FeatureBehind the Badge: Empathy and honesty - the former player moulding Liverpool's U16s
Lewis Nightingale knows it sounds a bit cliché as the words are leaving his mouth. But the sentiment is completely sincere.
"Every time you drive into the Academy and see the badge on your right-hand side, you feel it's a great place to be," he says of working at Liverpool FC's youth base.
"A really humble place. There's a real feel of togetherness, everyone is pulling in the same direction to achieve the same thing of hopefully getting players in Liverpool's first team, or if not they go and forge a career that they want to have and that we've helped play a small part in their journey to do that.
"There's obviously pressures on you to a certain extent being at Liverpool because they could probably go and recruit the best staff they want to from wherever, as they can with the players. So it does make you think, 'OK, I still need to develop, I still need to be good, still need to be at it, be motivated.'
"The amount of people that would want to be in my position is through the roof, the amount of people who love football and want to coach football, whether it's at school or it's the kids in the park on a Saturday or Sunday morning. You've got to check yourself a little bit that you're lucky and privileged, don't rest on that, keep developing and learning."
A former professional footballer, Nightingale has been making that journey into Kirkby for almost four years, having joined the Reds in early 2022, initially to coach at U11 level.
He soon switched to working with higher age groups and has now been at the helm of the club's squad of U16s for several seasons.
Which means his mission, daily, is to nurture and guide those in his charge both as players and people - at what will be one of the most transitional periods of their lives and careers.
"It is a challenging one because decisions have to be made on their futures," the 34-year-old explains. "The end of the U16s season is probably the biggest jump they've ever had so far, given that they'll go from being part-time and leave school and become full-time, and ultimately they're going into a job now, where they get paid for it.
"It's a real challenge trying to bridge that gap and also try to keep boys realistic, in that just because they have made that first little jump - if they are successful - it doesn't mean to say then that they're guaranteed anything in terms of the first team, because the jumps then from U18s to U21s and U21s to the first team become even bigger.
"Margins are so much finer and the level just goes through the roof. It's good obviously when you can reward them with something, but you've still got to make sure they remain grounded and that they've still got a long way to go.
"The hard work does start now really for them."
Nightingale can speak of the situation with crystal clarity because he has truly walked this walk himself.
Part of the Huddersfield Town academy system from the age of six to around 20, he was a talented enough midfielder to earn a professional deal with the Terriers but ultimately did not make the grade at English football's upper echelons.
There were opportunities inside and outside football in the years that followed - representing a host of clubs at lower levels and working in a factory were among them.
The journey eventually carried him into full-time coaching.
Holding a UEFA A licence and elite coach development degree via the Premier League, he gained experience at Everton and Bradford City before the call came from Liverpool.
Nightingale details: "It kind of came around a little bit sooner than I envisaged. But I always thought yeah, I've got a real interest in how the game is played.
"It kind of came from how I was coached, or maybe how I wasn't coached, I had a passion to think, 'OK, I have a way I want to be around players, given I have been through it myself. So, there was always a passion there, it just came probably sooner than I expected.
"But then when I realised I'm a much better coach than I ever was a player - or I'd like to think that! - then it kind of sped that up and I was able to do my B licence and my A licence at quite a young age and kind of get ahead.
"So, I always had a passion for it, it probably accelerated quicker and then I've not looked back really now. I've obviously got aspirations and dreams I want to achieve in a coaching capacity. So, it was always there.
"The empathy I can show and the relatability that potentially I have to the players is quite good because there is probably nothing they are going through that I haven't experienced. Probably making a debut in the Premier League is the only thing I couldn't empathise with.
"But certainly being told no, maybe not being selected at certain times, having a little bit of success in signing a professional contract. It's kind of really, really nice that there is nothing they are feeling or going through that I haven't been through myself.
"While times change and a 16-year-old now isn't a 16-, 17-, 18-year-old then, certainly I can empathise with the pressures - playing for a contract, getting a contract and not getting another contract. It's quite nice that I'm still able to kind of feel what they're going through and empathise as much as I can."
The reality of professional sport, of course, dictates that it will be a small number of the players Nightingale oversees who go all the way and fulfil their greatest ambitions.
Which is why, with that benefit of personal experience, he - in keeping with the Academy's overall ethos - seeks to hone his pupils for a multitude of possible eventualities in life.
"We try to squeeze as much out of every individual as we can," he says. "And if ultimately that's to become a player for Liverpool then fantastic.
"Equally, if we get the best version of themselves and they go and forge a career in the Championship or League 1 and 2, and they go and be the best version, I would still see that as a success.
"I wouldn't really necessarily focus on the end goal as much for them, it would be more around the here and now and building habits they're going to need for the future.
"So, every session they give everything they have got and they train as hard as they can. Every mistake, they can override really quickly and just focus on the next one. They've got a real passion for being competitive and having a really good mindset.
"Because if they decide they don't want to play football and go and become a lawyer or work in finance, then they've still got the same kind of habits; I'm trying to be the best today, even if something doesn't quite go right, I'm resilient to get through it, I'm independent in the fact that I can think for myself, I don't get overawed if problems come my way, I can try to solve them to give myself the best chance.
"So, rather than probably seeing it as we've got an A and a B - there are players who are naturally better than others and have got higher ceilings than some, that's the way the world is - we just try to squeeze as much out of each individual as we can, knowing that will look different for each player.
"That's probably the main aim of it for me as a coach, trying to get the best out of each individual. It would please me if one of the players I worked with came in five years' time and said, 'Thank you, I'm playing in Liverpool's first team.'
"But ultimately, if they were then a schoolteacher and came and said thank you, it has the same effect really."
What lessons, then, has Nightingale the coach taken from Nightingale the player that he currently uses for the better of the next generation?
"I maybe at times thought I should be playing because I'm better than him, but ultimately if the manager or coach at the time didn't think so then it is what it is, no matter what I think," he replies.
"And I had a tendency maybe to not just focus on myself, I was focusing on other things and letting other things maybe distract me. Now, I would encourage them to just focus on what you can control.
"If you don't get selected, that's an opinion of a coach or a set of coaches or set of staff. Whereas you can control the next session, go and be the best you can be in that session. The next game or next opportunity - 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 80 minutes, 90 minutes - you give your best.
"And there will be bumps in the road but they'll be good, because if you get bumps now and can deal with them, rather than if there's a Premier League title on the line or a Champions League semi-final, then you know what's right and what's wrong and you can deal with that the best way possible.
"Those would be the main ones; I probably learned the hard way in that respect. I wish I knew what I know now, to go back and have my turn again.
"And ultimately for me not to be their best friend, because if they want to get to the level they want to get to, you probably have to fall out with players a couple of times. Maybe tell them something they don't necessarily want to hear, and maybe squeeze a little bit more out of them than they feel they've got or want to give in a certain moment, which equally is fine.
"That's something for them to understand, that while we've got to have a good relationship of course, and that they feel they can come and speak, which is really important, but that they know that I'm not here just to say yes to them and just to please them - I'm there to push them.
"If that means we fall out, no problem.
"We won't necessarily agree on things at certain times, which with a 16-year-old going through growth and maturation, hormones all over the place, GCSEs and stuff, is challenging. But for them to know that I've got their best interests at heart.
"If that means it's a 'Well done' then great, if that means it's 'Come on, we need to do more' then equally they know it's coming from the right place."
There was significant change at the Academy during the past summer as new head coaches were installed for both the U18s and U21s.
Long-serving leaders Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and Barry Lewtas were respectively replaced by Simon Wiles and Rob Page in the roles.
With players frequently interchanging between squads for both sessions and matches, depending on schedules, Nightingale operates in close tandem with Wiles and Page.
Besides the rhythm of the season, their collective eye is also kept on any avenue for players to be given chances at a higher level.
"The relationship between the three of us is really important because of discussion on players and getting to know players, so if I can help in any way to give the coaches a headstart who might not see them as much," notes Nightingale.
"And just generally having those conversations about them is really important because ultimately if we feel it's right to push them then we will do to get the best out of them.
"I knew Simon previously, we go back quite a long way through the world of football. And obviously I know Rob from him being Wales manager and managing in the league. It's important - regular conversations and just being around each other.
"I've got a good relationship as well with Jay Spearing with the U21s, who comes out and works with us on a Thursday night, which is good. He gets to see them close up and takes them for a period in that session.
"The flexibility and how often we speak and see each other, and Simon and Rob and Jay getting an eye on the players, happens a lot. It's refreshing because sometimes it's maybe not necessarily the case. But I think it's really good how you're not just in charge of your own age group, you have a really good understanding of those below and above.
"And the amount of collaborative approach and conversation we have is really beneficial for the players."
There was a new - but also familiar - face appointed at Nightingale's side ahead of 2025-26, too.
Tom Clayton, a graduate of the Reds' Academy who went on to represent Swindon Town in League Two between 2022 and 2024, took up the position of assistant coach at U16 level.
Clayton's even-more-recent experience of the career ladder and his intimate knowledge specifically of the pathway at Liverpool is "worth its weight in gold".
"He has been a great addition to the group," says Nightingale. "Even when he joins in sessions, just to drive standards, because he knows what it looks like.
"Sometimes, at times rightly so, a 16-year-old maybe doesn't, which is fine but as long as we can get them on that road to knowing what it looks like. He certainly gives them that perspective on the noise in training or the level you've got to train at, the intensity you've got to train at, the way you've got to think.
"He's a fantastic role model for them for doing that. He's got a real bright future in coaching should he want to continue, which I'm sure he will do."
Nightingale's own efforts certainly continue. He is giving this interview on a recent morning inside the club's youth complex in Kirkby.
An evening kick-off awaits for his group and the excitement for the next matchday - and another opportunity for development - is drawn across his face.
And if all goes well, he may get a taste of what he considers the best feeling in the job.
"If you start to see things in the game," he answers in response to our final question: 'What gives you the most satisfaction at work?'
"Seeing things in the game where it's either an individual developing something or trying something - successful or unsuccessful. Seeing the work that you've put in night in, night out on the training pitch come to fruition in a game, particularly if they get success from it.
"So, it might be something you're working on with a wide player, you're working on his crossing and he puts one across the box and the No.9 taps it in and you know, 'OK, I've played a little part in helping him get better at that.' And he knows that deep down; you don't necessarily need to get any interaction with him, maybe just a little look as if to say, 'Yeah, that was Thursday night.' That is really fulfilling.
"And even when a player comes to you with something and they want your advice on something and they want to ask, 'What do you think about this? Can we go through this from the other day?' And knowing you've got a good relationship and that player trusts your opinion, trusts what you see and wants to know your opinion on stuff.
"So, seeing things in the game that we've worked hard to try to achieve together, mainly them but certainly us together. And as and when they come to seek you for advice or 'How do you think I'm doing on this? Did you see that the other day? That was the work we did on Tuesday night, can we do some more?' When you get real buy-in, you get a lot of fulfilment from seeing the players develop and get better.
"And even if I went to the AXA and there's a player I worked with three years ago that has gone up there and he might come and say, 'Did you see my goal the other day? Remember we did that at U15s, U16s?' Or, 'How are you getting on? I still remember that session that we did.'
"Then you kind of know you've made a real impact in that player's journey, which is ultimately why we do it."