Kolkata: Kolkata giants Kingfisher East Bengal FC have appointed Warren James Hackett of St. Lucia as their new assistant coach for the upcoming I-League season. Hackett will be 45 years of age on December 16, on the day East Bengal chief coach Trevor James Morgan will return to Kolkata for the I-League.
Hackett is a former professional footballer who played as an international for Saint Lucia. Hackett was a defender, primarily a left-back, who began his career with Tottenham Hotspur and was part of the 1990 winning FA Youth Cup side, but was released without breaking into the first-team, having spells with Leyton Orient, Doncaster, Mansfield a
After retirement from the football league due to injury, Hackett played for two seasons in non-League football before going into coaching where he was assistant manager at Waltham Forest, Fisher Athletic and Erith & Belvedere.
He then went to Toronto, Canada to further his coaching career and worked for Glen Shields Soccer Club as an Academy Director. He returned to England and was the Academy manager at Dagenham & Redbridge. Hackett was promoted to first-team assistant manager in February 2013 when his former Leyton Orient team-mate Wayne Burnett took over as manager of Dagenham.
In December 2015, following the sacking of manager Burnett, Hackett with Darren Currie became caretaker managers of Dagenham & Redbridge.
Earlier in the season Trevor James Morgan brought Richard Dryden as his assistant coach during Calcutta Football League but Dryden had said he can’t come this time due to some family issues. Kerala Blasters physio Simon Maltby has already been appointed as the physio of the Red & Gold brigade for the upcoming season. In last few seasons East Bengal had always suffered with injury problems with the players and that had cost them the league, that’s why the management is very much serious about the fitness issues of the players.