Joyce Deserves His Chance

It is a well-worn cliché to say that somebody has forgotten more about football than I will ever know but that phrase was always at the back of my mind after one of my regular chats with Warren Joyce.

Manchester United’s Reserves coach enjoyed remarkable success with the club and fully deserves his crack at senior management with Wigan Athletic. He has previously had a stint as Hull City’s player-manager and has done so much good work at the Aon Training Complex.

Much of it, of course, is unseen but the fruits of his labour are hugely apparent. So many players have made it through what I would describe as a tough finishing school to enjoy top-level careers – either at Old Trafford or elsewhere.

Witness the number of former Reds impressing at Euro 2016 or the way Paul Pogba has developed into a world-class midfielder. I can vividly recall Joyce shouting instructions at the skinny youngster, constantly reminding him to keep focused in the Reserves and the message is the same for everybody – hard graft is a prerequisite for any player.

Warren often jokes how he must bore me with his mantra of the players knowing their jobs with and without the ball but it is his work on the training ground, with the repetition drilling good habits into his youngsters, that produced football in the Manchester United way. The last-minute winners and gutsy performances were no flukes, it was all down to the hours and hours of toil on the training ground.

The 51-year-old is not someone to court publicity, he needed a little persuading to commit to a monthly column for Inside United and would never blow his own trumpet. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said as much when I asked him about his former joint-coach of the Reserves and acknowledged he would hate being praised in print, even by somebody of the standing of the Norwegian idol.

The expert coaching was obviously not going to go unnoticed and clubs inevitably showed an interest in luring him away from United. In my view, anybody taking over as a Championship manager is brave considering the ridiculously high turnover in that division – six bosses left in October alone.

However, if anybody can transfer his successful methodology and ability to get the absolute maximum out of his staff then Joyce could be that man. It is one of the few downsides of working for such a great club as United that you feel sadness when somebody leaves who you respect and admire, but I am sure I speak for many followers of the Reserves in wanting to thank Warren for his superb work at the club, not only the development of so many individuals but also the excitement and passion his teams always displayed.

The views expressed in this article are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Manchester United Football Club.

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