Rado Vidosic is well-prepared to take on the tough job of succeeding Ange Postecoglou as coach of the back-to-back grand final winning Brisbane Roar.
A lot of Australian football fans outside of the Queensland capital may not know too much about Rado – long-time assistant at the Roar, father of Socceroo Dario. But the 51-year-old’s career has been building to this point.
Born in Osijek, in the former Yugoslavia, the Croatian moved to Queensland in 1988 with his wife and young son after receiving an offer to play for the Queensland Lions. The former professional player with NK Osijek, originally kicked off his coaching career at the age of 18.
Rado has been a coach at Queensland clubs Rocklea United, Rochedale Rovers (where he spent five years under Rovers head coach Petter Bannon) and the Queensland Lions. He was also in charge of the Brisbane Southern Districts rep sides for seven years, and had three years coaching the state’s under 15 and under 16 teams. Rado knows the local scene and local clubs well, which is an important point.
With a background as a teacher, Vidosic headed the football program at the highly regarded Cavdendish Road High School of Excellence.
He has been the Roar since day dot of the A-League, serving as an assistant to first Miron Bleiberg, then Frank Farina and then Postecoglou.
As he told the media this week, he knows the club better than anyone. He knows the culture, the playing style and the players intimately. He has been tasked with bringing up the Roar’s youngsters over the past seven years and has done a fantastic job, with Michael Zullo and Robbie Kruse just two who have come through under his watch.
Rado is renowned for his tactical knowledge and video analysis. He has all the right coaching badges and has an eye for talent – Vidosic was the one who spotted and encouraged the Roar to sign controversial goal machine Besart Berisha.
Importantly, Rado also has the backing of the Roar squad to take over the top job. Key players Thomas Broich, Matt Smith and Erik Paartalu have publicly supported him as the man to replace Postecoglou. Continuity is important and with 90 percent of the club’s squad signed for next season, Vidosic will have the right pieces in place.
Taking over from Ange and maintaining and even raising the Roar’s high standards is a tough ask, but Rado is well placed to do just that.
Mario
Guest
Sorry to say, but I think he comes from Serbian background born in a Croatian town. Sorry to throw that spanner in.
Kasey
Guest
And can we file this as evidence #1-5 why the NSL was doomed to failure. The sheer byzantine minutia of Balkan politics that infiltrated the local game created a mental barrier to new fans. If your average new football fan wanted to get involved and watch a game he/she had to be careful not to use words like Yugoslavia instead of Croatia(and like your average Aussie is going to understand the difference - as important as it is to people from that region)
John Davidson
Roar Guru
Apologies MelbCro. Didnt mean to offend. My Balkans geography is far from perfect, so I went with the former Yugoslavia as a backup.
j binnie
Guest
MelbCro If you are deeply offended by what I wrote please accept my most sincere apologies .I do mean that. Where did you get the impression I was lecturing to you?, Please refer to the term "Croatia" on Wikipedia, for they too must be printing crap and unfortunately for you that is a site that most people would refer to today when seeking knowledge of a particular item. eg Croatia. Might I suggest you write to them at once and get them to correct what they have written under the name Croatia for all their information will continue to mislead the greater public who may use their website. Now as I said, from choice, politics are not of great interest to me, so let's declare peace brother, and lets get back to the football. cheers jb
wickedlenny
Roar Rookie
as was said above, hope he can develop a range of tactics to make them successful in ACL.
MelbCro
Guest
j binnie i don't think I've ever been more offended by anything on this site than what you just wrote. the Croatian nation has existed in its present territory since the 7th century. Croatia was an independent kingdom from 925 to 1102, when we lost our independence. Something we contstantly fought for ever since then. Even in our history under Hungarian and Austrian Habsburg rule Croatia still existed as a relatively autonomus region within the respective empires. And during communist Yugoslavia, Croatia still had the status of republic 'Socialist Republic of Croatia'. At no stage did we not exist as a nation, so to say we became a country in 1991 is a load of crap. And you are right, you are not well versed in balkan history so don't try and lecture me.
jbinnie
Guest
ff - it could be argued that that dogmatic attitude of Ange's is in fact his "Achilles heel" for even the best of coaches adapt their style when playing certain opponents as witnessed this week with the demise of the mighty Real and Barcelona out of the EC.Chelsea and Bayern can be very fine attacking sides when playing in their home competitions but when playing class opposition even they are forced to "tweak" their normal systems of play. John Kosmina has done exactly the same in his Asian Cup venture,so far with great success. jb
jbinnie
Guest
MelbCr -You are away off beam my friend. I am quite happy to say that I know, admire & like, many Croats (I have no problem with using the word) & over my years in football met many fine people from that area & in fact still play bowls with one two days a week. I am not too well versed in Balkan history so the word "forced communism" does not enter my thinking just the fact that Croatia declared it's independence in 1991 becoming a COUNTRY,not a nationality (one usually follows the other), in it's own right.To the man in the street that is a fact,& I simply chose to point that out to other readers & also to say that the writer did refer to Rado as a Croatian in his article.I was born and raised in Scotland but if someone asks me if I was born in the UK I have to say yes.That's the same difference is it not?. Now,back to football. jb ps Nathans comment above is imbicilic & an insult,not only to me,but to the many intelligent Craotians I hold in high regard. jb
bob
Guest
j"ust because it was forcibly part of a communist Yugoslavia does not mean the Croatian nation did not exist" yes it does
Jonno
Guest
Good luck to him, he probably needs to learn to work the media, I don't think ange had much presence in front of camera, always looking at his feet. Interesting times for Roar.
MelbCro
Guest
@ J binnie no mate. If anything your comment is the one that is misleading, you must not know many Croats. Our homeland is Croatia, just because it was forcibly part of a communist Yugoslavia does not mean the Croatian nation did not exist. No else has a right to declare what our homeland is, and it certainly isn't Yugoslavia.
football fan
Guest
Also Rado MUST establish more than one formation and tactical play. Otherwise Ange will know how to effectively play against the Roar. He prob knows it already. I'm hoping he will be able to introduce formation and tactical changes DURING play to confuse the opponents.
football fan
Guest
Tokyo FC's coach has ZERO charisma, and look at what they're doing at J League.
football fan
Guest
People at MV might get a surprise when Ange takes over their team. Most also don't know that Ken Stead is the fitness guru at Roar which enabled Ange to play the Roar style. As already mentioned Rado is the guy who can scout talent very well. Ange may be the guy who approaches the player, but the person who spots them is also key. Ange won't have Rado or Stead at MV. Judging from disastrous the scouting talent at MV, Ange's job is more than challenging.
bob
Guest
ange didn't have so much charisma during the SEVEN YEARS of FAILURE with the young socceroos. he seems to me something of a bully boy and a downhill skier. i hope his spell at victory knocks him back down a peg or two.
ItsCalled AussieRules
Roar Rookie
I've watched a couple of interviews with Vidosic snr and he doesn't really posses the charisma or strength of character to be the right replacement for Ange. Sorry, but he reminds me of Durakovic and will probably suffer the same fate.
bob
Guest
you don't need to be of any particular descent to know an historical fact...
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Not sure I'd want to be the one trying to dictate terms of Croatian history to someone of Croatian descent...
j binnie
Guest
Whiskeymac. You have me intrigued so just have to ask you "how Liverpool used to be run; Joachim Low etc". As Pauline Hansen used to ask "Please explain?" jb
j binnie
Guest
MelbCro -Surprised at your comment which is very misleading. Croatia was a part of "former Yugoslavia" and did not gain total independence from that identity until 1991 becoming a country in it's own right. By 1991 Rado had been domiciled in Australia for 3 years,so John was right in using the term "former Yugoslavia" when referring to his birth country,a fact you seem to have overlooked as well as having missed his following 2 words where he calls Rado "the Croatian". jb