Sven Goran Eriksson has emerged as a shock candidate for the vacant Socceroos coaching role but a successor to Ange Postecoglou won’t be announced until mid-February.
Football Federation Australia has formed a nine-person panel — including former Socceroos Mark Bresciano, Stan Lazaridis and Mark Schwarzer — to help pick the man who will take the Australian national team to next year’s World Cup in Russia.
It has also engaged the services of consulting firm SRi Executive but no decision will be made until about a month before Australia’s next fixtures in March.
The panel also includes Socceroos assistant Ante Milicic, FFA’s head of national performance Luke Casserly, national technical director Eric Abrams, chief medical officer Dr Mark Jones and two “international experts”, to be finalised in the near future.
Milicic’s presence on the panel would seem to rule him out of the running for the full-time job.
Last week, Milicic indicated it would be “up to others” if he was to be elevated — now, it appears, he is one of those others.
FFA chief executive David Gallop said the governing body would be steered by the panel on whether the coach will be for the short or long term.
“As things stand, no-one is ruled in or out,” FFA chief executive David Gallop said.
“We are open-minded about whether the coach is Australian or someone from overseas but they must live in Australia, embrace the progress on and off the field that has been achieved with national teams over the past four years — especially in the areas of technical development and sports science — and be prepared to be an ambassador for our sport here and abroad.”
The role has attracted significant interest from coaches across the world but former England and Lazio boss Eriksson is the first big name to publicly express his desire.
News Corp reported on Monday the 69-year-old Swede is keen on taking Australia to the World Cup, which would be his fourth as a coach.
“Yes of course I’m interested,” he is quoted as saying.
Jurgen Klinsmann, Marcelo Bielsa and Gianni De Biasi have been linked to the role, as have A-League bosses Graham Arnold, Kevin Muscat and Josep Gombau.
Australia were drawn with France, Denmark and Peru in next June’s tournament, with Eriksson adamant the Socceroos can reach the knockout round.
“The whole world would say France is favourite to win that group, but second I think is very tight … why not Australia?” he said.
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
I agree with you about Abrams past experience but he has obviously made a contious decision to move to a more "big picture" role, so he probably doesn't want to coach senior men in the most watch event in the world. Also, think about job interviews you have been to. It's rare to have a 1-on-1 interview; panels make hiring decisions. Why should it be different with football coaches?
j,binnie
Guest
Mag 11.- Eric Abrams did not write the National Curriculum in it's initial form, it was written by a Dutch "import" called Rob Baan and when it was finished he "retired" before he could implement it , but no doubt he was influential in suggesting his replacement ,another Dutch national, Han Berger, who, in his time in the job, re- wrote the Curriculum as he figured it needed re-vamping, before he too left the job, to join Sydney FC. Have you read Eric Abrams CV? He actually has higher qualifications in coaching than most of our 'local" coaches and has vast experience in 'international" football, albeit with under age teams representing Belgium in many tournaments. (just like Graham Arnold, Paul Okon, Ange Postecoglou, the Vidmar brothers,and Ante Milicic have been, or have done, in their respective pasts with our under age teams.) You digress a bit in your final sentence. Eric Abrams has been working in Australian football for 3 years now so how long do you think it takes to learn about local foibles, after all football is football the world over, so sorry, I miss your point regarding having a veritable "troop" of identities involved in picking a "coach" for the national team. I still think this action smells of a "passing the buck" arrangement to be used, if needed, some time in the future. Cheers jb.
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
Coaching is different to writing coaching curriculums and selecting coaches to implement those curriculums. The wisdom of crowds is useful when making decisions if the crowd is an informed crowd. I think an advisory board made up ex-players and ex-national team assistant coaches, chaired by the FFA TD is a good "crowd". Another reason to not leave it completely in the hands of a foreigner to pick the Australian coach is that he may not fully understand the mindset of Australian footballers.
j,binnie
Guest
Mag 11 - That being the case why should Eric Abrams not be coerced into doing the National Coach job for at least the immediate future?. The man has been in Australian football for 3 years so should "know the ropes" as to what has been going on over the tenure of Ange P. Eric has the necessary qualifications, gained in Europe, and from the FFA "blurb" when he was appointed, has had extensive experience managing what today are regarded as world class players. No real need for all this consultation is there ???? Cheers jb.
pete4
Guest
If that's the case surely Abrams could pick the top 5 candidates out himself. Hiring a consultant firm to "find" a coach for what should be a fairly straightforward process seems way over the top
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
Of course he has no idea how to pick a coach, he's lawyer by trade, not a football technical director. The FFA technical director, Eric Abrams, should have the biggest say on the next national team coach, In fact, it's part his job to select all the national team coaches for the various age groups to ensure the underlying philosophy of how our teams play is used in a consistent way, I have no problem with an advisory body, however, the chair such body should be our technical director (I would expect that he's on this body even though he's not explicitly mentioned in this article).
shirtpants
Roar Guru
Of course he has no idea. He wasn't put in his position for his international football wisdom
shirtpants
Roar Guru
Hiddink has done absolutely nothing worthy of late. I wish people would forget about him.
pete4
Guest
Got to agree Gallop organizing an ex-player advisory panel as well as consulting $ firm to find a coach makes him look like he has no idea
j,binnie
Guest
This article has a "hidden" message that almost demands some investigation into the men who are running our code. It would appear they need the combined knowledge of former players,serving staff members in player preparation, and "international experts" , (what the hell does that mean?) before they can name a "leader" for our national team. What does that say about the football knowledge,never mind confidence in their own ability,of those working in the ivory towers?. jb.
j,binnie
Guest
John - Sir Alex has already "tasted " international football with all its ramifications, and he made no secret of the fact that he was more than happy to relinquish the job when the opportunity arose. In all his successful years at United he was never again to be tempted to take the job again. Wonder why? jb
Kangajets
Guest
Sir Alec is the man needed .
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
Van Marwijk has proven that his teams play boring, defensive football like Pim VB
pete4
Guest
Van Marwijk or Hiddink are proven options IMO
John
Guest
Get Alex Ferguson - turn every football code on its ear. BOOM! There I said it
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
Bielsa would be sweet but I don't know whether he speaks English and pretty sure he's pretty busy coaching Lille unitl the end of the season