Major League Arnie? Socceroos coach may head abroad if contract not renewed

Graham Arnold has thrown his hat in the ring for a coaching job in Major League Soccer as he contemplates his career options if his contract with the Socceroos isn’t renewed after the World Cup.

Arnold’s 4.5-year deal with Football Australia ends with the team’s last kick of the ball in Qatar, and while he is eager to stay on if wanted, the federation is yet to discuss his future with him and his representatives.

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold’s future beyond the World Cup in Qatar is uncertain.Credit: Getty

If FA decides the time is right for a new coach of the Socceroos, Arnold will probably look abroad, with the aim of either emulating the success of Ange Postecoglou and Kevin Muscat at club level, or even taking charge of another national team.

“I haven’t decided anything,” Arnold told the Herald and The Age. ”I’ll be honest - after the World Cup, I’m going to have a bit of a break for the first time in 4.5 years. I don’t have to think about anything. My future is in my own hands ... I can decide what I want to do.

“People have said to me, ‘How do you feel? Do you feel unwanted because the organisation haven’t come to you and said, Arnie, we want you to stay?’ I don’t feel that way. At the end of the day, it is what it is. Contract’s over, and I then have a choice for once. You’re not getting tapped on the shoulder.”

Arnold, 59, a two-time A-League championship winner with Sydney FC and the Central Coast Mariners, has unfinished business overseas. His one and only job outside Australian football ended in ignominious circumstances when, in 2014, he was sacked as coach of J.League side Vegalta Sendai after eight winless games in charge.

Since then, Postecoglou has won trophies in Japan with Yokohama F. Marinos and in Scotland with Celtic, while Muscat - who succeeded Postecoglou at Yokohama last year - is on track to also claim the J.League title this weekend if his side avoids defeat in their final match of the season against Vissel Kobe.

Sources familiar with Arnold’s thinking said he had been encouraged to apply for several jobs recently, including by one intermediary working on behalf of a Major League Soccer club, as well as another national team position, and a club gig in Asia.

There are four clubs in MLS searching for new head coaches: Columbus Crew, New York City FC, Houston Dynamo and San Jose Earthquakes.

MLS is fast becoming one of the most highly regarded leagues in the world outside of Europe. It will grow to 29 teams next year, and is seen as much as an exporter of talented young players as it is a final payday for big-name foreign stars before they retire. Arnold volunteered himself as an avid watcher, but said any job he takes would need to be the right fit for him off the field.

Major League Soccer in the US is regarded these days as one of the world’s best leagues outside of Europe.Credit: Getty

“I love watching the MLS,” Arnold said. “It’s great to see what Ange is doing, and Musky’s doing. But I’m the type of person that needs a life, as well as football - I’m not one to sit at home and stay in and just be obsessed with football. I like to go out and have a beer and catch up with mates and all that stuff, so it has to be not only on the coaching side, there has to be a [lifestyle component], where to live, as well.

“It can be one of two or three different ways. One is obviously, stay and help, with all the knowledge I’ve got of Australian football and the kids, to help with that. And the other one is go back to clubland overseas, or go to another nation and work with another nation. But that decision will come after the World Cup.”

Arnold departs on Friday for Doha, and will reveal his 26-man squad for the World Cup on Tuesday. Football Australia was approached for comment.

Maligned by some for his tactical conservatism, Arnold was close to being fired as Socceroos coach as Football Australia’s board when the national team failed to secure direct qualification for the World Cup.

Instead, he retained his job and steered them to play-off wins in June over the UAE and Peru - making the most daring call of his career in the latter match when he sent in Andrew Redmayne as goalkeeper for the decisive penalty shootout at the expense of skipper Maty Ryan.

“The passion I have for Australian football is something ... I can’t just sit still and do nothing,” Arnold said. “I’m out watching kids, I drove down to watch the under-20s talent ID camp. If I did consider staying, or if they did want me to stay, part of what I’d like to do is not just coach the Socceroos but also oversee the junior men’s national teams - go and watch the camps, watch them play, help [the coaches] and help the kids. That would be because I can’t sit at home.”

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