Wolves coach Shaun Derry on controlling aggression as a coach and missing his playing days

With a playing career that spanned almost 20 years at eight different clubs – including Crystal Palace, Leeds, QPR and home-town side Notts County – the silver-haired enforcer was known for his no-nonsense approach. A player you’d love to have on your side, but one you’d hate to come up against.

Derry played in 53 Premier League games in his career, with one goal, as the majority of his time was played in the second tier.

A career in management and coaching has followed and, as he sits back in his chair in the press conference room at Wolves’ Compton training ground, his eyes light up as he remembers his duelling days.

“I miss playing every day,” Derry told the Express & Star.

“I get asked this question quite a bit, what do I miss about the game, and it is the game. I miss that duel, that competitive nature of going up against an opponent who had the same objectives as me and playing the game.

“I don’t miss certain parts of the game. I’m not one to say that I really miss the dressing room and all the quirkiness and quips that go off in a dressing room, because I’ve heard them all! I heard the same jokes at 22 that I was hearing at 32, so I don’t really miss that side of it.

“The camaraderie of a game, thankfully, is something we can still get as a coach because you still have your own team around you.

“But I miss the game. I miss being fit and miss being able to do things that maybe my body can’t do at the minute.

“As time goes on my joys come from different things, like watching the players achieving their aims and ambitions. It’s brilliant to watch them develop.”

That aggression that he showed as a player remains with him as a coach, too.

On the sidelines for Wolves, Derry is one of the snarling lieutenants under head coach Gary O’Neil, that prowls the technical area.

Against Villa at Molineux he got caught up in an argument with John McGinn, the backroom staff and finally boss Unai Emery.

At the Vitality Stadium in October, he was embroiled in a war of words with Bournemouth’s David Brooks, which started when Derry charged towards the attacking midfielder from the depths of the dugout – and Brooks quickly retreated.

Derry is passionate, but manages to find a balance without crossing the line, and almost begins to feel guilty as he recalls getting caught in the moment.

“I don’t go over the white line thankfully – but I step close to it sometimes when the manager allows me to,” Derry added.

“When I get really close to the game, it’s that hunger, desire and burning ambition to succeed. It’s just there, it’s been there since I started playing football and I don’t ever want it to leave me because I think it defines who you are as a person.

“The game is very different now. I remember we were dragged up. There were some pretty stern words spoken every day and actions performed every day that you might get locked up for nowadays!

“You have to adapt with the game and move with the times, but this is the Premier League. It’s everything I hoped and dreamed to be part of as a player and I just scratched the surface.

“To be at this level now is a privilege. It’s everything you hoped and dreamed off as a small kid and I owe it to myself and the game to showcase my true personality, otherwise you’re living a lie. You have to be authentic.

“I hope it doesn’t come across too aggressive. I wouldn’t want it to be that way because that’s not my intention, I would hate that.”

In that moment of hoping people do not take his passion the wrong way, you see the real Derry.

An articulate and eloquent talker and a calm and composed character, Derry is the polar opposite to his on-field personality.

A Jekyll and Hyde scenario – Derry freely admits he is almost two different people on and off the pitch, but both are true to who he is as he works on that transition from player to coach. “I love people, especially inside a football club where I feel most comfortable,” Derry said when asked about his hard man reputation.

“Whether that’s talking with the manager over team selection and tactics, or me having a chat with one of the cleaners or chefs. Being able to speak to people on a personal level is what I like. I suppose that’s my character really.

“If I was as aggressive as a manager as I was as a player, I don’t think I’d last too long! I wouldn’t necessarily have a forceful approach, but we all set our standards and our demands are high.

“We all have an honesty about us that allows us to be open with the players and put strong demands on them. I would definitely put myself in that category.

“But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that as this is the Premier League and there’s high stakes. We haven’t got time to be passive, the game moves very quickly and we have to be purposeful in the way we’re talking to the players. Thankfully our players have a great acceptance of who we are and that helps us.

“I like to spend time with players and have that bond with them, which is sometimes difficult for a manager. I’ve been there, not at Premier League level, but being a manager sometimes you have to make the biggest decisions.

“Unfortunately, not all of them are decisions that the players like and Gary will need his staff around him to pick up a few of the pieces. I like to think that because I’ve played and been on the receiving end, I have that trust to speak to them. It’s still early days and we’re forging relationships with the players here.”

Just 12 games into the season after a whirlwind start to life at Wolves, Derry is settling in the Black Country after leaving Crystal Palace.

He no longer has the struggle of leaving small children at home to travel for football, like he did when he was in charge of Notts County and Cambridge, as his son is now in the Palace academy and his daughter is studying in Somerset.

Now, his commitment to Wolves means he splits his time between the Black Country and London, and the the relentlessness of a job in the Premier League means his focus is on helping O’Neil take the club to the next stage.

“My wife is very much settled in London where we live and that’s what we do – that’s our home and I travel around for football,” Derry added. “But we have tried to make Wolverhampton our own. We’re living locally and have committed to the area with the coaching staff, and we spend a lot of time up here.

“There’s a lot of work to be done and modern-day management is not how it used to be, where you’d have a few days off. This is a full-on job that takes a lot of your time.

“We’re very much committed and for me personally, it’s a little bit easier when I know the kids aren’t reliant upon me at home.”