Words: Staff Writers

FNQ Heat have announced the club’s Under 16 Academy coach Tim Campbell will take charge of the senior team for the 2016 season.

The role will mark Campbell’s coaching debut in PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland and is the first time he has coached a senior team since 2006.

He replaces previous Heat head coach Martin Docherty and becomes the club’s fourth senior coach appointed by the club since they joined PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland in 2013.

Campbell, who originally hails from the north of England, was a former semi-professional player in the English lower divisions and boasts 20 years of coaching experience at youth and senior level - including stints at the FNQ Centre of Excellence program.

He said he was looking forward to the challenge of guiding the Cairns-based club forward in the national second tier.

“I am very happy to accept a position as head coach in a progressive club that has direction, drive and purpose,” Campbell explained.

“It is a system in which I have achieved considerable success in the past and I know it will deliver considerable success here for the FNQFC Heat and broader football community,” he concluded.

Heat Chairman Colin Daly said he was “thrilled” by Campbell’s appointment.

“Tim was a stand-out candidate as he demonstrated a synergy with our club vision for the future, that is producing an integrated development program that will deliver a Heat style of play, bringing out the best in all our players,” he said.

“He brings great experience accumulated across many years in the UK and Australia. He is highly respected by senior people in football and is a very good manager with a high degree of technical, professional and personal skills,” Daly concluded

It is understood an announcement concerning a Technical Director at Heat will also be forthcoming prior to further announcements regarding the make-up of Heat’s 2016 playing squad.