Four-time Hun Sen Cup winners Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng have named UEFA A licence holder Conor Nestor as new head coach in place of Sam Vandeth for the upcoming Metfone C-League season. The 2013 league champions also unveiled prolific South African forward Shane Booysen yesterday as their prime striker after his move from Phnom Penh Crown.
Team manager Ork Samnang told a press conference at the Sofitel Hotel in Phnom Penh yesterday that Vandeth, who led the side to Hun Sen Cup triumphs in 2012, 2015 and last season, will continue to help the club in a different capacity even as he pursues his aspirations of obtaining an A licence.
Introducing the new coach to the media, the Svay Rieng giants sent a clear message to their rivals that the top priority for them this season is to regain the league supremacy they last enjoyed under the supervision of Vandeth back in 2013.
“Since 2014, I have had the honour of mixing my football association work with coaching Limerick FC’s under-19s. Last year we won the Elite Division in the National League for the first time in the club’s history,” said the 34-year-old Nestor, who served that club between July 2014 and April 2015.
A UEFA licensed coach with 15 years’ experience at various levels from kids to college students to young internationals and emerging professionals, Nestor was for 10 years a coach, educator, elite coach and development officer for the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).
The highly rated Irishman’s arrival in Svay Rieng and the capture of the prolific Booysen to bolster the frontline will bring a new dynamic to the club after the departure of star forward and winner of the award for Most Valuable Player in the league last season Prak Mony Udom to Malaysia. Booysen was Crown’s top scorer last term. The South African forward, who bravely battled back from major injury concerns to stage a determined goalscoring return last season, said he was eagerly looking forward playing for his new club when the season opens on March 3.
