Chris Greenacre has turned down a quick buck and two Australian A-League clubs to instead kickstart his coaching career with the Wellington Phoenix.

The 34-year-old Englishman began life in football as a 16-year-old apprentice with Manchester City. In three seasons with the Phoenix, he scored 19 goals in 84 games.

However, Greenacre has been eying up coaching since his mid-20s. Yesterday, he was confirmed as the Phoenix's assistant coach for the next two A-League seasons.

"I don't want to sound arrogant but I had other options in the A-League, and I could have probably chased a dollar for a couple of years," Greenacre said.

"The way I weighed it was the longevity of this job and this part of my life is hopefully going to be there for the next 30 years. And for the sake of chasing a few dollars here and there, I think it's more important that I kind of cut it off and started that process of the next chapter of my life."

Greenacre holds an Uefa B coaching licence and is studying towards an A licence.

He helped out with some coaching duties while playing last season and did not believe it would be difficult to no longer be "one of the boys".

"I had a little spell of that last year when I kind of had a foot in both camps, and, to be honest, I'm not really going to find that such a challenge," Greenacre said.

"I just want to be an all-round coach and have that discipline when I need to have it and also the respect from the players when I need to have it as well. At the end of the day, I'm on their side; I'm not trying to pick fights and be an ogre with anybody. A big part of it is trust, I think, and if I can get that I'll be happy."

Greenacre and goalkeeping coach Jonathan Gould have been running the Phoenix's pre-season sessions with head coach Ricki Herbert away with the Olympic Games team.

Excerpt from:
Greenacre switches sides for Phoenix coach role