Harry Kewell hints he is open to coming back to Australia
Harry Kewell says he is “happy” in his new role on the sidelines in England but hasn’t ruled out a return to Australia.
Football
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Harry Kewell says he’s “loving” the challenge of managing Oldham Athletic AFC as the former Sydney star cements his family life in the north of England.
The star, who grew up in Smithfield, western Sydney, says that watching his players execute his plans was one of the “best feelings in the world.”
The Socceroos legend played in front of more than 100,000 fans in World Cup matches, wore Liverpool’s famous strip, and was a marquee player in the A-League.
His right-foot equaliser against Croatia in the 2006 World Cup, which pushed Australia into the round of 16 for the first time, remains one of the greatest moments in Australian sport.
But he’s swapped the glamour of international football and the Premier League for the fourth division of English soccer.
“I love the league that I’m in. I think it’s a great league to be in because you can actually see progression, you can actually see a difference,” Kewell said.
“You want to be able to bring something different to the league and hopefully that’s what we can achieve this year.”
The father of four, 42, who has a home in the footballer’s paradise of Cheshire, near Manchester, is no stranger to the north of England.
His wife Sheree Murphy, 45, who starred in Neighbours and was a regular on British soaps Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, moved back there to care for her mother who was battling cancer while he was playing in Australia.
She also starred in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, one of the UK’s biggest shows in 2005, and MasterChef.
Murphy remains friends with Alex Gerrard, wife of Liverpool legend Steven, and Christine Lampard, who is married to Chelsea manager Frank.
But she knocked back a chance to appear on The Real Housewives of Cheshire, a reality show based on the lives of footballers wives in the UK, reportedly because Kewell could not stand the program.
She still presents a weekly radio show on Hits Radio on Sunday mornings, following in the footsteps of fellow Neighbours alumni Jason Donovan, who has a show on Heart radio.
The couple have four children Taylor, 19, Ruby, 17, Matilda, 12, and Dolly, 8, and went on a family holiday to Las Vegas last year.
They remain a tight knit unit.
Kewell moved back to the UK after he retired from the A-League in 2014, where he was captain of Melbourne Heart, which then became Melbourne City.
He seems settled now in England.
When asked if he would ever return to Australia, Kewell laughed: “It depends if someone ever talks to you. I think that’s the million dollar question, everyone always talks about me coming back there and all that but nothing has ever been said.
“I love it over here.”
But off the pitch, Kewell’s links to Australia remain strong.
He is an ambassador for the World Wide Fund for nature, campaigning to help Australian animals who survived Australia’s bushfires earlier this year.
In between his football duties he has a hit at The Mere Golf Club, playing a strong left-handed game even in England’s dreary wet weather.
His old clubs Liverpool and Leeds United have had brilliant years.
The Reds won the Premier League and Leeds won promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time since Kewell left 16 years ago.
After stints managing Watford, Crawley Town and Notts County, Kewell, 42, has been reunited with his former agent Abdallah Lemsagam who owns Oldham Athletics.
Lemsagam has been ruthless at the club, which is based on the outskirts of Manchester.
There have been eight managers – six on permanent deals – since he took over in 2018.
Kewell, who has signed a one-year deal, was confident in his side, who were sitting 19th on the table after three wins from 11 games this season.
The Australian missed three of those games after he was struck down with COVID-19, but has made a full recovery and was able to isolate in time to avoid spreading it among the team.
He spoke to News Corp Australia on the sidelines of Oldham’s FA Cup tie against tier 5 team Richmond and Hampton Borough.
Kewell’s men delivered 3-2, with some flashy breakaway play in the first half, followed by some magic from Daniel Lucas Rowe in the second half where his Hampton opponents literally fell over before his shot on goal.
The former Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City player’s competitive streak was on show in the tie at Beveree Stadium, which holds only 3000 fans but was restricted to officials only because of coronavirus restrictions.
His Australian accent stood out as he shouted instructions from the sidelines, demanding his team maintain its shape.
Wearing white trainers, he paced along the touchline of the suburban ground in London’s south west, just a few hundred metres from the Thames River.
Kewell said he was driven by wanting the best from his players and himself.
“Winning, getting a team to understand my ideas and executing them it’s one of the best feelings in the world,” he said.
“For me to be out there and competing with the other managers, competing with my team against an opposition who have different ideas and trying to outplay them and out think them in certain ways, (that’s) everything that drives me.”
Kewell was optimistic, but did not put a figure on where he expected his group to be at the end of the season.
“We’re still young, like literally young, I think my last group was only 22 years and seven months old in average age, so we are young, we’re learning,” he said.
“It’s a group that I think has potential but we have to do the basic things everyday, work hard, track runners, pick up the second balls and then the ability that they have will shine.”
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