'You see some of the people who have graduated from the Pro Licence before and what they have done in their careers, it's exciting to be part of that' - John O'Shea on UEFA Pro Licence challenge

Former Republic of Ireland captain and defender John O’Shea has said he is excited by the challenge that awaits him in the UEFA Pro Licence programme.

The former Manchester United and Sunderland defensive mainstay has been recently installed as the Irish under-21 assistant boss to Jim Crawford in addition with his coaching role at Championship side Reading.

“Once I started hitting my 30s, I was planning for this scenario. I started my UEFA B & A Licence and it was important that I did it with the FAI, to do it back home,” said O’Shea speaking to the FAI’s communications team.

“This is a continuation of it now. I have been doing the UEFA Masters course and that has given me an insight to the business side of football with blocks on communication, marketing, the framework of competitions, etc.

“Now, the UEFA Pro Licence will help me get into management & coaching side of things.

“The path that I want to take to get into management is through coaching, as it’s something that I really enjoy. Putting your ideas across to players, watching them train initially, see how they take it on-board, and working with them on it.”

The Waterford native added: “At Reading, I’m working with two very experienced people in Mark Bowen & Eddie Niedzwiecki, while I’ve picked up a lot from various coaches & managers who I worked with during my playing career, both at club level and internationally. So, I hope that I can take those experiences and add to them.”

“You see some of the people who have graduated from the Pro Licence before and what they have done in their careers so it’s exciting to be part of that,” he concluded.

“Most of the coaching licences have evolved over the last 10 years, which is great credit to Ruud Dokter, Niall O’Regan & Craig Sexton.

“They are going to be very important over the next 18 months. We had a video call last week and they said that it will be challenging but also very rewarding, so I’m looking forward to it.”