Livingston of Scotland defender, Efe Ambrose has denied widespread media reports that he has decided to hang his boots in order to take up a coaching duty with the Scottish Premiership club, as he insists he is still playing actively and intends to do so for some more years to come, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although he admitted he has been appointed as an assistant coach at the modest club, Ambrose clarified that he has been assigned to work only with the reserves’ team, but alluded to the possibility that he may not even take up the vocation fully when he eventually hangs his boots.
The 31-year-old defender, who joined the Scottish side in February 2019, after being released by Derby County, said he had to come and clarify the situation of things, after Livingston made the announcement their official website.
The announcement revealed that club captain, Marvin Bartley will take up the role of reserve team manager, assisted by Ambrose and Gary Maley, following the departure of Stevie Pittman and Derek McWilliams; even as he went on to describe the new appointees as ‘two massive characters … that will bring their own high level of expertise’ to the technical crew.
Bartley pointed out: “Stretch has been a goalkeeper for a long time and he’s now passing on that experience to the younger goalkeepers at the club. Efe has played at the absolute highest level so to have him involved is absolutely brilliant for us and the boys will love working with him.”
In the same vein, Livingston’s head of football operations, David Martindale expressed delight with the new coaching crew and believes they will perform well in their roles, adding: “Stretch and Efe are more than capable and they will bring a variety of skills to assist Marv. Both fantastic individuals and professionals in their own right.
“All three of the guys are very different but collectively they will do fantastically well in my opinion. I’m delighted that we can call the trio our reserve management team – the lads at the reserves couldn’t be in better hands.”
Despite all the accolades, it is not all about coaching alone, but also to continue playing, that is on the mind Ambrose, who made 51cappearances for Nigeria and was part of the side that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
The former Eagles’ right-back-cum-central defender further told SCORENigeria that he is not about to quit the game following his appointment, adding that he only accepted to take up the coaching offer because it does not clash with his duties with Livingston’s main team.
The Canada 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup revelation, who has previously played for Kaduna United, SC Ashdod of Israel as well as Celtic and Hibernian of Scotland veteran also disclosed that some other layers in the club have also been given similar tasks like the one he got, but emphatically declared that he still focused on continuing his active playing career.
Ambrose responded thus when asked if he will eventually go into coaching when eventually he hangs up his boots, he simply answered: “Probably, but I am not sure, don’t have my mind on it yet except God says otherwise.
“I have been appointed to do coaching job in other to help the younger players at the club. It works for me because it is in the evenings and won’t affect my training with the first team as well as matches. People are getting it wrong thinking I am calling it quits and going into coaching.
“I am still playing football for my club, this is just to help the players in the reserves, but playing comes first and when I can I will help the reserves. Same with the other two who are appointed to coach the reserve team, one is the captain of the first team and the other a goalkeeper.”
