Inglewood United coach Taki Nicolaidis was one of the big winners from the weekends WA Football Awards.   Nicolaidis, recently re-appointed to lead the club again in 2017, capped a memorable first season at the helm by taking out the National Premier Leagues First Team Coach of the Year prize.

“I’m pretty stoked to have won the Coach of the Year,” said Nicolaidis, who becomes the first Inglewood coach to win the award.   “There are some pretty big name coaches that have previously won the Coach of the Year and I’m very honoured to be held in their company.”

Nicolaidis, 46, says being crowned the competitions best coach was an unexpected way to end the year.   “I’m quite surprised to win it considering we didn’t win any of the four trophies on offer,” he admitted.   “However, it is based on performances over every game played and we were the most consistent across the whole season.”

Nicolaidis stepped into the head coach role late in February, following Michael Garcia’s decision to step aside for work and family reasons.   Under his stewardship Inglewood enjoyed their best season in two decades, finishing the home and away series in second position before qualifying for the Grand Final.