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Owen James

Assistant Coach, North Liverpool Academy

Owen’s playing career started when he was 10 years old while playing for his school team. His passion for the game has focussed his efforts into coaching. As a current under-18s player for Tranmere Rovers he is still very much active in playing and is progressing towards his level 2 in coaching.

Milen Tanev

Head Coach, North Liverpool Academy

Milen played football for over 10 years for both his club Lokomotiv Plovdiv and the Youths National Team of Bulgaria as a goalkeeper. After playing in tournaments all over Europe, an unfortunate injury led to the end of his career as a player.
His love of football brought him to England where he completed coaching qualifications for adults and youths, disabled players, blind players, Futsal, goalkeeping and physical education. He is currently studying towards his degree in sports management with an aim to become a professional team coach.

Milen started his coaching career at Wimbledon FC, quickly progressing to Fulham FC where he spent 7 years working with various age groups as well as being involved in Kicks projects and disability coaching.

His hard work has been noticed as he has been nominated twice for the Premier League Coach of the Year and won the Outstanding Contribution to Fulham FC award in 2017. All teams he has worked with won first place in their respective leagues during the first or second year of his coaching.

Milen gained additional experience attending trainings in Spain (Real Madrid), Italy (Roma and Lazio), Germany (Bayern Munich) and Bulgaria (National Squad) in order to learn the different coaching styles in Europe

Lizzy Baker

Assistant Coach, North Liverpool Academy

Lizzy’s football education started at a young age while playing in the streets with her friends. Her love of the game has driven her to work hard on her education, achieving a diploma in football, coaching qualifications and child care. She has also taken additional safeguarding and child protection courses, enabling her to work with children.

Lizzy has her own team of under-11s and is progressing to set up her first adults’ team.
Alongside her role as assistant trainer to Milen, Lizzy also takes a leading role in ensuring the safety of minors.