Man United wondered whether Paul McShane's return would generate ridicule. Instead, it received approval and youngsters Teden Mengi, Alvaro Fernandez et al. are benefitting.
The last time Paul McShane played for Manchester United at Moss Rose in Macclesfield, Cristiano Ronaldo was about to return to England's shores, the fallout still intense from the 2006 World Cup. In the same summer, McShane and Ronaldo returned to United in markedly different roles.
McShane, 36, is 11 months younger but has effectively retired. United hope to have Ronaldo for at least one more year.
In June, McShane's contract ended at relegated Rochdale, where the centre-back performed at a level that suggested he could hack it higher up the ladder than the League One relegation quagmire. He would have merited a move to another League One club and McShane always had 36 as the age he would retire.
McShane turned 36 in January and is about to bring down the curtain on a 20-year career that began in the United academy in 2002. The Irishman reconnected with United last season, did some punditry for MUTV and some coaching with the Under-14s and 16s. When Justin Cochrane replaced Nicky Butt as the head of player development, he reached out to McShane and proposed an innovative player-coach role in the Under-23s. United had still not finalised the signing of centre-back Raphael Varane and were conscious the McShane announcement could generate ridicule. With the appropriate context provided, it generated approval.
McShane had obtained his A-licence badge and the United coaches wanted a seasoned competitor to knock their teenage strikers into shape during training sessions and mentor the defenders. Sources at the club described McShane's on-pitch coaching role as 'invaluable' for the development of their youngsters at both ends of the pitch.
So McShane received the squad number 62 and shared a dressing room with teammates half his age. He has turned out for the second string in two EFL Trophy matches and three Premier League 2 fixtures. His last appearance was in October at the Stadium of Light, where he helped Sunderland consolidate their Premier League status some 14 years earlier.
Bjorn Hardley and Teden Mengi have lined up next to McShane and the buccaneering left-back Alvaro Fernandez has been within earshot. With Will Fish now back from an unfulfilling loan at Stockport, McShane's playing days appear to be over and he spoke with the club this week to discuss plans for next season.
"We've got centre halves to play the games," he tells the MEN. "When I first came in, it was only me and Bjorn because Teden was with the first-team in pre-season and at the start of the last season, so I played in the EFL Trophy games. I missed one of them through Covid.
"Recently, there's been Fishy and Bjorn to play, so I've just taken the role of being needed, if possible. I've played in a couple of games behind closed doors.
Training is my main role, I've been floating up and down the age groups, I've been getting my main coaching in with the 16s and I've worked with some of the 14s and 15s and will also do quite a bit of video analysis with the 18s. I do bits here. there and everywhere.
"I felt they were receptive to my instructions on the pitch. I'm quite vocal and there was no one ducking it, taking any of my advice personally because it's not personal, you're just trying to help all of the players. They've been good, their attitude has been good.
"I do feel they need to know the intensity to play professional football and that's the key thing I try to get across, the big message I get across: the intensity you need to play at to be a pro footballer. Sometimes, it might not be there in training so I'll be keeping on top of that as much as I can."
It is 9.15am on Tuesday morning and McShane is already clad in a United tracksuit and gilet, sat in the press room of the main building at Carrington for our Zoom chat. He usually arrives at half-past eight and on Thursdays he sometimes returns home at 9.30 at night as he oversees sessions into the evening.
Cochrane tweeted a picture in October of McShane leading a video analysis session with three defenders. "Every day is a school day," Cochrane wrote. The picture shows Rhys Bennett, United's captain in their FA Youth Cup fifth round and sixth round wins and a scorer in the Youth League defeat to Borussia Dortmund, engaged.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-united-news-paul-mcshane-23241299
Paul McShane: Developing the kids
posted on 8/3/22
"I look at games that the lads played in and I'll pick out some key points we can improve upon," McShane says. "I'll look at games through the leagues, I'll look at different goals that teams have conceded just by watching football in general. If I've seen something that I think the lads will learn from I'll note it down and put a little video together.
"And then it's an open forum where we'll talk through everything. It's quite easy to analyse other people's mistakes than their own, so it's quite a good chat. They put their little thoughts in on what they think should have been done or how it should have been prevented, stuff like that. So it's been quite good. I think the lads have enjoyed it and I just speak from my experience and especially from being a centre-back, it's quite a specialised position and it's good to have a little defenders' union."
And are they receptive to criticism? "Yeah, they're really good," McShane assures. "Really good. There's a lot of good debates going on - 'how would you feel in this situation and what could've been done better?'
"With defending, there's no real black or white, so I'm just trying to get them to open up and get thinking about defending because you have to love defending as a player, as a defender. So it's good to get that message across.
"And I want it to be an open chat. I've been in many meetings in my career and some people can be scared to talk or speak up because they think they might be judged. So I always keep it quite relaxed and quite open, so I'm getting some great feedback from the lads."
McShane won the Youth Cup in 2003 in front of Roy Keane and Gary Neville, present and future United captains, as well as exemplary professionals David Beckham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, all sat in the stands. Gerard Pique, briefly McShane's teammate at junior level, claimed Keane went ballistic when the Catalan's phone once started vibrating in the dressing room.
Keane has not managed in more than a decade and the prospect of him policing professional footballers on social media would be worthy of a Netflix documentary in itself. McShane toured with Keane in the United States in 2004 and was signed by his compatriot in 2007. He is encouraging a similar environment to the one he thrived in.
"Society has changed," he accepts. "It's not the same dynamic and the whole social media, the phones, has been a big change. That's what I find as a big difference. I found that as a player in the latter stages of my career.
"We encourage the lads not to use their phones as much around the training ground or in the gym or when they're working but it's tough to patrol. You just have to go with it a little bit and try and have the same principles this club has always tried to drive into players. It's the same sort of feel as when I was here as a player.
"They're all young lads, all trying to find their way in the game, so it's quite interesting to see from where I am now looking in, and I was trying to feel how I was as a youth player. It's tough being in an academy and it's tough trying to make a career in football because it's so competitive and it's a bit dog eat dog. Everyone's desperate to make a career in the game."
McShane has spoken to Fish about his spell in the National League, cut short last month after 84 minutes of playing time in five months. "He's got some great attributes," McShane says. "He's a good lad, he's willing to learn, he's still very, very young. It's a matter of getting as many games from now until the end of the season because he didn't get as many games at Stockport as he'd have probably liked.
"That's just the career of a footballer. It's a very up and down journey and it's good he experienced that at such an early age and will hold him in good stead going on in the future. He's got a chance. He's just got to keep on improving and to have that attitude every single day."
Mengi, 19, excelled on loan at Derby last year and is playing regularly on loan for Birmingham. "He speaks - that's one thing I always try to say to the lads," McShane stresses. "As a defender you've got to be vocal, it makes everyone's job much easier. He's a great defender, he's got great natural ability defending, he's a great athlete, he wants to know, he wants to defend."
Fernandez, 18, and Marc Jurado, 17, arrived in Manchester at the start of last season with uncertainty still rife over the Covid-19 pandemic and had to quarantine. Jurado is still eligible to play in the Youth Cup but Fernandez is a regular at U23 level who has trained a number of times with the first-team and was in contention to make his debut against Middlesbrough last month.
The pair started in the Youth League defeat to Dortmund at Leigh on Tuesday. Jurado was United's only goalscorer in the penalty shootout and Fernandez was as attack-minded as United's actual attackers, his touch and movement all in one motion.
"I've dealt with Alvaro quite a lot," McShane enthuses. "I deal with him pretty much every day. Marc Jurado is a great lad, he's got a great spirit about him. He's good around the training ground, he's good on the pitch, he's very vocal, wants to defend as well.
"There's that culture in Spain where it's 'attack, attack' attack'. And I'm trying to bring a little bit of 'defend, defend, defend' as well to their mentality! So just trying to find that balance of getting them to understand the UK football might be a little culturally different to Spain. So if you bring that Spanish and my mentality of defending, sensing danger and always expecting the worst, I think for them to bring that into the game they'll be really good players in the future."
McShane is not the only one who came full circle at Carrington in the summer. Tom Heaton, his Youth Cup-winning teammate 19 years ago, also works on the same site again. United have their own coffee sponsor with machines installed at Carrington but McShane and Heaton have struggled to arrange a date.
"We were in digs together," McShane says. "So we know each other pretty well, he's a great lad. I do keep in touch. The schedule I'm on and the schedule he's on is totally different, so we've been planning to have a coffee together the last six months and it's never materialised! So we chat quite a bit by text."
posted on 8/3/22
Doesn’t he run the vic?
posted on 8/3/22
always thought he looked a bit out of shape in Lovejoy
posted on 8/3/22
Great read Elvis, thanks
Always liked the lad - seemed an honest, hardworking bloke.
A couple of great career moments as a senior player too, with an FA Cup final and securing promotion with Hull (on top of the RoI caps).
posted on 8/3/22
comment by dunc - johnny lawrence is my sensei (U11713)
posted 36 seconds ago
always thought he looked a bit out of shape in Lovejoy
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slimmer than he was in hi de hi
posted on 8/3/22
comment by Don Draper's dandruff (U20155)
posted 28 minutes ago
comment by dunc - johnny lawrence is my sensei (U11713)
posted 36 seconds ago
always thought he looked a bit out of shape in Lovejoy
----------------------------------------------------------------------
slimmer than he was in hi de hi
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We should play him at CB with Su Pollard sweeping up behind.