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Milicic gone, two new assistants needed


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HOME is not where the Heart is for Ante Milicic.

It's back in western Sydney alongside his close friend and the A-League's newest coach Tony Popovic. Milicic, the Melbourne Heart's highly rated assistant, has turned his back on a two-year contract to join Popovic at the new western Sydney outfit.

It is understood the 38-year-old has accepted a four-year deal by the A-League's newest franchise, where he will take up the assistant coach's role.

Milicic has become one of the most sought-after coaches in the A-League with Brisbane Roar also offering him a job.

He was offered a five-year contract by Roar's new owners the Bakrie Group to work alongside Ange Postecoglou's replacement Rado Vidosic.

However, the lure of returning to Sydney and joining forces with the highly rated Popovic proved too great for the ambitious coach.

The pair broke into senior football with NSL side Sydney United together and have retained a close bond as their careers took them to Europe before returning home.

Milicic was believed to have been bitterly disappointed to have lost out to John Aloisi for the Melbourne Heart senior post, having been groomed by Heart as a senior coach in waiting.

Popovic has returned to Sydney after he and former Crystal Palace teammate Dougie Freedman masterminded an extraordinary turnaround during the last 16 months at their former club.

Threatened with relegation to League One when then joined, they staved off relegation in their debut season before securing a mid-table finish and a Carling Cup semi-final run which included a quarter-final victory over Manchester United.

Heart will now commence their search for a new assistant and former Socceroos defender Hayden Foxe, who is doing his UEFA coaching badges with Aloisi, could be in the mix.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/soccer/antes-heart-is-back-in-sydney/story-e6frey4r-1226362860102

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thoughts on con boutsianis to have a role at the club?

well if things go wrong he can drive the getaway car:)

This is a high-risk year for the club: New coach, now 2 new assistant coaches, half the playing roster to be recruited. How about sharing Cruyff as a mentor with JvS?

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well if things go wrong he can drive the getaway car:)

This is a high-risk year for the club: New coach, now 2 new assistant coaches, half the playing roster to be recruited. How about sharing Cruyff as a mentor with JvS?

That was not Boutsi's fault - He got caught up with the wrong crowd...

Bring Boutsi Home 2012!

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Bolton has already expressed his disinterest in coaching, though it was some time ago, who knows maybe he'll change his mind.

Not sure what the floor thinks but I wouldn't mind seeing if Blieberg could be talked into Assisting.. He does well with the youngsters, although I think he can have a bit of tunnel vision sometimes. Could bring a fair chunk of experience and his own scouting connections. That and he loves the media, which would be good fun to watch!

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Bolton to have some coaching capacity perhaps? Not sure about being Playing Assistant Coach, but might be something earmarked to make him sign for another year.

Don't like that idea at all. IMO we need to make Bolton's decision for him if he won't make it himself. We went to the trouble and expense of taking Vedran Janjetkovic to Hawaii, he seemed to go fairly well, why not sign him as our reserve keeper and be done with it?

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boutsianis will make behich into the best crosser in the league. we need someone like him as a set piece coach to just teach some of these young guys how to strike a ball. the quality of crosses and shooting in the a-league is very average, and if we can improve the quality of these simple things in our game, we'll be scoring many more goals and creating many more chances.

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Never mind, must've missed that article.

Definitely target him. I believe he was behind Adelaide's tactics and successful run in Asia, not Vidmar.

So the tactics of using 6ft 7 strikers against 5ft 3 defenders like in Asia and then parking the bus might work in the ACL but not in the A-League, as has been proven by their dour play under Vidmar, which led to them winning no titles in Australia.

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So the tactics of using 6ft 7 strikers against 5ft 3 defenders like in Asia and then parking the bus might work in the ACL but not in the A-League, as has been proven by their dour play under Vidmar, which led to them winning no titles in Australia.

They lost their two finals to the Kings of Dour...

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Suck it Milicic you dog

IMO this just looks sad and dumb on MH’s part.

Why do we want a guy that is leaving us for an opponent to hang around???

I hope it’s purely not because we cannot afford someone to fill in until we have somebody more permanent.

As there is not point having a guy who allegiances lie elsewhere lurking around our training sessions.

Edited by cadete
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