Football: Captain Matt Calvert moves into Whanganui Athletic player/coach role for 2022 campaign

Long-time captain Matt Calvert will take on a player-coach role for the Whanganui Athletic First XI for the 2022 campaign. Photo / Bevan Conley

The GJ Gardner Homes Whanganui Athletic firsts are making a change at the top, with long-time captain Matt Calvert set to take on a player/coach role for the 2022 campaign.

Calvert, an English ex-pat who has been at the club for the past six seasons, replaces the departed Tex von Kwiatkowski.

Under von Kwiatkowski, the team was within an inch of securing the Lotto Central Federation League title in 2020, finishing second on the final day of the season.

In 2021, the team overcame a slow start to their campaign to finish third behind Palmerston North Marist and Havelock North.

Calvert said they had slowly laid down a strong foundation during his time at the club and asserted themselves as a consistent top-three side in the competition.

He was looking forward to an exciting and challenging opportunity.

"I feel confident in my ability to do this. One of the key considerations I put into it is having a good coaching group alongside me. You need good people around you to support you. That's a real key thing for me.

"Football is my passion. It is a great opportunity for me to develop as a coach and a great opportunity to give back to the club that has given so much to me."

Club president Peter Czerwonka said Calvert had been a stalwart of the club since his arrival and his background in football development made him a strong candidate.

"This is all part of his progression and he is making all the right steps forward in his coaching career, and this is the natural next step for him and the club are honoured to give him that next step."

Calvert said it would be a bit of an adjustment moving into more of a coaching role, both for himself and the rest of the team.

"For the players, it will be a challenging first few weeks. It will be different. I clearly know what I want and how I want to run the team.

"There will be no favourites. The 11 that gives us the best chance to win will be the ones on the field, simple as that."

Having coached Team McGhie Whanganui Women's Football team and the Women's Central Football side in the past few seasons, Calvert said he saw this as a great next step.

"Moving into coaching over the last few years, it started to happen as a player anyway. Once you swap from a player's mentality to a coach's mentality, it is very hard not to see stuff through the eyes of a coach.

"Especially being a goalkeeper, you spend a lot of time watching and analysing the game. If I was an outfielder, I don't think I could do it because you just have so much to think about in the game. As a goalkeeper, you have more time to analyse and look."

Calvert will start pulling the club and team together in the coming weeks, with pre-season training set for late January.