“Football obsessive.”
Ask people who know Steve Holland well how they would describe the former Chelsea and England coach and the same phrase is repeated.
“Football is his life,” a source told Sport. “Whether it’s Champions League, thoughts on players or something else, he has a hell of a brain when it comes to football detail.”
It explains why, instead of sitting back and reflecting on the success of Manchester United’s 3-2 win at Arsenal, Holland spent the return journey to North West England going through footage of the victory with head coach Michael Carrick and the rest of his backroom team to come up with a plan for Sunday’s home game against Fulham.
On Monday, while the players were given a day off, Holland and company were at United’s Carrington training ground, honing the sessions they hope will lead to a third straight Premier League win.
Attention to detail is a Holland character trait, something he has relied on since joining Crewe in 1992, after concluding he would advance further as a coach than he did as a player if he dedicated himself to the profession at a young age.
Holland, 55, believes only former England boss Graham Taylor was younger than him when he gained what is now known as the Uefa A Licence coaching badge, when he was 21.
Of the rest of United’s new coaching set-up, boss Carrick had not even started secondary school when Holland began his coaching journey. Jonathan Woodgate is slightly older than Carrick. Jonny Evans and Travis Binnion are younger.
It is why Holland’s presence – and, through his England experience, ability to deal with intense pressure – is so vital to Carrick and his coaching team and why he is getting so much credit for the positive start to a tenure that has already delivered victories against Manchester City and Arsenal and taken United up to fourth in the Premier League.
“He won’t be bothered about the scrutiny and pressure at Manchester United,” says former Radio Stoke editor Graham McGarry, who got to know Holland well during his 16-year stint with Crewe.
“He will take it all in his stride and just do his job.
“His training sessions are fantastic. You can already see the Manchester United players are responding to them.”
Not that Holland is likely to be talking about it in public.
A second trait that keeps being noted is that he is a man of few words, someone who is difficult to read. “You never knew whether he was quietly content or silently raging,” said a source who has worked with him.
But that mask can help when it comes to delivering messaging. The less someone speaks, the argument goes, the more likely their audience is to listen when something is being said.
It is far too early to assess Holland’s work. It is just over two weeks since the coaching team were introduced to United’s players as a group for the first time, but several well-placed sources stress the coaching team work as a collective.
It should not be dismissed either that while Darren Fletcher didn’t win his two games in interim charge, he reset the formation following Ruben Amorim’s dismissal on 5 January. The Scot began to lift the mood. He also recalled Kobbie Mainoo. It meant key players Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo returned from the Africa Cup of Nations to a stable environment, which gave Carrick the best chance of success.
Changes to the training programme have been made, according to sources. The days are now shorter, but more intense. There is a different energy about sessions and more focus on individual work with specific players. The matchday routine for home games has been tweaked so players now arrive at Old Trafford slightly closer to kick-off.
Carrick was given the job ahead of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, in part, because of the work he does ‘on the grass’. But Holland ran the sessions with England, allowing Gareth Southgate to take an overview.
In consultation with Southgate, Holland concluded England’s formation had been ‘too stodgy’ in qualification for the 2018 World Cup, triggering the switch to a back three. “Harry Maguire’s ability on the was ball fundamental,” explained Holland in a half-hour dissection of his work for the Coaches Voice podcast in 2021.
Speaking to Sky Sports before the Manchester City game, Maguire recalled his own dealings with Holland.
“He was magnificent for England,” he said. “We all knew what we were doing.
“I can remember a lot of time working with Steve and he really does drill in tactically how to defend and how to keep the ball out of the back of the net.
“It’s basics but really disciplined basics. I feel he will have a big part to play in making our defensive record a lot better.”
Since leaving his role with England following Euro 2022, Holland has had a short, unsuccessful spell in Japan and undertook some work for the League Managers’ Association.
What he has not done is court media attention.
The Coaches Voice chats and others with the Football Association are rare examples of Holland being interviewed.
“The perfect number two,” as he has been described.
The insight that does exist is revealing.
“With any session the more the players are enjoying their work the more you will get out of them,” he explained in an interview published by the FA.
“It is important to try to find creative ways of delivering repetitive practice to stimulate the players’ interest.
“The key always with practice is the transfer into the game. It is important to try and maximise the possibility of a transfer by not steering too far from the reality of the game.”
He may be new to Manchester United but navigating the fall-out from a departing boss is something Holland has plenty of experience of.
It was then Blues manager Andre Villas-Boas who elevated him from the youth ranks to the senior team at Chelsea. “I was on holiday in Spain,” recalled Holland. “I took the call on day two and returned home on day three. My wife still reminds me of that regularly.”
Villas-Boas was sacked after nine months back in 2012. His successor, Roberto di Matteo, won the Champions League but was dumped after eight.
Behind the scenes, Holland was impressing. He survived the tenures of Rafael Benitez, Jose Mourinho and Guus Hiddink before quitting to concentrate solely on England after Chelsea won the Premier League in Antonio Conte’s first season in charge.
“At a big club, every day is a drama,” Holland told the Coaches Voice. “It is never quite as bad as it is made out to be but your ability to handle these moments are decisive.
“My experience of life at Chelsea has taught me it is about winning. That winning mentality doesn’t include feeling sorry for yourself or making excuses. It means you analyse and push to do better next time.”
They seem like wise words given the intensity of the noise that surrounds Manchester United, who will look to add more weight to claims their revival under Carrick and co is more than a flash in the pan when they host Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.
From the outside looking in, it seems Holland is already having a significant positive impact at English football’s fallen giants.
The job might be tough, and the demands might be high, but it is fair to assume the Stockport-born ‘football obsessive’ is in his element.
