Ex-Norwich midfielder Adrian Forbes to coach side with no players

Settling into American life has not always, Forbes admits, been “a walk in the park”.

And initially, Texoma will play in a school stadium before moving to their own purpose-built ground in a couple of years.

But he is relishing the “excitement of being part of building everything from the bottom up” in the hope of establishing a club that will have “longevity”.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. There’s been times where I’ve gone ‘have I made the right decision?'” he added.

“But when we get to that first game at the stadium… knowing you’ve been part of not only signing the players, building out the roster as they call it over here, but also coaching and developing them is going to be a really surreal moment.

“I hope I can produce a team that fans will be excited to come and watch, a team where fans can look at players and go ‘I can see myself in that hard-working individual there’, ‘I can see myself in that person that’s just put that tackle in’ – and that’s what’s going to be important to me in trying to build a team that the community and my owners can be proud of.”

Forbes began his playing career at Norwich City, and even now says he does not know why he was allowed to leave in 2001.

“My wife and I have laughed about it. Who knows one day what individuals back at Norwich might be looking at and thinking ‘we let this person leave our club and look what he’s gone on the achieve’,” he said.

“That’s also important to me because I want to be taken seriously in this role.”