Adam Sadler: Leicester City Is A Special Football Club
- Leicester City’s First Team Coach Adam Sadler elaborates on his new role at the Football Club
- Sadler has worked within the Club’s coaching team for over four seasons
- The 38-year-old’s role has grown under Foxes manager Claude Puel over recent months
- City’s desire to continually improve themselves is exciting for the future, says Sadler
Newcastle-born Sadler, 38, who joined the Foxes as a tactical analyst in 2014, has become a valued member of the coaching team over a transformational period of success in the Club’s recent history.
Sadler’s time at King Power Stadium has coincided with a remarkable ‘great escape’ from relegation, an odds-defying Premier League title success and a maiden UEFA Champions League run to the quarter-finals.
Following the Club’s fourth consecutive top flight campaign, Sadler's role grew once again as Puel’s talented squad prepared for their 2018/19 season.
Elaborating on his role at the Club, Sadler revealed: “To get back onto the grass was an opportunity that came last season with Craig [Shakespeare] and when Claude arrived at the Club at the end of October.
“We struck up a good relationship immediately. We had some excellent conversations, discussing football, and our two philosophies.
“Our two ideas on football seemed to match and that situation led to where we are now in terms of maintaining a coaching role in and around the first team.”
Sadler joined in 2014 to assist Nigel Pearson in assessing upcoming opponents in the weeks leading up to their long-awaited return to the Premier League after 10 years away.
For the former Newcastle United, Norwich City and Plymouth Argyle coach, it was a move away from daily coaching, but Sadler’s reports proved invaluable during the 2014/15 season.
“I joined in 2014 because I’d worked with Nigel up at Newcastle United earlier on in my career,” he added.
“I had just come back from the Ukraine [after a spell with Tavriya Simferopol] when Nigel called me with about three or four games to go until the end of that Championship season when Leicester.
“Nigel had this idea about bringing in a coach who could go out and watch the upcoming opponent in the Premier League season.
“He was looking for somebody who had coaching experience at that level and would have a decent insight into the preparation that went into getting ready for a Premier League game.
“It was Nigel who brought me into the Club in the first instance and it took me off the grass probably after about 14 years as a coach through a number of different roles.
“I found myself out scouting, just getting as much information and insight into our opponents as I could to then take back to Nigel and the other technical staff, ready to prepare for the upcoming game.”
Sadler’s extensive experience has also been useful for Puel in recent months, as his role returned to one more centered on day-to-day coaching at Belvoir Drive.
A promising goalkeeper at Newcastle, Manchester United, Barnsley and Scottish club Gretna, Sadler commenced his backroom career at the age of 21, giving him almost 20 years of coaching experience.
“I’ve pretty much been a coach since the age of 20 so I’ve been around coaching - and good coaches - for many years now,” he continued.
“I was lucky enough at Newcastle to work with a number of excellent academy managers and then up into the first team environment during my spell there.
“I’ve worked at Norwich City as a first team coach and went down to Plymouth as a first team coach as well.
“Having been around the staff here for around four years, the chats that we have; the preparation, the training sessions, planning for training, the delivery of training sessions… that’s very much been the topic of conversation while I’ve been in and around the Club.”
Sadler was pleased with the levels of commitment shown by the Foxes squad over the summer, resulting in encouraging performances, and three points, from their opening two fixtures.
Discussing training in general, he added: “I think ultimately at the heart of everything I do, I have the players in mind, so I look to the group that I’m working with, and the strengths that the group has.
“You try and design training sessions based around those strengths and keep adding value to the playing style, keep improving the playing style, that’s ultimately what you’re trying to do as a coach.
“I’m the type of guy who’s in love with the game, I’m in love with coaching, I love to be on the grass, I love to be with the players.
“For me, the most special time of any day is when we’re actually out there working, I like to bring as much enthusiasm as I possibly can to the training sessions.
“It’s important that we engage with the players, we create an environment where they can deliver their absolute best.
“That environment has to be fun and enjoyable so that people want to learn mere to improve and keep on getting better.
“I think it’s our job as coaches to provide them, as I say, with that kind of environment.
"My idea around myself is to try and bring as much energy and enthusiasm as I can possibly do so they ultimately go away feeling better and that they’re actually getting better.”
Sadler believes that passion for the game is matched by the players within the squad.
He continued: “I think you only have to watch Leicester City... you only have to see the games to really get a feel of what Leicester City represents, what it’s all about.
“It’s a great set of players. I really, really love working at this special football club.
“That’s heavily down to the characters in the dressing room because we’ve got a lovely blend of experienced players with a lot of games under their belt but also a nice mix of very exciting talent.
"I think that blend works really, really well here. Ultimately, there’s an incredible work ethic and a team spirit here. There is more to us than just that, we have lots of qualities.
“We are a good side, we are a good footballing team, and we are making steps in that process as well.”