2022 Pro Coaches

Paul Gothard - Head of Men's & Junior Football
OFC/NZF B, FA/UEFA Goalkeeping B, FFA L3 Advanced, AFC B and L2 Advanced Goalkeeper Licenses
Paul Gothard will be leading the charge for our Juniors and Men's areas of the club. Paul will also be Head Coach of the Premier Men's team.
Paul joins us for 2022 onwards, having been with the Wellington Phoenix on their coaching team. Prior to this, Paul has had various roles with NZF, Auckland City FC and was part fo the England C team through the 90's.

Ben Bate - Head of Women's Football
OFC/NZF B License
Ben Bate has been the Head Coach of the Forrest Hill Senior Women's team for the last 3 seasons alongside other development roles at the club. As the Women’s Head of Football at Northern Rovers he will take an overarching view of the development of our Girls and Women’s football programme. He’ll build on the strategies and pathways already in place and necessary to develop an unrivalled and compelling environment that attracts, develops and retains the best talent in our Club.
Included in his remit, Ben will head coach the Women’s Premier team.
Ben has worked with both the Northern and Auckland National Women's League teams, winning the competition with Auckland in 2017 as an assistant coach under current FFDP lead Gemma Lewis. He has been to two World Cups (Men's U20 in 2015 and Women's U17 in 2016) as a technical staff member. Prior to this, he worked with the Football Association of Wales as technical staff member through their Women's pathway from U15 to Senior International including the U19 UEFA Women's European Championships in 2013. Whilst completing his BSc in Sports Coaching and Sports Science Masters Degree Ben worked with perennial Welsh Premier League Champions The New Saints as a technical staff member winning 3 league titles and 2 National Cups in 4 years as well as competing in Champions League qualifiers that took him to Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Sweden and Denmark amongst others. Ben is the current Head Coach of The Northern Lights playing in the National Women’s League.

Premier Men Head Coach
Paul Gothard

U23 Men Interim Head Coach
Paul Rhodes

Premier Women Head Coach
Ben Bate

Premier Women Assistant Coach
Geno Grainger

U23 Men Head Coach
Andy Clay

Reserve Women Head Coach
Michael Halliday

U17 Boys Head Coach
Zoran Ivanovich

U16 Girls Head Coach
Ben Bate

U15 Boys Head Coach
Stuart Prosser

U14 Girls Head Coach
Dene Gilmore

U14 Boys Head Coach
Nick Hyde

U13 Boys Head Coach
James Owen