Question

Hi guys,

I don't post here too much, although I read almost every day. I am from Barnsley, currently coaching professionally for an MLS club out in the states.

Due to circumstances, I am looking at coming home to set up a small business. I'm trying my best to do some research (as hard as it is all the way over here!), and would love some input from parents, and general football fan's opinions.

How much would you realistically as a parent pay for a 2 hour - after school session once a week with a professional coach with experience at Manchester United and in the MLS? Prices out in the US are absolutely absurd for 'soccer', and I know the market and industry for youth football isn't any where near as heavily invested in back home in the UK (parents here pay upwards of $2500 for a season for a good club). After being out of the country so long I don't want to totally overprice myself, but I also don't want to hugely undercut either.

Does anyone have any help / expertise / opinions?

Thanks!!

 

I'm not a parent and I won't be able to help you mate but you are literally living my dream haha. Hope you do get some help for this though.

 

I think you would have to choose your location carefully.

Sorry for being negative but I think it would be a struggle. I coach an under 8 team and scouts are crawling all over games - they tend to pick lots of kids up and so not sure if there would be a viable market especially for the sums quoted. However, lots of misguided parents do seem to be convinced that little Johnny is going to be the next Wayne Rooney ( and they seem to think that's a good thing...?) so perhaps I am wrong and perhaps they would part with their cash.

 

Most kids playing for local junior teams pay an annual fee and for that they probably get one training session per week through most of the year, 20 or so competitive games and a few friendlies and tournaments chucked in. Theyll also get a match day kit and if the club are good with raising funds and attracting sponsorship, a training kit and tracksuit to loan for the season. The club I coached charged £130 per annum, but that was in an poorer area of rotherham so it had to be reasonably low to attract the kids (parents). I reckon you'll not get people in south yorkshire paying more than £200 per year, tops.

 

Just an opinion based on pretty much nothing but I wouldn't have thought it was a service people would pay for over here. If a kid looks to have any ability at all these days then theyre signed up to an academy where they get professional coaching for free. If they are your average kid then why would they pay large sums just for training sessions?

You are really looking for a very niche market. Rich parents of young kids who are crap at football but are willing to pay anyway for them to be trained by someone. How big is that market in this country?

Would you be better off working for a club as a paid coach?

 

I'd say no more than a fiver per hour.

 

I am intrigued as to why you would want to leave a country where there is clearly a market for the service you want to offer to come back to a country where the existence of a market at any price is not very obvious.

 

interesting concept but i cant see this working unless you pump some serious cash into it. A model to look at is the glenn hoddle acadamy, he took footballers released from pro clubs and invested in them as third party ownership , looking to sell them back into professional football at some stage

Do parents of young kids pay for football coaching these days??

 

double post.

 

At my school in Bradford the kids pay £1.50 for a one hour club after school ran by a coach. There are also sessions ran by Leeds United coaches in the holidays and they are £30 I think but I can't remember the exact times (we get the leaflets so often to hand out that I've stopped reading them). Also, even the kids that love football stop taking them home because either their parents can't/aren't willing to pay that more than once or twice or the kids themselves lose interest. The really good players are signed up to local academies.

 

I'm not a parent but I think it would completely depend on what you're offering. Are you setting up a football team or just offering training once a week? Will it be straight after school using school facilities or will it be independent and elsewhere? Depending on what you're doing I think it would be easier/more difficult to attract kids and if there's more demand you could probably charge more. For instance, if you're setting a team up I doubt you'd be able to compete with parents who do it for free. However, if it was a partnership with a school so you already had a ready market and it would just be a case of parents picking up their kids from school later I think it would be more successful.

I'd be happy paying £5 for an hour of the latter.

 

Thanks for all of the info, friends!


I'm looking to work primarily with schools focusing on after-school sports. I think about 5 pounds for a 2 hour session after school is pretty reasonable, I haven't been back to Barnsley for years so I'm excited!!!

 

Hi ChicagoRed,
Slightly off topic. My nephew plays for Orlando City U18s. I was over there last year watching him play a couple of games up in Charlotte. Was quite impressed with some of the talent out there at that level.
Do you reckon the time is coming where MLS sides will be able to rely more heavily on homegrown players?

 

I take it your a coach at Chicago Fire. Im from Barnsley and a DC United season ticket holder. Do you travel with the first team,if so if you look behind the crazy DC United dug out/benches I will be the only fan with a Barnsley FC shirt on. Would love to say hi.

 

How much would you realistically as a parent pay for a 2 hour - after school session once a week with a professional coach with experience at Manchester United and in the MLS

Three Bob and a Blackie's egg. No offence intended, but I believe that to be the truth. Having said that, I don't have a great record in decision making.....so crack on and good luck in whatever you do.

 

Absolutely! I think that the current generation of players have had pro coaching since the age of 6/7 three or four times a week.

We took a U13 Fire Juniors team to England and absolutely spanked Man City but were hammered by Barnet.

The MLS and the Fire in particular invest heavily in the youth system, so it's bound to only get better

 

Not at all involved with the first team mate unfortunately.

I coach for the Chicago Fire Juniors U17 and U18's, and manage on the business side of the Soccer In The Community program.

Glad you get to see MLS games - it's not anywhere near as bad as it's made out to be!

 

I was formerly an u12s coach at oakwell before transfering to the u16s for Sheffield United, I later joined another coaching club in Barnsley who are the leading club in Barnsley by a mile. That particular company have pumped in tens of thousands of pounds and even now their turnover isn't what it should be or once was.

Having quit as a coach 5 years ago I wouldn't be in a rush to jump on a plane back here and give this a crack. I saw first hand the decline of youngsters coming into the game, it cost me my job at SUFC. My advice? How desperate are you to come back? If it's a matter of urgency then I would first find yourself a sustainable job. Private set up football coaching is on a huge decline in the UK, too many youngsters now either aren't as interested as they once was, and the ones who are normally get offered trials by academies of join amateur or semi pro local sides.

This is coming from a former youth coach, 2 years at BFC and 1 and half years at Sheffield United.

Good luck in whatever decision you choose hope it worms out, but please research your market audience and if you see it as viable then all well and good.