Non-League and Academy football writer

Syed  Tanveer ‘ Tani ’ Hussain is the current head-coach of East London Ballers, whose first team play in the Senior Division of the Essex Sunday Corinthian Football League, and who won a brilliant treble last season (2024/25). Tani is someone who is not only a very good coach, but he is also someone with so many years of experience in grassroots football, and at helping to develop players. Up until recently Tani was also the assistant manager of step 6 non-League side FC Baresi. It was a role in which he did so well in. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Tani ahead of the start of the 2025/26 season, about his grassroots footballing journey, so far.

Could you talk me through a bit about your background in football, prior to becoming the head-coach of East London Ballers’ first team?

Tani: My whole coaching journey really started back when I was playing for a team called Asianos FC. I was 29 at the time, and there was also Mazar Sadiq, Ashfaq Khan and Imran Arif, and we all came together and started discussing just how talented the youth section was, at the club. We had this discussion in a cafe, and we all thought that we should set up an academy, for the youngsters. The four of us didn’t have much coaching experience, and we didn’t have our level 1 or level 2 coaching badges, but we loved the game.

We were trying to get funding for this academy, and it was Mazar Sadiq who financed the academy originally, and we just wanted to see how it would all go. So we started building up the footballing academy, and it grew really quickly. We were very lucky to have Zed Party Services and PC Foods UK sponsor the project, which helped us so much. 

With the club having grown so quickly we needed support. So we brought in club legend Ahsen Shah, current player and captain Shafiq Suleiman, Adnan Ali and a talented and experienced project manager, in Ajaz Rashid, who is the brother of the club chairman, Ashfaq Rashid. But, other great coaches also joined, such as Dr Malik, Asif Chaudry, Iftikhar Ahmed and Asif Hameed. I was the academy director at Asianos, but all the amazing work came from those mentioned, to be honest. I wouldn’t say that I’ve got the best skill set out of the four of us who founded the academy, but my passion and drive really was there.

There was so many good things that came out of the academy at Asianos. Mazar Sadiq, who coached one of the younger sides in the academy, actually won a game against a Vitesse Arnhem youth side in one tournament in Europe. And we competed in some really good tournaments in Europe. Moving forward, and the youngsters at Asianos who were doing really well, we needed to push them forward. So Troy Townsend is someone who I knew well, and he was and still is a very well respected coach and person in football. 

We needed to take this group of the youth players at the academy to the next level. Troy Townsend and the legendary Steve Brown (May he rest in peace) came down to work with us during one pre-season and the young players really enjoyed working with them, and they wanted them to create a team. So S&T Academy was created, and with youngsters joining him and Steve to really try and take them to the next level, Troy asked me if I wanted to join them as an assistant. I jumped at the chance, and he taught me everything that I know to this day.

At S&T Academy we won everything (from the Eastern Junior Alliance, to the Super Cup) within the space of about five years, and Troy is an elite mentor, who I was so lucky to learn so much from. I became a better coach and a better person through Troy, and everything that people see me do as a coach, it’s not me, It’s Troy Townsend’s DNA of football. I often say to people in football, that you need a mentor like Troy Townsend or Danny Bailey, because both of them as coaches, and as people, will go above and beyond to help you as a player, if you are committed and willing to put in the work. 

In the end with S&T Academy and after we won the Super Cup, Troy explained to me that he was going to step down because of his other commitments in football. And the strange thing was that I was actually going to tell him that I was also going to step down, and so in the end I did, after such a great time working with Troy. My first team, Walthamstow Red Star, they asked me to work with their first team. I joined them during the last six weeks of their season, doing training with them. During our first season together we won the recently merged league, and then in my second season we finished in mid table in the Premier Division.

I took a break out of football for three years, after departing Walthamstow Red Star, and it was a much needed break from football. Zulqi Khan and Ibrahim Khan were two players who I always wanted to work with, and who I did work with in grassroots football. One day after bumping in to them, they asked me whether I wanted to get back in to football. I said that I wasn’t too sure, but I didn’t want to say no to them, and they are such kind heartened young men, and in the end they passed my details to the manager of their club, Asianos legend Faizaan Ahmed. He is such a talented coach and a truly wonderful young man. So, this followed a call from the club chairman and so I joined FC Leytonstone for three years, before later moving on to my current Sunday team, in East London Ballers.

Joining FC Baresi was another interesting story. I don’t like to step on peoples success, and Baresi are a generally successful club. I’ve known their club chairman, Amjad Mahmood, since I was 12, through my dad, who he knew very well. My first coaching experience was with Amjad, at the Umbro Cup when I was 18. In more recent years he contacted me a number of times, asking me to join FC Baresi. But for me, I didn’t want to disrupt the success that they were having as a club, because of my lack of experience at the time. I always used to tell Amjad that there were better people out there than me, who he could bring in to the club. After the third time of him asking me to join the club, I thought that I can’t keep on saying no to joining the club, as he is such a good person.

After agreeing to join the club I said that I’d help out with FC Baresi’s reserve side, to begin with, just to support Umayr, who had stepped in to manage the reserve side. So I helped to support him as an assistant coach, and to help get him through this new role for him. One day when the reserves didn’t have a game, we went to watch the first team, over at Frenford. For some reason of which I don’t know why, the then Baresi manager resigned after that game. Amjad took me aside, and he said that he knew that I didn’t want to get involved in Saturday football, but that he needed me to help him get through the end of that season. There were five games remaining, and they still had a chance of winning promotion to step 6.

After helping Amjad with the first team during the final matches of that season, with us doing well but unfortunately missing out on promotion, we had a discussion. Me, Amjad and Tufail all spoke about what we needed to do for next season. So what I suggested was that with experienced ex-pros like Yannick Kamanan and Romuald Boco, that we needed to get these guys to really manage the team for the next season. They stepped in for a while and they did a good job, but because of other commitments, Yannick had to leave during that season. So by default I became the assistant to Romuald Boco, and with Tufail, who was very organised, we prepared things properly for that season. We also took things off the experienced players, like Marvin Hamilton and Junior Appiah.

That 2023/24 season, which as you’ll know from me getting to know you during that season, was a really good season for the club. We won the league and we went up to step 6. But, that was how I came about joining and then being involved with FC Baresi. 

What are some of your thoughts on last season (2024/25) with treble winners East London Ballers?

Tani: That was an amazing season. I’ve wanted to work with the quality players within the first team, such as players like Steven Carvell, Kevin Krans Sean Bonnett-Johnson and Salim Nassor, and I’ve been very fortunate to work with players like that. And it was an excellent season in 2024/25, winning the treble and the league in the fashion that we did, was just amazing. Last season was actually my first ever treble winning season as a coach, so for us to win that treble really meant a lot to me, after a lot of double winning seasons. But, the one from last season that really pains me on missing out on, is the National Cup. And after that disappointment in the semi-finals, we needed to not switch off, but to their credit the players did not switch off after that, and they got through things like injuries, really well.

Obviously we really wanted to get to the final of the FA Sunday Cup, where we would have met Highgate Albion in the final. But, I’d just like to add that all of the staff, including the ground-staff at Northampton Town, were outstanding for our semi-final game in that competition, and they showed us a lot of respect. The East London Ballers chairman, Shabaaz Salim (Gazza), has been amazing to me, and he does such a great job with the running of the club.

For those who haven’t seen East London Ballers play, how would you describe their style of play?

Tani: At East London Ballers our super talented manager Faizaan Ahmed, has us playing an innovative style of football. It is a combination of free flowing attacking football with a lot of rotations around the pitch, but the style is possession based with specific transitions when going forward with the ball. The idea is to get our opponents thinking that you are building to go forward with the ball in a certain way, but instead disguising how you are going to do that. You need certain types of players for that style of football, hence why we recruit players in a specific way.

What are some of your personal hopes/aims for this coming season with East London Ballers?

Tani: I do want to go for the two national cups this season, and the London Cup. We’ll give it our very best go in those cup competitions this season, and that would really complete my footballing CV for Sunday football. I would also like to help see young talented footballers like Qusay Mohammed and Kishawn James really push on this season.

You recently departed FC Baresi, after three great years at the club as first team assistant manager. How do you look back on your time with the non-League club, and what are some of your standout memories of your time being associated with them?

Tani: It was a really interesting learning experience, and it was never an easy decision to leave FC Baresi. The owner Amjad Mahmood is like a father and older brother at the same time. He’s a totally amazing person, and there is not a thing that he wouldn’t do for anyone, just like his oldest son Tufail Amjad (current head-coach). Tufail is a sincerely big hearted young man, along with his two younger brothers, Umayr and Zuhayr. Also, working with Marvin Hamilton was amazing. He has such an amazing ceiling when it comes to coaching, and he’s currently doing his A license. I am excited to see where his journey takes him, and during the last couple of years I have learnt a lot from this amazing young man.

I met some great people and players at FC Baresi, like Murat Karagul and Junior Appiah for example. My first experience of being involved in non-League football was a special one, as was winning promotion to step 6. So I learnt a lot about those involved with the club, but I also learnt a lot about myself, as well.

Who would you say (for their quality) was the best team that you faced with FC Baresi, during the last three years?

Tani: That is a really tough one. I heard that AS London were really strong, but I was away for both of those fixtures last season. NW London were the team, who I saw, and for the way in which they played, who impressed me the most for their quality. They left a real impression on me.

Finally, Alam Zaman of AZ Images is an amazing man and an Icon in football, he’s followed my journey throughout and always made it look special, and he’s an unsung hero in the game, with photography and videography. He captures moments of magic in the game, that’s how people know about me, or I would just be another grassroots coach. Adding to that, what about you Lennon The Legend, you are a special guy who has tracked so many journeys in non-League and grassroots football, and we are lucky to have you do what you do. You capture amazing stories and we are better for it. 

I loved winning with all these players at FC Baresi, learning when we lost and most importantly having the love and respect from all the players, it’s more than football. You feel like an older brother and understand the responsibilities you have to them and their families. That’s the biggest success for me against any trophies I have won at the club or helping to take the club in to Step 6 of non-League football.