Making Football Count

Making Football count is a programme targeting those who are not achieving their full potential whilst at school, it has been tailor-made for pupils to enhance social skills whilst improving basic English, Maths and I.T. skills.

Courses consist of 10, day long sessions and can be run over a 10 week period or a more intense 2 week, 'full time' period.

Every session uses football as a learning tool and some of the key areas covered are:

Behaviour reinforcement

Anger management

Raising self esteem

Achieving goals

Anti racism

Anti bullying

Confidence building

Health and fitness  


By using Middlesbrough Football Club as a business model, we engage young people and motivate them in learning who may not follow the more traditional routes.  We also have seen a fantastic rise in learners motivation in the short term, meaning that MFC is a great motivational tool before key stages in education.

We have recentley worked with pre GCSE pupils and aim to raise their grades significantly.  Middlesbrough Football Club is currently aiming to raise the A-C grades in the Tees Valley by 2%.

For more information, please contact Anthony Garbutt on 01642 451825
or email - [email protected]

We focus on up to date current affairs such as racism in football and bullying to engage young people and give them a forum to not only express their own views but also be heard.

The pupils have shown a great wealth of maturity and understanding of different faiths and cultures and have produced posters, reports and PowerPoint presentations that display their work.

Anthony Garbutt - Course Tutor says about the programme:  "This is truly groundbreaking in it's style, I have honestly never seen such a large scale connection between a Football Club and the community it serves.  By reaching out to pupils at a young age and showing them alternative ways of learning or by boosting them before important stages in their life I feel the work we are doing should be available to every young person in Tees Valley.  Middlesbrough Football Club is commited to young people, you only need to look at our youth academy to see that, the education centre is an extension of that ethos."

The programme works by encouraging and rewarding positive behaviour and allows the pupils to participate in a wide range of activities - pictured above is Jordan Williams of Gillbrook School.

Jordan won the Student of the programme award for displaying fantastic effort and potential whilst in our sessions.  Jordan was invited along to a Boro home game where he was able to meet all the players before kick off.

Jordan is pictured with Assistant Manager - Claire McGarvey, Programme Manager - Dawn Eccles, his mother and Course Tutor - Anthony Garbutt.

A healthy lunch is provided and students participate in a sports sessions working on all aspects of sport including boosting fitness levels and different football techniques.

A large simultanious 'Ahhh' rang around the offices in MFCiC HQ last week when Making Football Counts latest recruits marched into the classroom.  12 pupils aged 8 and 9 are the latest to sign up for the programme and have been voted cutest group of the term by female staff.

Anthony Garbutt said; "This is very exciting for us, to work with pupils at such a young age is a great opportunity for us to really make a difference at the earliest possible stage.  I'm really impressed with the pupils so far, their excitement to be involved with the club is a massive breath of fresh air and it is having a really great affect on the whole centre".

Check back for updates soon. 

Straight from a press conference to announce his 4 year deal with Middlesbrough Football Club, Jonathan Woodgate dropped in to the MFC in the Community centre in Eston.

The £7m star defender met some of his fans currently on the Making Football Count programme.

Pupils from Bishopsgarth school and The Kings Academy had prepared for the event by creating posters on some of the hot topics endorsed by the Club.  Match Of The Day also filmed coaching sessions and classroom work and will air the footage on their Sunday morning show on the 6th May.

Course tutor, Anthony Garbutt said; "This is recognition for the hard work these boys and girls have put in throughout the course of the year, these young people have been a credit to their schools and Middlesbrough Football Club and this is something that we can do to say 'thank you'.  Most of these pupils want to be footballers when they grow up so we build around that, using their favourite subject to get them interested in learning things such as Maths, English, I.T.  I'm really proud of them today, some of them are starting their G.C.S.E exams in a few weeks so we hope this is that little extra motivation to maybe get the extra 10% out of them".

A special thanks goes to Jonathan Woodgate, BBC Television, Bishopsgarth school and The Kings Academy for making the day a great success.

Pupils from Bishopsgarth School in Stockton have just completed their Year long course with Football First.
The young people completed Making Football Count as well as units from Career Planning and Preperation for Employment.
Anthony Garbutt said; "These young people have been a pleasure to work with and get to know throughout the year.  The effort they have put in has been outstanding and a real credit to their school."  The pupils are now heading into their study leave period and we would like to wish them the best of luck for their GCSE exams which start later this month.

Congratulations.