A PREMIER League cult hero has landed a national team job.
The only catch being that the team was founded last year and is yet to play a match.
Former Reading star Dave Kitson is the man who has landed the Nauru national team job.
Nauru, for the uninitiated, is a small island off the coast of Australia.
It’s the third smallest state in the world, classed as a “micro nation” and larger only than the Vatican and Monaco.
It’s just 8.1 square miles in total and has a population of 10,800 people.
For comparison, that’s smaller than the London Borough of Camden which has a total area of 8.4 square miles and a population of 262,000 people.
Hardly the ideal pool to scout talent, so Kitson will have his work cut out when it comes to fielding a decent team.
The former striker played for the likes of Stoke, Cambridge and Sheffield United but his most notable spell came at Reading.
Kitson, 44, scored 62 goals and registered eight assists in 159 games for the Royals.
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Since retiring he has gone on to start his own football academy which aims to help kids find places in professional academies.
But he has now taken his talents to international management.
Nauru Director of International Development Gareth Johnson said the move has been in the works for some time.
The Football in Oceania website reported Johnson as saying: “I first came into contact with Dave during 2020 through our mutual interest in travel when we began discussing a few projects, one of them being Nauru.
“As things have quickly progressed I am now happy to be in a position to offer him the management role,
“He genuinely cares about the project. One of the reasons for such a high profile appointment is to help the game, not just in Nauru, but the whole region.”
Nauru are not currently members of FIFA, but hope to play their first international friendly against American Samoa soon.
Kitson will manage alongside Brit Charlie Pomroy, who has previously coached the Cambodian national team and specialises in the coaching of smaller nations.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
