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Renowned football coaches from the youth and adult game are to share their knowledge at the Scottish FA’s South East Region annual Coaching Conference at Livingston FC Football Club on Sunday, 28th April from 10am to 4pm.
South East regional manager David Drummond said: “We are delighted to confirm our guest coaches ahead of this year’s conference.
“The guys bring with them a wealth of knowledge from all areas of the game from children's football through to the senior game.
“Feedback from previous years has allowed us to shape the conference in a way that will give every attendee something to think about and implement in their own training sessions.
“I am extremely excited about the day and hope that as many coaches from across all levels will be able to join us for what is sure to be an exciting and educational day"
The coaches are:
Ritchie Wilson - Community Development Manager Scottish FA
Ritchie has worked for the Scottish FA for more than 15 years now as well as working in various youth development roles across Scotland.
He has amassed a wide range of experience during this time, including a spell with Scottish Premier League side Rangers FC, where he worked within the youth department and football in the community programme.
Ritchie has been responsible for the implementation of the Scottish FA’s Youth Action Plan through his role as regional manager for the South-West of Scotland before moving on to take the role of community development manager with the Scottish FA.
Ritchie’s work includes managing the player pathway within the country, delivery of coach education and the implementation of the new 2020 Development Centre programme.
Ritchie holds Scottish FA Youth and Children’s licences and UEFA A & B licences.
Mike Wadsworth - Coach Educator and Conference Speaker
Mike was most recently the manager at Football League One club Hartlepool United.
In 1985, he was appointed as an FA regional coach in the north-west region of England, a position he would hold until 1991, when he became a Technical Co-ordinator on the FA's Excellence Programme, working on the futures of promising youngsters.
Between 1988 and 1992, he was also an official match observer for the England national team under Bobby Robson and then Graham Taylor.
He coached some of the FA's representative teams during his time in their employ, including a coaching role with the national team at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
He spent two years as manager of the England non-league team, five years as manager of the England youth team and had a coaching role with the England U-21 team. Since then Mike has managed Carlisle, Colchester Utd, Oldham Athletic, Huddersfield Town, Biera Mar (Portugal) and the Congo National Team as well as being assistant manager at Newcastle, Southampton and Gretna.
Scott Sellars - Academy Manager at Manchester City
Sellars started his career at Leeds United, coming up through their youth system and making his first appearance in 1983.
The talented left-footed midfielder soon became one of a number of talented youngsters encouraged to play open football by Manager Eddie Gray, but struggled with the physical aspects of the game.
In 1986 he asked for a transfer and joined Blackburn Rovers, where he won a Full Members Cup medal, was capped at England under-21 level, won promotion for them and enjoyed six successful years, making 245 appearances and scoring 41 goal before leaving to rejoin Leeds in 1992.
He always struggled with injuries and it came as no surprise when he moved north to Newcastle United in early 1993. On 24 April 1993 he scored the winning goal for the Magpies in their 1-0 win over local rivals Sunderland in Division One at St James's Park, which meant that they only needed a point from their final three games to be sure of promotion.
Sellars signed for Mansfield Town close to the transfer deadline in March 2002 to help them in their promotion push. Although he started as a regular in the side in 2002-03, suspension and injury meant that he was only involved in coaching and working with the youngsters from November to the end of the season.
He joined Manchester City as Academy coach in October 2009 after previously holding the role of assistant manager at Chesterfield in the League Two.
All coaches who sign up for the day will receive lunch and a gift.
To sign up for the event please complete the attached form on the RIGHT and return to Aidan Forbes, McArthur Pavilion, 42 Peffermill Road, EH16 5LL.
Cheques should be made payable to Scottish FA. Applications will be accepted on a first come first served basis and will only be confirmed upon receiving payment.