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Frans Thijssen set to exit Brisbane Roar

23rd April, 2015
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Brisbane Roar appears to have backflipped on its commitment to retaining interim coach Frans Thijssen as technical director.

The Dutchman is instead poised to exit the A-League club at the end of the season with a new coach believed to be waiting in the wings.

Thijssen arrived at the Roar in November as a short-term replacement for the sacked Mike Mulvey, under the arrangement that he would become technical director once a new coach was installed.

Managing director Sean Dobson originally confirmed the plan at Thijssen’s unveiling and club officials have maintained the backroom reshuffle would take place ever since.

But that hasn’t stopped Brisbane chairman Chris Fong from claiming it was never on the cards in an interview with SBS.

“I don’t know where it came from that he (Thijssen) was going to be technical director,” Fong said.

“I have read it a few times and that’s not the case. I have certainly never said that.

“And he has never asked me about it either.”

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The Roar is understood to have settled on a final shortlist of coaching candidates around a month ago.

Despite their earlier commitments, the club is cautious of making any decisions on the structure and make-up of their coaching panel without the input of the new man in charge.

“The club’s coaching roles will be reviewed in conjunction with whoever the new head coach is,” a Roar spokesman said.

“We’ve said all along that our head coach position and Frans’s role within the club would be addressed at the end of the season.

“Nothing has changed.

“We still have three games to go and no decisions will be made until the end of the season.”

Only last month, Roar football director Ken Stead told AAP Thijssen was still in contention to become permanent head coach.

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Stead also gave no indication that anything had changed regarding Thijssen’s future and the technical director’s role.

The club has been linked with moves for Aurelio Vidmar and Ante Milicic, while German coach Michael Oenning – who worked with Thomas Broich at Borussia Monchengladbach and Nurnberg – reportedly threw his hat into the ring earlier this month.

Brisbane has shown flashes of their best under Thijssen but their AFC Champions League campaign hangs by a thread and they have only qualified for the A-League finals after Perth Glory were booted from the top six.

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