Michael Duff single-minded as ‘Little Cheltenham’ take giant steps

Last week the trademark Cheltenham roar could be heard a little more than a mile away. Michael Duff spent training sessions competing with the hum of helicopters parachuting the rich and famous into the Cotswolds but occasionally he asks his squad to tune into another frequency to ensure they stay grounded: the sound of children playing football at Swindon Village primary school next door.

“We’ve done it a couple of times at the start of training,” Cheltenham’s manager says. “‘Lads, just listen. Just run around and listen.’ There is no thought of egos or anything like that – they haven’t got an ego because they’re six years old; they’re just running around enjoying themselves. ‘Enjoy yourself, what a great place to be.’”

It is an approach inspired by watching Sean Dyche cut players down to size in pursuit of a strong culture at Burnley, where Duff spent 12 seasons as a player, making his Premier League debut at 31, and coached the under-18s and under-23s before returning to Cheltenham, for whom he signed as a trainee in 1997. Cheltenham’s strength stems from the unity fostered by Duff, who lifted the League Two title last season.

On taking over he enlisted the help of former Royal Marines, who later put the squad through their paces in the Forest of Dean, leading two players to come to blows. A conversation with Burnley’s sports psychologist, Simon Clarkson, when they discussed John Naber’s approach to shaving four seconds off his 100m backstroke time to win gold at the 1976 Olympics, resonates to this day. “You have to keep chipping away,” he says. “But you can’t cut corners. You get your days off and your family time but when you’re in, you’re in. There’s no going through the motions.”

Duff is an affable, engaging and