| On and off over the next 20 months or so, the Dundee gaffer will be attending various classes and courses in a bid to gain the badge UEFA say all top division managers in the major leagues will need by 2010.
And, while putting himself through this process will have considerable personal benefit, Alex believes it can be a major boost to Dundee as well.
“Although this is seen as a coaching qualification, it actually covers all aspects of management and it gives you the chance to learn from some of the top people in world football,” he said today.
“One of the things we are doing over the next few days is getting a talk from a German FA official about how their youth football is set up.
“That couldn’t be better timed for Dundee, because after the days of administration and after it, we a now getting satellite centres up and running again and looking to start producing more young talent like Scott Robertson and Kevin McDonald.
“As we are working on that, it will be interesting to get an idea how these things are done elsewhere and, although I know there is a lot of hard work ahead, there is a lot of stuff to be learned.”
And the Dundee manager admits that, when it comes to these kind of courses, he is very much a poacher-turned- gamekeeper.
“When I was coming to the end of my playing days, I tended to think that, after 20 years in the game, I didn’t need to be doing badges to know how to coach or become a manager.
“Doing my ‘B’ and ‘A’ badges with the SFA opened my eyes to how different that side of the game was and this is the natural next step.
“Obviously, I’ve looked into what it entails and it is not going to be easy, but there is a lot you can learn from some very knowledgeable people.” |
