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Former Sydney FC coach Branko Culina says there is no risk of him trying to dethrone Gary van Egmond at Newcastle after accepting a role as the Jets’ technical director.
Culina was hired by the Jets on Wednesday ahead of their Asian Champions League campaign, bringing with him plenty of first-hand experience in Asian football from his stint with Sydney.
Fans on football websites have since speculated Culina could be being groomed to take over the coaching role from van Egmond further down the track.
But Culina said on Thursday his only intentions were to offer the best support to van Egmond he could.
“People ask me how it’s going to be going from a coach to a technical director,” said Culina, who replaced the Norwich-bound Ian Crook.
“But the one thing that I hope to do for Gary is support him.
“Coaching is a difficult, difficult task especially when things are not going well.
“He needs someone to bounce ideas off and feel like is going to support you, not stab you in the back.”
Culina, who was fired by Sydney nine games into the 2007/08 season and replaced by the now-sacked John Kosmina, said he knew first-hand the cut-throat nature of coaching.
“I know what happened to me and I know when I got support and when I didn’t and the difference it makes,” he said.
“So I hope to be able to provide that for Gary and the club as much as I possibly can with the experiences that I have and the contacts that I have.
“Gary doesn’t have to fear that because I’m an ex-coach I want his job … I’ve been very fortunate to have been involved with a lot of great clubs and I’ve had my go.
“I just see that this is a round that suits me better with the skills that I’ve got and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The Jets are facing a daunting ACL campaign after finishing last in the A-League and losing big names including Joel Griffiths, James Holland, Jade North and Mark Milligan to overseas clubs.
But Culina said the club’s recent signings, including defenders Ljubo Milicevic, Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Angelo Costanzo, and strikers Donny De Groot and Sasho Petrovski, had the Jets well-placed to be competitive when their ACL campaign kicks off on March 10.
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