Dr. Noel Dempsey

Area of expertise

• Coach Education and Curriculum Design
• Coach Education Policy
• Developing the Coaching Process

Industry expertise

• Football Coach (Manchester City FC)
• Former FA Coach Developer and Mentor

• Coaching in Development/Performance Environments
• Coach Education and Development
• Coach Education and Curriculum Design
• Player Development

• PhD
• PGCE
• MSc/BSc
• UEFA A Football Coaching License
• Advanced Youth Award (AYA) – Youth Development Phase
• HEA Fellow
• CIMSPA Advanced Coach Practitioner
• Member – League Coaches Association (LCA)
• Member – Cluster for Research into Coaching (CRiC)

Academic Article Publications:

• O’Riordan, D., & Dempsey, N. (2025). A Cautionary Tale of Policy Development and Enactment in Sport Coach Education: Counting the Cost… Sports Coaching Review, 1-23.
• Dempsey, N., Wood, S., Chapman, R., Roberts, S. J., & Cronin, C. (2024). The challenges of navigating different spaces and contexts in collaborative doctoral research in sport coaching. Sports Coaching Review, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/21640629.2024.2343575
• Dempsey, N., Cope, E., Richardson, D. J., Littlewood, M. A., & Cronin, C. (2022). An examination of content knowledge in formal coach education curriculum. Sport, Education and Society, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2022.2131761
• Dempsey, N., Cope, E., Richardson, D. J., Littlewood, M. A., & Cronin, C. J. (2021). Less may be more: how do coach developers reproduce “learner-centred” policy in practice?. Sports Coaching Review, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/21640629.2020.1866851
• Dempsey, N. M., Richardson, D. J., Cope, E., & Cronin, C. J. (2020). Creating and disseminating coach education policy: a case of formal coach education in grassroots football. Sport, Education and Society, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2020.1802711

Academic Book Chapter Contributions:

• Griggs, G., Elliott, R., Dempsey, N., & Scott, N. (2025). A race to the bottom: The recruitment of pre-academy children into Premier League football academies. In Families, Pre-School Sport, and Physical Activity (pp. 91-102). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003483397/families-pre-school-sport-physical-activity-georgia-allen-baker-philippa-velija
• Dempsey, N., & Carlisle, R. (2025). Coaching in the Youth Development Phase. In Wild, C. (Eds). Football Coaching: Putting the Theory into Practice (pp. 84-97). https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003464013-7/coaching-youth-development-phase-noel-dempsey-rob-carlisle
• Dempsey, N., Chapman, R., & Cronin, C. (2024) Assessment in Coach Education: A Disjointed Piece of the Curriculum Puzzle?. In McCarthey, L. (Eds) Sport Coach Education, Development, and Assessment (pp. 49-61). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003472438-4/assessment-coach-education-noel-dempsey-reece-chapman-colum-cronin
• Leeder, T.M., Dempsey, N.M., & Chapman, R. (2022). Understanding Grassroots Football Coach Education in England through Creative Fiction: Connecting the Past to the Present. In Leeder, T.M. (Eds.) Coach Education in Football – Contemporary Issues and Global Perspectives (pp. 73-85). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Coach-Education-in-Football-Contemporary-Issues-and-Global-Perspectives/Leeder/p/book/9780367709792
• Chapman, R., Dempsey, N., Cronin, C., & Richardson, D. (2019). Developing “the community” through the effective coaching of grassroots football: What’s the role of coach education? In L. Gale & B. Ives (Eds.), Coaching in the community: Developing knowledge and insight. Manchester: An MMU Cluster for Research into Coaching Publication.

Professional Book Published:

• Dempsey, N. (2016). Youth Soccer Development: Progressing the Person to Improve the Player. Oakamoor Publishing. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Youth-Soccer-Development-Progressing-Improve-ebook/dp/B01C7SF214/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1B1SOLKC0211E&keywords=youth+soccer+development&qid=1672354557&sprefix=youth+soccer+development%2Caps%2C74&sr=8-1