FERGIE OFFERS ADVICE TO COACHING 'STUDENTS'
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has been sharing his wisdom with some of the country's coaching talent in the first Uefa Pro Licence course to be held in England.Ferguson and AS Roma boss Fabio Capello were among the guest speakers for the three-day residential course in Leeds this weekend.
The event is being run by the Football Association under technical director Howard Wilkinson as part of his wide-reaching review of the coaching structure in England, and is the first event in a year-long process which will include distance learning modules, club visits, overseas trips and two further residential weekends.

Sammy Lee, recently elevated by national coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, is among the 12-strong party, which also includes Noel Blake, Terry Burton, Steve Cotterill, Mervyn Day, Dario Gradi, Stewart Houston, Chris Hughton, Dave Jones, Lawrie Sanchez, Alan Smith and Mick Wadsworth.

``This pilot course aims to improve the coaching and managing of elite teams in England,'' said Wilkinson. ``It's another building block in a series of proposals that began with the Charter for Quality and will be concluded by the opening of the National Football Centre in 2004. The course breaks new ground in its use of distance-learning modules via the Internet.

``Not only do we hope that it will make the students better coaches, it will also open up avenues outside England that were previously inaccessible. The FA has committed itself to only employing people who have the necessary formal qualifications, and the UEFA licences will play an increasingly important role in coaching in this country over the next couple of years.''