Bristol Rovers Academy coach Ian Tincknell will bring an end to his illustrious coaching career this summer.
Tincknell has made the decision to retire, after 46 years working as a coach across the South West, having spent the last 13 years of his career with Rovers.
Having worked with the U9s and U10s at Rovers, Tincknell has played a pivotal role in the development of pre-Academy players for the Club over the last decade.
“I’ve been coaching a long time,” Tincknell reflected. “I started coaching in 1978 and it’s been a wonderful career.
“I started off in local football, coached at Weston-super-Mare with the U18s and then I got the call to go over to Bristol City. I spent around 14 years there and, much like I have with Rovers, I worked with the pre-Academy, and I also set up the Girls’ Centre of Excellence. We build that up really well. On the boys’ side, I worked with a lot of really good coaches and some really good players who went on to be professionals.
“I joined Rovers in 2011 and, again, I’ve worked across the pre-Academy and the U9s and U10s and I’ve really loved every single minute of it.
“I always wanted to be a football coach and it’s such a feeling of satisfaction to know you’ve helped a young player go on to achieve their goals. It’s fantastic to see them out there playing, and some of them have even gone on to play in the Premier League which is just wonderful to see.”
The Academy has seen a host of talent progress through into the first team in recent seasons, with goalkeeper Jed Ward and defender Luca Hoole establishing themselves in Matt Taylor’s side, while U18s Player of the Season Kofi Shaw made his League One debut away at Wigan Athletic at the end of the 2023/24 season.
Tincknell believes there is even more success to come in the Academy’s future.
He continued: “I think the Academy is definitely going in the right direction. We can see some really good players coming through the age groups here and, of course, the aim is to get one or two of them into the first team. We’ve seen the likes of Jed and Luca come recently and I think we’ve got a good chance of seeing even more come through.”
Tincknell’s new book - ‘Football Coaching Practices From Grassroots To Academy’ - offers extensive details about routines, exercises and drills for use in training sessions, suitable for developing players of all ages, as well as the benefits of each individual session.
Having pulled the book together during the coronavirus lockdowns, Tincknell hopes his ideas and training sessions can help inspire the next generation of coaches.
“I started writing the book during COVID-19,” he added. “It was something I had always wanted to do. I had loads of different bits on paper at home and I thought that I couldn’t just leave it on scraps of paper, so I was determined to try and put it together as a book.
“I had some really good people helping me from Weston-super-Mare who helped me put the book together. There are over 100 practices in there, so I hope there’s some good ideas in there for both new and experienced coaches.
“A lot of young players I’ve worked with in my career have also gone on to be coaches now too so I hope this can help them develop their own journeys.”
‘Football Coaching Practices From Grassroots To Academy’ can be purchased now here!