Milicic promises to keep eye on the ball for Matildas after taking on new A-League club

Matildas coach Ante Milicic has signed a three-year deal to manage new A-League club Macarthur FC.

Ante Milicic at the launch of new A-League club Macarthur FC in Campbelltown. Picture: AAP

Ante Milicic has promised senior Australian players, notably captain Sam Kerr, that his focus “will be 100 per cent on the Matildas” after he was yesterday named the inaugural coach of new A-League club Macarthur FC.

Milicic’s appointment came just 24 hours after naming the 23-player squad for the World Cup next month and a week after signing an extended one-year deal with the Matildas that will cover the Olympic Games campaign. Macarthur FC will not enter the A-League until the 2020-21 season but Milicic will establish the club’s playing roster over the next 18 months.

The coach of the Matildas said there would be no issues from an organisational point of view.

“Not really. When I sat down and went through it, I said if I have an organised and clear vision it can work,” he said. “At the end of the day I am not missing any official games for either team.

“I spoke to the girls, to the senior players anyway, and they are fully supportive and understanding. I spoke to Sam Kerr and they have my 100 per cent commitment. There is no way I would have taken either role unless I was comfortable and confident I can give everything … and I will.”

Milicic said it was too early to start talking about players he would like to sign but admitted former Socceroo captain Mile Jedinak loomed large as a possibility. Jedinak is currently involved with Aston Villa in the English Championship playoffs.

“That has to be a conversation but it is up to Mile. Mile would be a great acquisition for any club. I have a very good relationship with him. That call will be made,” Milicic added. “But really it is way too early to start throwing names around.”

Milicic only put pen to paper at 11.03 yesterday morning after negotiations had been on and off over the past couple of months.

His signing was the exclamation mark on a red-letter day for the club, which also officially unveiled its name, logo and colours (black, white and ochre) at a launch in Campbelltown in front of 600 guests.

In luring the 45-year-old Milicic, Macarthur FC have signed a talented coach who has long been earmarked for bigger and better things. His opportunity comes eight years after many thought he should have had the senior role at Melbourne City.

Having coached the youth team at Heart in 2010, he was also assistant to first team coach John van ‘t Schip and was strongly touted as his replacement when the Dutchman left in 2012. But the job went to John Aloisi instead and Milicic subsequently joined his brother-in-law Tony Popovic when Western Sydney Wanderers were formed that same year.

Milicic has no regrets about what happened, saying it was meant to be and that everything since had been a matter of timing.

“I was never one to jump straight into something as I always look at things in isolation,” Milicic said when asked if he was disappointed the opportunity to coach in the A-League hadn’t come sooner.

“I don’t look back. I never tried to force these kind of things, you can’t. The timing (of the Macarthur job) was right when it was presented to me and when I had time to think about it and weigh up the options it made sense.”

The new club’s logo includes a bull which the club says is “demonstrative of the club’s physical power as well as a tilt to history when a runaway herd of cattle was discovered in the region in 1795”, and three stars of the Southern Cross to symbolise football’s links with the grassroots football community, the national premier league and the A-League.

The black and white colours are “representative of the culturally and linguistically diverse people who live in the region” while ochre is “included to represent one of the traditional colours for the local Dharawal Aboriginal people on whose land the Macarthur region sits”.