Jack Stern returned home to Sussex in January 2022 after time in the midlands, America and Canada, taking up the role of goalkeeping coach with Albion, having grown up supporting the club.
We hear you’re a lifelong Albion fan. Tell us more…
I grew up in Heathfield and have vague memories of going to a couple of games at the Goldstone. I was a season-ticket holder at Withdean, along with my parents, and watched us in the years when we went from what is now League Two to the Championship. I had to stop going when I started playing for Wimbledon on a Saturday, but I’ve seen the club rise from the ashes of the Goldstone through to this transformation at the Amex in the Premier League. That has given me a real appreciation of where we are now and where we have come from.
What are your most vivid memories of supporting the club?
I’ve got very clear memories of the play-off semi-final win against Swindon on penalties and running on the pitch along with everyone else! I also have good memories of travelling to away games in the Championship, as I was at an age where my parents would finally let me go. I remember going to Reading, Ipswich, places like that, and really feeling part of that atmosphere, that excitement you get as an away fan. I also remember the Chesterfield games when we were rivals, going for the title, and the whole drama around their points deduction.
Who was your favourite player?
As a goalkeeper it would have to be Michel Kuipers, and I remember his double save at Wolves like it was yesterday. This was probably the first time I’d seen Brighton live on TV and that felt really special. I also remember Bobby Zamora scoring twice and it’s hard to argue against him also being my favourite player as he was just unbelievable at the time. The goals he scored, the quality of the finishes, he was top drawer at such an exciting time for the club. I also liked Danny Cullip and the whole team from that era: Charlie Oatway, Gary Hart, Kerry Mayo… it was a team of Albion legends.
How did your own goalkeeping career go?
I got released by Wimbledon at 16, when they moved up to Milton Keynes, so never did my YTS. I then went up to Northampton and was set to sign my scholarship there but got injured in pre-season. I always wanted to sign for Brighton as a youngster and was the same age as John Sullivan and Richard Martin, who went on to play for the club. I know John really well and we came up through the same goalkeeping school, run by Bob Bantock at Ardingly College, and one summer Brighton needed a goalkeeper to go over and train with them and play in a practice game. It was going to be either John or me and in the end he got the nod – and the rest is history!
So what happened after Northampton?
I played for Burgess Hill U18s, winning the County Cup, then went to Lewes and played there when Steve King was manager, playing in Conference South and Conference National, and going on an FA Cup run. I then got a scholarship in South Carolina, coming back a year later, before deciding a career in football for me would be better served as a coach rather than a player.
Where did the goalkeeper coaching career begin then?
I went to the University of Worcester to study for a degree in sports coaching science, which was a four-year course, and a couple of years in I did an internship at West Brom, where I coached the U8s. I gradually worked my way up to the point where the club’s then-goalkeeping coach Dean Kiely got me involved in first-team sessions with Ben Foster, amongst others. Dean was brilliant, so open and welcoming, and Ben was the same. I’m still in touch with them both and only have good memories of my time at West Brom – a club very similar to the Albion, given its warmth and close ties with the community.
You then headed to Canada didn’t you?
My wife is from Montreal and before our marriage, we were in a long-distance relationship – she in Canada, me in the Midlands. I went over to Montreal one Christmas and was networking, meeting people from their MLS team, and stayed in touch, sharing ideas. In 2013, they were expanding the club and asked me to head up the whole academy goalkeeping department. It was too good an opportunity to turn down and I had four really good years there, moving up to become the club’s first-team goalkeeping coach.
And from there to FC Cincinnati…
The MLS has a franchise system and FC Cincinnati came from nowhere as a club. In the second tier (the USL), they were soon attracting 30,000-strong crowds and even reached the US Open Cup semi-final. Jesse Marsch said games there were the best atmosphere he had ever witnessed in the US and the club was only heading in one direction. I agreed to go there as first-team goalkeeping coach in the season before they became an MLS club, and it was a really exciting time to be involved in something so new. Again, I spent four years there – an exciting period both on and off the pitch.
So how did you end up back in Sussex?
It goes back to 2011 when Ben Roberts and I did our UEFA B goalkeeping licence together. We got on well, had similar ideas on how goalkeepers should be coached, and we stayed in touch. In fact, we spoke every couple of months, so when Casper [Ankergren] left last season, Ben asked if I would be interested in applying. I was very happy in the States and not looking to move back, but when the club you support has an opening, likewise the chance to work in the Premier League, it was too good an opportunity to turn down. It wasn’t a done deal though; the interview process was long and I had to go through a couple of tough interviews, making presentations to Ben, the coaching staff and Dan Ashworth (who I knew from West Brom). It was a tough grilling, but I was delighted and proud to be appointed assistant first-team goalkeeping coach.
Was it hard to go from a head coach to assistant?
When you’ve been head of department for a number of years, you’re not always giving yourself time to observe, learn and watch – so this was a really good opportunity to take a step back and learn from Ben. He still gave me a lot of responsibility, to implement my own ideas, and we achieved a lot.
Ben obviously departed for Chelsea, how did that affect your role?
Ben was a massive, massive part of this club, first as a player and then as a coach. What he did here far transcended coaching the keepers on the grass. He was very well liked, very well respected and someone who embraced everything good about Brighton & Hove Albion. He achieved something really special here in the goalkeeping department, and while it was sad to see a close friend and colleague go, I have a sense of duty to continue a lot of the work he had put in, to keep getting better as a department and to keep improving everything we do. We’re in a good place with plenty of good work going on and I’m proud to have a key role in that.
You now work Ricard Segarra who arrived with Roberto De Zerbi in September 2022, how has that been?
It’s exciting to work with him, listen to his ideas and learn from him. I’m here to help him integrate and understand the club, both its present and past. Working with all the new coaches, I’m excited for the future. Roberto is someone who you could tell straight away has a lot of passion for the game. He lives and breathes football and that’s infectious. Everyone at the club is right behind him, wants him to succeed, and we’ll do everything we can as coaches to help him achieve that.