http://www.football365.com/faves/9221246/British-Coaches-Abroad-Brian-Shelley
Brain Shelley on Football365.com
That is actually a good interview. Always interesting to read statements that are made on international websites that dare not be said locally. I have to wonder why a local journo has never come out and simply written about budgets and player payments in the ASBP, or do they feel obliged to play their part in perpetuating the myth of an amateur league? Then again, not sure I have seen Brian Shelley raise the issue here either.
"When I arrived, I came into a really strong team. We had players from around the world, and we did really well, winning pretty much everything apart from the OCL. Then at the start of this season, the head coach couldn't come to an agreement with the club, so he went, and I became co-head coach. It's been a challenge - we started with a budget a quarter of what we had last year - so we lost some players. Roy Krishna, who's a Fijian international, went to Wellington Phoenix in the A League, and Auckland City signed a couple of ours too. We couldn't compete with them financially."
Interesting career - mentions he worked under ex NZ Football Technical Director Paul Smalley at Ballarat in Melbourne.
I see Smalley has been building an impressive CV since he left NZ - Director of Youth at Portsmouth in the Premier League 2008 -2010, East Midlands Coach Development Manager English FA, Exec. director Minnesota Soccer Assoc., USA etc.
Interesting that even playing in a minor league like Ireland leads to chances for some competitive games against major clubs. Playing for some top Irish Premier clubs meant Shelley saw some Euro competition:
"I've been fortunate to play in major tournaments like the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. One of my first games in senior football was for Bohemians against Kaiserslautern (a 3-1 home defeat in the 2000/01 UEFA Cup). I don't remember a lot of games I played in, but I remember that - Youri Djorkaeff was playing for them. That was pretty special.
Other favourite games? We've all played friendlies against big players, so I don't really count those. I played against Henrik Larsson (for Drogheda United against Helsingborg in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup) which was great. And I've come pretty close to conquering some big European teams - at Drogheda, we almost knocked Dynamo Kiev out of the Champions League (in 2008/09). We hit the post in the last couple of minutes, it rolled across the line, and hit the other post. Football can be cruel..."