Real Stories
23 Mar 2022Rotary Watches presents More Time with… Errol McKellar MBE
Born in Brent in North London in 1957, Errol McKellar's first 53 years revolved around football, family and work as a mechanic in Hoxton. Errol was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010 and has been on a mission to let other men know about their risk since.
For the final part in our More Time series with Rotary Watches, the former coach to the young David Beckham, Sol Campbell and more reflects on how his coaching years helped him through prostate cancer treatment.
What do you wish you had more time to do?
I always wish I had more time to coach. I do it part-time. I was offered a role full-time, but I had my prostate cancer diagnosis and was a year into the recovery stages, and it would’ve meant giving up my garage business. If I’m honest it’s a decision that part of me regrets.
My coaching goes back over 50 years. At 18 when I got released from Brentford I started to get involved in it part-time. My love for it really grew in my early 30s. I was fortunate to work with great lads like David Beckham, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Ledley King, Jermaine Defoe, Lee Bowyer, Terry Skiverton. Some really good kids who made coaching enjoyable. There was a great pleasure in seeing the fruits of the work, the actual development put into those youngsters. I sit back and look at them on the TV and know I had input in there somewhere, somehow.
How do you feel when you’re coaching?
I get an excitement, get great fun from it. It’s almost a de-stresser. It allows me to give something and get a great deal back. I’m very fortunate to have great mentors in my life. I’ve worked with people like Chris Ramsey, Chrissy Powell, Dean Smith. Martin Ling. They taught me a lot of things: coaching when you’re not on the pitch, the importance of language. Whether you coach by yourself or with somebody, you’re always learning. You never ever know everything.
The greatest gift about football and why football is so important in the community, is giving someone enjoyment and hope. Because if they enjoy doing something then they will give you 100 per cent. They’re not all going to be professional footballers but if it helps them to become a better person then that’s a bigger achievement than anything.
What’s your coaching style? Nasty or nice?
Always nice. Always calm. There are a lot of things footballers have to deal with when they cross that line, so I try to be hard and firm without being horrible. Sometimes I tend to go off the course on certain coaching programmes because certain individuals don’t always get what you’ve written down in your notes or won’t respond to how you want to deliver things. It’s about working with their strengths as opposed to applying all your own strengths to them.
Coaching kept me going through the operation and the recovery from prostate cancer. It gave me the mindset to focus on something and not dwindle and go into a depression due to the diagnosis.
How did your diagnosis affect your willingness to do the things you love?
Out of adversity came inspiration, because what football and what my love of football has given me is a strength of confidence. When I wasn’t able to coach during the illness, the team sent me DVDs to watch a game and help assess people’s development. That’s what kept me going through the operation and the recovery from prostate cancer. It gave me the mindset to focus on something and not dwindle and go into a depression due to the diagnosis.
And that’s where my presentation skills were developed, by taking coaching sessions. It helps when going out to do seminars and talks [to raise awareness of prostate cancer] because the platform is generally the same; the principle of what you are trying to do is the same.
Tell us about a related memory which was really special to you
If I go back to beginning of my journey it would be working with those youngsters like David Beckham, Ashley Cole, Ledley King, Sol Campbell, Jermain Defoe. It was a privilege working alongside them as coach or as they always call me, coach mentor. When I see them now, they treat me no different to how they treated me when they were young. They still call me coach; they still ask me for sweets. They say “when you weren’t giving us wine gums and refreshers you were taking us to McDonalds or back in them days, Wimpey.” They are brilliant memories. They’ve not changed who they are and they haven’t forgotten where they came from.
Rotary has proudly designed a limited edition chronograph timepiece in celebration of Prostate Cancer UK’s 25 years of progress. Limited to only 1,000 pieces, Rotary Watches will pledge 10% from the sale of every 1IN8 watch to fund research that will save lives.
