Rob Tuvey – the second-youngest number two in the EFL – on his rise through the ranks at AFC Wimbledon
BY EDMUND BRACK
There once was a time when Rob Tuvey used to regularly miss the first 15 minutes of AFC Wimbledon home games.
The Morden-born coach would be rushing to pack away the inflatable goal outside Kingsmeadow after he had spent the build-up to a home match trying to entice fans over to play his ‘kick for a quid’ game to raise money for the club’s community work.
A few years down the line and 10 months into the assistant head coach role at Plough Lane, Tuvey has helped mastermind securing League One survival in style and built a youthful squad overflowing with exciting talent who have tested themselves against Premier League giants Arsenal.
He was 20 when he joined Wimbledon on work experience in 2012, initially assisting with the foundation phase before Mark Robinson and Jeremy Sauer swiftly asked him to coach the pre-academy age groups permanently.
Tuvey was promoted through the academy ranks, going from running training sessions and summer camps on Wimbledon Park to being named the U18 head coach in 2019 at the age of 26.
He was named the permanent AFC Wimbledon assistant head coach this summer after he helped Robinson transform a side that had been on a winless 11-game run to beat the drop.
Reflecting on his nine-year rise, Tuvey told the South London Press: “I have the dream job. There aren’t a lot of people who can say that they have been part of the management team at their clubs – it’s a huge honour for me.
“It definitely hasn’t sunk in. I’m not sure it ever will. It’s a pinch-me moment. Robbo said the other week: ‘Someone is going to wake us up and ask whether we had a good dream?’”
Although Tuvey coached a dozen games at Plough Lane last season, he describes the first home fixture this season against Bolton Wanderers, where fans were welcomed back through the gates, as “emotional.”
“I remember going there as a young boy when it was a greyhound track with my grandad, and he’s passed away,” said Tuvey. “He was someone that I was very close to.
“I look back then at the memories that I have got going into that stadium – I still picture myself going into the greyhound track. You look around and you see fans who are emotionally so proud of watching their team there. It puts into perspective what the fans have done and their superb work to get us back to Plough Lane.
“When you walk out at the Emirates, and you see so many Wimbledon fans there, you do take a moment to think about how incredible it is. But it’s getting to the stage where we’re certainly getting more used to it. The feedback and the support we have received from the fans has been absolutely superb, and it’s something I can’t thank them enough for.
“You could just tell they have really bought into what we are trying to do. It’s been overwhelming at times.”
Tuvey had a season ticket when the Dons played at Selhurst Park. Attending every home game with his dad, he idolised Robbie Earle, Vinnie Jones and Michael Hughes. He also reminisces with fondness about the 1998-99 League Cup run that ended in semi-final defeat to Tottenham and recalled standing on a bale of hay to watch AFC Wimbledon’s very first game away at Sandhurst Town in 2002.
“I remember my first game was 4-2 against Sheffield Wednesday – Vinnie Jones scored,” said Tuvey. “That’s when I got the bug for it. I remember thinking ‘wow, this is my team.’”
Once Tuvey realised that he might not reach the highest level playing the game, he became more interested in coaching. He would tinker with tactics on Football Manager and FIFA, analysing the live Premier League games and scrutinising the post-match debrief on Match of the Day.
“I have always tried to watch the game differently and pick the bones out of the game,” he said. “I have always tried to dissect games and look at what a manager was doing to try and change the outcome. I knew that I was never going to be good enough as a footballer, but football was my passion, and I knew that I was always going to do something within the sport.”
Tuvey spent weeks on the work experience circuit, learning at Fulham and Reading. The two weeks he spent at Reading with former Crystal Palace manager Steve Coppell and academy manager Eamonn Dolan, profoundly affected him.
“Coppell was preparing for Manchester United away and Reading were new to the Premier League,” said Tuvey. “I found his game plan really interesting. It was about what they were going to do to Man United, rather than what United was going to do to them.”
Another person who has had a significant impact on his coaching ideas is Dons head coach Robinson.
“I have worked with Robbo in the academy for so long that the ideas that he has put into place, how to coach young players, how to deal with young players, and how to make them better people and players, has been a massive influence on me.
“Robbo has always been really good in having honest conversations with me and being honest about my own development – he’s quick to say when I need to improve on things.
“Back then, Robbo told me that I was really good on the grass but needed to be better at managing people. So he put me forward to be a lead phase coach with Jeremy and that allowed me to manage my own group of players and staff, which set me up for the U18 role.
“It was a massive step up for me. It allowed me to be put on the spot a little bit more. There was more pressure on me to deliver results, as they were published more, and you were at the top end of the academy – you’re looking to produce players for the first-team manager.
“The biggest thing that Robbo and Jeremy have always done for me is that they have always taken me out of my comfort zone, and they have always stretched my learning, which is so important for anyone wanting to grow.”
Tuvey, 29, is the youngest assistant manager in League One. There are only two assistants across the whole of the EFL aged under 30.
Robinson turned to him when he took over the top Dons job, initially on a temporary arrangement, when Glyn Hodges left by mutual consent in January.
“Robbo called me later that night at around 11pm, and he said: ‘They have asked me to take the job on an interim basis.’ But knowing Robbo as I do, I knew that he was never going to go into the job with the mindset of doing it on an interim basis – he wanted the job and was going to go into it as if he had the job.
“He threw loads of ideas at me, and we agreed to meet up on Sunday and put together all our ideas. Robbo had 101 things to do during the day, and we eventually met at 8pm. We put together this presentation that we were going to show the players the next day, basically saying that Robbo had got the job because we wanted to make that initial impact of ‘we’re here, this is new, and this is how it’s going to be done’. Looking back, it was so key that we did that – it was massive.
“Robbo never told me that I was going to be his assistant. We always said: “Let’s keep working, come in every day and be the best that we can, and whatever will be will be’.
“If I look back, I was always thinking to myself: ‘I’m 28, I don’t know if I am quite ready for this. I have a good job with the U18s, and I am really enjoying it’.
“I thought that we would do this for a bit and that Robbo will have someone in mind. After a while, Robbo said to me: ‘I think you have done really, really well. Do you want to stay on?’
“My role was going to be taking over from Robbo as the loans’ manager and first-team coach, and my whole focus was going to be on that, which I was really excited about. But at the end of the season, Robbo told me: ‘You have been fantastic. I don’t want you to do the loans’ role, I want you to be my number two.
“I felt then that I was ready. It was too good an opportunity to turn down. I wanted to stretch myself, and I wanted to allow myself to do it.
“I don’t want to be remembered as Rob Tuvey the fan, I want to pave my own pathway as a coach. I want people to remember me for what I am doing in the role now, rather than my emotional attachment to the club.
“Every time we come in, whether you’re the staff, the players or the cleaner, it doesn’t matter, you’re here to carry on the Wimbledon story successfully. It’s a little similar to the All Blacks’ motto of leaving the shirt in a better place for however long we’re in the roles.
“Robbo and I probably put extra pressure on ourselves because we’re so invested in this club. It is our club, and we want to do the best for it.”
PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD AND SEAN GOSLING
