BIG INTERVIEW: MICHAEL SKUBALA - 'WE'VE ALL GRAFTED TO GET THESE EFL CHANCES’

REFRESHING as it is to see Steve Cooper and Kieran McKenna thriving, Michael Skubala isn’t too thrilled about the expectations they’ve set.

- Chris Dunlavy

“Yeah, they’ve put the rest of us under pressure, haven’t they?” laughs Lincoln City’s new head coach. “Cheers, guys.”

By us, Skubala is referring to what he calls “career coaches, people who’ve earned their stripes in the grind of the game”, as opposed to illustrious former players or managers on their umpteenth trip around the block.

As Skubala recounts his 22-year journey to Sincil Bank, the sheer scale of that grind quickly emerges.

“I started coaching very young, when I was about 19,” says the 41-year-old, a talented youth footballer whose attempts to forge a pro career were scuppered by his diminutive stature as a teenager.

“I was coaching Barwell in what was then the Dr Martens Premier. Then I went out to do a degree in sports science and psychology. After that I became a PE teacher and started working in academies - Coventry, Forest, a little bit at Leicester.

“Daytimes, I’d be teaching in school. Three evenings a week, I’d be out driving the minibus to games, all that sort of stuff.

“Then I moved into more of a director of football role at Loughborough, where I was managing eight teams, all the staff and coaches. Amongst that, I was in and out of the FA doing little bits of work.

“They asked me to do a futsal role, which is something I’d started at Loughborough. I left, came back, ended up working with the England teams at under-17s, 18s and 19s. That was wonderful. Eventually, I went into Leeds, and from November last year I was working with the first team.”