Gary van Egmond has revealed the reasons behind his decision to turn down the top job at Sydney FC and remain in the Hunter.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets head coach Gary van Egmond has revealed the reasons behind his decision to turn down the top job at Sydney FC and remain in the Hunter.
Van Egmond is in his second stint as head coach of Newcastle, having previously been in charge of the Club between 2006 and 2009.
The 47-year-old said circumstances at the Club had changed dramatically since he was last at the Jets and the Club now has extremely bright prospects for the future.
“I left last time because I just didn-t see any light at the end of the tunnel,” van Egmond explained.
“That last year really woke me up from the point of view that the whole team had really been dismantled. We could-ve kept certain players, but we didn-t keep certain players.
“I sort of woke up to the fact that we weren-t going to be sustainable and you weren-t going to be able to build anything.
“It-s completely different (this time around) with the Hunter Sports Group. We-re in a position where we definitely have a real vision and philosophy for this Club.
“At this moment, I-m in the position of being the head coach here, but we-ve spoken about succession plans with the likes of Craig Deans coming in and myself moving into a technical director role with the Emerging Jets program that-s coming in.
“There-s not set time on that, you have to ensure things are in place before you start to look at it, but I really want to be a part of it and it-s something that really, really interests me.”
Van Egmond said he considers himself to be a Novocastrian having spent more than a decade living in Newcastle.
“I-ve been here now 11 years, my wife is very settled, my kids are very settled and we-ve got good friends and family within the area,” he said.
“Money isn-t everything. We-re extremely happy here and I-m extremely happy working for the Hunter Sports Group and developing this football Club into the best football Club it can most possibly be.
“Right here and now, being in your home town, being able to coach your team in the A-League, getting that vision and philosophy into your A-League team, developing that into your youth team and developing that into your Emerging Jets program – I think that is a really, really sought after position from my point of view.”
