Ben Pugh: Cayman Islands boss on journey from Suffolk to international management

Ben Pugh (second from left) stands for the Cayman Islands' national anthem before a game

"I want life experiences and to do that you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone - and this certainly did."

Ben Pugh was in his late twenties and coaching in the Ipswich Town academy when an opportunity off the beaten football track piqued his interest.

Though the Cayman Islands were ranked 206th out of 210 countries in the Fifa rankings and had not won an international in nine years, there was enough to lure him 5,000 miles across the world to take the job as head coach.

Almost two years - and four victories - later, Pugh is embarking on his maiden World Cup qualification campaign and preparing to face a Champions League winner.

Mick's man-management & making the move

Pugh started his coaching journey aged 16 in the Suffolk village of Shotley, helping out at his brother's under-eights team after "coming to the realisation" that he would never make it as a player.

A sports science degree led to him initially volunteering at Ipswich, coaching pre-academy children, with his role growing over eight years to working with players up to the age of 16 at Portman Road.

"Seeing how [former Ipswich manager] Mick McCarthy and [assistant] Terry Connor went about dealing with people was brilliant," Pugh told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"Whether you worked as a coach in the youth age groups, whether you were a senior team player or one of the chefs, they'd treat everybody the same and from a personal level their values certainly rubbed off on me."

When a couple players from the Cayman Islands came over to train for a week at the then Championship club, Pugh built relationships - and then the job came up.

"It probably wasn't as prestigious as the job I had at Ipswich, but I wanted to try something different, I wanted to have a life experience and I thought even if it didn't work out it would be an incredible experience," he said.

The Cayman Islands squad flew to Miami for their opening two World Cup qualifiers

'Will we qualify? Absolutely not'

Since taking charge in July 2019, Pugh has steered the British Overseas Territory to victories over Barbados, Saint Martin and the US Virgin Islands in the Concacaf Nations League, only missing out on promotion on goal difference.

Not bad for an island of about 65,000 people and whose only professional player plies his trade in Romania's third division.

"Because it's such a small island, people here play with their friends and everybody knows each other - it's not like England where you pull in people who live five or six hours apart," said Pugh.

"We have a really good young core of players here that are hungry and the programme probably just needed a little bit more structure, which I tried to add, and that little bit more professionalism that I'd seen back home."

The challenge ahead for Pugh's Cayman Islands is enormous, but the pressure is anything but.

In the first round of qualifying for next winter's World Cup, the minnows have been drawn against Suriname, Bermuda, Aruba and 73rd-ranked Canada, who boast Bayern Munich's marauding full-back Alphonso Davies in their ranks.

"It's fantastic for me and more so for the players," continued Pugh. "These are opportunities that they maybe never would've dreamed of, or maybe will never get again - to play against Alphonso Davies, a Champions League winner who's played at the highest level.

"Are we going to qualify for the World Cup? Absolutely not. The teams we're facing are incredibly good with world-class players, but if we can make small strides forward then maybe qualifying for a Gold Cup is a possible goal."

Davies' Canada are the Cayman Islands' opponents on Sunday, having lost their opening World Cup qualifier 3-0 against Suriname on Wednesday

Pugh is realistic for good reason - while the Cayman Islands have risen to 193rd in the world under his stewardship, the country has never won a World Cup qualifying match and would have to come through three rounds, overcoming the likes of Mexico and the United States, to reach the finals in Qatar.

Just fulfilling the fixtures is hard enough, even though the island is free of coronavirus, as all players and staff have to quarantine for 14 days on returning from overseas.

"Trying to convince employers to let players out of work for nearly 25 days is proving to be a challenge but we're fortunate that most are proud to let their employee go and play in these games and represent their country," he said.

Future Ipswich manager?

Asked what advice he would give to young coaches hoping to land such an international role, Pugh is clear.

"Take risks," he said. "I was in a good job at Ipswich and I took that risk, hoping that something would build from that and I'm fortunate that it did.

"It's given me experiences that I maybe wouldn't have had if I'd not taken the risk and stayed back in Ipswich."

Although leaving the Suffolk town has proved fruitful career-wise, it still forms a big part of Pugh's future ambitions.

"On a personal level I'd like to coach at the highest level, but where that will be and what country I'm not sure," he added.

"I'd love to be Ipswich manager one day - whether that will happen, time will tell."

Ben Pugh was speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk's Connor Bennett.