KEY POINTS:
Not long after dropping the coaching role at Auckland City, Roger Wilkinson was last night working with the players at fellow NZ Football Championship club Waikato FC.
Wilkinson has accepted an offer to coach the team until the end of next season.
He replaces caretaker coach Ray Pooley who stepped in briefly after Dave Edmondson resigned seven matches into the season after the off-field incident involving three players and subsequent police involvement - and without the Hamilton-based team winning a game.
Edmondson was appointed after the club parted ways with Declan Edge who, with James Pamment, had coached the side in the first two NZFC seasons.
One of Wilkinson's first tasks will be to look for three new players he can sign during the month-long transfer window starting next week.
The club has already been talking to a Solomon Islands youth international but it will now be Wilkinson's call whether he is signed.
There will also be a keenly-awaited battle for Wilkinson to look forward to on January 7 when Waikato FC play Auckland City at Waikato Stadium.
The three Waikato FC players involved in the early-morning fracas after the 2-1 loss to Hawkes Bay United in Napier last month could be back playing next week.
The club suspended the un-named players after the incident. Their three-match ban ends after the clash with Canterbury United at Waikato Stadium on Sunday but it will now be up to Wilkinson whether they are included in his squad for the following away game against Team Wellington.
The players have also been fined $600, the amount the club was fined by NZ Soccer.
Waikato FC general manager Joe Sprangers said the players had been suspended from all club activities until yesterday. They were free to return to training last night.
