While the Mariners swiftly recorded their fourth win of the season under the interim coach, Olympic reflected with pride the role it played in launching the Englishman's career a quarter of a century ago.

Walmsley was just 19 years old when he accepted an offer to play and coach the Launceston team and has since risen through the coaching ranks in Tasmania, NSW, Queensland and Oceania before stints with Sheffield United and Central Coast.

On Friday, following the sacking of head coach Phil Moss, the Mariners announced technical director Walmsley would take the reins until the end of the season while a replacement was sought.

Riverside Olympic president Jamie Colgrave said the club was delighted to watch its former coach's progress, even joking it should have locked in a finder's fee or sell-on clause in his contracts.

"To bring out someone who was not much more than a kid and see him go on to coach at the highest standard in Australia is a pretty big honour," Colgrave said.

Olympic life member Stuart McCarron explained Walmsley worked and played cricket in his native Manchester with Tasmanian Roger Brown in the late 1980s and asked whether any club would welcome having an English coach.

"So we got him over and he ended up coaching us for three seasons and then went to George Town," McCarron said.

"Since we brought him over he has always worked in soccer, but we gave him his first coaching position."

McCarron and Colgrave said the former Oldham Athletic trialist brought some revolutionary methods, and could often be found sending the first team on runs up Riverside Drive or through the Cataract Gorge.

"He brought a lot of new ideas to us," McCarron said. "It was the first time I had ever seen things like the beep test so he was cutting edge at the time in his methods and styles.

"I still believe bringing him over helped us get recognition and some of the best coaches so we both owe each other really. Back then we didn't even have the coaches bench with any covering. We just used to take a chair over and sit on that."

Olympic won a couple of league cups under Walmsley, who began a succession of overseas players at the club which still continues, with Yorkshireman Chris Wademan a goal-scoring sensation in last year's Northern Premier League.

McCarron believes Walmsley, whose father John lives on Tasmania's west coast, will benefit the Mariners, whose youth team he guided to the 2011-12 national title.

"He won't leave a stone unturned to make sure he does his best. He is very meticulous in what he does and very organised."

After winning his first match in charge, 1-0 against Melbourne City on Sunday, Walmsley told reporters he was proud of his 100 per cent record.

He said his few days in charge had been about engaging the players and "trying to get them aligned to the approach we need to take".

He added: "They took it on board exceptionally well and I'm proud of them.

"In professional sport it's a ruthless business and you have to dust yourself down quickly and do what's required and that's what the players have done."

Attempts by The Examiner to contact Walmsley were unsuccessful but he reflected on his move to Launceston in an online interview in 2013.

"It was an adventure for a young man," he said. "I was wondering what to do with my life and I went to Australia. I went with ambition, but with no real sense of what a coaching career was all about."

Walmsley spent five years in Tasmania, operating as development officer at Football Federation Tasmania, running school development programs, coach education and coaching the state team at national championships.

In the years since he has worked with national coaches Frank Farina and Graham Arnold and trained with the likes of Socceroos Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton.

Olympic already has a successful track record of producing top-flight coaches following former player Anthony Limbrick's appointment last year as under-18 coach of English Premier League side Southampton.