Jobs4Football meets Dean Martin
Jobs4Football spoke to former West Ham and Brentford player, Dean Martin, who is currently the head coach of Icelandic second division team Selfoss.
As well as being a football club, Selfoss is also a town with an estimated 9,000 people living there, and Martin has been in charge of the team since 2018 and is loving life in Southern Iceland.
Martin is approaching his fourth year with Selfoss and in that time he has helped changed the culture around the club. When discussing his time at the club, he said: “ Our goal is to try and get as many youngsters into the first team as possible. In order to do this we have to set standards, be careful with the players and make sure the ones we’re bringing in are coming here for the right reasons.
“I want players who come here to want to leave a legacy behind and know that if they listen and work hard good things will happen to them. We’ve recently had one 16-year-old defender move to Fulham because he took his chance when it was given to him. He is just one of the examples of how we are slowly but surely changing the culture of the club and the standards are getting higher and the young players are working harder and pushing themselves.
“By doing this and using the great staff and facilities we have here we can help push this club forward because at the moment we have a good group of players who are determined and resilient, which are two vitals characteristics to have if a team is to be successful.”
Martin has been in coaching since 2008, and in that time he has worked a number of coaching related positions with the majority of those being based in Iceland, however before taking on his current role he was the assistant coach of the Chinese Women’s national team.
Martin believes his experience of working in different countries has helped him to become a better coach. He said: “ Coming from the UK I have had to adapt when I have worked in Iceland and China because their cultures and lifestyles and language are so different, so I had to adapt my methods if I was going to gets my points across.
“At the end of the day players have to buy into your methods and so in order to do this you have to create a good relationship with them and so even though in China I couldn’t communicate verbally, I could still understand the personality of a player through facial expressions and body language.
“These types of experiences have helped me a great deal when it comes to communication and man management because players are different as they come from different backgrounds and cultures but creating a relationship with them is vital if you want to succeed. Adaptability is also very important when it comes down to coaching because one method won’t work for everyone.”
Martin has gathered a vast amount of knowledge and experience in the 30+ years he has been involved in football, and since his coaching career started the 49-year-old has also obtained his UEFA A license alongside a bachelor’s degree in Sports Science, and in 2021 he received his pro license through the Scottish FA.
Whilst he has achieved a lot in his time as a coach so far, the Islington born Martin is looking forward to continuing to make big strides in the world of coaching in the future.
“Right now my goal is too keep making the players I work with at Selfoss the best they can be and get them to the highest level possible, whilst also making sure the club continues to grow with the players.
“I do like to aim high, ever since I got the taste of it being in China working with the women’s national team and helping them qualify for the World Cup and Asian Cup, and this type of environment is where I want to be, but in order to do that I have to keep working hard and learning as much as I possibly can.
“In terms of my role I do see myself as a head coach, but I am adaptable as well. I think when you are the one in charge you need to employ people who are better than you at something because you cant know everything, and at the end of the day a head coach is not a great head coach if he hasn’t got great people working around him.”