Question
You started your playing career in the UK at Barnsley before you then took your career to Canada and New Zealand. How has that experience of playing across several countries and continents helped you develop as a coach?
Stephen Hoyle
I think I’ve experienced lots of different cultures and lots of different people. I’m the type of guy who wants to travel the world once and talk to everyone twice. I just enjoy getting different feels for football, what football means to different people in different places. Experiencing different playing styles and cultures has been important to me. I’m obsessed with football, so it’s learning from all these environments. What I like, what I don’t like, what I want to put into my own philosophy and then copying to create the best of what you see, but then also learning from stuff that you don’t agree with so that it doesn’t come out in your own environments.
Question
Throughout your playing career, who was the best player that you played alongside and against?
Stephen Hoyle
I grew up playing with John Stones, who now plays for England and Manchester City. When we were 16-18, we played together. I didn’t think he’d be stepping into the midfield in a Champions League Final to win the treble for Pep Guardiola! I also played against Harry Kane in youth football in the FA Youth Cup, as well as against Paul Pogba at Man United in his youth team days.
Question
In your career as a coach, you’ve coached both domestically in New Zealand as well as in the international space with the New Zealand Under 17 National Team. What were those experiences like?
Stephen Hoyle
It was a real privilege to work with the National Team at the Under 17 World Cup last year. You want more time on the grass than you get with the international teams. We don’t get as much time as we’d like in preparation for tournaments, but it was great to go into camp and work with high-level youth players. It’s great to try and help them with little bits of knowledge that you have and to help push them forwards in their career. In the domestic game, I first went full time in football in 2016, where I spent nearly ten years developing Kiwi players and building relationships with a lot of Kiwi players. It’s been a fab journey in terms of how many players I’ve helped to reach the top level in New Zealand first of all, and then go above and beyond that into professional leagues around the world. I’ve had a bit of success in those things, and it’s been great to have been involved in people’s journeys for quite a long time now.
Question
What coach do you look up to, anywhere across the world? And do you base your style of play on theirs?
Stephen Hoyle
I think it’s very important to be authentic as a coach. I think if I try and be somebody else, it won’t be as effective as me trying to be the best version of myself. But in saying that, that allows me to draw inspiration from lots of different people and lots of different things that people do. I’m a big, big believer in copying to create. So understanding other people’s ideas, trying to see what they do, always trying to learn from everyone and then going from there. I’m a bit of a football nerd. Everyone’s kind of been influenced by Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, but I also like what Luis Enrique has done with that PSG team in terms of how hard they work for each other and how fluid they are with the ball. I’ll watch some of the best defensive teams and then I’ll watch some of the most expansive possession-based teams and just try and take it all in.
Question
Have you had any involvement with any of our current players so far?
Stephen Hoyle
I coached Deven Jackson for two years. Deven had actually retired from playing previously, and we convinced her to come back to National League level in New Zealand and to play in our team. I feel like I helped her on her journey, and she helped me have some success as well before she got into the pro game with Canberra United in the A-League.
Question
What are you hoping to achieve during your time in Newcastle?
Stephen Hoyle
I’m hoping to not be a flash in the pan. I have a young family who will be relocating with me to a new home, so I don’t want to just come and go. I think it’s important for me to grow in that space and learn as it’s my first full-time professional role. The first thing I want to do is become a very good coach at this level, but then the second thing is to put a team on the park that resembles Newcastle’s history as a mining and steelworks town. I think the people of Newcastle want a hard-working team that represents them as hard-working people. So for me, connection to that and effort will be the most important.
Question
If you could give one message to the people and the fans of Newcastle, what would that be?
Stephen Hoyle
To come out and support us, to get behind us, and to come and watch. I want people to come away from games thinking ‘that was great, I want to be a part of that, I want to support the team’. To start with, I ask that you come and do that and then make your own judgment and hopefully we can put in performances that keep you coming back.
