Simon Clifford

Simon Darcy Clifford is an English football coach, pioneer, and a businessman most commonly known for introducing Brazilian training techniques into the UK with his Brazilian Soccer Schools, being the very first of their kind.

Clifford has worked in football for the last 30 years, from youth to senior and non-league to Premier League, with a number of clubs and individual professional players.

Clifford currently works with a group of highly talented youth football players through his one-to-one coaching company, Integer Football.

This company is based in Harrogate/Leeds and has had some great success in producing professional players over the recent years.

Brought up in Loftus in the North Riding of Yorkshire, he moved to Leeds to study at the age of eighteen.

It was there that he later started his teaching career in a primary school.

He began training the children of the school using techniques derived from Brazilian football.

He soon began an after school club that would become the first of a now worldwide chain of soccer schools.

Visiting clubs such as Everton F.C., Manchester United F.C., Newcastle United F.C. and West Ham United F.C. in the late 1990s, Clifford aimed to help develop futsal within these clubs, and subsequently English football.

At the time he lauded Everton coach, Tosh Farrell as "light years ahead of anyone else within the academy system".

Tosh said: "Our Under 7, Under 8, Under 9, Under 10 Academy players now use Futebol de Salão in 75% of their training. Our U9’s who have used the ball for two years are one of the strongest age groups in the club".

Brazilian Soccer Schools was one of the largest football coaching organisation in the world, with over one million children regularly attending sessions around the globe.

Players such as Micah Richards and John Bostock were some of the most successful graduates in the early years, with still many youngsters working their way through the professional academy ranks.

The impact of Brazilian Soccer Schools and the syllabus created by Clifford is still being seen today.

A number of emerging young talent in the Premier League/Championship have a strong background in futebol de salao, including Charlie Patino of Arsenal F.C., Charlie Webster of Chelsea F.C. and Archie Gray of Leeds United F.C. - all three captaining the England national team at their respective age groups., and Tyrhys Dolan of Blackburn Rovers F.C..

In 1997, he borrowed £5000 from a teachers' union to fund a trip to Brazil, where he spoke with Socrates, World Cup winning captain Carlos Alberto, Careca, Jairzinho and Rivellino, and watched them coach, whilst spending time residing at the training ground of São Paulo FC.

Having developed a close friendship in the UK with Brazil midfielder Juninho, Clifford used the knowledge he had learned and his own initiative to create a syllabus.

Once back in England, Clifford blended his academic knowledge of coaching and his experience as a teacher to develop his own coaching programme.

In 1997, he started a Brazilian-style soccer school for youngsters in Leeds, teaching Brazilian skills as well as introducing his students to futebol de salão, unheard of in England at the time and largely in the English speaking world.

He brought these South American values back home to Leeds.

Clifford became the first coach to bring over and popularise futsal in the United Kingdom.

This after school club became the first of the soccer schools and the first model of what now would be referred to as a 'private academy', common across the UK and Europe.

Clifford then set out to train his first batch of young footballers with his new methods, with a notably different philosophy, preferring to concentrate on improving ball skills and close control and an even greater emphasis on fitness and physical strength.

He went on to expand the "Brazilian Soccer Schools" school franchise to other regions and countries, even expanding overseas to the likes of Hong Kong, Nigeria, South Africa, United States, Australia, The Netherlands, Thailand, Canada, Malaysia, Bermuda, Singapore, Mexico and Poland.

The Brazilian Soccer Schools have been endorsed by many in football, including Sir Trevor Brooking, Tord Grip and Michael Owen.

In 2001 Clifford introduced his pre-school coaching programme SOCATOTS, the first such programme in the world to teach basic ball skills, movement and co-ordination exercises to children from as young as six months old.

It was the first pre-school sports programme in the world.

The programme also teaches language, numeracy and colour identification and the children attend with their parents who are an integral part of the classes.

This programme, like Clifford's Brazilian Soccer Schools is also a franchise and is running throughout the UK as well as internationally in places such as The Netherlands, South Africa, Canada, Dubai, Poland and Singapore.

It grew to be in over 30 countries.

In 2003 Clifford purchased the Northern Counties East Football League club Garforth Town.

At the time of the purchase Clifford expressed the desire to take the club, then at the ninth level of the football pyramid, into the English Football League within twenty years.

The club made good progress, gaining two promotions during Clifford's first two full seasons as manager.

Within the six years, they managed to reach the EvoStick Premier League - the highest in the clubs history.

Clifford managed to attract a number of his high-profile friends to play for the team including: Lee Sharpe, Sócrates and Careca.

The club now plays in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division.

Clifford is well regarded in the football industry; however, he failed to emerge onto the professional scene after being recruited by Sir Clive Woodward in December 2004, to become his assistant coach at Southampton.

Woodward had arranged meetings with Clifford before they went into football together to learn from the methods he was using and look at the work he was doing with the soccer schools, viewing him as the best one-on-one coaches he had ever come across, hailing him as the best coach he had ever worked with.

After falling out with the coaching establishment at Southampton and leaving his role, he returned to his the non-league club he owned, Garforth Town, as manager.

Clifford sold the Brazilian Soccer Schools and SOCATOTS franchise to Southampton FC chairman Rupert Lowe in the 2012, with Brazilian Soccer Schools being on every continent.