Kevin Muscat joins the big leagues as coach of Belgium’s St Truiden

Kevin Muscat is getting back to doing what he loves most, with his appointment as head coach of Belgian League side St Truiden.

A year after he left Melbourne Victory, Kevin Muscat is taking the reins at Belgian League side St Truiden.

It’s 9am on a Belgian summer’s morning and Kevin Muscat’s arms are whirling as he demonstrates a crucial tactical manoeuvre, with everything hinging on the result.

Except for once it’s not football that the former Melbourne Victory coach is explaining on this Zoom call with The Weekend Australian, but the COVID-19 test he underwent the day before – the final step before he formally takes the reins as head coach of Belgian League side St Truiden as of Friday evening (AEST).

Tony Popovic had the briefest of stints in Turkey before his club imploded, and Ange Postecoglou won the Japanese League last year, but for an Australian coach this is uncharted territory in a league that UEFA ranks as the eighth strongest in Europe.

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From Monday, Muscat can at last take a training session at his new club, having been forced to wait for six months from his initial appointment thanks to European football’s refusal to acknowledge his Asian version of the Pro-Licence coaching qualification.

Given a technical role advising the club’s interim head coach in the meantime, finally – a year after he left Victory – Muscat can get back to doing what he loves best: coaching players and demanding of them a certain style of play and an absolute commitment to the cause.

“It’s been a funny old time, ever since we shook hands and negotiated a deal, and then suddenly they were telling me I couldn’t sit on the bench,” Muscat said.

“Then I was rushing to get on to a Pro-Licence course in Wales, because once you’ve started it that’s fine, but then UEFA said I couldn’t because I hadn’t done their A Licence (the level below).”

Even an apparent breakthrough involving Muscat sitting an interview to earn UEFA recognition was threatened by Belgium’s FA declining to follow suit – but finally every demand was satisfied.

“At times it felt like it was going to end up in the too-hard basket and I’m really grateful to the club for sticking with it and sticking with me,” Muscat said.

“The one thing it did give me was the chance to sit back and analyse the whole club. I sat with the coaches, talking them through how we want to play, reviewing every game, but I wasn’t on the pitch … as you can imagine I’m itching to get out there.”

Belgium’s Pro League has been declared over for this season so there will be no competitive football until the new campaign starts in August, but Muscat wants to get moving.

By Monday his multinational squad at St Truiden should have returned from various corners of the globe where they have been in isolation with their families, and all will have been tested for COVID-19 before a return to training – just like their coaches.

“The doctor’s hand is miles from your face and it’s holding this really thin cotton bud and then suddenly his hand has come up close and it’s like this thing is crawling inside your head,” is how Muscat describes it – but it’s a tiny price to pay to confirm he isn’t one of Belgium’s near-60,000 cases of the coronavirus.

“When I was speaking to family in Australia there was far greater concern for me and where I was,” he said. “But it’s hard to say how bad it was because we literally didn’t leave the apartment and the grounds around it.

“The team had actually started (playing) quite well, and then in the middle of March training one day was suddenly shut down and the doctors sent us all home.

“For weeks we just walked in the parkland around where we live, just to exercise. Everything is freeing up now but you can still sense a reluctance from a lot of people to go out in public again.

“The funny thing though is that coaches often use the excuse of time, or of not having it – but time is the one thing we’ve had so much of.

“This industry is taxing, physically and mentally, but since leaving Victory I’ve had time to freshen up, mentally in particular, and to catch up with people. I’ve watched a lot of football.

“Now I want to get back into it. I even had to hit up (former Victory captain) Adrian Leijier at Adidas for a new pair of boots … it’s been a while after all.”

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH