Hamilton Wanderers sign up former All Whites coach's son

Kale Herbert is wanting to build a new legacy at Hamilton Wanderers. Photo / Tom Rowland

Hamilton Wanderers Football Club has had to make another coaching change after the unexpected departure of Juan Roman on Saturday.

The club has signed Kale Herbert, who is the son of former All Whites and Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert.

Kale has been helping Ricki as assistant coach to the Wanderers' summer league squad but will now have his first head coach role at a premier level.

It will be a hard feat to achieve more than his father who took the All Whites to the World Cup in 2010, but Kale wants to make his own legacy.

"One thing I do try to make a point of when we come to training is that he is Ricky and not dad," Kale said.

"It is difficult through what he has done but I would rather make my own legacy than following his."

Wanderers had only announced earlier in the week that Roman would lead their premier winter team, but on Friday Roman was appointed the new head of strength and conditioning coach at NZ Football and Wanderers were forced into a change.

"I thought what a fantastic opportunity this would be to work through the winter off the back of what has been a challenging summer.

"A massive learning curve for me and this will allow me to continue my coaching path and is a good opportunity for me," he said.

Kale has previously held a coaching role at Taupo AFC in the WaiBop Premiership.

The LottoNRFL Premiership will provide Kale with bigger opponents in Eastern Suburbs and Central United who have squads that are made up of national league players.

For the past two seasons under Mark Cossey and then Vlad Frank and Michael Built, the club has been involved in relegation battles until the end of the season, but Kale said his main goal will be to support the summer team.

"The people through the club will help me and support me through the winter and I have been provided with a lot of information about the teams we will come up against."

"The main focus is to support the summer team and give them better preparation than what they have had in the pass.

"A lot of the summer boys will come in and out of the winter side but also bleeding some of the younger players through the winter league as well."

While his father will always be an inspiration for him, Kale also wants to draw from his favourite premier league team manager Jurgen Klopp who manages Liverpool football club. "Klopp's style of football is definitely an attractive one and personally something I would like to bring to the club.

"The style of football will align with what the summer team is looking to do and I am more than happy to support that."

Club chairman Dave Douglas announced on the Hamilton Wanderers Facebook page that he was excited to have Kale at the club.

"Kale is already working regularly with a lot of the players who will be involved in winter and it is great to have him involved further in the club through winter," Douglas said.