Batley born football manager is aiming for the Premier League after qualifying as a semi-professional football coach

Zaffer Patel joined the Bradford based Route One Rovers Football Club as co-manager in June 2022. The club operates from Keighley's Marley Stadium.

Since moving to the club, Zaffer has worked tirelessly coaching and managing Route One Rovers to progress into the Northwest Counties Football League.

​Zaffer said: "Joining Route One Rovers FC last year was one of the best decisions I ever made in my sporting career.

"I had the opportunity to work closely with the club's chairman Sameel Mahmood, and with its co-manager Sohail Rehman.

"I instantly realised these two individuals had the passion, ambition and dream to see the club go places.

"The backing and encouragement these two men gave me when I joined the club was phenomenal.

"We immediately began to function as a team, ready to take on all the various different challenges likely to come our way whilst running a club like Route One Rovers.

​"The first challenge for me was to take on the role of working for the club both on and off the pitch.

"Every football club has its coach whose job is to train and manage the players on the pitch. But a club also needs other staff members who have the experience and professionalism to work for the club off the pitch.

"Their equally important role is to secure facilities, as well as gaining sponsorships, arranging matches, looking after the marketing, dealing with publicity and media relations, along with doing all the many other things that can help the club go places.

"The logistics of running a football club can be very challenging.

​"In my situation, I had to help out both on and off the pitch as an all-rounder - with support and backing obviously coming from the club's chairman, its co-managers, and from a few other individuals.

"One person working with two different hats is clearly something that does not happen in the vast majority of English clubs. Yet, I wore those different hats with pride and did not mind taking on some extra challenging pressure from a number of equally different angles!

​"Despite the pressure, I found the whole experience refreshing and rewarding. The work I did was also good for my personal and professional development."

​Zaffer added: "We had a very strong pre-season which set the players up to function as a team whilst on the pitch. The transformation was amazing since everyone began to perform well, and as a coach, I could see their confidence growing."

​"Despite some tough games, we continued to win and get closer to our semi-professional goal objective.

"The crowning achievement was to become champions of the Yorkshire Amateur League and the Keighley District Cup in May 2023 after competing in what was a really invincible season.

​"Alongside this amazing achievement, we put in a tremendous amount of hard work to successfully reach the Northwest Counties Football League - a semi-professional league within the English football pyramid. Again, this was another achievement during that memorable month of May 2023.

​"I am now looking forward to taking Route One Rovers even further onto more bigger and better things."

​Zaffer's interesting journey began nearly 11 years ago when he first began coaching a group of children aged between eight and 16 at the Savile Town Football Club.

Zaffer said: "I was originally interested in cricket. But I then gradually developed a passion for coaching at football matches.

"I got my first opportunity to do so at Savile Town FC where some of the best talented players eventually came forward due to the coaching support I was able to give them.

"I continue to feel proud of those youngsters to this day. They were a big part of my life whilst I was at that neighbourhood based club.

"In fact the whole experience at Savile Town was hugely enjoyable and I learned a lot from amazing individuals like Haroon Adam who was one of the club's lifelong members.

"It was at this same time when I felt the moment seemed right to take on the challenge of coaching in the adult side of football – and so I soon found myself moving to Bradford United where I had the opportunity to coach the club's men’s and women's teams.

"The men’s team eventually got promoted to 'Step 7' football.

"In a sense, the foundations for my recent success at Route One Rovers FC were initially laid nearly a decade ago. The journey of my progression was a long one, but every moment was worth the wait."

Talking about his long term future, Zaffer said: ​"My ambition as a South-Asian British young person is to one day coach at the highest level possible - hopefully in the Premier League.

"I also want other young South-Asians to feel inspired by my story and not hesitate to follow in my footsteps.

"I feel it’s important to help breakdown any likely stereotypes and barriers in football - which is exactly what I and my team have done by building such a diverse club.

​"My message to everyone from any culture or any social background is a simple one.

"Do not feel disheartened or discouraged. Just keep trying and one day you will succeed."