Meet the Board
More than a thousand Football League appearances. Decades of community work. One shared mission.
Martin O'Connor
Founder and DirectorFormer professional footballer with more than 450 league appearances. Former Assistant Manager and Caretaker Manager at Walsall Football Club. Founder of the MOCEFA Education Academy, which ran successfully in Walsall for nearly a decade, combining education, sport and personal development for hundreds of local young people. Born and raised in Walsall. Leads the day-to-day work and long-term direction of Walsall CAP.
Paul Tait
DirectorFormer Birmingham City midfielder with more than 250 Football League appearances. Made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old substitute against Leeds United. Played across the English divisions with loan spells at Millwall and Northampton Town, followed by two-and-a-half years at Oxford United and a spell at Cypriot club Nea Salamis. Born in the West Midlands. Brings strategic insight and sporting credibility to the Board.
Dele Adebola
DirectorRetired professional footballer with more than 600 Football League appearances and 156 senior career goals across 16 clubs over two decades. Longest spells at Crewe Alexandra, Birmingham City and Coventry City. Signed by Trevor Francis for Birmingham City for £1 million in 1998. Helped Birmingham reach the 2001 Football League Cup Final. Named Bristol City Player of the Year in 2008–09. Called up by both Nigeria and Northern Ireland during his career. Brings profile, leadership and a genuine commitment to youth opportunity.
Why this matters for our work
Our Board brings together a unique combination of sporting credibility, lived experience of working-class West Midlands communities, and decades of practical leadership. They have spent their careers in environments where discipline, teamwork, fairness and resilience are not abstract values but daily realities. They understand the difference a good coach, a fair chance and a trusted adult can make — because that is how they built their own careers, and how they have shaped the next generation through their post-playing work.
For the young people and adults we serve in Walsall, that means more than recognisable names on a website. It means leaders who genuinely understand what it takes to support someone from where they are now to where they could be.