New PDL coach for Ottawa Fury

[gwsmith63]

The Ottawa Fury are pleased to announce the appointment of Carl Valentine as the head coach of the Ottawa Fury PDL team for the 2010 season. Carl joins the Fury after Stephen O'Kane stepped aside for family reasons following a successful two-year tenure as head coach.

"First, I want to pay tribute to Stephen O'Kane who has taken our Men's program to new heights over the past two seasons. Together with his assistants Jason Whiting and Marc Lapointe, Stephen led us to the Division title, an unbeaten regular season in 2009 and our first-ever appearance in the playoffs," said John Pugh, Fury Owner and CEO. "Steve's are big shoes to fill, but we are delighted to introduce former Canadian World Cup player and Vancouver coach, Carl Valentine, as the new PDL Head Coach for 2010. Carl brings many years of experience playing and coaching at the highest levels in the game to the Fury and we are excited to have him join the Club's coaching team."

Carl comes to the Fury after most recently spending time as a boys head coach with the TSS (Total Soccer Systems) Academy and Technical Director of Sportstown FC in Vancouver, a part of Canada that he has had a long association with both as a player and a coach. Valentine holds a CSA National B License and was the Head Coach of the Vancouver 86ers (now Whitecaps) for 6 seasons.

"We have lots of hard work ahead of us and the bar has been set high, but I am very excited by the challenge ahead of me," commented Valentine. "My goal is to carry on Stephen O'Kane's good work and produce an exciting and winning brand of soccer for Ottawa fans to enjoy."

Valentine, 51, born in Manchester, England began his professional career with Oldham Athletic before coming to Canada where he joined the Vancouver Whitecaps from 1979-84. After the NASL folded he returned to England to play two seasons at West Bromwich Albion, but would still prove to be an integral part in Canadian soccer assisting on the two goals that lifted Canada to a 2-1 victory over Honduras sending them to their first and only World Cup finals appearance in 1986. Valentine returned to Canada in 1987 playing for the Vancouver 86ers until his full-time playing career came to an end in 1992.

Valentine retired from soccer with 31 caps for Canada playing in all three games in the 1986 World Cup along with 105 appearances shared between Oldham and West Brom and 165 appearances as a member of the Whitecaps. He was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame as a player in 2003. Over his illustrious soccer career Valentine has played against soccer greats such as Michel Plantini, Franz Beckenbauer and Johann Cruyff.

In 1994, Valentine succeeded Bob Lenarduzzi as the head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps where he spent 6 full seasons posting a record of 80-75-0. After leaving the Whitecaps he continued his work in B.C. as the head coach of the North Shore Soccer Association between 1999-2007 until his more recent work with the TSS Academy and Sportstown FC.

Valentine will now look to bring his thorough soccer knowledge to Ottawa where the Fury Men are coming off their most successful PDL season in Club history. The team became only the 7th team in League history to post and undefeated season going 12-0-4 capturing the Division title. In their first-ever post-season appearance the Fury fell 2-1 in extra time to the Ocean City Barons.

The club will look to continue their success under Valentine and reach new heights in 2010. The Fury Men are currently riding a 19-game home-undefeated streak (14-0-5) that dates back to 2007 and will look to collect a second consecutive Division title with the hopes of a lengthy playoff run.