Steve Foley on career at Colchester, Norwich and Ipswich

But the vastly experienced coach is quick to acknowledge how pivotal his time at Colchester United was in helping him become the successful and respected coach that he is.

“I’m grateful for Colchester for giving me the chance,” says Foley, as he reflects on a wonderful career in football spanning nearly 60 years.

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“Without Colchester, the rest wouldn’t have happened.

“Obviously, I worked hard to do it and I pat myself on the back for doing that, because that’s what I say to my players - one thing you can do is work hard.”

Frankly, there’s not too many things Foley did not do, during his time at Colchester United.

From the moment he started at the U’s, as a fresh-faced 14-year-old, he served the club as an apprentice, player, coach, youth-team boss, assistant manager and caretaker manager (on three occasions); he even swept the terraces.

It all started with him cycling from his Clacton home to training sessions at Wilson Marriage School, in Colchester.

“To me, that was just a normal thing to do – if I wanted to go training then I had to do it,” he said.

“My mum and dad didn’t have a lot of money.”

It was not long before Foley received a call from first-team boss Dick Graham, calling him up for first-team action.

He recalls: “I was cleaning my boots and they said ‘Steve, your name’s up on the board’.

“I said ‘yeah, alright’ and carried on.

“But they said ‘Dick will go mad if you’re not in there in a minute’.

“I went in and my name was there!”

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Foley was handed his Colchester first-team debut against Exeter City on a Friday night under the Layer Road lights in November, 1971.

He duly played his part in a 3-0 win – but that really is only half the story.

He said: “I scored two goals and then we got a penalty and Brian Lewis chucked me the ball.

“But I said ‘what if I miss?’ and I didn’t take it - I was thinking I’d let them down if I’d miss.

“He missed and that would have been a hat-trick on my debut, if I’d scored.

“That was in my very first game - it’s probably my biggest regret.”

Foley made his mark though and was handed his first professional contract at Layer Road, in 1972.

“I went in and they asked me to sign,” he said.

“I said ‘£165 now is not going to be £165 in three years’ time’.

“I asked for a 10 per cent rise and I was one of the first people at Colchester to ask for that.

“When I came out and the rest of the players were getting contracts, we asked each other how we got on and I said ‘I’ve done alright, plus I’m getting a ten per cent rise each year’.

“They said ‘why’s that?’ and I said ‘well, I just asked for it’.

“They said ‘I never thought about that!’ so I caught them out!”

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Foley established himself as a Colchester regular in the 1970s, helping them win promotion twice in 1974 and 1977 and making more than 300 appearances for the club in a variety of positions, many as captain.

“Without being big headed, I played everywhere – left-back, right-back, whatever but I enjoyed playing in midfield because you were more involved, in those days,” he said.

Foley’s versatility as a player was a prelude for what was to follow in his richly varied coaching career at Colchester and beyond.

He eventually left the U’s as a player in the summer of 1981 but returned five years later, joining the youth team coaching staff as an assistant to Roy Massey.

“I think I fell into coaching really,” he said.

“I think I just asked whoever was in charge at the time if I could take one of the younger groups and I just got into it and did OK.

“I put on hard sessions when they get a good sweat on but it’s all with the ball – that’s what they love.”

Aside from a brief spell as Watford’s youth-team coach in 1988, where he coached the likes of John Barnes, Tim Sherwood and David James, it was at Colchester where Foley spent much of the early part of his coaching career, serving in numerous roles.

In one of his three caretaker spells in charge of the U’s, in the 1988-89 season, he helped keep the relegation-threatened U’s in the Football League.

Foley was eventually prised away from Layer Road by his former team-mate and friend Mike Walker who took him to Norwich City in 1996, initially as reserve-team boss.

“When Mick (Mike) Walker took me to Norwich, we had been room-mates together at Colchester,” said Foley.

“We were both on the same wavelength with football and we were both interested in coaching, so that’s why he asked me to go.

“We had the same ideas; Mick was very reserved but when you got to know him, we both wanted it done properly.

“We’d moan at each other but we knew we were doing it for the right reason.

“Mick later asked me to go to Everton (in 1994) and I said no, because of family more than anything.

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“You get through that by making connections and you’ve got to get them on your side.

“When I left Colchester to go to Norwich, on my first day there I’m thinking ‘I’ve got to be on song’.

“You can imagine them sitting in the dressing room, picking up the local paper and seeing they’ve got a new coach called Steve Foley from Colchester.

“On my first day, I asked the kit man if I could have a sack of balls ready.

“There are two double doors leading into the players’ room and I thought ‘right, here we go’.

“So, I walked in and I said ‘morning lads, did anyone see Tommy Cooper on the telly last night?’.

“They went ‘do you like Tommy Cooper?’ and I said ‘yeah, he’s bloody brilliant isn’t he?’.

“We started having a laugh straight away.

“As I came out, I put my head to the door and they went ‘he seems alright!’.

“That side of it is important, as long as you do the other bit – you’ve got to be firm.”

Foley made his mark at Carrow Road, helping turn Norwich’s talented young players such as Darren Huckerby, Paul McVeigh and Craig Bellamy into first-team regulars and beyond.

Bellamy flourished under Foley’s guidance at Norwich, later acknowledging that his coaching advice helped him become the player he was, at the very top of the game.

Foley said: “They were going to chuck Craig Bellamy out for being too small and I said ‘no way!’.

“At that time, I said ‘Xavi, Iniesta, Scholes, they’re not big’.

“Craig was a bit of a nuisance, because he wants to win.

“You’d come in at half-time and you’d just sit there and he’d do the team talk!

“I find what he’s said about me and my coaching a big privilege.

“Robert Green, Darren Kenton, Darel Russell and Craig Bellamy knocked on my door one day and asked me to be their agent.

“I said ‘I’m not into all that, I love my coaching’.

“They thought I was daft and I’d have made a fortune, just on what Bellamy has gone for on his own!

“But the next best thing for me is coaching.

“I love football and did I really want to be an agent?

“The money is obviously very, very good but it wasn’t my cup of tea.”

Foley coached Norwich in the early 2000s in the Premier League before being relieved of his duties, in the summer of 2006.

“You know you’re going to get sacked in football sometime,” admits Foley.

“When I left Norwich, I’m driving home to Manningtree and I got a phone call from Bryan Klug.

“He’d heard on the radio that I’d got the sack and asked me to pop in for a coffee on the way home.

“Ipswich were just about getting rid of Joe Royle and Jim Magilton asked me to be one of his coaches.

“So I’ve lost one but on the way home I’ve got another job, which was brilliant.”

Foley spent many years at Ipswich, working within the academy and as a specialist skills coach.

He also coached players there at the other end of their career, such as former Real Madrid and Spain midfielder, Ivan Campo.

He said: “It’s challenging because you’re thinking ‘he’s worked with the best people, I’d better be on song here’.

Foley, who celebrates his 71st birthday next month, has also coached at a number of non-league clubs in Essex and Suffolk such as Harwich and Parkeston, Leiston and Needham Market.

Recently, he has putting on sessions at Ipswich for the goalkeepers and has just been asked by his home town club FC Clacton to do some coaching.

He is quick to acknowledge the part his wife Heather has played in his life, helping him through various health issues over more recent years.

“I’ve been lucky to have a good family around me,” said Foley, who was inducted into the Colchester United Hall of Fame in 2019.

“Alright, you get paid decent money in football but it does take up a lot of your time and it’s your life gone really.

“My wife Heather has been unbelievable and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her.

“I’ve been very fortunate.

“You just do what you do and if someone likes it, then great.”