Vancouver Whitecaps are expected to name the latest addition to their coaching staff next week.
Englishman Martyn Pert will not be a name known to many over here, but he comes to MLS with a varied and interesting career in football so far and a reputation as a tough taskmaster when it comes to training.
As a player he was in the youth ranks at Norwich City but didn't make the grade and went to university where he obtained a MSc in Sports Science. Part of his degree saw him visit Italy and Holland to observe coaching techniques at Milan and Ajax.
He went back to playing, mostly non league, and had spells at Cambridge United and Great Yarmouth Town.
Cutting his coaching teeth with Norwich City and Cambridge City academy sides, Pert then went on a somewhat surreal trip to the US where he was fitness and conditioning coach with both the New York Yankees and LA Lakers, so he can count three different sports on his resume.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Upon his return to England he had spells at West Brom, Fulham and Watford as fitness coach, working with current Whitecaps captain Jay DeMerit whilst at Vicarage Road.
He left Watford to join Aidy Boothroyd at Coventry City as assistant manager for most of the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons before heading to the UAE as an assistant coach at Baniyas.
When appointed at Coventry, Boothroyd described Pert as <i>"a qualified coach and very highly thought of in the world of sports science"</i>, with the pair having worked together previously at Watford.
Pert's travels around the world continued and he ended up in Bahrain as assistant manager to the national team for 13 months under Peter Taylor (not the one of Cloughie fame), where they won the 2011 Arab Games.
He then landed in Ecuador, ever so briefly, as manager of El Nacional. That job lasted less than a month before new owners came in and wanted to go in a different direction.
Trouble with owners wasn't far away from the management team in his next job either!
Most recently, Pert was Head of Sports Science at Cardiff City before leaving a few weeks ago in the fallout from the whole Vincent Tan/Malky Mackay debacle.
Quite the adventure and it will interesting to hear some of the tales he has to tell.
He is on record as saying that his two loves in life are football and travelling, and now a new adventure awaits Pert in Major League Soccer.
Pert holds a UEFA Pro Licence, speaks fluent Spanish and has a reputation for working his players hard. He runs tough sessions, which the players may not look forward to but it will be great if they can get results, especially with the wide variety of conditions the Caps have to play in throughout the MLS season.
<i>[** Pert is the Cardiff coach we were talking about in yesterday's podcast, but unfortunately couldn't confirm the name until today. Seems like we were speculating a bit too grandly in the pod! **]</i>
<b>Some Further Reading:</b>
<u>Interesting article in Birmingham Mail</u>
<u>A player's take on his training techniques</u>
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