A-League: Grant Brebner appointed Melbourne Victory head coach
John Aloisi had been favoured, but interim boss Grant Brebner has won the battle for the Melbourne Victory coaching job. And Victory’s chairman insists the inexperience coach is the right man to take the reigns.
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MELBOURNE Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro insists inexperienced coach Grant Brebner is the right man for the tough job of lifting the former A-League heavyweights out of the doldrums.
The Victory announced on Monday that Brebner, whose spell as the club’s interim coach included four losses from five matches, had won the battle for the head coach role.
Brebner, who made 135 appearances in all competitions for the Victory between 2006 and 2012, edged out favourite John Aloisi for the job.
“Grant has been part of our plans to be head coach of this club at some point,” Di Pietro said.
“Clearly he’s got a lot more to learn. He knows that. We’ll provide the support, but he is the right person for the job.
“He’s ready, he wants to take it on, and we’re looking forward to it with excitement.”
Four-time A-League champions, the Victory have just completed a horror A-League season, finishing second last.
Three coaches - Marco Kurz, Carlos Salvachua and Brebner - were at the helm at different stages of a campaign that yielded just six wins from 26 games.
“We have gone to Grant because we believe in him,” Di Pietro said.
“He bleeds blue and he has got the maturity, he’s got the intellect (and) he’s got the expertise to grow this club.”
Brebner, 42, had said he wasn’t ready for the head coach position when he was appointed interim boss in June following the departure of Salvachua during the A-League’s COVID-19 enforced break.
“But during the process of becoming the interim head coach, I’m not going to lie, I loved every minute of it,” said Brebner, who accepted a two-year contract.
“Slowly but surely towards the end of the period, I started to believe I could be right man to get this club back to where it belongs.
“I was already in the building. I was working with players that were responding to what I was asking from them.
“I know the intricacies of this football club. Once we got towards the end of the season, I said to the chairman that I’d like to be considered and here we are today.”
Di Pietro would not going into specifics when asked why Brebner was appointed of Aloisi, who has coached Melbourne Heart and Brisbane Roar in the A-League, and had also been previously a part of the Victory’s football department.
“I wouldn’t like to mention any of the other candidates’ names,” Di Pietro said.
“We’ve got the best candidates with all the considerations that we’ve taken into account to take our club forward.”
Apart from Aloisi, ex-Green Gully coach Arthur Papas, current Wellington Phoenix boss Ufuk Talay and former Greek international Traianos Dellas had also been linked to the job.
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Originally published as A-League: Grant Brebner appointed Melbourne Victory head coach