Meet The Team

The Directors

Darren Wassall

Playing Career: Nottingham Forest, Derby County, Manchester City, Birmingham City

Coaching Career: Derby County Academy Director

Darren began his professional football career in 1984 under the guidance of the great Brian Clough. Darren enjoyed a successful career playing at numerous clubs, Nottingham Forest, Derby County, Manchester and Birmingham City. The knowledge and experience that he has gained over 30 years has proved invaluable, and has enabled himself and Pat to develop SoccerstarsUK into one of the country’s leading independent coach and player development programmes. Darren has overseen the development of many young players in the academy, such as Will Hughes, Jeff Hendrick, Mason Bennett, Jayden Bogle and Max Lowe. In 2016, Darren became Head Coach of the Derby County 1 st team and successfully guided the club to the playoff semi finals.

The Directors

Pat Lyons

Playing Career: Derby County. Burton Albion, Worcester City

Coaching Career: Derby County Football Club Under 23 Head Coach

Pat started his coaching career at the age of 19 at Derby County’s Academy while playing at Burton Albion under the management of Nigel Clough and being part of the team that won the Conference North . Pat gained his UEFA A licence at the age of 24 becoming the youngest coach in the country to achieve this prestige coaching qualification. Pat is currently the Under 23 Lead Professional Development Phase Coach at Derby County and has played an integral part in the progression of players such as Mason Bennett, Will Hughes, Jeff Hendrick and Max Lowe and also in DCFC’s Under 21’s successful Premier League 2 promotion in 2015/16. He is passionate to make a difference to players of all abilities with his experience both as a player and a coach. It is this passion from Pat and Darren along with their values that makes SoccerstarsUK stand out. In 2016, Pat assisted Darren with the Derby County 1 st Team and helped guide the club to Championship Play Off Semi Finals.

The Managers

Chris Broadhurst

General Manager

UEFA B & FA Youth Award Qualification

Derby County Academy U10’s Coach

Afpe Level 3 PESS Qualification

Chris set out on his coaching career at the age of 16 working with local grassroots football club Repton Casuals, after gaining his FA Level 1 Coaching Certificate Chris joined SoccerstarsUK as a Part-Time coach in 2006.

Following his completion of his UEFA B FA Youth Award Qualifications, Chris became a Foundation Phase Coach at Derby County Academy in 2014 and has been helping develop local elite footballers from the ages of 9-11 during this time.

In 2014, Chris was appointed General Manager of SoccerstarsUK overseeing all Schools, Coaches & Programmes.

Chris Harding

Head of New Partnerships

UEFA B Qualification

Head of the Derby County Academy Development Centres

Afpe Level 3 PESS Qualification

Chris started his coaching career whilst playing at Burton Albion FC as a Scholar playing with likes of Nigel Clough. He then gained his FA level one and joined SoccerstarsUK as a part time coach in 2007.

In 2012 he became an Area Manager and since then Chris has gone on to complete his UEFA B Licence and FA Youth Modules.

During this time Chris has gone on to be Head of Derby County Academy Development Centres in which has seen over 40 players make the transition into the Derby County Academy.

Daniel Hudson

Staffordshire and North Derbyshire Area Manager

Dan began coaching when he was 15 as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award. He completed his FA Level 1 award whilst at school and regularly coached with Derby County Community Trust.

He joined SoccerstarsUK as a part-time coach in 2017 and continued to coach for us alongside his studies at the University of Nottingham. In 2018 he achieved the FA Level 2 award and joined us as Area Manager for Staffordshire & North Derbyshire in September 2019.