Former Hartlepool United head coach Anthony Limbrick loving life in the United States

The Australian, who was in charge of Pools between February and June last year, has been at the helm of USL Championship side Loudoun United since January 2026.

The Virginia-based outfit are a club on the up having reached the Eastern Conference play-offs for the first time in their history last season and Limbrick is determined to repeat the feat this time around.

The 43-year-old took over at Victoria Park in the midst of one of the most turbulent periods in the club's recent history, with controversial chairman Raj Singh's sudden decision to resign a little over a month after Limbrick replaced veteran Lennie Lawrence plunging Pools into chaos, uncertainty and tumult.

Even so, the impressive manner in which Limbrick navigated the final few months of the 2024/25 campaign meant many fans were disappointed when he wasn't offered a new deal in the summer, with Pools instead opting to appoint the vastly experienced Simon Grayson as the club's new manager.

Having been linked with fellow National League clubs Yeovil and Solihull Moors, Limbrick instead headed Stateside as he looks to help Loudoun continue their development on and off the pitch.

Limbrick is no stranger to working overseas. Having been born in Tasmania, he headed to England and spent time coaching in the academies of Boreham Wood, Southampton, where he worked alongside the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman, and West Ham.

His first job in management came in 2017 with National League outfit Woking, steering the Cards to the second round of the FA Cup after beating Bury, then of the Football League.

Since then, Limbrick has worked as both assistant and interim manager at Grimsby before a memorable spell in charge of Welsh side The New Saints, leading them to the Europa Conference League as well as the Cymru Premier title.

Stints with Gibraltar's Manchester 62 and Pools followed before taking charge of Loudoun at the beginning of the year.

While by his own admission his side have endured a somewhat mixed start to the new campaign, Limbrick is determined to help grow the club as they chase a top eight spot in the USL Championship.

"I love it out here, Virginia is beautiful and I think it's one of the best places in the US," he said.

"The standard is really good, there are some really top players and an interesting mix of players from all sorts of different places. Obviously there are a lot of Americans but there are some really talented foreign players here as well.

"It's a tough, relentless league and there's a lot of travel. The other week we went to Monterey Bay in California, so we're travelling all over the country. The travel involved is big, taxing and hard and that can make it difficult but there are so many good players and good coaches here.

"The league's full time, all the teams are full time, and I really like the club. The pull for me with Loudoun was their plan to develop young players and help push them on, we've got a younger squad compared to last season. It's a new squad which is still taking time to gel and work together.

"The team made the play-offs for the first time in the club's history last season and we want to do the same again, we want to push on.

"We've had an up and down start to the season so far with some good performances but also some where we need to improve, I think we're slowly building and getting better as we go. It's a young team and there's lots of potential.

"It's been good, I've enjoyed it. The club and myself are on the same page in terms of what we want to try and do, how we want to create a culture and build that for the future."

Having played, coached and worked in Australia, England, Wales, Gibraltar and the US already, Limbrick is no stranger to the challenges that come with adapting to new environments and cultures.

He said: "I've always kept an eye on the American market, I think it's a developing league and the players, facilities and technical programmes are really improving.

"After I left Hartlepool in the summer I spoke to a lot of clubs and had a couple of different options, head coach roles as well as a couple of assistant roles in the Football League.

"I felt that this was the right move for me at the right time for myself and my family.

"It was really important to me to know I was going to work with good people. For me, that was the key if I was going to make the move overseas, which I've never been afraid to do and I've always wanted to test myself in different leagues.

"This was another good challenge at a good time. I think by accepting those challenges and doing some different things in my career, I've really developed as a coach, a person and a manager. This is exactly the same, I'm learning a lot so far and think I'll really develop.

"I've had a very different journey having been a non-playing coach, someone who hasn't played at a high level in the professional game. I've had to earn the right over years and years and hone my craft.

"I really value all the experiences I've had, it's a relationship-based job and when you go to these different countries, the players are different; different styles, different approaches.

"In our squad now, we've got a Chilean player, a Brazilian, a Spanish player and one from Portugal. Working with so many different nationalities has helped me because the game is so multicultural now, whatever league you're in."

Of course, the eyes of the footballing world are currently fixed firmly on the US and Limbrick is confident the World Cup will help continue to grow the game across the Atlantic.

Under Pochettino, who Limbrick worked alongside at Southampton, the US began their campaign with a thumping 4-1 win over Paraguay and there are genuine hopes that the hosts can progress to, at least, the quarter-finals.

"The game is really growing over here and the World Cup's helping with that," Limbrick said.

"They had a great result in the first game and I think that was really important for them, they played very well against Paraguay.

"Those things can help but it also comes down to the fact that the players are improving, the product is getting better and the standard of coaching is very good from what I've seen.

"The game is in a very good place and that's one of the things that attracted me to come over here."