Chris Casper Back As Youth Coach

Drifter

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Chris Casper will return to where it all began this week and take up the rains as youth coach at Manchester United. Having been part of that famous youth side including, Paul Scholes, the Neville`s and David Beckham, the son of Burnley's legendary striker Frank Casper, left Grimsby today.


Chris, who made two appearances for United, was a cultured defender who was robbed of his career at just 24 whilst playing for Reading against Cardiff. The horrific injury resulted in a show trial that netted Chris a million in damages.

Read more: Grimsby Town - Casper In As Man Utd Youth Guru
 
snootyjim said:
I thought he was robbed of his career playing for United?
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He broke his leg at Reading.

'That tackle was always in my mind'

Chris Casper: unfulfilled promise

I was a member of the celebrated Manchester United side that won the 1992 FA Youth Cup and was one of the first to get a run-out in the first team, in the Coca-Cola Cup in 1994. But it didn't work out and in the end I joined Reading in November 1998. It was against Cardiff City on Boxing Day 1999 that my life changed for ever. A tackle from midfielder Richard Carpenter snapped my left leg in half. It turned out to be a double fracture that kept me out for 15 months. I was very angry, very bitter.

When I was recovering, I did all the work given to me by the sports psychologist, the mental toughness exercises. Even so, when I came back, it didn't seem quite right. I think, mentally, the injury had taken so much out of me. It was such a bad tackle that it was always at the back of my mind, no matter how strong-minded I tried to be. When I was playing and training again, I'd get a knock on the leg and the pain would be unbearable for maybe a week. That was just blocking a ball, and as a defender you've got to be able to do that. At the end of 2001, I retired, aged 26.

During my recuperation, I used the facilities at Bath University and, when I retired, I coached their side, Team Bath, to the first round proper of the FA Cup in 2002. Then I became youth-team coach at Bury when I was 28. The chance came to become caretaker manager, in September 2005, and now I have the job full-time.
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Injury time: Chris Casper's unfulfilled promise | Sport | The Observer

:( Poor guy, can't imagine what it must be like to have your dream career destroyed in an instant.

Welcome back Casper! He started the 1992 Youth Cup Final, at centre-back I'm guessing.
 
Hopefully with his playing career being cut short he'll be determined to make up for it by having a fantastic coaching (and possibly management) career in the game.

I'm always a little wary of getting excited about any individual until I see some evidence of their competence. What we desperately need in this country is young and highly intelligent coaches and managers who are hungry to understand the game and to innovate.

It's easy to follow a coaching manual, but the real key to producing players, in my opinion, is having coaches who have a vision, flair, and an intelligence and philosophy about the game, who can also transmit that to players.

At the moment we appear to be trapped in a self-fulfilling prophecy where the people who were brought up in the cultural malaise that is English football (at the management and coaching level) don't know any better, and that gets passed on to each new generation.
 
Good player for the youth team, reminded me of Alan Hansen.Sad the way it ended for him but nice he's back
 
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