Matthew McConkey (left) poses with former Svay Rieng head coach Pep Munoz at the end of the 2024-2025 season. Svay Rieng FC
Although his appointment as head coach of Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng FC was only announced yesterday, Matthew McConkey has already expressed his confidence in improving the team’s quality of play.
The imposing Northern Irishman laid out his vision for the back-to-back Cambodian Premier League (CPL) champions, adding that he is determined to win every match in the upcoming season and advance through all stages of every competition the club qualifies for.
Based on his experience serving as assistant coach to former head coaches Conor Nestor and Pep Munoz for the past four years, McConkey described their management approaches as quite similar, with a focus on maintaining possession during matches and creating space to generate scoring opportunities.
As he steps into the new role, McConkey plans to strengthen the team’s defence and sharpen the attacking unit, in order to make the team more solid and capable of winning consistently, while also setting new records of success.
“This season, when we lose the ball, we must defend more strongly than before. In the attacking third, we need to be more decisive when we have the ball and shoot more often,” he said.
“I will give everything I have, because we want to win every match. In every tournament we compete in, we want to win, in order to advance to the next stage,” he added.
Svay Rieng (in blue) go on the attack against arch-rivals Phnom Penh Crown during the 2024-2025 season. Svay Rieng FC
He also took time to thank the club’s fans, while promising them he would not disappoint them.
“In the four years I’ve been here, our fans have been truly amazing. What I must do is make them happy by making sure we play well, whether we win or lose,” he said.
Christopher William Grant, the club’s general manager, described the valuable contributions McConkey has made to Svay Rieng’s remarkable success in his four years as assistant coach. He noted that he had helped them win the CPL championship two years in a row, the 2024 Hun Sen Cup, and most notably, helping the team reach the final of the 2025 AFC Challenge League.
Given these accomplishments, Grant believed the former assistant is well-suited to take on the head coach role. He also reiterated that the club's leadership has full confidence that he will continue guiding the team to further achievements, especially in developing a distinctive playing style that reflects Svay Rieng’s identity.
“One key factor in selecting him as head coach was related to the style of play. That means Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng wants to express the club’s identity through its playing style, passing this down to our newly established youth teams so they can adopt the same footballing identity as the senior squad. Coach McConkey has already been involved in that work,” he noted.
