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Nick Cox, the director of the Manchester United Academy, has given a broad interview while he prepares to leave Old Trafford after almost a decade at the club and describes his job as “life -changing”.
From Manchester to MerseSide
Cox first joined the Red Devils in 2016, after earlier spells with Sheffield United and Watford, and was promoted to the role of the director in 2019.
During this time, 38 youth players reached the first team of debut-a clear indication of the success of the Academy with the website of the club entry Cox helped “one of the most productive systems for youth development in the world”.
But this was not the state of affairs that the 47-year-old came across when he first stepped in Carrington.
Everton -Expert Stephen Hurrell (Team)) to describe The youth set -up of United as in “Warray” at the point of Cox’s arrival: “The talent pool had dried up and the path to the first team did not exist”.
But in the coming years, the report will reveal the influence of Cox The academy “transformed” with its leadership as a “radiant light of competence” in a club in short stock in the past decade.
The moment Cox will leave, Hurell concludes that Cox has transformed “United’s Academy into one of the best in the world”.
And it is this excellent oeuvre in the Theater of Dreams, so that Everton offered him the role of technical director in the Hill Dickins Stadium – a promotion within the enormous structure of a football club.
The toffees were not the first side to lure the director of United, away from Manchester, with “a long line of clubs” who previously made attempts to pierce him – but Everton was the first to receive a yes.
Thinking about his nine years with United in an interview with Talk about the DevilsCox believes that his mentality was always to “leave something better behind than we thought” – and he did exactly that for the Red Devils.
“A life -changing experience
“I have always supplied the job with the feeling of custody,” says Cox.
“I have always talked to the staff about the importance of freedom and then our duty and our task is to leave something better behind than we have found it. So, yes, I think you think a little more on your way to the outside, the transfer of the baton and changing the guards or what you want to call it.
“I am really aware that the experience has been life -changing for me and for my family. You know, I have done things that I could never have imagined. I have experienced some incredible things and I learned a lot.
“So it has been incredibly changing life and I appreciate that. I sometimes feel that the club has given me more than I could have given it. And then there is a bit proud.
“It is up to other people to decide how good we have been in the last 10 years, not for me to decide. I think I could only have left a stone casual and we have worked as hard as we could and we try to make good decisions every day in the best interest of the club and best interest of young people.
Cox quickly points out that the focus on an Academy director and the first team head coach like Ruben Amorim are Anders and this leads to different approaches.
“Ruben tries to win games in an environment under pressure and I try to develop players, adaptable players who can not only make his debut in the coming weeks, but can also be able to maintain a career for the next 15-20 years,” Cox argues.
A lot is made from Amorim’s unique 3-4-2-1 system that requires a very specific series of requirements for its players. And there has been a discussion about whether the United youth teams should assume the set -up to streamline Ascension Day to the first team.
But Cox is Adamant Academy Coaching should give young players a “broad education” that they then go with them for the rest of their career, instead of going into one system at one time.
“If you work with a really young player, they may still play in 2050. So the task of an academy is to give the players a well -completed and broad education of the game and to be placed in environments where they adapt and they have the opportunity to make decisions and recognize patterns on the field.”
And it is this long-term vision for the future, which is why Cox has achieved such an impressive performance in his time at Old Trafford and why Everton was so planning to secure the 47-year-old.
The new Academy Director of United will be Stephen Torpey, who started working this week after he joined Brentford to become Cox’s successor.
Featured image Alex Livesey via Getty Images
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