FOOTBALL: D'Anzi keen to get stuck in at Wick

Italian D'Anzi, who moved to East Preston six months ago from Texas, America, due to work commitments, has been raring to get stuck into a local side ever since.

The 53-year-old has a vast knowledge and pedigree having played professionally in Italy, Mexico and America, in front of crowds of up to 120,000 people.

He played in Italy from the mid 1970s, and spent many years travelling back and forth from America and Italy playing for different teams.

He has played for Francavilla, New York United, where he played under coach Rodney Marsh, and later Cruz Azul, in Mexico, to name a few.

He also won the North American Soccer League with the Tulsa Roughnecks in the league's final year of existence, before starting his coaching career as a player-manager with Richardson Rockets in Dallas, where he won the league in his first year.

D'Anzi, more recently, has been coaching in both Italy and America working with junior sides and starting soccer schools. He is now keen to apply his skills in England at Wick, and said: "I'm very happy to be here and it gives me an new opportunity. I have no experience of the Sussex County League, but I do have an experience of football so this is a big opportunity."

It has been a busy week since taking the job last Tuesday, and D'Anzi has tried to contact all the players but is unsure what his squad will look like next season as yet.

He said: "We have been going through things and making final plans for the season. I have been getting a pre-season schedule designed for both physical and mental work. I always aim very high in whatever I do and I don't like to lose, so we will be working hard.

"I'm not used to the County League and one thing that seems to happen is a mass movement of players and managers at the end of the season, which is strange to me."

D'Anzi will have a fresh-faced approach and insists everyone will have a chance with him, as he aims to install some loyalty into his side.

He said: "I will give everyone a shot, being new I don't know what players are like so if they impress and show commitment they will get a chance.

"I want to set a new foundation, so people want to play for us and learn new things, to take us to the next level. As a coach, my philosophy is when someone does something I have taught them, it makes me happy."

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