Former Coventry City youngster Gavin Strachan is to become the new head coach of Ilkeston FC.
Strachan, who made sixteen appearances for City's first team and plenty for City Reserves, has a UEFA Pro Licence and had been at Peterborough United for the last four years and will join Ilkeston, once his severance payment has been sorted.
Strachan told Mark Duffy: “I’m really excited by the challenge. “I’ve read a lot about Ilkeston over the last few months so know all about what they’re trying to achieve and it’s really appealing to me to be involved in.
“What struck me when I spoke to Nigel Harrop was that the club is run as professionally as possible with the majority of staff being full-time and that will help us attract better quality players. It also seems everyone at the club feels involved which is important.”
“I love the idea of developing young players and was youth team coach at Peterborough as well as having lots of youngsters in the squad when I was involved with the first team.
“I was even aware of Che Adams purely because we were very keen to sign him!”
“I’m used to working with players of the kind of age Ilkeston’s squad currently boasts and have a good idea of what they need to learn.
“When players are still so young you’re in a position where you can arm them with good habits in terms of technique, tactically and mentally, so I’ll be aiming to do that.
“I enjoyed my time at Peterborough but always in the back of my mind was an ambition to have a go at being a manager and getting to stamp my own ideas on things.
“I have good mentors, not only my dad but also people like Darren Ferguson who I worked with at Peterborough, so there is plenty of advice on hand if I need it.
“Non-league football is tough and part of the challenge of taking in players from league football is making them aware of the harsh realities of football at this level, but being full-time will help no end and I can’t wait to get started.”