I’ve spent the last 20 years – most of my life – playing the most beautiful game in the world.  I was lucky enough to be totally immersed in the sport.  I’ve worked under some of the best managers in the game, played with and against some of the most talented footballers on the planet and right now I’m want to pass on some of that experience to you so that you can enjoy your game more.
These days I work in the media on Sky Sports and I also do some coaching at one of my local non-league sides and do you know what - I still have the same sense of wonder and joy that I had when I joined Crystal Palace just after the dinosaurs died out.
It’s still a fascination to me that the game keeps re-inventing itself and the standards at the very top of the game continue to get better and better.  From fitness to equipment to tactics the game is still evolving and I’d like to let you know how you can benefit from what is obvious to the trained eye and is a hidden mystery to the uninitiated.
I’ve sat in dressing rooms – with my teammates – when, like at Newcastle right now, nobody knew what tomorrow would bring and I can tell you that it’s tough to get into the zone and skin their left back when you’re concerned about how you’re going to pay the mortgage.
Whereas I’ve also been in teams where – although we weren’t the best team in the league – we ripped it up because we all knew what we were doing and we knew we could trust each other to give their best.
And that’s what I’m about - getting you and your team into a place where you know what you’re supposed to be doing.  A highly professional side will know what to do at every set play, it will know what to do in the last 10 minutes when leading 1-0 or trailing 2-1. Knowing breeds confidence and confidence breeds winning and winning breeds happiness.
Football is an art form but it’s also a science and like a professor over the coming months I’ll explain to you in dead simple terms how to maximise the talents in your team, whether you play semi-professional on a Saturday or simply enjoy a game of 5 a side on a Tuesday night with your mates.
Look at the turmoil currently affecting two of the big teams in the Premiership – Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.  In my view both have been hit by the Berbatov effect.  And of course, Ronaldo and the Real saga did not help the teamwork at Old Trafford.
We all know that playing winning football is about building momentum and that can only happen when you’re sure about where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.  The time for learning how the team will gel is during the pre-season not after the season’s underway.
After the Chelsea match Sir Alex spoke about five of his players not quite having match fitness and he alluded to his team still getting to know each other.  And this was evident when they conceded the equaliser late on in the game from a set piece caused by a late and tired challenge from Wayne Rooney.
Now the inswinging fizzing free kick is a tough ball to defend but as I said earlier a team on top of its game physically and mentally would simply know what it was doing at such set plays.  It would cause the opposition to play a certain way and not be bossed about itself.
However, the good news for this team is the reputation of Sir Alex – he told the reporter that the entire team would be okay by October.  No sense of panic, just a realism that not having a settled team because of late transfer dealings and injuries would take its time to work out.  But things would be okay.
Now of course, you’ll remember that the Manchester United manager was not always given such a luxury was he?  Was it two seasons ago that he was past his best and – according to the press - should be hanging up coaching boots?  Two championships and the top prize in Europe have given him the breathing space to correct his ship and set course to achieve his third Premiership title in a row.
Counter this with the club at the other end of the Berbatov saga.  Spurs are on the fourth or fifth re-build and everyone is on Ramos’ case.  He’s been accused of wanting to get out of London, his tactics are under intense scrutiny and all this turmoil transmits itself to the players on the field.
Let me tell you from experience team confidence is a fragile thing and can be easily broken when there’s been such high profile comings and goings.  Ramos will have his work cut out getting his team of highly talented players operating as a tightly knit fighting unit capable of mounting a serious challenge on the Premiership.
He needs to get some momentum going and that can only happen when the team gets its sense of itself.  Remember the “old” Wimbledon team.  It knew itself and what it was about.  They played to their strengths and got stronger on the back of all the criticism they received for their no nonsense approach to the game.
This leads me to ask “what is the identity of your team?”  This will determine how you will approach the new season; it will allow you to work at the building blocks that will help you towards your goals.  Things to consider are the age and fitness of your team.  If, like me, the clock’s been ticking for a while then we have to use our experience and set ourselves up at the back to be solid and use our experience rather than our speed to create chances.
If your team is fresh out of college then this energy should be used to make the ball work quicker so that you can turn the opposition to create chances.
Whatever the makeup of your side with some professional coaching we can improve your enjoyment and success levels.  
It is my belief that every player can improve his knowledge of the game.  You’ve heard ex-professionals like me point out that this player just seems to know where to go.  This is no voodoo magic – its simply an awareness of the likely areas the ball is going to be played into.  
It is also my belief that every coach can improve his training of the team to extract more out of them and I’m going to prove this to you by talking to you in simple terms and also giving you better practice routines.
It’s not a case of training or playing harder, it’s a case of training or playing smarter.  What I’m saying is the answer is not to work harder it’s to work smarter.  
Let me ask you a question: do you think that professional footballers like to find the most difficult and tiring way to win football matches or do you think they, like most people, love to achieve results with the minimum of effort?
Now John can you see where I’m coming from?  Let’s work smarter to achieve more and therefore enjoy it more.
I’m looking forward to revealing the inside secrets that led me to being an England International.
All the best.
Coach John