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Escaping the Nazis via train, boat and sheer courage, building a new life, grafting hard and caring for the elderly: the journey of Michael Skubala’s forebears from fear in Poland to prosperity in England is extraordinary.
Their story and principles shape Skubala, who has worked hard to build a career in coaching and is currently feted for his record-breaking success at Lincoln City.
Today may bring even more acclaim if the League One champions avoid defeat at Port Vale and extend their six-month unbeaten run to 29 games, an EFL record for a third-tier season. Skubala stands on the edge of history.
“They had to get out”
And history moulded the newly-crowned EFL League One Manager of the Season. His grandparents lived in Poznan in 1939 when the Nazis invaded. “They had to get out,” Skubala recalls.
“My nan’s older siblings were killed, and she saw it. They went down on a train to Italy, then got a boat all the way round Italy to England and ended up in Barrow (upon Soar) in North Leicestershire.
“My nan, bless her, didn't really speak a lot about it. She never wanted to go back, bless her.” They settled and the family did well, running care homes. “My dad’s now a successful businessman, but he had to start from scratch. When you see your parents graft, you just take that into your life, don't you?”
He's taken it into coaching and into Imps folklore. “The players just feel invincible at the minute. When people talk about our team being relentless, I think I'm quietly relentless. My drive to win is innate. I wouldn't shout about it. But in my background, there's this hidden drive to win. If you ask my wife, she’d say, ‘You're super-competitive, but people wouldn't know it’. It’s not a shouty competitive, it’s a work ethic competitive. I love leading - love it - and think I'm good at it. I'm good at bringing people on a journey together.”
Growing up, Skubala played plenty of non-League football, had trials for Nottingham Forest and Leicester City, and also played chess. “Probably this is a Polish thing: chess is really big in our family. I used to play every week with my dad, my cousin, and my dad's brother. There's something in the strategy of chess that I see in football. I see football as a fast-moving game of chess.”
He was coaching from 15, taught PE in a Leicestershire school, coached non-League and also in the academies of Forest and Coventry City, where he helped develop “a super talented kid,” an eight-year-old James Maddison.
Skubala studied sports science and psychology at Birmingham University. “That taught me about human behaviour, the intrinsic extrinsic motivation of people”. He became director of football at Loughborough University, “a cauldron of coaching”, and used every opportunity to learn from others.
“I’ve spoken to Gareth (Southgate) over the years about how you create a real culture in a team, a real unity within the team, connecting fans with players and how to find the motivation with each individual. Gareth’s smart at that. I speak to technical directors like John McDermott – brilliant – and Dan Ashworth – brilliant.”
Ashworth brought him into the FA fold in 2017, coaching the Futsal side. Skubala had played for England. “I went to Thailand on an England game, and we walked out in front of 8,000 people! What?! How do I learn more about this?! I started studying it, looked at Spain, Brazil, Portugal. I looked at Ronaldo (both), Messi, Romario.” He coached Max Kilman, a Futsal star. "His defending was phenomenal. His ball retention was phenomenal, and he could do it at speed. Futsal is probably six or seven times quicker than football at the highest level. It's football on steroids.
“My make-up is to create something that can overachieve. I took Futsal from 80th in the world to 40th in the world with no money, no budget. Then the FA cut the Futsal programme.” By then, McDermott had succeeded Ashworth, who’d moved to Brighton. “John went we don’t want to lose you. I worked with the (England) 18s: Rico Lewis, unbelievable talent, James Beadle in goal, Lewis Hall stood out, Archie Gray. Chris Rigg with the 16s, he stood out, Tyler Dibling. I worked with Tyrique George and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens.”
His Futsal reputation interested Victor Orta, Leeds United’s director of football. Orta invited Skubala to Leeds United to work with their Under-21s. “Victor’s an unbelievable character, a great leader who was unbelievable support for me.” Skubala arrived at Thorp Arch and Elland Road just after Marcelo Bielsa had left. “But a lot of his principles were still there. Murderball! I spent days, months reading Marcelo's work on tactics, culture. Team meetings, tactics, training - it's all videoed. I went back through two years of Marcelo’s work at Leeds - in my own time.
“Oh, unbelievable work! I’ve seen his attention to detail and every aspect of the game that looks like it's not coached, but is coached. The amount of detail that he put into match plans and substitutions was incredible. It was like he knew the opposition manager as well, how they make subs, when they make subs. If you can study the inner workings of somebody like Marcelo Bielsa, why wouldn't I take that opportunity?”
At Leeds, he worked with talent like Archie Gray. “I was the first one that moved Archie to right-back (and stepping into midfield). The ‘rolling’ midfield is in now. That’s me just exploring things. Archie was 16 in an Under-21s game at Aston Villa. Everyone's going, ‘what's he doing?’ ‘Watch! He will be great at this!’
“He's an unbelievable professional. If any young player wants to look up at a pro that has the desire and work ethic look up to Archie. Even someone that comes from a football family (like the Grays), you could think it's easy, you could take the shortcut. Archie never did that. He was the last in the gym. You see now with (younger brother) Harry Gray at Rotherham. He's doing really well on loan. That work ethic of that family is incredible.”
When Jesse Marsch was dismissed in 2023, Skubala was put in temporary charge of Leeds. In his first game, Leeds were 2-0 up at Old Trafford until Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho scrambled a draw. “When Man United scored the equaliser, the noise from the stands that came on to the pitch was unbelievable. You could feel the place shaking. I remember shouting to Luke Ayling, who was no more than 10 metres away, to try and talk tactics. Couldn't hear me!
“I'd love to work at that level again. But I’ve never been in a rush. I want to be prepared for that next level. When you've worked at the highest level with Luke Ayling and Pat Bamford at Old Trafford you see what it takes at senior level to be the best.” It’s demanding, and takes time to get there.
But February 8, 2023, felt a special moment for Skubala, almost of his arrival as a coach, certainly validation of all his effort. “Any coach, especially with my background, when you've worked for so long in coaching, and you've done all the hard yards, there's a moment where you go, ‘I can do this.’ It doesn't mean you'll ever know everything.” But it instils further belief.
“There was a point at Old Trafford, I went ‘OK, that was good, but I should have gone to a back-five. I'd have won the game.’ Straight away, I came off thinking, analysing. Everyone was in the euphoria of getting a point. I was more thinking, ‘could have won that game’. My wife came home and said, ‘Oh God! Unbelievable game! The fans were in tears (of pride).’ I was going, ‘Yeah, but I could have won it.’ I didn't live in the moment.
My wife came home and said, ‘Oh God! Unbelievable game! The fans were in tears (of pride).’ I was going, ‘Yeah, but I could have won it.’ I didn't live in the moment.
“I can’t switch off. My downfall is I don't really enjoy the moment enough. I've tried to this time, but I'm always thinking, ‘right, how do we go again?’ My wife says, ‘You need to try and enjoy it more’.”
Skubala, 43, is always looking and learning, improving and taking inspiration from all managers, especially those like him without an elite playing background. “When I look at my role models, it's probably the ones that haven't played. I've always admired Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger.”
He does feels the pressure on home-grown coaches, though. “Because the ownership (increasingly in football) is now foreign, they (home-grown coaches) can be overlooked quite a bit. I always wanted to go into management, but I was really conscious that, without a background as a top player, I have to be really careful where I go first. I knew I could succeed if I had time, had support, the right people.”
He found it at Lincoln. “Clive Nates is an absolute unbelievable chairman over the last few years (now co-vice chairman). He's put money into this club, not as a director's loan to take out, he's gifted this money to this club. So it doesn't have the debt. So now that we're actually moving into the Championship, we're in a really healthy position.”
Skubala is planning for next season but is enjoying the moment. He loves working with this group of players. “I want to play attacking football, but we defend very resolutely, we press very aggressively. Again, my Futsal background tells me if you can't defend, you don't win. I say to Ben House all the time, ‘You're the best out-of-possession forward in English football’. Then he scores twice (against Doncaster)! And he's like, ‘I can score!’ ‘Yes, but you're the best out-of-possession forward. Be proud of your super strength!’ Everybody loves him for it. Then if he scores as well, it's like the cherry on the cake.”
I ask him about a special talent, Jack Moylan, who made the EFL League One Team of the Season. “Oh, Moylan what a player!
His drive and determination as a young Irish boy to train unbelievable every day. He trains like it's his last game every day. The whole group do that.” Can Lincoln keep Moylan? “Oh, hopefully. Yeah, it'll be a challenge.” Can he play in the Premier League? “With more work, I think so. He's still got to keep developing. And he knows that, but he's got every chance because of what he can create. He’s a good lad, too.”
Skubala wants to keep the squad together and take their camaraderie and momentum into the Championship. “Momentum can be a big thing. Look at Ipswich and Wrexham. If you can keep the group together, which we might be challenged on, but everybody's under contract.”
And they will add. Recruitment is done in conjunction with director of football Jez George - “a wise owl” - and Liam Scully - “an amazing CEO to work under”. Each player on their database has 30 references. “Jez knows a lot of people in the game.”
The Championship will have a different dynamic next season with play-offs down to eighth. “It's exciting. It gives a bit more hope, doesn't it? It also might give a bit more spending (incentive) to some of the clubs that are the middle layer. They might go a little bit more in the hope they can get eighth and anything in the play-offs can happen.”
Would Lincoln target eighth? “Great question! We had this five-year plan to get to the Championship, and we've done it in three years. I think it would be the same again: sustaining and then growing in the second year. First of all, surviving has got to be the first target. I don't think there's any reason why we shouldn't be aiming for a top-half finish.”
He knows what this season has meant to the city. “When you're so close to something like the title, for the first time for the club, for the city, for what it would mean for people, the pressure came even more for me to achieve that for them. I felt a real responsibility for the people.
“Football is between (about) two sets of people - fans, players. It’s a player’s game. It’s a fans’ game. And somewhere in between, there's managers and leaders of the clubs. The reality is it'll always be about the community and the players.
“I say to the players, ‘Don't walk past kids wanting shirts signed’. Sometimes they're in the zone, and people have to understand that. But you can make a kid's day. Signing a shirt could make a difference to a kid's life. We're privileged. I have things that if you don't sign this, you might get a fine.”
And there are plenty of Lincoln shirts needing signing. “You can feel the buzz in the city. You see all the kids with Lincoln shirts on in the city, rather than Liverpool, Arsenal, Man United shirts. The club sold out of shirts!”
