Forgotten Prem star becomes manager of country with population of just 12,000
Dave Kitson played 81 times in the Premier League for Reading and Stoke City - and he has now taken a shock management role as Nauru's head coach.
The tiny island in Oceania had a population of 12,000 back in 2021 and is far from renowned within the international scene. After a long hiatus the Nauru Soccer Association was relaunched in 2018 with ambitions of playing a match in the coming years, only for the Coronavirus pandemic to put a stop to that.
The team’s first jersey is expected to be available to the public at some point in 2024. Leading figure Gareth Johnson has previously claimed: "If we do not play at least one match in a Nauru kit I will see 2024 as a failure." Kitson's arrival is another step in the right direction for the tiny island.
The Nauru Soccer Federation wrote on their website : “The Nauru Soccer Federation are delighted to announce the appointment of former Premier League star Dave Kitson as our new national team manager and international ambassador."
Nauru Director of International Development Johnson claims Kitson's appointment has been in the works for some time. He said: “I first came into contact with Dave during 2020 through our mutual interest in travel when we began discussing a few projects, one of them being Nauru. As things have quickly progressed I am now happy to be in a position to offer him the management role”.
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He also insisted the former Premier League star's enthusiasm was a huge draw: “He genuinely cares about the project. One of the reasons for such a high profile appointment is to help the game, not just in Nauru, but the whole region."
Kitson began his career as a non-league player in the late 1990s with Hitchin and rose through the leagues. He played for Cambridge United and then got snapped up by the Royals. He was their leading scorer in the year they won the Championship in record-breaking fashion in 2006.
The ex-striker has taken a shock management roleHe left them after their relegation in 2008 and moved to Stoke, scoring just five times across his two seasons with the Potters. Kitson later had spells back at Reading, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough. The striker retired in 2014 with Oxford United his final club.
Kitson is yet to have any major coaching role but in October last year did launch his own academy. He also began coaching at Reading Blue Coat School as their 1st XI reached the final of a national cup competition for the first time on February 28, 2024.
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