Academy coach Ian Tincknell calls time on illustrious career – News

Bristol Rovers Academy Coach Ian Tincknell will end his illustrious coaching career this summer.

Tincknell has made the decision to retire after 46 years as a manager in the South West, having spent the last 13 years of his career with Rovers.

Having worked with the U9s and U10s at Rovers, Tincknell has been instrumental in developing pre-Academy players for the Club over the past decade.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time,” reflected Tincknell. “I started coaching in 1978 and it’s been a wonderful career.

“I started in local football, coached at Weston-super-Mare with the U18s and then got the call to go to Bristol City. I spent around 14 years there and as well as Rovers I worked with the pre-Academy and also set up the Center of Excellence for Girls. We build this very well. On the boys side, I’ve worked with a lot of really good coaches and some really good players that have gone pro.

“I joined Rovers in 2011 and again worked in the pre-Academy and in the U9s and U10s and I really enjoyed every minute of it.

“I’ve always wanted to be a football coach and it’s a great feeling to know you’ve helped a young player achieve their goals. It’s fantastic to see them play and some of them have even gone on to play in the Premier League which is great to see.”

The academy has seen a number of talents progress into the first team in recent seasons, with goalkeeper Jed Ward and defender Luca Hoole establishing themselves in Matt Taylor’s squad, while U18 Player of the Season Kofi Shaw made his League One debut away from home at Wigan Athletic. at the end of the 2023/24 season.

Tincknell believes he will be even more successful in the Academy’s future.

He continued: “I think the Academy is definitely going in the right direction. We can see some really good players coming through the age groups here and of course the aim is to get one or two of them into the first team. We’ve seen the likes of Jed and Luca come up recently and I think there’s a good chance we’ll see more coming out.

Tincknell’s new book – ‘Football Coaching Practices From Grassroots To Academy’ – provides extensive detail on routines, drills and exercises to use in training sessions, suitable for developing players of all ages, as well as the benefits of each individual session.

Having compiled the book during the coronavirus lockdown, Tincknell hopes his ideas and training sessions can inspire the next generation of trainers.

“I started writing the book during COVID-19,” he added. “It was something I always wanted to do. I had a lot of different scraps of paper at home and I thought I couldn’t just leave them on scraps of paper, so I was determined to try and put them together as a book.

“I had some really good people helping me from Weston-super-Mare who helped me put the book together. There are over 100 workouts out there so I hope there are some good ideas in there for both new and experienced trainers.

“A lot of young players I’ve worked with in my career have also become coaches now, so hopefully this can help them develop their own journeys.”

“Football Coaching Practices From Grassroots To Academy” can be purchased now Here!