Hard work ahead for Suns

THERE’S BEEN A FLURRY OF EXCITEMENT, BUT WE KNOW WE’VE GOT A LOT OF HARD WORK TO COME OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. — GEOFF DOBSON

February 11 2014

Shepparton News

With the inaugural National Premier League Victoria set to kick off within the next six weeks, the Goulburn Valley Suns Football Club board is kicking into overdrive with eight teams to field.

While the majority of the 30 clubs that will compete in the new competition this year are already established clubs, the Suns are in the somewhat unique position of having to source a technical director, as well as senior and junior coaches in a very short timeframe.

The new club’s chairman, former City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Geoff Dobson, did not shy away from the fact the road ahead was a tough one.

‘‘We’ve got to remember we were only told on Friday and there’s been a flurry of excitement, but we know we’ve got a lot of hard work to come over the next few weeks,’’ Dobson said. ‘‘We have been talking to a potential senior coach and we will be advertising for the best possible (junior) coaches . . . but I’m leaving that to the technical people.’’

The appointment of a technical director is the number-one priority, and Dobson confirmed talks were ongoing with ex-West Bromwich Albion academy coach Melvyn Wilkes, who has moved to Australia.

According to Football Federation Victoria’s guidelines, the technical director will be, ‘‘the main point of call to liaise with the (Football Federation Australia) and state technical director and ensure the national curriculum is being rolled out at the club,’’ and Dobson said they will also be directly involved in the player trial and coach appointment processes.

Dates for player trials have yet to be decided upon, as is the case in Bendigo following the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League’s successful bid, however the board met last night to organise working parties to sort out a number of loose ends.

‘‘It’s our second meeting in 10 days, and now that we know where we are we can start appointing various working parties to process all the objectives and what has to be done,’’ Dobson said.

Dobson said he had been impressed with the co-operation shown between the club’s stakeholders, such as the Goulburn Valley North East Football Association, Shepparton Junior Soccer Association and the Greater Shepparton City Council, which gives him confidence the club will be ready for kick-off when the time comes.

Dobson said the club had looked at jersey designs, which were predominantly yellow , and said more details on the fledgling club would be released on Thursday.