Riza left to concentrate on coaching

Former Arsenal and Barnet striker Omer Riza left Heybridge Swifts to further his coaching ambitions.

Riza, who teamed up with new manager Cliff Akurang at Scraley Road in January after the Ghana-born former Chelsea and Luton youth striker succeeded Keith Wilson in early December, started the season as player-manager at Ryman North rivals Cheshunt before leaving the Ambers in September.

The 35-year-old stood down as Akurang's number two on Monday and after thanking the club's fans and officials in a statement released by Swifts officials, Riza, pictured, explained his reasons for moving on.

He said: "I would like to thank Heybridge Swifts for making me feel welcome, from the chairman right through the club. My main reason for leaving was basically I think the ship has been steadied.

"I came in to help Cliff and I feel I've done that and now I need to look forward to my own progression in the game. I'm just about to finish off my ‘A’ licence, I need to be coaching a lot and I need to be coaching things that I need to do to be able to progress.

"I haven’t been a manager since Cheshunt and coming in here has been good. I've learnt how assistant-manager’s might feel in the future so I know how to treat them.

"I've learnt different styles of play, Cliff has brought in a style of play that has been successful so I've learnt different methods and it’s been great over all.

"There’s no animosity or hard feelings against anyone. Cliff is a friend and the club have been great. I think it’s great club, they've got a great set-up with the first-team and the first-team working in conjunction with the youth and the U21’s which is how it should be."

He added: "It’s not like we've just come in and changed things. Yes, we needed to see something from the boys to get them out of the position that they were in, but the club has been in a good position in the past and hopefully they’ll get back to where they have been over the past few seasons."

Follow us: @rymanleaguenews on Twitter | Ryman League group on Facebook