The players at the IH Manchester Academy site had another great guest session this week when former Manchester United and Leicester city start Richie Wellens visited the players. Richie, now a regular with the IH Manchester academy’s, spent the day at the Ellesmere site with the new intake of players on the academy. Starting with a question and answer session the boys were able to put to Richie all those burning questions about being a professional footballer, before he took to the field to coach them and share his vast knowledge of the game.
Richie is now first team coach at league two side Oldham Athletic, so who better to be out on the field with the players putting them through their paces. Richie started his football career at Manchester United before a move to Blackpool in 2000. following his time at Blackpool Richie moved
on to Doncaster then to the championship with former Premier league champions Leicester city. Richie then returned to Doncaster for 18 months before joining a team local to Ellesmere, Shrewsbury Town under the management of Micky Mellon. After his playing career ended Richie took up his coaching path which has successfully seen him gain a first team coaches roll at Oldham, a club he played for making over 100 appearances.
Having Richie at the academy training is a great opportunity for the boys to gain knowledge, talk first hand to someone who has worked hard to be successful in the game and to be coached by a top, pro club, first team coach.
Director Mick Brennan said “its always great to have these guest sessions at our Academy, but especially having Richie involved is fantastic. Richie work a lot with our players in Manchester and has a great understanding of our ethos in the academy and brings genuine energy and great advice to the sessions he does. The players at Ellesmere would have been able to take a lot for the afternoon with him and hopefully we can get him along again soon to see their progress. A massive thanks to Richie for the session and talking with the players.”
In the coming weeks and terms there will be more guest session for the boys to experience, bringing different angles of the game and different opinions too, and everyone is a great opportunity to showcase their ability. its not everyday you get coaches by a pro clubs first team coach.
