Meet Craig’s management team
Tonbridge Angels are pleased to welcome to the club, and introduce to our supporters, two members of Craig Nelson’s management team. Joe Vines, who will take on the role of Assistant Manager and Bryan Nzinga, First Team coach.
Joe comes from a locally, very well known footballing family having spent much of his playing career alongside his brother Paul at various clubs. His career began at Cray Valley Paper Mills and after a season moved on to Cray Wanderers, a club that features strongly in Joe’s career. ¬†A good impression made at Cray Wanderers led to a step up to Bromley, where he was Player of the Year in 2002 before moving on to Lewes two years later and into a side that won promotion to Conference South.
Joe eventually returned to Cray Wanderers via a further spell at Bromley, to join up with Tony Russell as assistant manager before they became the management team at Lewes in 2021. Joe spent three seasons with Russell at the Dripping Pan before they departed together in 2024.
Joe’s “day job” is presently as an Academy coach at Bromley.
Bryan Nzinga, who was Craig’s first team coach at Lewes, was forced through injury to hang up his boots at a relatively early age and moved into coaching, becoming manager at Tooting Bec before he was 30 years old, followed by coaching roles at Tooting and Mitcham, Sutton Common Rovers (where he first teamed up with Craig) and the youth set-up at Reading.
On his appointment at Lewes, Craig immediately appointed Bryan as his first team coach and they work closely together in the preparation and analysing of games.
Bryan’s “day job” is as a teacher alongside his role at Crystal Palace where he is an academy coach.
Welcome to Longmead, Bryan and Joe.
