St. Ann’s Rangers have acquired the services of Angus Eve who will take charge of the club’s Pro League outfit for the upcoming 2015/2016 season.
Rangers, rock-bottom finishers in the last two seasons, are coming off their worst ever campaign with just 5 points from one win and two draws from 24 matches in the 2014/2015 Digicel Pro League championship. That’s two points less than the previous season.
“Before I came to the club (St. Ann’s Rangers) I knew the challenges the club had,” Eve said. “(But) I love a challenge. I love new projects so to say… so coming here for me was another opportunity to showcase my coaching talent.”
Eve, a former Trinidad and Tobago international and most capped player, said his goal is to “build back the respectability of (Rangers) and for the club not to be a pushover in any game that we go into.”
Rangers will kick off their 2015/2016 Digicel Pro League campaign on Saturday 26 September against Defence Force, a former club of the 43-year-old Eve and the side they defeated 2-1 in their final league match last season to avoid a winless campaign.
Eve recently completed a three-year spell (2012-2015) with North East Stars. He led the Sangre Grande club to the 2012 Toyota Classic and 2015 TTFA FA Trophy. Also during his tenure, his first as head coach of a professional club, Eve guided North East Stars to 4th, 5th, and 4th finishes in the last three DPL campaigns.
Eve joins Rangers as replacement for former national player and coach Ron La Forest, who finished the 2014/15 season as head coach of Rangers during a brief one-month stint.
Eve’s local coaching experience includes serving successful spells at San Juan Jabloteh (2006 – 2009) and Ma Pau SC (2009 – 2011) as assistant coach to Terry Fenwick and Michael Mc Comie respectively.
He also boasts international coaching experience, having been appointed manager for the Trinidad and Tobago Under-23 team for the 2012 Olympic Qualifiers.
St. Ann’s Rangers FC operations manager Richard Piper said, “The club’s appointment of Angus comes with immense enthusiasm in his capacity to identify and develop young players, and create systems to bring the best out of them. This aligns with the club’s ideals of providing opportunities to young players to showcase their talent within the top flight of local football, and we are delighted to have him on board.”
Current club manager and Women’s Team head coach Jason Spence expressed that, “The acquisition of Angus Eve to the professional team, and by extension the club, is enormous. I believe Angus is quite relative to the players as he is young and dynamic. He has (also) been fantastic for the country as a player, and he has certainly been making quite a name for himself in the coaching arena.”
Spence returned to his initial roles after holding the role of head coach of the professional team for most of the 2014/15 season.
Eve, who is yet to finalise his squad for the upcoming season said, “There are some nice youngsters here. It’s just to get their frame of mind in the right place, and once we can do that we can be very competitive and build back some respectability to the club. I inherited a lot of players who have contracts here, and no disrespect to any of the coaches who have been here before, but I think that a bit of professionalism was lacking in the guys, and if I can bring that professionalism in them, with the potential that they have, no team should take us easily.”
Eve closed by saying, “We have 17-year-olds and 18-year-olds here. If I can help develop these young players and they can attract the national youth teams that can see them perform at a higher level than they have been, and they can gain opportunities for themselves, that’s within our objectives. If we can get the guys to move on and get opportunities on the outside, that’s also one of the goals for the club.”