England's Peter Taylor to help coach New Zealand

Wellington (AFP) – Former England player and coach Peter Taylor is to join New Zealand’s All Whites as a Europe-based assistant coach, New Zealand Football announced Friday.

Taylor, who played four internationals for England in 1976 and was caretaker coach for one game in 2000, starred at Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur.

“He’s got incredible experience and he will add a huge amount to our team,” said Kiwi coach and former West Ham midfielder Anthony Hudson. 

Taylor will assist New Zealand professionals based in Europe including skipper Winston Reid, who is currently with West Ham, and Leeds striker Chris Wood. 

The 63-year-old Taylor, who was also the national coach of Bahrain where he worked with Hudson in 2011-12, will join the All Whites on their October tour which sees ties with world number 14 Mexico and 26th-ranked United States. 

He said the tour should provide a good gauge of where New Zealand are at in their bid to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“We’ll be going over what we need to improve to make us more difficult opponents and the more difficult you are the more chance you’ve got of winning the next match and then qualifying for big tournaments,” he said.