Former Aberdeen defender Youl Mawene played an early role in moulding the game of “lightning quick” wideman Shayden Morris – and outlined why he has always believed the current Don has “huge potential”.
Having had two spells running the sports science department at English club Fleetwood Town, Mawene worked closely with the naturally nippy Morris ahead of his move to Aberdeen in 2022.
The 2024/25 season has been a watershed Reds campaign for Morris.
He has earned the super-sub tag for a series of sparkling displays off the bench for Jimmy Thelin’s team, and racked up four goals and 11 assists in just 13 starts.
Lifting the lid on his own time working with Morris, Mawene thinks the challenge was actually to slow the winger down.
Mawene said: “Shayden Morris’ natural ability was pace – out and out pace. One of the quickest players I’ve coached… Lightning quick.
“Sometimes with those players the challenge is to… it’s almost like you want to slow them down basically, to stay in control.
“When you lose that control, it becomes complicated, because you lose the ball or you just pick up injuries.
“The skill is to use the speed that’s necessary to get an advantage – and nothing more, nothing less.
“At Fleetwood, him being a bit younger and that, you just wanted to go: ‘No, not now! You don’t need to use that third gear, fourth gear now! Just wait, be patient, slow things down’.
“When you look at Kylian Mbappe or Vinicius (both Real Madrid), in the 90th minute, when they need to go all out, they can go all out – when it’s required.
“But there’s moments in the game where they have the ball, they check back. They understand that: ‘Okay, they’re now doubling me, it’s a 2v1 situation. Where’s the space? Probably the opposite side of the box. So how can I safely get the ball to the other side of the box, quite quickly?'”
Mawene remains convinced the list of qualities Morris – still just 22 – has in his arsenal give him a big opportunity in the game.
He said: “With Shayden, there’s not really anything he can’t do. When you have that pace… he’s got a good eye for goal, pass, delivery, assist…
“As a young lad, when I looked at him, okay, he can improve his game back to goal a little bit, but he’s got a lot to offer, really.
“It’s about high output, and high output also defensively – being able to come and double up with your full-back when it’s required.
“I normally try to keep in touch, even on SofaScore.
“He’s a good personality, Shayden. He’s someone that has huge potential, and he requires a lot of time on the pitch as well to keep developing.”
Mawene added: “I wish Shayden the best. He’s a really lovely kid – he’s probably too nice!
“When I saw him go to Scotland, I was pleased, because I thought: ‘He’s going to get a bit of that Scottish tough love, that’s what he needs.’
“Guys from the south, London guys… sometimes it’s good to take yourself outside your comfort zone, and to go somewhere where you’re going to have to prove yourself..
“I hope he finishes the season strong.”
Youl Mawene on his Aberdeen spell issues – ‘I was walking a thin rope’
Mawene’s end-of-playing-career move into sports science was a product of the injury issues he suffered on the pitch.
Those physical setbacks, and a pre-existing connection with late Aberdeen gaffer Craig Brown, contributed to him winding up at Pittodrie ahead of the 2011/12 season.
Brown had previously brought towering centre-half Mawene to Preston North End half-a-decade earlier, and the Frenchman went on to star for Preston from 2004 to 2010.
By the time he made his way to the Dons, however, Mawene was battling bodily wear and tear – the lasting effects, despite extensive surgeries and rehab, of chronic patellar tendinitis in his knee as a youngster, followed by a “dreaded” ACL injury with multiple complications at Preston.
Before Aberdeen, Mawene’s fitness struggles had seen Darren Ferguson’s English Championship Preston renege on a new deal, before two failed medicals scuppered a reunion with ex-PNE boss Alan Irvine at Sheffield Wednesday.
Then came an ill-fated move to Greece.
Mawene said: “Neil Murray, another Scot – he was an agent at the time. He rang me and said: ‘I’ve just got a player’ – I can’t remember his name – ‘who is playing down there (Greece). I’ve got really good affinity… this is a good club… you’re what they’re looking for and will fit the bill’.
“And so me and him just jumped on the plane, with literally a backpack. And next thing you know, I signed for Panserriakos.
“It was a small club who got promoted.
“We tried to stay up. In the end, we couldn’t, and towards the end of the year, with the way things were going – it’s that type of country where if the result don’t go (the right way), sometimes your payslip is a bit late – I decided to come back (to the UK).
“At the time, as well, it didn’t work for family reasons.”
The former defender added: “The year after, I had a few offers – I spoke to Chris Wilder, who was at Oxford at the time. I spoke to Lee Johnson’s dad, Gary, who was at Northampton at the time. I even spoke to Preston, who had got relegated that year and Phil Brown had taken over. But I thought the return is never really a good thing.
“Then Browny rang me from Aberdeen, and he said: ‘Look, we’ve had a terrible year – we got beat by Celtic 9-0 (under previous boss Mark McGhee). I need people I can trust. I need people with experience.
“I owed a lot to Browny, who signed me at Preston, and without him I wouldn’t be here today, so I’m always really grateful for him. I thought: ‘Okay’.”
The 11/12 campaign was an inauspicious one for Aberdeen, who eventually hit the less-than-heady heights of ninth place.
Hamstring issues limited Mawene to 25 outings, with two Dons goals to his name.
In hindsight, and with the knowledge of sports science he has gained since, Mawene said: “By that point what they call the wear and tear – the degeneration of your cartilages and knees – meant I probably could play about 20 games a season basically at a competitive level, but not really more. My knees had gone as far as they could and so something else would go, you know.
“At Aberdeen, I had a bit of (problems with my) hamstrings.
“I had a little granny flat in Cults, and so I used to do some top-up running, (and) some plyometrics, at the Cults Cricket Ground – at the bottom near the river.
“I don’t know why I was doing that. I was doing some stuff which would make me quicker, but at the same time would kill my knee, basically.
“The margin between doing too much and not doing enough was really, really thin… I was walking on a thin rope by that point!”
In January 2012, it was revealed Russell Anderson was returning to Aberdeen after his own injury-ravaged time in England, with Brown restoring the homegrown centre-back hero to the captaincy.
With his own one-season deal running out in the summer, Mawene knew Anderson’s comeback was the “writing on the wall”.
He said: “I understood: ‘Ah, you know we are a similar profile – older athlete, potentially injury-prone – and I’m not going to be able to compete with someone who’s a club legend’.
“I remember seeing the writing on the wall a little bit, and going: ‘Okay, you know I’ve tried to come here to help. I’ve scored a couple of goals this season’ – but the team was in transition and Russ was a natural transition to get them to the success they got a few years down the line.”
Mawene added: “If I helped Aberdeen in some ways, I’m grateful.
“I can’t tell you we had a really good team at the time, because it wasn’t the case. But I keep really fond memories.
“The games, I remember – I scored against Dundee United at home.”
From Fleetwood sports science ‘generalist’ to ‘nuance’ of role at Championship Burnley
Mawene had already started his sports science studies in 2010 before his Aberdeen stint.
And, after a broken toe and knee flare-up disrupted his post-Dons season as a player at EFL debutants Fleetwood in 2012-13, Graham Alexander offered Mawene an opportunity to transition to his backroom staff as a fitness coach.
Completing his Bachelor of Sports Science degree in 2015, and following it up with a Masters in Strength and Conditioning, Mawene progressed to become developing Fleetwood’s head of sports science.
During the Covid pandemic, in mid-2020, Mawene followed former Scotland international Alexander to Salford City with a view to helping another new English league outfit develop their sports science/S&C department.
In 2021, he returned to his old job at Fleetwood.
Mawene also worked under bosses including the controversial Joey Barton and eccentric ex-Hibs gaffer Lee Johnson at Highbury.
And he formed strong bonds with former Fleetwood coach and ex-Aberdeen midfielder Barry Nicholson, as well as Aberdonian, Cove Rangers-raised EFL veteran midfielder Paul Coutts (now back in the Highland League with Inverurie Locos) over the seasons.
Last year, though, Mawene grasped the opportunity of a “more specific” job in the Championship with Burnley.
“I applied for a position which was slightly different to what I was doing,” Mawene explained, “working as part of a bigger backroom staff, working closer to the medical department, being more based in the gym, in terms of strength and conditioning, than on the grass.
“I went through actual interviews, which was quite tough.
“I spoke to Vinny – (then-Burnley/now-Bayern Munich boss) Vincent Kompany – who was really inspirational.
“At the time I felt, after 10 years operating in a lower league, where you’re doing pretty much everything – from nutrition, to monitoring, to delivering of strength and conditioning, gym-based, grass-based, rehab, taking care of match-days, warm-up and what have you – at 44/45, it was the right time.”
Mawene is currently working under Kompany’s Burnley successor, ex-England midfielder – and “top, top person” – Scott Parker, as the Clarets hunt promotion back to the English Premier League.
He added: “The beauty for me of operating in a lower league, from a learning and development point of view, is that you were exposed to everything, because you’re doing everything – you’re doing a bit of nutrition, you’re delivering a conditioning session on the grass, you’re supporting the staff with monitoring, GPS reports, wellbeing reports.
“You’re doing your testing and supporting the medical team with medicals
“So it’s quite a wide array, which is pretty enjoyable. You’re a little bit more of a generalist.
“Working as part of a bigger club, or definitely a higher-level club, your work is a bit more niche, and it’s a bit more specific.
“Currently what I’m doing is I’m working really closely to the medical department. I work on stuff like injury risk, prehab work, running the medicals, stuff like strength and conditioning for injured boys, mainly based in the gym, you know.
“(But) because I’ve done a little bit of everything before, I can support the nutritionist in what she does, I can support the guy on the grass sometimes when he can’t cover a game because of family reasons.
“I can just go: ‘It’s fine, I’ll cover the game. What’s the warm-up like? Okay, perfect’.”
Mawene’s two sons both on professional club’s books
Lytham St Anne’s-based Mawene grew up in Caen, France, and despite a father who was a French literature academic who did not see football as a career (“he became my biggest supporter”, Mawene says), Youl and brothers Samy and Yan all made it into Lens’ academy.
While Youl moved to England with Derby County and then Preston, Samy played professionally for Millwall.
The Mawene family footballing gene – and link to North End – has rubbed off on Youl and wife Amber’s two sons, too.
He said: “Noah’s a second year pro at Preston. He’s currently on loan at (League Two) Newport County, and he’s trying to make it in the league. It’s tough, and he’s finding it tough. But it’s an industry where, listen, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
“My second son, Theo, is a second year scholar at Preston, and he’s trying to get that transition into becoming a professional athlete, and again, it’s just not easy – it’s really, really competitive, there’s a lot of good players.
“Clubs, they need to win football games. They’re not going to play youth players, for the sake of playing youth players. You need to bring something to the table that they’ve not got.
“So they’re finding their way into football, having done all their academy at Preston North End – and good luck to them.
“I’m grateful for my career, I really am. But also I’m conscious of the injuries, I’m conscious of the ups and downs of the career, I’m conscious of the sacrifices that you have to make also.
“It’s all those things that they’ve decided to embrace, and so I try to support them the best I can as a dad.
“Sometimes it’s hard not to get really emotionally involved, but we are really proud of them.
“They’re good kids. They’re wired completely different, one to another.”
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