Ryan McLaughlin has got a licence to thrill thanks to top managers such as Brian Barry-Murphy and Stephen Kenny - and now he has a licence to coach thanks to his former club Liverpool.
The St Patrick’s Athletic full-back has just completed his B badge, with the Anfield club coughing up the cash to pay for his education.
It’s the latest example of how the Premier League champions continue to look after players long after they leave Merseyside.
“I was actually on a call with the player liaison officer at the academy. I was on a call with him last week,” said McLaughlin.
“They are always checking in on you, calling for half-an-hour or 45 minutes, and catching up. They are always there if you want to do anything, they are always inviting you over to go in and watch training.”
On the pitch, McLaughlin’s focus is on Pat’s busy second half of the season, with European and FAI Cup football to look forward to along with a title challenge.
The former Northern Ireland international has made 10 first-team appearances so far this season, and is well on course to surpass last season’s tally of 16.
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He is enjoying life under Kenny, who encourages his wing-backs to get forward as much as possible.
“That’s something I really enjoy and it’s something I’ve been doing since I was a kid,” said McLaughlin.
“When I was signing for clubs, it was something I always looked for, that style of play and having the licence to go forward as a full-back.
“I’ve always felt I’ve had managers like that who allow you to do that and express yourself.
“We are obviously in a team with good talented footballers, and you obviously want to help them as much as you can too.
“It’s something that I really enjoy and something I want to go more of.”
Barry-Murphy is another coach that emphasises attacking play. He looks set to get the Cardiff City job and continue his rise up the coaching ladder - one that has taken him from Rochdale to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, where he was manager of the club’s Elite Development squad.
Currently number two to Ruud van Nistelrooy at Leicester City, Cardiff are looking to the Corkman to lead them back to the Championship after their relegation to League One.
According to McLaughlin, they are onto a winner with Barry-Murphy.
“He was brilliant for me. I really enjoyed playing under him. What we touched on earlier about giving full-backs the licence to go forward, he gave us a big licence,” he said.
“It was one of the more enjoyable times of my career. He was a brilliant coach and you could tell that he would go onto bigger things.
“I know that he went, obviously, to Man City and had close dealings with Pep (Guardiola), and now he’s Leicester assistant.
“He’s someone whose career I’d follow quite closely. If he does get another manager’s job. I’m sure he’ll do brilliant going into that transition.”
Barry-Murphy has taken an unconventional route in coaching - going from first-team coach to manager to City’s underage set-up to a Premier League number two role.
What about McLaughlin’s long-term ambitions?
One of the reasons Liverpool fork out for former players to get their coaching badges is that they might one day return to the club.
“There are obviously jobs that come up there too for after football,” said McLaughlin.
“It’s something where I’ve got a very good relationship with people at the academy at Liverpool, it was a really good period of time when I was there.
“I’ve always had very good things to say about them because they have treated me well.
“It’s probably quite rare for some clubs, especially a club as big as Liverpool, they don’t have to do that (pay for coaching courses).
“But they look after the players when they’ve left and are on their own journey, which is nice to see.”
He added: “Not everyone can retire and have unlimited money from playing in the Premier League for so many years. In football, coaching is the next step for a lot of players.
“It happened to my brother (Conor), for example, when he retired at 30. He retired early enough and he went into scouting (with the City Football Group, Manchester City’s parent company).
“It makes that transition from playing to the other side of the game a lot easier, when you have that help, so we are obviously very grateful to Liverpool for putting that on for us.
“Obviously I’m 30, coming up to 31. When you are going to be finishing in a few years, hopefully I’ve got a good few years left in me, but after that you want to have those options, and obviously the A Licence would be the next step for me.
“I’m not sure if I want to be a coach, but it’s something that I want to have if I do fall into that and I do really enjoy it.”
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