of English football's brightest individuals.
The man responsible for producing David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers helped mold that group to reach successive FA Youth Cup finals in 1992 and 1993 before collecting full sets of senior medals after bursting into Ferguson's first team.Louise Taylor of the Guardian reports on Harrison's methods of developing young players.
It was tough love but Harrison's man management was far from one-dimensional. In an important departure from convention he devoted several hours a week to talking to each boy individually. Moreover, at a time when some increasingly regimented coaches frowned on self-expression, he actively encouraged on-pitch improvisation.
"Youth coaching is 10% about kicks up the backsides and 90% about arms round the shoulders," he said. "You have to let boys use their imaginations and relax. You can't play good football if you're tense – but you can be relaxed and hard-working."
"We worked hard on team play. Some youth coaches don't do it but I was preparing them for Manchester United's first team and they needed to learn football wasn't all about glory on the ball."
"The group became so close and had such strong telepathy Sir Alex and I decided to keep them together playing Under-18 football for an extra year. We wanted to really bond them – and eventually they went virtually straight into the first team having played very few reserve games."
"They had unbelievable desire, fed off each other's energy and were all totally dedicated. Not one of them ever got into trouble with drink, drugs or anything. To get such magnificent players together at the same time was incredible. Coaching them was fantastically exciting."
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