A-League club-in-waiting Melbourne Heart will move a step closer to securing their inaugural coach after a board meeting on Monday night.
The Heart, set to enter the new league next season, are believed to have assembled a shortlist of overseas-based candidates for the role which will be among the topics discussed by the board.
The club have indicated they are particularly interested in hiring a coach from The Netherlands – keeping in step with Australia’s recent trend of importing expertise from the respected Dutch coaching system.
Ex-Holland and Ajax assistant coach John van’t Schip is the latest to be linked with the role.
New Heart football operations manager John Didulica started in the job on Monday, and admitted the club will step up their planning for entering the league over the next few weeks.
“We’re going to be running through a whole raft of things, and we’ll be putting things together in the next 24 to 48 hours towards getting some things out there and undertaking what will be a very exciting adventure,” Didulica said.
Didulica, a respected former Melbourne Knights and Sydney United NSL player and ex-players’ union boss, brings a wealth of football and legal experience to the new role.
A qualified lawyer from Geelong, Didulica has also had experience as a player agent and most recently worked as Football Federation Australia’s legal counsel.
He starts work at the Heart just days before the A-League’s player recruitment window opens on October 1, which will allow the new Melbourne side to officially start signing players from other clubs.
Didulica will be the prime mover in putting together a group of players capable of hitting the ground running in their inaugural season and challenging the existing Melbourne Victory for Victorian hearts and minds.
Other important matters likely to be addressed soon are the club’s official name – with Melbourne Heart just a working title for the new franchise – and the colours of their jersey.
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