New Plymouth Rangers continues its excellent year on and off the field by making a key appointment for 2021.

The club is delighted to announce that Matt Hastings, who was the captain of the 2020 squad has stepped into the head coach role for next season. Club Captain John Sigurdsson stated that this was not a 1 year contract and the club see this as a long term appointment to aid in the consistency and direction taken by the club.

“We continue to improve key facets of the club with the most visible improvement being that on the field. Matt was key in the leadership of the group this season and one of the reasons the team achieved the league title”. Sigurdssonn said.

Hastings will be busy juggling his employment as General Manager at MediaWorks Taranaki, his family life and football however the three do combine effectively at times.

“Rangers is a family club and I can bring my kids up here and know they will have fun in and around the club, having a family friendly environment is important for me considering how much time we commit to the team over the next few years”. Hastings said.

While Hastings has had a notable playing career, this is not his first role as a coach. Most recently Hastings coached Gisborne Thistle in the 2017 Federation League, which saw him head to Rangers for the first time. Along with time spent coaching in Hawkes Bay with Napier Marist as an assistant, the Hawkes Bay United Youth team in the National Youth League, Napier CIty Rovers where he won coach of the year with his time with the reserve side, along with time coaching for New Zealand Football at National Talent Centres.

“Back in 2014/15 I did make the decision to step into a more serious focus with my coaching, but with the recent relocations for work purposes, this took precedence since 2018 to now, but I am extremely proud and excited that Rangers have offered me the opportunity to get back into coaching, an area of the game I have dreams to aspire to”.

“We have a big job this coming season which of course is going to take a lot of hard work, but with the direction of the club and of course the opportunity we have in front of us for the bigger picture for the game of football in Taranaki and I will be reaching out to a number of other coaches in Taranaki to make sure we do that”

Hastings currently holds his NZF/OFC B License and will be looking to step into the next A Licence with New Zealand Football.

“ I can't wait to get going, which of course is now that starts with a good pre-season that is already taking shape to prepare us for a big season”.

New Plymouth Rangers pre-season will begin in January for both the first team and reserve side to play in the local premiership.

An announcement was made earlier today for our new club director of football James Malthus who will work alongside Hastings to deliver key programmes from grassroots right up to the high performance squads.