The Big Interview with York City goalkeeping coach Andy Collett

MICHAEL Ingham has been set the challenge of being named in League Two’s Team of the Year next season.

York City’s new goalkeeping coach Andy Collett achieved that accolade in 1999/2000 when he was guarding Darlington’s net and he feels Ingham must aim to succeed Gillingham’s Stuart Nelson, who earned the honour last term.

Despite turning 33 next month, Ingham will also be told by Collett that he should still have the desire to play at a higher level than where the Minstermen currently ply their trade.

“I told Scott Flinders last season that if he was happy at Hartlepool then he’s not the type of ’keeper I want to work with and he bought into that,” Collett explained.

“You have got to want to improve yourself and play at the highest level and I will be saying the same to Michael.

“He is here to be the best in the division and, if he is, then the club should do reasonably well. That’s all about being professional and having ambition.”

This pre-season is not the first time Collett and Ingham’s paths have crossed.

Back in 2002, when Ingham was 22, he was drafted in on loan from Sunderland for a month by Darlington, where Collett had been sidelined by injury.

The Middlesbrough-born coach has been an interested observer of Ingham’s career ever since and said: “Michael hadn’t played many games when he came to Darlington but was a very confident young man with natural ability.

“He was a good size and kicked the ball reasonably well. He probably stayed too long at Sunderland and should have got his career going a bit earlier by playing regularly but big clubs often keep young ’keepers until they are 24 or 25 whereas outfield players are in the team from 19 or 20.

“He’s got his career back on track at York and I am 100 per cent sure I can improve him. I’ve watched his progress at Wrexham and here as, being a goalkeeper coach, you keep an eye on how lads are getting on and I know he’s done reasonably well for York.

“He’s a good age, which played a part in my decision to come here. I wouldn’t have been interested in coming if the ’keepers were at the back end of their careers.

“I’ve got to be able to do something with them, rather than nursing them through games.”

Collett is less familiar with City’s on-loan signing, Chris Kettings, but believes the 6ft 4in tall Scotland Under-21 international has the required frame to thrive in his profession, adding: “I haven’t come across Chris previously, but he looks to be a fantastic addition.

“He is young, hungry, athletic and tall. I wasn’t the biggest but I want my ’keepers to be commanding in the area because, in my experience of League Two, a lot of balls come into the box and, at 6ft 3in or 6ft 4in, you are equipped to deal with those types of things.

“I can’t make people grow but both Chris and Michael already have the make-up to come out and dominate. The division is all about physicality and you have to be able to compete.

“I will also be looking at their distribution and probably change the way they play in terms of their starting positions with the back four squeezing further up the pitch.”

Despite Ingham’s current status as the club’s first choice between the sticks, Collett will also be encouraging Kettings to fight for that place.

“Chris should look at this as a fantastic opportunity to work with me,” Collett reasoned. “Any young lad I have worked with I have improved them 100 per cent.

“He’s at the start of his career and my coaching will be different to that he’s had so far. It will be a learning process for him and part of that is competing for a place in the first team.

“Michael has played in the past and you would expect that he will start the season again, but it’s down to the pair of them. He needs to be pushed along because all ’keepers need competition so they don’t rest on their laurels.

“Chris has been brought somewhere he may have a chance of playing and to make the goalkeeping department stronger and Michael Ingham stronger.”

City’s last goalkeeper coach Fred Barber was renowned for demanding high fitness levels from his students, but Collett likes to place a bigger emphasis on what happens in the 18-yard box.

On his approach to the job, the Durham-based, 39-year-old said: “I’m not a massive fan of making the ’keepers run up and down the pitch. Technically, everything I do tends to be in the goal area.

“I work on angles a lot and everything is match specific really. Goalkeepers have to be good with their distribution and act as an extra outfield player nowadays.

“They have to hit areas accurately and consistently because you start things off from the back. One ’keeper is a lot older than the other, but I am sure Michael is keen to improve and I am here to do that.

“He will be learning new aspects of his game even at 33 because you are never the finished article. Chris is starting his career so will be open to new ideas on the mental and physical sides.”

Collett has worked for the likes of David Hodgson, Dave Penney, Neale Cooper, Micky Barron and John Hughes in the past and admitted that teaming up with former Norwich and Northern Ireland chief Nigel Worthington added to the attraction of his new role.

He said: “The gaffer is a big name at this level but the thing that has impressed me more is his professionalism because I would class myself as being a very professional person who would like to coach at the very top and I am confident I have the ability to do that. I’d say he is different to most managers in that he is articulate and professional in the way he wants to move clubs forward.”

In addition to Ingham, Collett has also been a member of the same playing squad as City stalwart David McGurk, who was beginning his professional career at Darlington just as the then Quakers ’keeper was making his final appearances due to injury.

On his memories of that period, Collett recalled: “He was a good footballer with a good brain and, even though he wasn’t the quickest, he read the game very well. He wasn’t a first-choice under David Hodgson at the time and he was given the opportunity to play elsewhere.

“I didn’t think that was a great decision at the time but he’s become a good player at this level. He’s also very good friends with my wife’s brother, so we’ve kept in touch and seen each other at various functions over the years.”

City’s newest addition to the backroom coaching staff is no stranger to Bootham Crescent either, having stood in the visitors’ goal on several occasions for Bristol Rovers and Darlington.

On that experience, he said: “I remember standing in front of the David Longhurst Stand and big Jon Parkin put one past me in the bottom corner once, but York is a wonderful place. I’m from Middlesbrough and live in Durham, which is similar to York.

“I’ve come down for many a weekend here and it was never hostile at Bootham Crescent, just friendly banter more than anything. I enjoyed coming here as a player, but hope the fans won’t be giving me as much stick now I’m a coach.”