New Bangor City manager Kevin Nicholson says he is ready for the biggest challenge of his career as he prepares to take charge of the Welsh Premier League side.
The 31-year old former Cardiff City first-team coach succeeds Ian Dawes as manager and will work alongside caretaker player/boss Gary Taylor-Fletcher, who steps down to an assistant manager role after steering the the side into the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds.
Speaking at his official unveiling yesterday, Nicholson explained he was excited at the challenge that lies ahead.
“This club has such a great history in European and domestic competitions, and I feel very honoured to be a part of this club moving forward,” he told FAW.cymru.
“Gary and the club’s achievements last season have been brilliant, getting back into Europe, and I’m here just to work alongside the likes of Gary and support everybody who is trying to build on that and continue moving forward.
“I’m very much looking forward to the season ahead! What attracted me was the challenge, I see this as the biggest challenge of my coaching career to date and one that I’m very, very excited about.”
Since being taken over a year ago, ambitions and expectations at Bangor have grown.
The club will return to Europe this summer for the first time in three seasons and the club have made their intentions to re-assert themselves as one of the WPL’s most competitive teams quite clear.
A high turnover of players during that 12-month period has left the Citizens with one of the most exciting teams in the league.
Nicholson explained that he is looking forward to working with those players on the training ground and alongside his assistant, former Blackpool forward, Gary Taylor-Fletcher.
“I’ve got a lot of experience in developing and working with younger players, I really enjoy working with young players as well as experienced players and I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to do both in my career so far at first-team and academy level,” he said.
“Coaching is one of my passions, developing players on the training field, and with the help of everybody here I’ll be able to develop all of the lads and make us as strong a team as possible.
‘I’m really looking forward to working with Gary, absolutely!
“We’ve had some conversations already and I’m really excited about the prospect of working together, everything between us has been really positive. I’ll be leaning on him and looking to learn from him and I look forward to our partnership. Our philosophies and principals match, I have no doubt about that, we’ll try to play the best football we can possibly play and win as many matches as possible.”
Nicholson will be hoping he can convince WPL Young Player of the Year Henry Jones to commit to another year at the club.
Bangor announced their retained list last week with only Jones and Yalany Baios’ names omitted from the list of first-team regulars. The star midfielder has been offered a new contract to remain at Nantporth but is weighing up his future with a number of potential suitors believed to be interested.
Adding to the current squad regardless Jones remains or leaves will be crucial as Nicholson sets his sights on challengings The New Saints’ dominance.
“With my playing experience and Kevin’s coaching experience, I think we are going to make a really strong team, definitely. Working together, going forward, what are our aims? My aim is automatic European qualification, I don’t want the playoffs again next year, but we have to close that gap on TNS.
“We were 33 points behind them this year, but on the pitch there wasn’t too much difference between the two teams when we played against them, so next year we have to close that gap, be able to nip on their heels and I think the squad we’re trying to assemble we are going to be very strong.”
The new Bangor management team have less than four weeks to prepare for their first challenge however – a European tie against a yet to be decided opponent.
“You can feel the excitement around the club regarding European football, it’s very important for the club, I’m well aware of that, and I’m looking forward to the 19th June to see who we’re playing in the first round and we’ll take it from there, but we’ll be ready for whoever we have to face.”
City visit Northern Irish side Coleraine as a warm-up fixture as part of those preparations.
