Conrad takes next step on football journey

Former Audenshaw School pupil Conrad Prendergast has embarked on a new chapter in his football career.

After more than three years managing AFC Fylde Women’s Team, the 28-year-old, from Denton, has taken on a full-time role with the Coasters’ Academy and will oversee the development of the U23 side. 

As part of his role as Head Coach, Conrad will also oversee the professional development of the U17 and U18 full time scholars, whilst also keeping a close eye on the women’s team under the new management team of Kim Turner and Danielle Young.

Conrad is relishing the chance to lead the new Under 23 side into the new season - whenever that might be - and feels he is well equipped to deliver success at Mill Farm after gaining experience with the Coasters’ first team during their search for a new boss in October.

Speaking to Reporter Sport, Conrad said: “Working with the First Team at Fylde was such a positive experience and one that I was really grateful of. At the time, the club released the unfortunate news that Dave Challinor, the long serving manager, had left the club. Following this I spoke with the chairman and the club’s CEO (at that time) to discuss the potential of stepping in to coach the squad ahead of their FA Cup fixture. This was something I relished and during my time with the first team squad, I lead and assisted the team sessions, delivered a number of goalkeeper specific sessions, as well as travelling to Peterborough on a freezing Tuesday evening in order to produce a detailed opposition scout report and travelling with the team to Boreham Wood Away, both ending with long awaited wins.”

Although restrictions during the lockdown has limited physical contact with players, Conrad has been busy behind the scenes assembling a squad in preparation for kick-off next season.

And with the Government recently announcing a relaxation of lockdown measures, Conrad is now hoping to meet his players next week. “Recruitment has not let up, and during lock down myself and the staff have been on the phone to players each and every day, whether that be with our current scholars or players we had identified during the season.

“Alongside this, we have provided a number of home work out plans, nutritional plans, whilst also continuing to monitor their weight, food intake and exercise times. This week the FA have released guidelines which allows coaching session to go ahead with strict social distancing measures, we’re currently looking into this and hopefully will have the players back in training from next week.”

Fylde chairman David Haythornwaite has made no secret of his ambition to rise into the Football League, investing huge sums of money into the playing squad and developing the infrastructure of the club, with plans to further develop the state-of-the-art Mill Farm Stadium recently confirmed as well. Conrad is excited by the future and believes the Academy will prosper as a result of Haythornwaite's investment. He said: “I have a limited relationship with the Chairman, but yes his support for the academy is fantastic. He has built incredible facilities where we are based which includes four classrooms, four changing rooms, a full 3G pitch and six small sided 3G pitches. There are even plans to expand this further, in order to create the best possible environment for our lads to develop and profess to the first team such as academy players; Sheldon Green, Serhat Tasdimir, Daniel Gray, to name a few."

Pictures courtesy of AFC Fylde