He didn't actually set the turf on fire during his playing days in the English Championship League but former Bolton Wanderers defender Mark Seagraves is certainly trying to make a contribution in Indian football with introduction of structured coaching at grassroots level.
The 48-year-old Seagraves, a product of the Liverpool's famous youth system, is founder of 'Football Faktory' -- a soccer school, which aims to impart basic skills among the kids, who aspire to take up the beautiful game seriously.
"We have got a football school in Dwarka and one in Goa. Youngsters are taught basic skills thrice-a-week, round the year. At the moment, we work in the age-group between 5 and 16 years. Hopefully, we can provide a supply line where these kids go onto represent their school, state and then go on to represent the country," Seagraves told PTI in an interaction.
The Football School is planning to hold workshop at various educational institutions across Delhi to scout for talented aspirants.
"While selecting these schools, good infrastructure will be paramount. The pitch has to be a good one. The school must have good infrastructure. We will start with the basics, how to control a ball, kick a ball and take it from there," he said.
"What we don't want to do is spread ourselves too thin and too quickly. Then we can't give quality training and that's what we're about," said Seagraves, who had 42 appearances for Manchester City during their Championship days (a rung below Premiership).
The aspiring kids will get basic knowledge of skills from the UEFA's license holder coaches.
"There is a lack of professionalism in terms of football. A lot of coaches here have no experience and also no qualifcation and they end up teaching kids the wrong stuff. We will have two coaches. The Indian coach will be mentored by the foreign coach. At this level, it all boils down to quality of coaches," Seagraves.
