THE man helping Gareth Southgate OBE to steer England through their Qatar World Cup 2022 campaign has history with Northwich, writes Rich Wilcock.
Steve Holland MBE has been Southgate’s assistant manager since August 2013, when the pair were in charge of England under 21s.
The Stockport-born 52-year-old moved with Southgate when he took up the role as England men’s manager in 2016.
He has been relied upon as the trusted right-hand man with an England side that reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the final of last year's European Championships.
But it all started at Northwich Victoria over 30 years ago when, as a youngster, Holland played 21 games for The Trickies while also earning his coaching badges.
Part of that journey also meant coaching and developing youngsters at centres of excellence across Cheshire, including Northwich.
Holland credits that time in his life as the springboard for his successful coaching career later on.
He told Coaches' Voice: “I got involved with the Cheshire Independent Football Scheme, working at places like Wilmslow, Macclesfield, Northwich. I enjoyed it.
“I was less than 45 minutes from Manchester Utd, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, a real hotbed of football."
On the playing front, Holland started his career at Derby academy before spells at Bury and Swedish team Husqvarna FF.
He then joined Northwich Victoria, who, at that time, were in the Football Conference, the fifth tier of English football.
At 22 though and after some injury concerns, Holland decided his true passion was coaching rather than playing and took up a role at Crewe Alexandra, as a youth coach, working under Dario Gradi and their fabled academy.
He worked as part of the backroom team at Crewe for several years, rising up to the role of academy director.
After 17 years and a brief spell as manager of the first team during their time in the Championship, Holland moved away from Crewe and onto Stoke City in 2008, working as youth academy manager.
After gaining his UEFA Pro Licence in 2009, Holland moved to Chelsea to take up a role as reserve team manager, replacing Leicester City’s current manager, Brendan Rogers.
He led the side to the Premier Reserve League title in August 2009, their first since 1994 and helped develop the careers of former Congleton High School student and England forward Daniel Sturridge as well as former England internationals Ryan Bertrand and Nathaniel Chalobah.
Holland progressed to the Chelsea first team in 2011, being appointed to work alongside their new manager Andre Villas Boas.
Initially, Holland was a first-team coach when working with Boas but was made assistant manager in 2012.
He continued this role once Boas was replaced by Jose Mourinho for his second stint as manager of Chelsea.
Holland was part of the backroom staff in 2015 as Chelsea lifted the Premier League crown.
But Holland was also instrumental in Chelsea’s other successes, as they collected the League Cup, 2x FA Cups, Champions League and Europa League during his six-year spell at the West London club.
His successes caught the eye of Southgate in 2013, who asked Holland to become part of his England under 21s backroom team.
Holland left his role at Chelsea to work full-time as Southgate’s number two with England's men in 2017 and has been at his side ever side.
When asked about Holland and his impact just before the start of last year’s Euros, Southgate said: "In my view, Steve Holland is a legend.
"He’s the most experienced English coach in the country, right through from developing young players to winning the Champions League and Premier League with some of the best managers in the world."
Holland's influence is in place again in Qatar as England seek glory in the World Cup for the first time since 1966.
He will be in the dugout with the rest of the England staff when they take on Senegal in their first game of the knockout stages on Sunday.
It is certainly a long way from turning out for Northwich Victoria but lessons and skills learned then will still be being applied now.
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