Former Stoke City defender Andy Wilkinson is launching his coach career in Canada.

Wilkinson has been taking his coaching badges and gaining experience near Toronto in Canada at an academy set up by one of his old pals from Stoke-on-Trent.

“I was over there having treatment and came across a lad I knew from Stoke who had set up an academy, Josh Bill, called ADP," he told The Sentinel.

“I went and had a look and he asked me to come and do some coaching with him. That's great for me and I can carry on my treatment while I'm over there as well. It's just outside Toronto, it's a lovely place, absolutely amazing. It's good, a couple of weeks at a time every three months or so and it keeps me busy, as well as doing up properties as well which I like to do."