Last updated 09:47, Saturday, 01 November 2008

JAMES TOSE knows he’ll never get a manager’s job on the strength of a glittering playing career – but then neither did Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho or Rafa Benitez.

Aiming for the pro game: James Tose

Tose is one of the most highly qualified British football coaches never to have kicked a ball as a pro.

He was even on the same UEFA ‘A’ licence coaching course at Lilleshall as Roy Keane, but while the former Manchester United captain has guided Sunderland into the top half of the Premiership, Tose is right at the other end of the football food chain as co-manager of Penrith.

He combines managing the Northern League club with his job as a community coach at Brunton Park, running kids’ soccer camps and coaching sessions in schools.

At just 29, he’s packed in bags of coaching experience which he hopes will one day land him a place in a dug-out at a full-time club.

Tose said: “Everyone has to have an ambition – and mine is to be involved in the professional game one day.

“I look down from the stand at Brunton Park and see John Ward, Dennis Booth and Greg Abbott in the dug-out and know I want to be there – thinking about it excites me.

“I hope it will be with Carlisle because I love the club after being part of it for the last five years but if another club came along and offered me the chance to work with the first team I would take it.”

He only needs to glance at the United technical area to see the stress and strains of management with the Blues enduring a dismal run of nine defeats in 10 games, which has left fans calling for John Ward to be sacked and the board wobbling over whether to back him or sack him.

One minute, a manager is everyone’s hero, loved by fans, respected by players and the board of directors. Then, a couple of defeats later, they’re dead man walking experiencing the harrowing depths of despair.

But it’s not enough to de-rail Tose from his plan to become a manager – an ambition which grew from the broken dreams of having his chances of a playing career wrecked.

As a promising young footballer growing up in his native Low Fell in Gateshead, he played in the same boys’ team as Carlisle captain Paul Thirlwell.

Tose was given a place at Middlesbrough’s school of excellence, while Thirlwell went to Sheffield Wednesday.

But while Thirlwell went on to play for Sunderland, Derby and Carlisle, Tose faced heartbreak as the chance to go to Doncaster Rovers ended when they scrapped their youth system.

Instead he went to St John’s University in York to study sports science, while also starting to take his coaching badges.

His first coaching role wasn’t quite what he had in mind – it was coaching York University’s women’s team – and he readily accepts not having had a professional career means he will have to take the longer route to fulfilling his dream.

Yet being able to boast a top-level playing career does not guarantee a player will become a great coach. Ferguson, Mourinho and Wenger are among the world’s greatest managers despite never being top players.

And for every footballing great who smoothly graduates from playing to coaching, there is another who is destined not to do so. For every Johan Cruyff there is a George Best; for every Frank Rijkaard a Pele.

Tose said: “When the doors shut on your playing career, you think that’s it and it takes a few years to get a grasp of what else you can do.

“I realised that coaching was for me. My long-term aim is to be a first team coach and I have the confidence and the belief in my ability to be able to do that.

“It’s going to take time because I haven’t been a pro. I would like to think I’ve gained ten years of coaching experience which could put me ahead of some pros leaving the game and looking for coaching jobs.

“I don’t think not having been a pro will go against me. I’ve heard about top pros on coaching courses who have totally frozen and couldn’t handle the coaching assessments. If you’re prepared to work hard, you can do what you want in life.”

Tose spends his days working as part of United’s five-man community team, headed by ex-star John Halpin, which coaches up to 700 kids a week all over Cumbria.

He is also cutting his management teeth in non-league football - a world away from the pressure of professional football but nevertheless a great place to learn his trade.

He led Harraby Catholic Club to the 2007 Northern Alliance championship – the first Cumbrian team to win the title in 117 years.

They won the title by 15 points with six games to go and lost only twice all year.

Earlier this summer, he was appointed Penrith’s joint manager, alongside former Carlisle midfielder Richard Prokas, and the pair have guided the Blues to fifth place in the Northern League First Division.

Penrith are still confident their move to a new modern stadium at Frenchfields will go ahead despite work on the new ground stalling after a funding hitch. When they do eventually move from their ageing current home on Southend Road, it will spell an exciting new era for the club which is owned and funded by Penrith multi-millionaire businessman Ges Ratcliffe.

Tose said: “We want a team worthy of the new stadium, so we’re working hard to do that. We will have a new stadium, a new management team and player and we intend to put Penrith on the map.

“Positive things are happening at the club and everyone wants to be part of it.

“People who come down to watch have commented on how well we play. Hard work is the minimum requirement but we also have some talented lads who shine through like Mark Birch, Michael Reed and Alan Gray.

“The move to the new ground is just a matter of time and out ambition is to get the team into the Conference North.”

And if he achieves that, he’ll enhance his reputation further – and maybe even land a job in professional football.

AMANDA LITTLE