In May of 2019, VC Fusion had the honor of hosting a coaching seminar with guest coach RylanD mORGANS.
Ryland has a unique set of qualifications and experience as a coach, academic, and coach educator. He discussED his coaching practices and experiences with some of the world’s best players and give his perspective on how all aspects of performance merge together with the player at the centre.
As a practitioner, Ryland has recently been the Performance Director at Everton FC and Crystal Palace FC in the English Premier League, where he worked with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Jordan Pickford and Wilf Zaha. Overseeing all aspects of performance Ryland’s remit involved looking at delivering a tactical training methodology, monitoring player training and match load, recovery, nutrition and supplements, injury prevention, rehabilitation, strength and power, and integrating the coaching, medical, fitness, psychology and analysis departments to work collaboratively.
Previously, Ryland spent 4 years working at Liverpool FC working with the likes of Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard, Phillippe Coutinho, Roberto Firminio and Jordan Henderson, competing in the Champions League and Europa League (Europa League and Carling Cup Finalists 2016) and most notably was the man responsible for looking after Suarez and Gerrard during Liverpool’s title tilt in 2014.
Two years prior, Ryland was at Swansea City FC where the club gained promotion to the Premier League via the Championship Play-Offs 2011.
Ryland was also the Head of Performance with the Wales National team between 2010-2018 working with the likes of Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen. During this period, Wales’ had an historic rise in the world football rankings from 117th to 8th (FIFA rankings) following Wales’ Euro 2016 semi-final heroics.
As an academic, Ryland gained a PhD in Football Science in 2014 and has since published over 45 peer reviewed papers specialising in areas such as physical and technical demands in professional football, immunological, hormonal and neuromuscular responses to match and training load and nutritional strategies in Premier League players.
As a coach educator, Ryland has been a lead instructor and researcher for the FA of Wales Coach Education department since 2001 originally designing, delivering and assessing all levels of the coach education pathway from Level 1 to 4 but more recently only focussing on the UEFA Pro and A License courses.
As a coach, Ryland holds the highest European Licenses available - UEFA ‘A’ License and UEFA Pro License. One of only a small select group of coaches in world football to hold both prestigious qualifications. He also holds several other qualifications related to performance namely the FA Fitness Trainers Award and the UKSCA Accredited coach.
More recently Ryland has been an advisor to numerous national associations around the world, in relation to team performance and formal coach education. He also provides consultancy services to several performance technology companies and a variety of professional clubs in Europe.