Ex-Sunderland, Sheffield United and Portsmouth man reveals interesting new off-field role in Australia

Former Sunderland, Sheffield United and Portsmouth player Brett Angel has revealed a new role in Australia.

Then-Everton manager Joe Royle sold Angell to Sunderland for £600,000 in March 1995, but his time on Wearside was disappointing. He made eleven appearances for the Black Cats, scoring just once in a League Cup match against Preston. Shortly after his arrival, manager Mick Buxton was sacked, and Angell struggled to win over new boss Peter Reid.

The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates directly to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.

During his career, the former striker also enjoyed stints at Portsmouth, Sheffield United, West Brom and Queens Park Rangers before hanging up his boots in 2003. Now 56-years-old, Angel has revealed that he has taken a new job in football.

Speaking to Roker Report during a wide-ranging interview, which you can read in full here, Angel said: “I’m in Australia, and I’m working for Northern NSW Football as their talent development officer. We run the Talent Support Program, which supports the talented young players within the northern New South Wales boundaries. I’ve only been here for a few months – I’d been in New Zealand since 2009.

“It all came about as I’d actually come out to Australia and did a bit of a tour around the place, and I ended up being introduced to a chap called Bob Patterson at Sydney FC and had a chat with him about working in their academy. That didn’t come off but he ended up going over New Zealand as CEO of the Football Federation in New Zealand and asked if I’d fancy going over there, so that was that. I spent about 15 years working over there [including five years as manager of New Zealand Premiership side Hawkes Bay United] and came over to Australia towards the end of last year to work with Northern NSW Football.”

When asked if he still kept up to date with goings on at Sunderland, he added: “I do — I follow all of the clubs I played for, and it's good now that Sunderland are starting to inch back into those areas that they have been previously and are now pushing to get back into the Premier League.

“I saw a bit of the game against Sheffield Wednesday recently. Often it just comes down to the individual ability of players to either focus or switch off, or the ability to make them pay when mistakes are made. I don’t think there was a lot between the two teams, but they ended up winning because they had the right people in the right places.

“The surprise at the start of the season was the coach, it was a left of centre appointment and not one many people recognised or really understood, and it was a bit of a gamble. But he’s certainly created a well-oiled machine that works very hard for what it’s got and doesn’t want to give it up. Teams now know that if you play Sunderland, you’re going to really have to work hard to actually overcome them or achieve something, and you really have to earn what you get.

“There are four teams that look as though they’re better than the rest, of which Sunderland are one of them. The difficulty is always that at this moment in time, two of them are not going to go straight up, and then you go into play offs… But it’s pleasing to see that now there’s a lot more proactivity around the place. At the start of the season, people seemed surprised at how well they were doing, but I think now the surprise has gone, and I think your expectation is actually, we could do this.”

You can read more from Brett Angel’s interview with Roker Report here.