Canterbury United are pleased to announce that Alan Walker has been reappointed Canterbury United Dragons Youth coach for the 2018 National Youth League (NYL). 

Walker was confirmed to take charge of the Youth Dragons last month after leading them to a second place finish in the NYL last year. 

This season will be Walker’s seventh in charge of the Youth Dragons – he has steered them to two national Youth League titles in 2010 and 2011, as well as a final in 2014 and runners up last season.

Walker said he was looking forward to another opportunity to work with talented young footballers from the Mainland Football region.

“It feels great to be reappointed because I love working with the youth players. It was a new thing for me when I came over to New Zealand, but to be re-appointed with Canterbury United and have another crack at it is good,” he said.

The Youth Dragons were unlucky to come up short last season – despite finishing top of the table ahead of Auckland City on goal difference, it was Auckland who took out the title because they beat the youth Dragons 3-1 in their round-robin matchup.

Regardless of the disappointment of last season’s ruling, Walker said he was confident his side could go one better this season. 

“It’s going to be interesting because we’ve only lost four players from last years squad. The guys set a target of winning it last year, so I’m pretty certain that having a majority of the same players available will stand us in good stead.

“I always take the approach of Sir Alex Ferguson, every time you’ve succeeded in the previous season you have to look in the eyes of the players now and see if they’re going to apply themselves to the same extent this season and I’m confident that they are.”

One of Walker’s biggest challenges will be to replace the ever-present central defensive partnership of Sam Field and Liam Gerathy who will be over age to play in the youth league this season.

“Those guys were our engine room last year and played pretty much every game together so it’s really important we rebuild a solid core at the back.”

47 players have been selected for trials for the squad which kicked off last night. The final squad for the National Youth league will be selected on July 1st.

Article added: Tuesday 19 June 2018