Welcome to ‘Dugout Diaries’, a new content series from VERSUS in partnership with the Premier League highlighting a new cohort of coaches working hard to make elite level football more diverse and inclusive for the next generation, on and off the pitch.Ricardo Fuller’s name still rings off in the streets. An undisputed Premier League legend for four years at Stoke City, he made the Potteries one of the toughest places to go for some of the division’s biggest and baddest teams.Whilst he’s still remembered by many as an underdog who barked loud and scored the goals to back it up, he’s now making a name for himself as a top coach via the Professional Player to Coach Scheme (PPCS) – a joint programme between the Premier League, the PFA, and the EFL – designed to increase the number of Black, Asian and minority ethnic players who transition into full-time coaching roles in the professional game.The scheme, first introduced in 2020, provides six coaches per season with a 23-month intensive work placement at an EFL club within the Academy or First Team environment. Each coach works through an individualised learning and development programme focusing on several key areas: physical performance and conditioning, recruitment, analysis, administration and coaching different age groups.It’s only right that Ricardo’s coaching journey has started at the same club that made him a feared name up and down the Premier League. Having scored 50 goals for the club in some of their most significant seasons in history, he’s held in such high regard that he’s got a bar in the stadium named after him.VERSUS sat down with Ricardo to talk about football’s ongoing efforts to ensure off-pitch representation matches on-pitch levels of diversity, his journey from playing in Jamaica to performing in the UK, and why his coaching journey requires the same perseverance as his playing career. VERSUS: In the position you’re in now, what does it mean to you to be a coach?Ricardo Fuller: It means everything. Football for me is endless. The passion, the love that I have for it – it’s always been a part of my life. I remember growing up in Tivoli Garden in Kingston, playing in the street. Stones were my goals, newspapers were my footballs. So if you can play with stuff like that, when you have the proper thing – green grass, a proper leather ball rolling on green grass – it’s everything. How much of your lived experience and upbringing plays a part in the type of coach you are today?It plays a massive part. Just the resilience, the mental toughness that I faced when I was a kid growing up. All the lessons that I had from coaches back in Jamaica, the different style of delivery, the different culture in terms of mannerisms, in terms of discipline…Remember, that’s a different part of the world. In terms of the infrastructure that we had there compared to what we use here, for me to thrive in that environment and come to this environment now, to become the player that I am or the coach that I’m aspiring to be now – it’s mind-boggling. So mentally, you have to be tough. You need resilience, which I already had because of that upbringing.Why is it important that players have a coach like you?It’s very important because of my practical wisdom, my know-how, my experience, the exposure that I had as a kid. Obviously with my upbringing back home in Jamaica and then achieving all that I achieved to come to England, and to achieve all that I achieved in the Premier League and the Championship, and where I’m at right now, the experience is priceless. If I can pass on my practical wisdom and all that I’ve learned, then these kids would be extra special.Was coaching always the plan for you? Especially if you think about your journey, everything you achieved at Stoke…Absolutely. The only thing I can say about that is that I couldn’t multitask. I can, but what I mean by that is that I like to focus on one thing, so if I’m able to focus on one thing, I will give it everything and I know my best is always good enough. At home, being with my family, I don’t think about football. I’m with my family. So my daughter is getting everything, the love that she needs, the attention that she needs, my son is getting that, my wife is getting that. Then, you know, once I leave and I come through those gates and I touch the grass, that’s where the world is going to see the best of Ricardo Fuller. That’s where I come alive and that’s where football is 100% focused.With football there’s a lot of diversity on the field, if you think back to your playing days and how it is now, off the field, there’s not as much. Why do you think that is?Well it’s down to a stereotype, to be honest. Stereotypes and pigeon-holing. The reason why I say that is because, yes, a lot of Black minority players during their careers were the greatest, but off the field, transitioning into being a coach – there’s not a lot of history there. And oftentimes, because of the upper echelons or decision-makers or club owners, you’re not given the opportunity because the history is not there. So if we can change that, then we’ll get more opportunities and then off the field it will look a lot better.You’re on the Player to Coach Scheme. How is that? Where did that start from and what’s the journey that you’ve been on through that scheme?That starts with me completing my UEFA B coaching badge. The situation with COVID put a break on that so I had to wait nearly 18 months or just over two years to complete my coaching badges. So once I had that, I approached Stoke already and they’ve always wanted me to work at the club, obviously because of my affiliation with the club as a player and all that I have achieved at the club. So as soon as I got that, I had a call that same week. I wasn’t expecting it, but I just had a call out of the blue. Maybe it was meant to be. And I heard of this opportunity and this initiative, and I decided to do this because I think there’s much more learning in this for me as a young, aspiring coach. I always believe in the importance of taking small steps. I don’t like jumping queues. I don’t like making too big a step without learning the right way, because when the going gets tough, if you don’t have that foundation and that learning, you struggle. If you skip the queue, you could end up not knowing how to handle it when the going gets tough. I’ve basically worked throughout the structure. Initially it’s a two-year initiative. This October makes it a year since I’ve been in the role so I worked through from U9s up until the U21s.Each cluster is six weeks with a group. I also have had some insight into sports science recruitment and analysis. It’s a great initiative.Why do you think it’s important that initiatives like the Player To Coach Scheme exist and that action is being taken?There are not a lot of Black managers, or Black minority or Asian managers in the game, so therefore this initiative was meant to give the applicants the necessary teachings they need to be a proper coach and a successful coach. We need to create a history. So this scheme is to give us opportunities in terms of learning, teaching us the way to be, the way to go and so that when the opportunity comes along we can thrive in it and be successful in it, and then create that history.Within the footballing climate, especially in the Premier League, Vincent Kompany is bucking the trend. How much inspiration do you take from that?First and foremost, a massive, massive respect and congrats to Vincent for achieving promotion with Burnley. He’s set the bar high again. I was a certain kind of player who always wanted to be the best at everything. Every club I’ve gone to, I’ve always wanted to be the best scorer. I think I’ve managed to do it in every single club. So again, as a young aspiring manager, I want to be the best manager that I can possibly be. One day, I’d love to become the Stoke manager and manage in the Premier League. I’d also love to manage internationally and help Jamaica to a World Cup.