Ed Brand says 17-year Chelsea stint has prepared him for head coach role

Former Chelsea coach ready for next step

Ed Brand has spent 17 years at Chelsea before leaving the club earlier this year and now says his long-term vision is clear: "I want to be a head coach."

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, the 39-year-old discussed his journey from player to coach at Stamford Bridge and what he learned in the academy, as a loan mentor and with Swindon Town's first team.

From player to coach

Brand was a player at Chelsea from the age of 10, captaining the youth team and playing for the reserves. An England under-17 international, his playing journey was curtailed in part by a series of concussions but he found a new passion in coaching.

He has coached FA Youth Cup winning teams at Chelsea, competed in Europe and worked with some of the best talents in English football. Now 39, he wants his departure to be the catalyst for the next step.

Playing philosophy shaped by Chelsea

Brand is a product of Chelsea in terms of how he sees the game, but stresses flexibility. It is about playing winning football.

"I would not be happy if we had 73 per cent of the ball and lost without creating anything," he explains.

"High-intensity football, with and without the ball, possession-based but with a purpose."

The lesson of his time at Chelsea was to help players find their own solutions.

"I want to my teams to press with intensity but intelligence."

"If football was that robotic, no one would watch it. You have got to have players who can make decisions," he argues.

"With the ball, I am not one of those coaches who says, 'this is my philosophy and I do not stray from it.' That is stubbornness. You should be stubborn around culture. But stubbornness around playing style? There are too many variables. The game changes."

"It all goes back to my Chelsea education. We had so many different ways of playing. If a team are going to give us 50 yards of space in behind, I do not want to take 15 passes to do what we could easily do in two. I want runners, especially if I have pace up top."

There is pride at the thought that he has played a small part in developing adaptable players.

"Conor Gallagher can play anywhere in midfield. Reece James is another example. It is all because of their upbringing and exposure."

"Look at Marc Guehi. He played in midfield for Manchester City the other day. Again, that goes back to the education that he had within the academy, helping him to develop that ability to be able to play in different positions and systems."

Loan mentor experience

Beyond the academy, Brand had two summers as a loan mentor. Managing pre-season for Chelsea players not in the first-team picture tested his man-management.

"It was brilliant for my education because I got to plan two eight-week pre-seasons with real senior players."

These were men who "might not be in the greatest head space" if their careers were not where they wanted them to be.

"It was an eclectic group of personalities," says Brand. He worked with Raheem Sterling and Romelu Lukaku, with Trevoh Chalobah and Ben Chilwell, those at the end and those at the beginning.

"Some were excited for their first loan move, others had come back from loan and there were some about to be sold."

"Most coaches would probably have looked at that situation from the outside and not wanted to touch it with a barge pole. I went the other way. These were Chelsea players, top players. They deserved the best pre-season they could get."

"Raheem was excellent. He wanted to win every time in training. Whatever the game you had to be on your toes as a coach. You had to make it competitive because he would pick up on everything. He is such a winner. Ben Chilwell, he was excellent too."

Brand notes it was not idyllic. "We had no fixture list. No control of who comes in or goes out day to day. Suddenly players would leave and the numbers shrink. I would be lying if I said there were not difficult days."

Swindon Town secondment

Brand tasted first-team coaching during a secondment at Swindon Town as assistant to Jody Morris.

"It was massive for me. From a selfish perspective, I loved it. Jody let me lead on a lot of training."

"It was miles away from Chelsea. My nature does not care about stuff like that. It was just about good people working hard. The players were great. It was a brilliant experience for me."

He talks of that period giving him "confidence and belief" that his ideas could translate. "I know I can go into a first-team environment and coach."

One conversation with Wales international Jonny Williams helped convince him he had plenty to contribute.

"No matter what job you do, if you work hard and show people you care, I have never known anybody not appreciate that. I remember going through clips with Jonny and he had not done that before. I could not believe it. This was a guy in his late 20s."

What next

The plan now is to put two decades of experience into a new challenge, at home or abroad, with clarity and prospects.

"I will do my due diligence because they will be doing it on me." He stresses "the importance of communication with the sporting director" and how "consistency in culture and behaviour is vital in leadership".

"I genuinely want to bounce out of bed looking forward to going into work and thinking about how I can influence things today. That is how my brain works," explains Brand.

"I have done 17 years as a coach at Chelsea. Now I am ready for whatever comes next."