Tucker Joins Swansea City As Goalkeeping Coach

Swansea City have appointed Adrian Tucker as their new goalkeeping coach, replacing Inaka Bergara who followed Roberto Martinez to Wigan Athletic.

The Management team is beginning to take shape now as all the backroom staff apart from Colin Pascoe joined Roberto Martinez at Wigan.

Bruno Oliveira joins Sousa as his assistant, while fitness coach, John Harbin and a European scout are also expected to be confirmed.

The Merthyr-born 32 year old will leave his job at the technical department of the Welsh Football Trust to take up his new role at the Liberty Stadium which he is extremely excited about.

He told the Official Site:

'This position is something I've been working long and hard to achieve and I'm delighted to be joining Paulo (Sousa) and Swansea City,''

'It's a great opportunity for me to continue working at the top end of Welsh football, especially alongside someone of Paulo Sousa's stature.

'When I sat down with Paulo to discuss the position, you could see he had a burning ambition and desire to be successful at Swansea City.

'He wants to take the club to another level and I want to support him all the way.''

Tucker is only one of three coaches in Wales to have an Uefa A Licence, the other two being former Swansea goalkeeping coach Glan Letheren and Pat Mountain.

He started off with Torquay United but a shoulder injury meant his professional playing career came to a premature end, but he returned to Wales and played for League of Wales sides Ebbw Vale, Inter Cardiff and Aberystwyth.

Tucker doesn't officially start his new role until August 1st, but the Welsh Football Trust have allowed him to team up with the squad early, and he has already done some work with Dorus De Vries and David Cornell.

'Both Dorus (de Vries) and David (Cornell) have been very responsive to what I've been trying to do with them over the last week or so,''

'They've helped me settle in to my new role and now I want to help them both develop their own careers.''

Dorus De Vries has been pleased so far with Tucker, he said:

'It's been very interesting working and talking together,''

'What I like about Adrian is the fact that he has an open mind about goalkeeping coaching.

'He is not rigid in his coaching methods. He treats you as an individual and adapts his coaching to suit your own individual strengths and weaknesses.

'He's very knowledgeable about the different coaching methods used throughout the world and, while it's different to what I've been used to under Inaki, I'm enjoying it.''

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