Shane Smeltz feeling at home & keen for NPL success in fairytale return to Gold Coast United

HE was born in Germany, spent time at four A-League clubs and became one of New Zealand’s greatest football exports. But the Gold Coast has always been home for Shane Smeltz, who is making no secret of his desire for immediate NPL success.

HE was born in Germany, spent time at four A-League clubs and became one of New Zealand’s greatest football exports.

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But the Gold Coast has always been home for Shane Smeltz, who is making no secret of his desire for immediate NPL success in his fairytale return to the Glitter Strip.

Gold Coast United pulled off one of the biggest recruitment coups of the NPL off-season on Tuesday with the signing of the 38-year-old striker, who called time on his 18-season professional career in early 2018.

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A two time A-League Golden Boot winner and Johnny Warren Medal recipient, Smeltz scored 24 goals in 58 international appearances for New Zealand, highlighted by an early opener in their famous 1-1 draw with Italy at the 2010 World Cup.

Second on the A-League’s all-time goalscoring list with 92, he had been working as head coach of Sydney FC’s under-20s and as NPL assistant coach but has agreed to continue his football journey with United this year.

Shane Smeltz has signed with Gold Coast United for the 2020 NPL Queensland season.

Having spent majority of his childhood years on the Coast, attended school at Palm Beach Currumbin and played two seasons for the Gold Coast United A-League franchise, Smeltz said returning to the city was a perfect fit.

“At heart I’m a Gold Coast boy. I grew up here, I played a lot of my youth football here,” Smeltz, who played junior football for Nerang, Broadbeach United, Surfers Paradise, Palm Beach and Runaway Bay, said.

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“I’ve been coaching at Sydney FC for the last few years and an opportunity came up for myself and the family outside of coaching, which has brought us back to the Gold Coast. That’s allowed me the time and opportunity to pull the boots on again.

Smeltz playing for Sydney in 2015. Picture: Ashley Feder/Getty Images

“I’ve always looked after myself, I pride myself on that. It’s something I’ve done all my career. I pride myself on setting and achieving certain standards and that’s served me well.

“This season for me I’d like to win the league. It’s that simple. I always want success, I’m a competitive person.”

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Smeltz’s first stint at United was intertwined with time at A-League rivals Wellington, Perth and Sydney FC, while he also played in England, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia.

During that time, he was a regular teammates of now-United coach Kristian Rees and said he was keen to reunite with the 40-year-old, who guided the side to seventh place in last season’s NPL.

“Linking up again with Reesy … is really nice. I played with him at three different clubs,” Smeltz said.

“I first played with him at Adelaide City in the NSL … and I was at Wellington and Reesy came for a stint there. Then we both signed here together at Gold Coast, the first year.

“When I think back obviously there’s some fantastic memories here at the club, at Gold Coast United, so yeah it’s a great little story in itself.”

Smeltz is a likely inclusion in the United squad to take on Western Pride at 7pm on Sunday in the first of three games as part of Lions FC’s annual pre-season tournament at Richlands.