As Mainland Football and Canterbury United evolve into a new era and introduce Lee Padmore as Director of Football, we would like to say a special thank you to our out-going Federation Development Manager Alan Walker for his tireless support in growing the game of football in the region over the last 10 years.

During Alan’s tenure there have been substantial changes in the Federation and the implementation of several key programmes and structures in the development of both player and club capability.

Alan has been at the centre of developing the technical side of the game within the Federation and there have been some significant milestones over the past decade to reflect on that he has led in improving the game.

“Alan has been a pivotal member of the Mainland Federation staff over the last 10 years and has led significant change in the game” says Mainland Football CEO Julian Bowden.

“Alan commenced his role in July 2009 when we had only two full-time Club Based Technical Directors, which has continued to increase as clubs have developed into a more professional era of football, to the point where we now have over 12 full-time technical staff within clubs across the Federation.”

There was also success on the field as Alan led Mainland Football and coached Canterbury United Youth to National success across Youth Football and Futsal

On reflection of his time at Mainland Football and Canterbury United, Alan says, 

“When I first came into the role, I was captured by John Herdman’s vision to align football across the country and implement structures and programmes that would increase the capability of the game.

“The game has always been at the centre of my thoughts and the foundation for that will always be the clubs who I must pay the utmost respect to and thank them for their support over the past ten years. There have been some huge changes to the game in this time and they have embraced this change and made football more organised and effective for the most important aspect, the players.”

“I would like to wish Lee Padmore all the success in the world in his new Director of Football role and I look forward to seeing the clubs continuing to grow, as well as seeing some individual players performing at the highest level.”

The team here at Mainland Football wish Alan all the best in his next venture.

Article added: Friday 23 August 2019