Gary lands scouting role for Fulham

A LOCAL man has been named as Northern Ireland scout for Barclays Premier League side Fulham.

Gary Boyd, who is well know in local sporting circles as Ballymena Borough Council’s Community Sports Development Officer, will have the remit of unearthing talent from the Province for the London club.

The Cloughmills man has enjoyed a successful coaching career since completing his UEFA ‘A’ coaching licence in 1999, while coaching at Crewe Alexandra’s renowned Youth Academy, under the guidance of tuition of Dario Gradi, Steve Holland - who is currently first team coach at Chelsea - and Terry McPhillips, the current assistant Youth Academy Director at Blackburn Rovers.

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“Dario, Steve and Terry have had a huge effect on my philosophy on how the game should be taught and they set the foundation for all the learning I’ve undertaken since,” explains Gary, who also briefly worked as a youth coach in Major League Soccer in California with San Jose Clash (now called San Jose Earthquakes).

He returned home to Northern Ireland in 2003 to take up the post of Youth Development Officer with the Irish FA and in 2004 became Community Sports Development Officer with Ballymena Borough Council.

At the same time he returned to his native Dungannon to become Coach Education and Development Officer when he was in charge of a team that last season won the NIBFA Cup, had 9 players in the Tyrone team that finished fourth overall in the 2011 Milk Cup Junior Tournament and had two Schoolboy Internationals in Liam Donnelly and Eoin Teague.

It was Donnelly’s rise to prominence that brought Gary to the attention of Fulham.

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“I had been over on several visits to the club’s training ground in Motspur Park over the last two years and had discussions with their Head of Recruitment, Malcolm Elias, the man who unearthed Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott while he was working for Southampton.

“Fulham made me a formal offer and asked me to become their representative in this country. I will still continue my role as Community Sports Development Officer in Ballymena.

“Fulham obviously have very strong links with Northern Ireland dating back to George Best in the 1970s, right up to David Healy, Aaron Hughes, Steven Davis and Chris Baird in more recent times, so hopefully I can help them continue that connection,” added Gary.

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