Villarreal boast a grand plan to turn South-East Asia into a hotbed of burgeoning football talent.
Perennial La Liga overachievers, 2021 Europa League winners and Champions League regulars; where Juan Roman Riquelme, Diego Forlán and Santi Cazorla dazzled.
Their stature may be modest — a city of just 52,000 — but the reputation and lore is global.
And as the Yellow Submarine seek to evolve and grow, the Villarreal Malaysia Academy has been born.
At the forefront of this ambitious project, charged with putting in place the groundwork to educate a generation of coaches and players alike: former Dundee and Dundee United youth coach, Kurt Herd.
The role — split between the small town of Petaling Jaya, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, and Villarreal — came to Herd’s attention while he was at a wedding in Malaysia, having previously worked in the country.
Given he independently learned Spanish, it felt serendipitous; “like it was written in the stars”.
“They want someone to lay the foundations for Villarreal to take over South-East Asia,” the ambitious Herd tells Courier Sport, a few days into his position as regional head coach and coach development officer.
“Over time, we hope to bring over the best talent from Thailand, Indonesia and maybe even Australia. Can we make this a hub for all of the best Asian talent out-with Japan and Korea?
“That’s the challenge.”
Henrik Larsson inspiration
And Herd has never been afraid of a challenge.
That has been the case since the age of 16 when he was one of a select band of students picked for a formative trip to Stockholm.
Funded by Erasmus, they visited a host of different clubs and facilities, including Sweden’s prestigious training centre, the Svenska Fotbollsakademin.
“I actually saw Henrik Larsson while he was doing his coaching badges there,” smiles Herd. “And there I was; a 16-year-old, picking up what I could. I knew that was the world I wanted to be in.”
Easier said than done.
Herd laments a lack of pathway in Scottish football coaching. The reasons, he contends, are manifold.
The cost of gaining qualifications; the scarcity of full-time roles; the relatively modest salaries in comparison to the workload; the importance placed on a professional playing career — all of which convinced him to broaden his horizons.
So, he packed his bags and, with only the vague promise of a meeting, jetted off to Australia.
He was 18.
A Land Down Under
“I had been in contact with a coach who told me, “listen, if you fly into Brisbane, I’ll meet you next week”,” recalls Herd. “So, I flew into Brisbane and that coach never got back in touch with me!
“What choice did I have? I contacted everyone I could and thankfully Adem Poric, who used to be at Sheffield Wednesday, owned a club called Magic United and invited me down to the Gold Coast.
“A full-time job offer came after that.
“I had to grow up so fast. I had been living at home, so my mum was still doing my cooking, my cleaning. If the car broke down, my dad was there to fix it. Then, all of a sudden, you need to learn on your feet.
“It matured me immensely.”
It hasn’t all been sun, sea and soccer on the Gold Coast. He returned after less than a year.
Herd has subsequently been a youth coach at Dundee, Dundee United and Livingston, worked at senior levels with the likes of Newburgh, Downfield and Penicuik Athletic, and won Abertay University’s maiden league title as boss of their “A” side.
But the most inviting waypoints have tended to come when Herd embraces his wanderlust.
First Malaysian experience
Following several years back in Scotland, Herd met Gareth Davies at a training course. Striking up an immediate rapport, he was offered the opportunity to work with the English coach at FC Kuala Lumpur in December 2019.
“I thought: that’s an opportunity you don’t turn down,” Herd continues.
“It was a total unknown, in terms of the coaching, the culture, the social norms. It was a real challenge. And I loved that. I like being outside my comfort zone, as strange as that might sound.
“Sadly, Covid hit a couple of months after I arrived, which really put paid to any plans I had. But I spent 18 months there and I loved the people.
“I picked up a lot from the culture, the manners and customs and grew a lot a person.”
Yogi bears fruit
As well as his practical lessons, Herd “invested in himself” by hiring a Spanish tutor — before there was any inclination of a job with a La Liga club — and gained coaching badges up to Scottish FA “A” Licence level.
He added: “I did my “B” Licence an my tutor was Yogi (John) Hughes.
“He was one of the best I’ve ever listened to when it comes to communicating his thoughts on football.
“On the “A” Licence — with Goldy (David Gold, Arbroath FC), who is a really good friend of mine — we worked under Tony Docherty, which was great.
“I love it when top players come to do these things. They do have the option to do a bespoke, players-only course. But I was down there with Charlie Mulgrew and Scott Brown, which was great.”
Will this circuitous journey one day bring Herd, a Dundee United supporter, back to Scotland?
It is not on the agenda.
Form the moment, prospective opportunities in Asia and the Middle-East are more alluring.
“Maybe one day, Scotland will start to tug at the heart strings!” he adds. “But for now, I focus day-by-day, week-by-week and month-by-month — all looking towards getting where I want to be in coaching.”
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