MK Dons’ Liam Manning: ‘I remember having a kickabout on the M25 once’

Liam Manning is recalling the days when he would coach five nights a week at Ipswich Town’s academy, take another session on a Saturday morning, turn out for Leiston in the Eastern Counties League in the afternoon and turn up at Ipswich’s training ground at 7am the next morning to drive the minibus to a youth game anywhere across East Anglia or London. “You’d take any players that needed a lift, the equipment – we were the kit men as well – and there will be coaches all around the country that can relate to that,” he says of a time when he worked with under-nines to under-15s. “I remember having a kickabout on the M25 once. It was gridlocked, the road was closed and no one was moving anywhere. I remember doing a few keepie-uppies because we had been sat there for a few hours. They were good times.”

By his own admission, Manning, whose MK Dons team are third in League One, has had an unconventional journey into coaching. After being released by Ipswich, he dropped into non-league, playing semi-pro in Suffolk either side of a season in Iceland with Selfoss, and started coaching at 21 to supplement his income. “I wasn’t the best player. I was honest, hard-working … it’s my nice way of saying I used to keep it simple and smash into people,” he says, laughing. But those roots provide Manning with a sense of perspective. “You don’t need all the bells and whistles. Ultimately, it comes down to having really good people and a good culture where people are passionate about what they do.”

It is 4pm and Manning has just come out of a monthly board meeting, together with the sporting director, Liam Sweeting, whose savvy recruitment has helped shape a team challenging for promotion. The forward Scott Twine, who cost £300,000, and the