Alongside studying MSc Performance Analysis in Football, Vinny Ivanov runs his own football club – AFC Southgate. Managing a team of 15 coaches, while taking on the role of Head Coach himself, Vinny has been one of the first directors to introduce performance analysis into a grassroots club.

With high hopes for AFC Southgate going forward, he tells us how he’s using material from his Master’s programme to advance the club further and improve his own coaching abilities…

Tell us about your role as Head Coach at AFC Southgate and what it involves.

I am Managing Director of AFC Southgate and a head coach. My responsibilities as a head coach are leading the day-to-day operational management of the academy, with full oversight of the coaching, training ground and the infrastructure. I hold full responsibility for the cultural and behavioral standards within the club to ensure its success along with the long-term strategy.

Further, I manage a diverse team of 15 football coaches, providing support and guidance whilst overseeing all coaching operations for the youth team. I help develop player’s knowledge, technique and tactical awareness of the game to drive on pitch performance. I’m responsible for coordinating training sessions and organising the football programme along with matches and tournaments.

I also oversee budgets and forecasting, continually reviewing processes and activities to identify cost-saving opportunities. Sourcing and liaising with suppliers and vendors for equipment and kit, I lead negotiations whilst maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders.

Why did you decide to buy into the club?

When I started coaching, I always had that dream to run a football club in a way I thought it should be run. However, when I started, I hadn’t thought of all the challenges I may face along the way, but of course I was aware of the roles and responsibilities I would have within the club. It was a rocky road to start with as I was juggling coaching with managing at the club, but since the beginning of this season, I have been helping the coaches in their development by giving them feedback after their sessions and games.

How are you hoping to grow and expand the club in grassroots football?

We are growing as a club every year and we hope this will continue in the future. We are a club which gives the opportunity to play competitive football to everyone. Every year we are trying to introduce something new to help develop our teams and the development groups we have at the club; we decided to take a step ahead of most of the other grassroots football clubs by introducing performance analysis. We are currently filming games to help our coaches and players to reach their highest performance potential by holding meetings with the players and parents to go through what the players have been doing well and what they can do better to improve further.

We also started girls training sessions where we train girls at different ages, and hopefully we can create one or two teams to enter in a girls’ league to play competitive football next season.

What have you brought to the role from your MSc Performance Analysis programme?

This is a very good question – I am a very analytical person and being at the training ground or watching the games on the side every week, I realised that I would like to learn more about the role of a performance analyst and hopefully pursue a career in this in the future. Before I started the programme, we were doing basic performance analysis for the kids but now I realise how much there is to learn about this role and how much it can help in your development, not only as analyst but as a coach as well, so I use it a lot more.

What have been your favourite aspects of the programme so far?

I’ve loved every minute of it so far. A highlight has been learning about talent ID and recruitment which has given us more details from inside how professional clubs work nowadays and how all roles link to each other and work together. We also have an opportunity to try all software required to become a performance analyst, so that’s really helpful.

Another favourite aspect of the programme is that we have the opportunity to study inside one of the best stadiums in the world, Wembley Stadium. There is nothing better than studying at a stadium that many people can only dream of ever visiting.

How have you found your time at GIS?

I have found my time really enjoyable since I started. I love spending time with other students where we laugh, support each other and spend time together. I also enjoy the lectures where the tutors are making it as enjoyable as possible, but at the same time educational for us. Further, I’ve enjoyed the summits where we had different speakers who shared their own professional careers in football and experience in life in general.

No matter what you would like to study, whether it is coaching, performance analysis or broadcasting, GIS is giving everyone an opportunity to work in a professional environment by offering placements in clubs at any level from National League all the way up to the Premier League.

What advice do you have for anyone looking to study at GIS?

I would recommend to anyone who is involved in football or would like to pursue a career in the industry to look into all programmes at GIS and reach out to the GIS team for more information on how to enrol. There is no better place to be if you would like to study football.