Learning curve for Shrewsbury's Dean Whitehead working under David Wagner
Dean Whitehead says the structure and detail gleaned from former manager David Wagner has helped shape him as a coach.
The Shrewsbury Town first-team coach shadowed the German boss around the time his 19-year playing career came to an end before joining Wagner’s coaching staff at Huddersfield Town.
Wagner, pictured inset, who arrived in English football with a reputation of modelling Jurgen Klopp’s ‘heavy metal’ high press style of play, was a big hit at the Terriers and led them to the Premier League while Whitehead was still playing.
Whitehead, 38, left Huddersfield for Shrewsbury in November after roles with their under-17s, under-19s and elite development team.
The former Sunderland and Stoke midfielder, close friends with Town boss Sam Ricketts after the pair emerged through the academy at Oxford United, labels Wagner – who left the Terriers in 2019 and is now in charge at Schalke in his homeland – as a key influence.
“I think it’s David Wagner, just because I was coming to that point in my career where I was thinking about the coaching side and how he does it and implemented his style on us very quickly,” Whitehead said when asked which manager he took the most from.
“Whether it’s just because I was a bit older and wanted to move into coaching, I do love the way he played and did things.
“It’s something I really like and (will) implement going forward.
“It’s all happened pretty quickly, obviously I shadowed David Wagner for six months before he left and I took over the elite development team and the under-19s and within a year or so I’m here.
“I’m one of those people that if you give me a challenge then I’ll never shirk it.”
Whitehead, who shares coaching responsibility in training with Ricketts and No.2 Graham Barrow, was quick to point out there is more to the style that trying to pressure opposition.
The former midfielder admits fitness – a quality he excelled in – was at the forefront of what Wagner demanded.
“It was (a high press like Klopp) but there’s a lot more detail and structure behind it,” Whitehead says.
“When he first came we went to Marbella for a week’s training camp and we must have trained three or four times a day.
“The lads were absolutely out on their feet. For him to get all his stuff across, meetings, on videos or the training pitch, we used every minute.
“One thing he realised straight away is the team wasn’t fit enough and if you want to play that high press, front-foot, in your face you have to be fit and be able to run repeatedly, box-to-box, same tempo.
“In games after this we did it for 60 (minutes) and blew up and lost 2-1.
“It was a gradual build of fitness and the following season we went up in the play-offs.”
Whitehead, who played more than 600 senior games, can be seen warming up Town’s troops before any fixture.
He confesses a joy of coaching and improving players and is a fierce commander of high standards. High fitness levels are something he expects at Shrewsbury.
“Of course,” he added. “One hundred per cent you have to demand people to run repeatedly, short spaces, bigger spaces, everything has to be at a speed, tempo, match pace.
“They are getting the benefits of that on a matchday.”
