AFTN: Congratulations on the new job Gordon. You must just be itching to get over and start your new roles?</b>
Gordon Forrest: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. It's an exciting time. Massive club as well. I've just been over for a visit and it looks superb, so I can't wait to eventually get there and get started.
So how did the Vancouver job come about for you?
I believe the Club had been speaking to a few people about it.
The Club, as they do, do their research on me and speak to me and it was a really good opportunity.
I had a few different contacts from the Club, a few different chats and then obviously it was coming across to speak to them face to face as well.
I spoke to people from being in New Zealand, to try and get things started from a distance, then I managed to fit in time to get across as well. So I managed to get across for four days and it was really good to meet a few people, have a few chats, see the players etc etc.
It was good to get a feel for the place and good to check it out from a family point of view, as well as from work related stuff.
I'm happy that they came to speak to me and give me the opportunity to come to Canada. It's a really nice place, really nice Club, really nice people, so I can't wait to get across.
When are you heading over from New Zealand?
I fly on the 2nd of November. I just have to sort out everything from this end. I've got to do so much work with my current work as well, just to tidy things up. They've been great with us here and they've been great about the whole move as well, so it's important that I leave everything here ok. My mind wouldn't be at ease if I didn't leave everything here the way it's got to be, so I need to do that. A couple of weeks here to do a handover.
You hung up your boots at a fairly early age. Was that primarily to concentrate on the coaching side of the game?
Yeah, I think it was in my late 20's. It was for a few reasons.
I started off in full time football and got a good number of years out of that. I had that middle point of playing. I went to play in Iceland for a season, which was really good and I had a good spell across there and a game in the UEFA Cup against Anderlecht.
It was a really good experience but when I came back it was difficult to get back into that full time environment and that's when I ended up signing for East Fife and playing part time.
At what point in your playing career did you know that you wanted to get into the coaching side of the game?
As I was playing at every club, I always coached at every club. Even when I was at Raith Rovers and 18 and 19, I was coaching their 12's and their 13's. I just seemed to get involved in that and do it at every club, and as I was at my clubs I was always picking up the coach education side of things. My qualifications and licences.
It came to a point when I was playing part time that I had a problem with my knees. I've had five operations on my right knee and one on my left, just on my cartilages.
It was at a point where you're thinking ahead of the game and what kind of route you want to take when you stop playing. I've always enjoyed coaching and always quite passionate on football development, working on the game and developing players and how that happens.
So I went back to college to study sports development because I knew that would be the route I'd enjoy doing. I was fortunate to pick up a position with the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in football development and in those positions you're not allowed to play.
So it was a combination of picking up that position and also my knee injuries as well, so I thought that's the way I'm going to go now and focus on the football development and the coaching side.
Is the youth side of the game what always interested you the most?
I enjoy it all. I just love football if I'm being perfectly honest. I grew up with a family that love football and I went straight from school into football.
But I think something that really grabbed me is being involved in programs and initiatives. You start feeling for developing young players and how they can come through a pathway and the best environments for them and the best coaching technique and sessions, and then just seeing players progress. The main goal is that first team.
I just like that whole feel of putting the best environments in place and dealing with the players best because young players need that. They require that, because quite often they can get the wrong things that have been put to them.
So yeah, I've always had a real interest in that, although I enjoy working at every type of level.
I've now completed my licences for them. My UEFA 'A' licence at the top end of the game, I've done my youth licence diploma for 12 to 18 year olds, and I've also done my children's licence diploma, which is for 5 to 12 year olds, so I'm just really keen in it all.
That's ten years in football development I've had as well now, which means that within that there's growing the game but there's also the talent pathway and how you work with players and develop players.
A big thing from my background is coach education as well. Mentoring and delivering courses, mentoring coaches, which is going to be part of my role within the Whitecaps as well.
It's an interesting position and a really exciting one to be involved in.
Have you had the chance to find out much about the Whitecaps Residency program yet?
I managed to get quite a good insight when I was over. I joined in and took one of the groups for a session when I was across. Just a little session because we didn't have that time.
I saw the 16's, and in the evening I went to see the 15's, the 14's and the 13's.
I think the program there is making great strides at the minute. They started with one team and now they've got the 13's through to the 18's and it's great to see that and it's great to see the route that the Club are going down.
That's really appealing for me and really exciting to be involved in that and be part of that as well. I know there's been quite a few players involved in the national side as well.
It'll be good just being involved and the Club's trying to build this and continually pushing it forward and hopefully we can become the top development program in North America. It'll be good to be a part of that and share any ideas that they want us to do in other age groups as well, and the program, working with Stuart [Neely]. Anything I can be involved in outside my main roles would be good.
For me, it's about developing those players for the first team. That's something that really appeals to me and is something I'm quite passionate about.
There's obviously groups of players, but the main thing is developing them individually to be prepared for the first team. We know that at that grade they'll be technical and tactical but they've got to be ready that if there's a big game and they get chucked into that environment. There's a lot of different things that we can work with them on.
Most people here will obviously not be familiar with you, so how would you describe your coaching style? How do you like your teams to play?
If you speak to people they'll just know that I'm passionate about football. I love football. I love being in and around players, in that environment.
I would put myself forward as a real enthusiastic coach, wanting players to be obviously focussed and switched on within their environment.
But I also want them to really enjoy their football. For me it's about, especially for young players, that they're really enjoying their training sessions, the match side of things and then obviously you've got a serious head to things as well.
They've got to feel comfortable with me as a coach, which hopefully I would make players feel that.
I'm a real football orientated person in terms of passing, possession based and wanting to do the right things within football. Especially in that environment as well because they've got to learn to be comfortable in possession and be good in possession and let them try and play football the right way.
I'd class myself as a "double goal" coach. I don't know if you've heard that before. Winning can be important, and they have to learn that, but the main thing for me is developing these young players so that they're ready for the first team.
So teaching them the life lessons within football. What it's all about, but also encouraging them to be very positive when they play, so they'll want to go forward, they'll want to get on the ball, not afraid to make mistakes.
I'll probably just be quite a positive coach within that sort of group of players, knowing the pressures that's on them for what they need to do for that connecting part to the first team.
I want to play football, do things the right way, get the ball down and play.
What's your ethos for building a successful side? Do you like a solid defence first or go with the attacking flair and wingplay?
Obviously the results within that age group will be looked at as important. It'll be down to me to come in and see what's already there. How the team performs.
I've got a lot of feedback just now about how things are going and we've had a few good chats.
I think for me as a coach, it's taking them through everything, not just focussing on the defensive side. I would always put it in these moments of the game - in possession and out of possession. Then we work on the transition side of things, defending and attacking.
I wouldn't just say a solid back four, a solid defence, it would be everything that comes within young player's learning, so right now there's a program in place and we'll focus on every part of the game, the defensive side, the attacking side.
At that age, for me, they've got to be in there and take risks. Try things and make mistakes and learn from mistakes, when maybe the pressure isn't as on as being at that first team level.
Sometimes when I phrase it with the players I say "play to win", and what I mean by that is not win at all costs. It's just be positive when you're playing. Take that chance, try and play a forward pass, or try and take someone on, or move the ball quickly,. So it's real positive players that want to play, want to get on the ball and then obviously work on that defensive side as well because that's an important part of the game.
I wouldn't just focus on that and put up the shutters because we don't want to lose any goals. They're not going to progress as players. They're not going to progress as individuals to reach that first team. We'd cover everything with the players.
So if you're looking for that overall style it would be that. Positive play, play to win and go and try things and learn from these things.
What can young players do to help with their own development?
I think it's important that young players have that passion for football as well and that attitude.
It's certainly something that I'll pick up on and push as well, because I know what I like and I know what I was like, and I've seen it from young players and from younger coaches as well.
But I think first and foremost they've got to want to play at the highest level and succeed in their game.
Again, I've got little things, little phrases for them but it's "living above the line" and being the best that you can be in all areas as well. Outwith the footballing game, how do you look after yourself? Their physical side, their attitude out of the game, their attitude within the training environment. Extras they can do as young players. Are they focused on working on their strengths and their weaknesses? How do they do that individually? How do they do that within the training environment?
So again, we're preparing them technically and tactically, that mental side, the physical side. That four corners approach.
We can only do so much as a Club and as coaches but it's how they can pick up their own little things now and make themselves better by their own individual side of things. And the best players will go and do that. They'll go and do extra after training. They'll do extra beyond the means within training. They'll sort of live, eat and sleep football to try and strive to get in the first team.
So it'll be interesting to see the players work and the individual characters and again it's recognising that and helping the ones that want to do it first and foremost, and then pushing the others to say this is what you need to do and where you need to be at as well.
Just having that and working with players with that overall footballing mentality and footballing attitude to do that little bit extra.
I know within football there's lots of different characters and everybody does things a little bit differently but that's a test for coaches to work with them and get the best out of them as well.
What was the best advice you were given as a young player starting out?
I've always been surrounded by football and quite fortunate that people have supported me within football in terms of family.
Again I'll just go back to values that I've been taught by family and coaches I've seen and worked with.
You can only do what you can do, but as a player it's important that you're focussed and that you're listening to the coach you're working with and the team plan.
But I think one of the biggest things of my advice is you as an individual and just trying to strive for the best you can as an individual and do things outwith your own training environment that can make you better.
You'll have all the information within the training but it's all these little extra things that you can do round about it.
It's always something that's stuck with me. Can you go out and practice a little bit more? Or work on certain things? Or speak to the coach? I need to learn this, I want to think about this.
You need a sort of out from football sometimes but just being that enthusiastic and energetic about football. That always came across to me from coaches I've worked with.
And then again your ability can only take you where it will take you, but it's trying to add extra things to your locker or your game to make you improve faster or quicker, but better than other players around you. You're going to be competing for places within teams and you're going to be competing against players within other teams, so it's how individual players do more within themselves to get there.
That was always the push for me. Thinking of ways of being better.
Being a full time academy, and also being a Canadian team in primarily an American league, can be tough for some of the Residency players with travel, being away from their home a lot and, for some, being away from their families.
As a 19 year old you went down to London for three months or so and had trials with Millwall but found the whole experience of being away from home at that age hard, especially in a big, unfamiliar city. Looking back, it must be good to have that experience to draw upon and share with the young players you're coaching?
Yeah I had spell there with Jimmy Nicholl <i>[the Canadian born, ex Northern Ireland international]</i>. I went down with Jimmy but I was homesick after about three months there.
This was something that's been great because it's an experience as a young player and there will be young players with the Whitecaps that will be away from their families and in that environment as well.
So it was good to have that, that type of opportunity. It was just a big place, London town. And it was a massive club and very passionate supporters down there. It was a big difference, but a good experience.
I was 18 or 19 and I spent three or four months in pre-season, ready to start, then I just asked the manager to go back up the road.
You've worked under and with a number of coaches in your career so far, who are the ones that you draw inspiration from and have influenced your own coaching style?
I've been very fortunate to be under a few different head coaches, or as we would call them managers, and assistant coaches.
The first guy I mentioned there, Jimmy Nicholl. Just his style and his manner and his energy and enthusiasm for working with players, especially young players. He had his first team, but he always had the time for us, his young players, when I was there. And his assistant Martin Harvey.
That was the first professional type environment that I was involved in and those two, just the way they were with players, it's always something I've picked up. The time you spend with players, as a group, as individuals, just how you are as a coach. That enthusiasm and energy, and just selling football to them. They were just great, and obviously it comes with that technical and tactical side as well, that you pick up and you learn.
I've been under Jim Leishman as well <i>[at Livingston]</i>, who was probably one of the best at motivation. Selling games to you as a player and what the game means and how you want to progress as a player and what the big team is and what this really means. He was superb at coming up with different ways for build ups during the week to a game. On matchday, preparation, before you go out, at half time, after it. He's got a real talent for presenting and building players up.
So that's two of my first sort of contacts and they're set in your mind and they give you some really good experiences and really good thoughts.
Then I've played in Iceland and had a foreign coach there, so you pick things up from that person, and then you sort of develop your own style and your own thoughts and philosophy, and my side of coaching and what it's all about. And then when you're actually delivering your own coaching then you pick things up.
I worked with Stevie Crawford [ex Scotland international] at East Fife and he was still playing, so he got me in as one of the first team coaches, which was great.
Then I've been quite fortunate in my football development roles that I get access and opportunities to come to coaching seminars, listen to people, picking up things and get really involved in that football environment. It's total football, so you really pick things up.
I've been to a lot of conferences and a couple of different countries now to look at different set-ups and how that works and how people deliver as individuals and how different environments work.
I've just come back from the Olympics as well.
Yes. How did you find that whole experience with the Football Ferns?
It was magnificent.
When I originally came to New Zealand my position was to manage a team, because I'm a Football Development Manager over here, but before I came across I was keen to keep the coaching going at the same time.
It was the women's cycle over here for the World Cup and things, so they said if I would like to get involved this is what they wanted me to do.
So I came across and said I'd do that no problem, it's good, and that sort of went down quite well and it snowballed quite quickly here and they asked me to go straight into the main national team, so I was working alongside the current Head Coach, Tony Readings, another really good coach.
The experience of just being straight in the country and they were just starting the build up for the final year to head to the Olympics, or the final eight months. Yeah, it was really good. A really good group of players, professional players. We went on tour to the USA, Cyprus, Papua New Guinea, the Swiss Alps. I didn't actually do my normal job for a long period of time!
Just being in London, the Olympic Village, how you prepare for players, professionalism and working with players in that intense environment. That technical and tactical side of things but preparing them mentally as well. So it was great, an absolutely brilliant experience.
It was really exciting to be involved in.
It was the current coach of the Canadian women's team, John Herdman, that was the man that brought you over to New Zealand wasn't it?
It was yeah. I met John in Cyprus.
I was working with the SFA at the Cyprus Cup. My role was mentoring the coaches through the whole competition. I had to take the Premier League coaches from the women's side of things. We were doing match analysis, some training things and I was working with that group, just trying to work and improve various coaches. John was Head Coach of the New Zealand women's team there.
He caught up with myself, seen me in action and kept in touch with me because he was in the process of rolling out a massive plan in New Zealand, because he was also Director of Football here.
The plan was the whole football plan and he asked me if I'd be keen to come out here. So they flew us out and I spoke to John and then the Federation I'm working for and it's good. A very exciting time, a really good opportunity and an experience for ourselves as a family as well, so we went for it.
It was nothing really to do with Scotland or what was going on or what I was doing there, it was just one of these opportunities where you want to try and open up a little bit from being in Scotland.
I've been fortunate enough that people have liked us to take us to different places and I'm always grateful for things like that. It's went down quite well here and they were looking at us for a couple of different positions, to see about the opportunity for me staying here, but the one in Vancouver is just a really exciting challenge.
Auckland's a beautiful city, so is Vancouver. From the quick research I've done, looking at pictures on Google, there seems to a lot of similarities between the two.
That was the feel I got as well. You've got the city, then when you out of the city you've got really nice areas and places where you can set up home and stay as well. It's similar in terms of feel and look as well. I'm currently just outside the city, about 30-35 minutes from Auckland.
It's a great place New Zealand. It's been fantastic to me. The people and the areas I've been in have been great.
But this is a great opportunity to try this out, but they are similar, yup.
Do you know much about the city? Have you been warned about the rain?
(laughs) They told me 'you're a Scottish guy, you'll be fine with the rain'! I spoke to Paul Ritchie a few times, who I sort of know, and he said "ugh, the rain here" and was having a little bit of a laugh about it.
Yeah it's pouring here at the moment and has been for days.
Oh no, I'm not going to tell my wife that (laughs). We're coming in to the summer here!
You're adding to the Scottish coaches at the Caps. You mentioned you know Paul Ritchie a little bit, have you met Martin Rennie or Stuart Neely before?
I'm obviously aware of Martin and the great work that he's done and I sort of know a bit about his background. I met him when I was across there. I met Stuart for the first time when I was across there.
They're both great people and have a great vision for what the Club is trying to do.
There's Paul and obviously I know him from his playing side of things and I've seen him around and about. I met Paul in detail for the first time when we were both on the same UEFA 'A' licence course. We got a really good connection there and so we always follow each other and keep in touch.
It's good to see him again. I've not seen him for some time. But knowing him and Martin are there, then you're always interested in how the Club's been doing and how he's been getting on in his career and all that as well.
It'll be good to have the opportunity to meet up with them in certain ways and then, obviously, pick up and learn on how they've taken things forward and how more experienced he is.
******
The addition of Gordon Forrest to the Whitecaps coaching staff sees the Caps get even stronger in that department. Is there another Club in all of Major League Soccer that has so many UEFA 'A' licensed coaches at the helm?
And although the name of Gordon Forrest may not be familiar to people here, it's his own experience and ideas that's landed him his new job.
You just have to spend a few minutes with him, and read what he says above, to see how passionate he is about the game and about player development, and to know that he wants to see football played the way it should be.
What he will bring to the Whitecaps is just what the Residency program is needing right now to help take it to the next level.
We can't wait to see the results and if it's good for the Whitecaps, then it's going to be good for the Canadian national team too.