Jack Rutter charts his journey from England captain to head coach

Jack Rutter was appointed as the new England cerebral palsy head coach earlier this week, continuing his journey having previously represented the Para Lions as a player.

Prior to his international career with England, Rutter was a promising young defender with Birmingham City’s academy but an unprovoked attack in his hometown of Gloucester in 2009 saw him suffer a double fracture to the skull, a complete loss of hearing in his right ear due to a severed cochlear nerve and moderate brain damage. 

The incident left him hospitalised for 17 days and affected his balance and co-ordination, meaning his dreams of a professional football career were over but thankfully he responded well to the trauma, mainly down to his fitness and age.

However, his neurological condition following the assault opened up the door for cerebral palsy football and after kick-starting his para football journey with East Midlands Cerebral Palsy FC, he was soon called into the England set-up.

After making his debut in 2013, Jack went on to captain the England CP team and feature in IFCPF World and EURO Championships as well as captaining Great Britain at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.

Following the end of his playing days with England due to classification changes in 2018, Rutter turned his attention to coaching and has since continued his development with the Para Lions and has high ambitions to go further, as we found out following his most recent appointment.

Jack, firstly, congratulations on the new role, you must be delighted to be leading the England cerebral palsy team?

“It’s been some journey, and to be in a position where I'm trusted as the head coach of an England team is just an incredible honour. Obviously it's a special moment as well because from a young age I always knew I could play football, I was decent at football, but I never really thought about coaching.

“So to develop on my coaching journey and be on the FA pathway with the development team through to the seniors and now to be leading the team is just an incredible honour. It's something I never thought would have been possible for me, especially after the brain injury and what I went through. With all that trauma and all those experiences, to now come out the other side of it in a really positive place is just incredible.

As a player, you were one of the main trailblazers for the England cerebral palsy team and went on to captain the side, so is this almost a bit of a full circle moment for you?

“Yeah, exactly. It was obviously incredible to play for the England team. My first tournament was in 2013 so just to play was incredible, to wear the England shirt, with my name on the back and then to be named captain was incredible. I had a really great four years as captain of the team and hopefully brought out some good qualities with my leadership and my communication.

"I tried to promote the sport and as much as possible when I was captain so obviously doing more media and trying to tell my story to raise awareness for the sport. So for that all to lead me to being head coach, it's just an incredible moment.”

You've been around the cerebral palsy team for a while now as an assistant coach, so how are you looking to handle the transition into the head coach role?

“I've been pretty much involved since I first started in 2013 and played for five years. Then the classification changes meant I had to retire, but I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to work with the development team and from 2018, I did my UEFA A and B Licence. In 2023, I was given the opportunity to be Andy Smith's assistant which was amazing because Andy's an amazing coach and more importantly, a really, really good guy and a great manager of people. So to work alongside him and learn so much was absolutely class.

“Now, it's a big transition for me in terms of being the head coach, but it's a transition I feel I'm ready for and prepared for. I'm lucky enough to have played the game, understand the game, know the opposition and their threats and their qualities, but also their weaknesses that we can exploit.

“I have a good relationship with the players, from the development team up to the senior team and a good relationship with all the staff, so I feel it's a nice fit for me to just try and stamp my own identity on things, and hopefully we can perform at the World Championships later this year.”

It starts with the training camp in Tenerife in January, which will be a good opportunity to work with your core squad for a few days. What's 2026 looking like for the CP squad?

“It's a brilliant start to the year, as James Watkins [FA senior lead for para football] calls it, it's a ‘mid-season, pre season’, which is a nice way of putting it. The players are going to get worked, with morning and afternoon sessions and our physical performance coaches have got some really top sessions lined up to work on those physical gains. It will be challenging and tough, but that's what developing an elite and a resilient mindset is all about. If we want to compete on the world stage, we've got to be able to physically compete.

“So the quality and the challenge will be really high and hopefully the players find it enjoyable and we can learn a little bit more about how we want to play, especially the key principles of being a team who plays with a high tempo, trying to play fast-paced football, attacking the opposition and being an exciting team to watch.”

When you look at things now, with the togetherness between all of the para squads and the organisation of training camps and trips as a collective, how different does that feel to when you first started out with England?

“I would say the development in that area has been crucial but also been paramount to the success across the board and it really is one England team. Some of the teams have done work with both the men’s and women’s senior team and joining up the seven para teams has been brilliant, not just with trips like Tenerife but with the regular multi-squad camps too. We’ve get to know the coaches from the other teams and see how they work so we’re always learning off each other.

“It’s also important for the players in getting to know each other, because a lot of these young players have grown up being the only person with an impairment. They may have sometimes felt maybe a bit isolated, or a bit different. So to come together with not only people with similar disabilities but also other disabilities as well, and all of us competing to try and be the best footballers and teams that we can be is really, really brilliant.”

Going back to your playing days, talk us through some of the best memories you have from your career with England?

“Oh, there's a few. I would say my first tournament was incredible because it's the first time you're putting on that England shirt in a major tournament. It was the Intercontinental Championship in 2013 and it was in Barcelona, an incredible city. It was in mid-August and the weather was amazing, and then to score two against the Republic of Ireland, competing while playing well, was a nice moment.

“Obviously, then being named captain following that tournament was a very, very proud moment for me in my footballing journey, to lead such an inspirational group of players. Following that, the World Championships of 2015 at St. George’s Park was brilliant, because it was the largest disability football competition ever held in the UK at the time and it was just delivered to a top standard as well so it was a real standout moment.

“Of course, captaining Great Britain in the Paralympics of 2016, given the magnitude of the occasion and playing in front of big crowds in Brazil was something special.

“And then the last thing I would say, is finishing fourth at the World Championship in 2017, which was my last tournament as a player. It was a really big step in the right direction because we took Iran all the way, went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the world and we were minutes away from drawing with Russia after extra time to go to penalties before they scored a late winner. When you consider that the first time I played against Russia in 2013, we lost 8-0 so that progression as a team, to go that far and finish fourth in the world was a real step in the right direction.

“We've kicked on in many ways from there and hopefully we're not too far away from winning a world medal so that's one of the biggest targets for the team now.”

And what's your coaching journey been like? Did you start to think about that while you were still playing?

“I first got involved with coaching for Gloucestershire University at the back end of 2014, when I was still very much working my way back from what happened. After working under Keith Webb who was the coach of England at the time, I liked areas of his coaching and the way he went about things.

“I thought, why not try and invest in my own personal development as a coach? I'm playing for my country, I'm now captain of my country so I just approached Gloucester Uni, started just doing a little bit with the first team there like doing warm-ups, working the goalkeeper, simple stuff And then I got started to get a real passion and appetite to improve as a coach.

“I signed up for my B Licence, and by the time I was doing that, I was now the first team manager of Gloucester University. I stayed there for five years or so, while doing my A Licence and playing for England, and then when I retired in 2017, I was working with the England development team and learning all the time outside my comfort zone, taking a lot of what I'd learned on the courses through the FA and applying them to my coaching with Gloucester Uni and then England.

“We had some great success with Gloucester University. We won the league, we won three out of four Varsity Cups and it really gave me a lot of confidence with coaching because it teaches you a lot.

“You only get 90 minutes with the players once a week so it's about prioritising the main things you want to get out of the session before a game, quick reviews of games and then straight on to the next one. And that has really helped me prepare for my role as an England coach as well, because we don't get hours and hours on the grass with them so we need to prioritise certain things. You've got to be really, really efficient with your time to get the message across to the players.”

Who have been the major influences on you as a coach from your playing days?

“Keith [Webb] was great in certain aspects of coaching and Andy [Smith] was brilliant in other aspects as well so I learned a lot off those two, definitely.

“Before that, I would say another key figure was Richard Stevens, who is now the academy manager at West Brom. He was my coach at Birmingham City when I was 12 to 16 and is a really good coach, who was quite forward thinking.

“The way he designed the sessions were always fun and engaging. I always remember, I couldn't wait for training and that's the sign of a good coach – when players can't wait to go to training so he definitely had an impact.

“In a different way, Terry Westley was my academy manager at Birmingham City, where he had great success at Birmingham and had done previously at West Ham and Charlton. He taught me that football is quite a ruthless business and you have to make hard decisions which aren’t going to please everybody, but you've got to make the right decisions for not just yourself, but for the team.”

What are your ultimate coaching ambitions?

“It's a real ambition of mine to go and do the Pro Licence. I don't know how many coaches in para football have got a Pro Licence, but I'd love to be one.

“I'd love to be able to do it because I do want to help inspire younger players who could say ‘Jack's done that, so why can't I?’ That's what it's all about, and it’s definitely something I'd love to do at some point as well as other psychological development to help my own coaching development journey.”