Former Bristol City management team host development session with Millfield footballers

Millfield footballers took part in a professional development session with former Championship league management duo Lee Johnson and Jamie McAllister. The students were able to experience a simulation of a professional training session, including structured practices and games, strategy presentations and a Q&A with the managers.

The day was also beneficial to Millfield’s 19 football coaches, who were able to learn from the top management team and apply their knowledge to coaching over 15 teams at Millfield Senior School, which is one of the top sports schools in the country. Football is Millfield’s largest participation sport across both genders with almost 400 students involved in the programme and 3 girls’ teams with nearly 60 players. The senior players have an opportunity to experience a programme that is equivalent to Academy Cat I standard.

Lee Johnson is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently head coach of EFL Championship club Bristol City. Prior to becoming a manager, he played for Brighton & Hove Albion, Yeovil Town, Bristol City and Derby County. Johnson made his managerial debut with Oldham Athletic in 2013, took charge of Barnsley between 2015 and 2016, and spent four years as head coach of Bristol City until July 2020. Lee’s assistant manager Jamie McAllister is a Scottish former professional footballer who played for Queen of the South, Aberdeen and Exeter City. Jamie moved into management in 2016.

Millfield’s Director of Football, Darren Robinson, was recently appointed in September 2020 after serving as Head of Performance and Recruitment for Birmingham City FC and Head of Performance for Huddersfield Town, Hull City and Nottingham Forest.

He says, “It’s been wonderful to welcome such experienced managers to Millfield to work with our students. Part of our programme is to give players industry experience to prepare them for the next step of their journey in football as a player, practitioner, coach or administrator. What the students received with Lee and Jamie was a true representation of what to expect from a Championship club, including the standard coaches expect and the motivation involved. We’re delighted to have been able to offer the students that feedback while still at school.”

Lee Johnson said, “It’s really good to see a school that is competing at such a high level, not just in terms of the quality coaches that they have but also the people that are involved in every aspect of the school. You can see that the players are bright individuals that the school is nurturing and, certainly from what I’ve seen on the football front, there’s some real talent there as well.”

Millfield’s Football programme has a notable reputation that is equivalent to an academy level development pathway, with former students including England and Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings; many alumni now play and coach overseas in Scandinavia, Europe and the United States. The Millfield Football Programme spans almost 15 teams, with individual and team training sessions, athletic development, nutrition, performance analysis, psychological support, a competitive fixture schedule and friendlies against academies. There is a full girls’ programme supported by the coaching team. The Millfield campus consists of 11 full-sized pitches, three training areas, and access to other multi sport facilities including Olympic pool and athletics track with cross sport sharing to provide a varied coaching experience for all students.