New Gold Coast Knights boss Adem Poric confident of immediate NPL success in 2019

NEW Gold Coast Knights chief executive Adem Poric is adamant the club can become an instant NPL powerhouse in its debut campaign next season.

NEW Gold Coast Knights chief executive Adem Poric is adamant the club can become an instant NPL powerhouse in its debut campaign next season.

Fresh off announcing the signing of five A Licence coaches in Grae Piddick, Dean Gregory, Keith Stevens, Erika Phan Dao and Sean Lane, the Knights are poised to make some major player signings in the coming days.

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Former Sheffield Wednesday English Premier League star Poric, who has stepped into the newly-created chief executive role and will work closely with president Adrian Puljich, said it all pointed to a season of success in 2019.

“We want to make a statement, we haven’t entered NPL just to make up numbers,” the English-born 45-year-old said.

New Gold Coast Knights chief executive Adem Poric. Picture: Mike Batterham

“Anyone that knows Adrian knows that he’s a winner, anyone that knows me knows the same. Anyone who knows these (coaches) that work inside our system, they’re all winners.

“Everyone here has had a professional football career or done stuff that’s very big in the game so it’s experience galore in there. A lot of people will be envious of that coaching line-up, that’s for sure.

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“They said it couldn’t be done and I managed to do it in our first year. I like the role (as CEO). Everyone says you can’t do it, that sort of spurs me on to say that I can. We’re all football people. We’re not here to participate, we’re here to win.”

The Knights will enter the NPL on the back of the Gold Coast Premier League title double, with trials for the 2019 season already underway.