Adam Monaghan has revealed that he will take inspiration from top coaches to help develop Vale of Leven’s 2005 team.
The Vale skipper is stepping into the dugout to coach the Millburn under-16s this season and is looking forward to passing on advice to the next generation of Vale players, including his own son Sean.
Adam, who started his career at St Johnstone before spells with Dumbarton and Queen’s Park, said: “It’ll be two years since I last coached at Dumbarton Riverside but I’ve always said it was something I wanted to do from when I was much younger.
“I try to take a wee bit from all the different coaches I’ve worked under.
“At the Vale, Hugh Hamill, Shug Ward and Alan Brown all have some really good stuff that I’ve used with boys before, when I was at Riverside.
“There are some I did at St Johnstone when I was in my younger days with Owen Coyle and Derek McInnes. I can’t quite remember the spacing and everything exactly but they will be something different to bring to the kids.
“When I was at Queen’s Park Gardner Speirs did a lot of possession-based stuff that was really good too.
“The biggest advice I’d look to pass on to the kids is to believe in yourself. Don’t doubt yourself.
“I used to get dead nervous. At St Johnstone when I was asked to train with the first team I’d always find myself getting dead worked up. If you weren’t good enough then you wouldn’t be there so always believe in your own ability.”
Adam’s involvement comes at an exciting time for the Alexandria side as they launch an academy aiming to give local kids a pathway to senior football and enter the new West of Scotland League.
And that pathway could see Adam and Sean being teammates before too long.
The 31-year-old said: “I love it at the Vale. Even if I wasn’t getting a game I think I’d stay here, just hanging about.
“The academy is a great idea and I think the club did the right thing not rushing into it. If you were at the Vale at 2005 level or whatever then you’ll hopefully want to stay with the club the whole way through.
“It’s a dead exciting time for the club.
“Playing with Sean would be fun, although I don’t think he’d like being in the same team as me. We’d just end up arguing.”
