The former Norwich, Ipswich and Covent ry stopper talks to Grassroots about his new project: Sells goalkeeping academy

 

INTERVIEW

With nearly 400 professional matches under his belt for the likes of Ipswich Town, Norwich City and Millwall, goalkeeper Andy Marshall now puts his vast knowledge and experience into improving the goalkeepers of the future: by opening Sells Goalkeeping Academy. Sells is one of the world’s largest goalkeeper glove companies and produce gloves for Robert Green, Ben Foster and Heurelho Gomes among others. As a new friend of the magazine, Andy took the time to tell us about the importance of grassroots football and his aspitations for thr future.

 

Q. What first inspired you to be a goalkeeper?

A. When I was young I was playing for my local side, and our goalkeeper left the team, so I initially only went in goal to help the team out. It turned out I was pretty good and things went on from there. I started taking goalkeeping seriously and Peter Shilton was a bit of a hero of mine at the time.

 

Q. How important was early level & grassroots coachingto benefit of your career?

A. I was part of the generation where this was just starting to happen. Nowadays thingsare a lot more advanced. A fortune has been spent and first batches are just coming through from the various grassroots programs.

Hopefully clubs of the future will see the benefits of a dedicated coaching system.

 

Q.] What have been your career highlights to date?

A. I have been lucky to have a many highlights in my career. Winning the European Cup at England U18 level is right up there, as well as Eupropean qualification for six seasons. My biggest high has to be playing in the 2004 FA Cup final for Millwall against Manchester United.

 

Q. Your now a director of SellsGoalkeeping Academy. Can you tell us a bit about Sells, and what SGA has to offer?

A. Sells Academy is an academy solely for goalkeepers. It is the only one of its kind and it aims to offer young

goalkeepers at grassroots level the chance to be given quality coaching, training and advice at the highest level buy

a team of pro’s and ex pro’s. A lot of pro clubs still don’t offer quality coaching and goalkeepers up to the age of

16 are not at a high level. Sells hopes to improve that.

 

Q. It’s great to see current and ex pro’s giving back to the grassroots game – How do you feel the grassroots

game has changed since you were first involved?

A. It has changed massively for the better. The facilities used

to be really bad, but the Labour government has put a lot of money into the Football Foundation and grassroots

sports. Now the facilities are far superior and there is much more opportunity available. On the downside

there is alot of pressure on kids these days and it means that alot of kids aren’t playing just for fun anymore.

 

Q. Sells Academy is involved with Acorn’s Childrens Hospice. Is it a charity close to your heart?

A. Acorn’s Chilrens Charity were given a two year sponsorship deal for the Aston Villa team shirts free of charge – something that would have cost thousands. While i was a player there we went to visit the hospice and it was a real eye opener and has become something really close to my heart. We also back a charity called Sports Connections

run by ex pros. Sports Connections offers children in schools and communities throughout the country coaching schemes with fun high on the list.

 

Q. What are your aims for SGA in the future?

A. We currently have seven academys open and our aim

is to keep on establishing more centres throughout the UK. We want to get more coaches and kids on board and keep building this as quickly as possible to get it on a national and then global scale. We believe our centres can raise the standard of goalkeepers and produce stars of the future.

 

For more news and interviews, of grassroots football in the Essex area please go to http://www.grassrootsmag.co.uk/