Tony Walmsley | |
Birth Date: | 10 May 1966 |
Birth Place: | Manchester, England |
Clubs1: | Riverside Olympic |
Manageryears1: | 2009–2012 |
Managerclubs1: | Central Coast Mariners (youth) |
Manageryears2: | 2012–2013 |
Managerclubs2: | Sheffield United (Head of Academy Recruitment) |
Manageryears3: | 2015–2016 |
Managerclubs3: | Central Coast Mariners |
Tony Walmsley is an Australian professional football coach who worked as Technical Director and Head Coach for A-League side Central Coast Mariners.
Tony Walmsley started his coaching career in 1989 when he served as player/coach for Riverside Olympic in Tasmania.[1] [2]
Walmsley has previously served as Academy Director for the Manchester United Youth Development Programme in Oceania.[3] He was then appointed the manager of Central Coast Mariners youth team for three seasons, where his team never finished outside the top two and won the A-League National Youth League in the 2011–12 season.[4] In September 2012 he became the Head of Academy Recruitment for English League One side Sheffield United's youth team.[5] [6]
Walmsley was appointed as Technical Director of the Mariners on 19 February 2015 [7] and caretaker head coach of the Mariners from 6 March 2015.
On 15 April 2015 Walmsley was announced as Mariners permanent Technical Director/Head Coach for the 2015–16 season.[8]
Under Walmsley, the Mariners had their worst A-League performance to date in the 2015–16 season. The Mariners' 13 points, the fewest in club history, resulted in a last-place finish, and they set a league record by losing 20 games while winning only 3, a record low for the Mariners. Central Coast allowed 70 goals, the most in league history, and had a goal difference of −37, the worst by an A-League team. The Mariners' totals of goals conceded at home and away (32 and 38 respectively) were also A-League records, and they went the entire season without a clean sheet.[9]
In the 2016 FFA Cup, the Mariners suffered a 2–1 loss to Green Gully SC at Green Gully Reserve, becoming just the second A-League team to be eliminated by a state league team in the FFA Cup.[10] As a result of the last placed finish in the 2015–16 season, and the Mariners' elimination from the 2016 FFA Cup, Walmsley was sacked by the Mariners on 8 August 2016,[11] [12] with coaching duties in the leadup to the 2016–17 season taken up by assistant coach John Hutchinson in a caretaker role.[13] Walmsley was eventually succeeded by Australia national under-20 soccer team manager Paul Okon.