Highly regarded goalkeeper coach John Crawley has left Sydney FC to join the Caltex Socceroos coaching staff on a permanent basis. But the club's goalkeeping future is in safe hands.
Crawley, 47, enjoyed four highly successful seasons with the Sky Blues, winning two Championships, two Premierships and an FFA Cup.
Replacing the ex-Colo Colo shot stopper is former Sydney FC goalkeeper Matthew Nash, an old student of Crawley who played for him from the age of 15 and spent six years in total under his tutelage at the New South Wales Institute of Sport and Central Coast Mariners.
Nash, 38, joins from the Mariners, where he served as the club's goalkeeping coach for four seasons after hanging up the gloves in 2015.
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Feature image courtesy of Jaime Castaneda (@jamcas50)
“It’s a huge honour for me to be returning to Sydney FC at a time when they are looking to defend their Hyundai A-League Championship, and also to be replacing John who has been a mentor of mine for many years," Nash told the club's official website.
“He’s a man I respect as a person and for what he has done for goalkeeping in this country.
“He has taught me much of what I know and I am looking forward to continuing that work with the coaching staff here as well as Andrew [Redmayne] and Tommy [Heward-Belle].”
Crawley is widely regarded as Australia's number one goalkeeper coach having fostered the development of many top-class goalkeepers at Sydney FC and Central Coast Mariners, working alongside national team boss Graham Arnold at both clubs.
He is recognised as the man behind the rise of current Australia number one Mathew Ryan, who plies his trade in the Premier League for Brighton and Hove Albion.
“I’ve had a fantastic four years at Sydney FC and I can’t thank the club enough for what I have been allowed to achieve here and where it has taken me," Crawley told the club's official website, before giving his successor an instant seal of approval.
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“Matty [Nash] is the perfect person to take over. He has got A-League experience and is no stranger to Sydney FC.
“He is certainly well versed in my coaching methodology. I first coached him at 15 at the New South Wales Institute of Sport and then at the Mariners, and I could always tell he’d be a very good coach in his own right.
“He has always been a deep thinker with regard to goalkeeper coaching, and I think he is the perfect transition for Andrew Redmayne and Tom Heward-Belle.”
