Melbourne Victory Football Club and Football Federation Victoria are pleased to announce that Darren Davies was today appointed as the new head coach of Melbourne Victory’s National Youth League team.
Melbourne Victory Football Club and Football Federation Victoria are pleased to announce that Darren Davies was today appointed as the new head coach of Melbourne Victory-s National Youth League team.
Former New Zealand international, Vaughan Coveny, has been appointed as Davies- assistant.
Davies joins Victory from his position as head coach of the Queensland Academy of Sport, who play in the Queensland State League.
“I-m extremely excited, it-s a great opportunity. Obviously coming from the Queensland Academy of Sport I-m used to the NTC (National Training Centre) side of things and the Football Federation side of things so I feel like I-m bringing my experience from that,” Davies said.
“From the professional side I-ve been fortunate enough to have been there myself and know what it takes to become a top professional and I-m looking to pass on my experiences to the boys and hopefully produce the next generation of Melbourne Victory first team players.”
Davies said that he would bring a technical brand of football to the team, encouraging them to “play the right way” and hone their technical skills.
“I firmly believe that we need to give the boys the best technical tools in order to succeed at an elite level,” he added.
“Playing football the correct way, on the floor with a lot of passing and playing in an attacking way is what my coaching philosophy is based on.”
Davies also expressed his eagerness to work with Senior Coach, Mehmet Durakovic during such an exciting period for the club.
“I-m looking forward to working closely with Mehmet and his coaching team as it-s important that I produce footballers that play the type of football Mehmet wants them to play,” said Davies.
“It-s a very, very exciting time for Melbourne Victory and that-s another reason this job appealed to me, it-s an exciting time for the club and I want to be part of that.”
Melbourne Victory Football Director, Francis Awaritefe, welcomed Davies to the club, “The thing that stood out for us about Darren was that he-s a young, intelligent, modern football coach, and that fits in very well with the direction that Melbourne Victory wants to take,”
“We-re confident Darren will help to shape the next generation of players at our club and we-re not going to be afraid to give youngsters an opportunity if they prove to be good enough.” he added.
Davies- assistant, Coveny, is a former New Zealand international who coached South Melbourne in the Victorian Premier League last year before taking charge of the state Under-17 country boy-s team as well as working with the Ballarat Regional Academy.
“It-s great to be working with Darren, we have very similar views and opinions on how the game should be played,” Coveny said.
“I-ve been around Victoria for a long time now, and I know a lot of the young Victorian players, so I-m here to support Darren and help him out however I can.”
