After a 2015 NPL 1 season that saw a youthful Kingston City hover around promotion before agonisingly falling short of league honors, coach Nick Tolios has been reappointed for a fourth season, with assistant Bill Theodoropoulos also joining him for a second term.
The 34-year-old ex NSL defender with South Melbourne has shown experience beyond his years in guiding his fledglings through the state leagues before the implementation of the NPL, gaining respectable positions in the competition’s second division and this season embarking on an FFA Cup run that ended just short of the national stage following defeat to semi-finalists Hume City.
Tolios had a chat to the Corner Flag about his time at the club and ambitions for the future.
Congratulations on the extension of your stay at Kingston City. Was it an easy decision to renew terms with the club?
This was a very important decision for me and the club. We have had 3 strong years getting the club back to being a club that provides youngsters an opportunity to progress into the first team. So the decision for me was simple. I wanted to continue the hard work we all have put in at the club and hope to build on the first 3 years. This is a club I grew up playing for, and coaching them in the NPL setup is an honour I don’t take lightly.
How are pre-season plans shaping up? Ryan Love is one acquisition who has come in and will add plenty of experience to your defence.
Pre-season started about 3 weeks after we finished the season. We pinpointed and targeted players we believe would bring experience to the team as well as strengthen our squad. It’s clear that we have struggled defensively the last two seasons, conceding close to 100 goals. We have had a fairly young backline and have struggled with experience in this department. With Ryan coming across we believe that his experience and no nonsense defending will impact and rub off on our young defenders we already have at the club.
Overall, Kingston has played some attractive football over the last two seasons but has often found consistency a problem, is that an area you’re looking to improve on?
One thing that Billy Theodoropoulos (assistant coach) and I will never stop is encouraging players to express themselves on the field and I think that flowed into the kind of football we played at times. The problem that most young clubs face is the consistency on a week to week basis. If we are to succeed next year then bridging that gap between our very good performances and our very bad ones needs to get closer. I believe retaining the majority of our squad will only help us close the gap by players understanding our game plan as well as each other.
Despite James Karvelis departing, is the club confident it can retain other players like Sean McIlroy, Stelios Konstandinidis and others ahead of next season?
One thing that will be hard to do is retain our young players and some of our stand out performers from last year. During the season we had a few players attract attention from NPL clubs because the team was playing well. Sean Mcllroy had a fantastic year and he would be on most of the NPL teams’ radars. We are trying to hold on to him because he is a great character to have around the club as well as a talented footballer.
Stelios has committed to the club for next year and hopes to pick up from where he left off before he went on an eight week holiday. As for James Karvelis, he has decided to try his luck at Port Melbourne. They have been after James for 2 years and I think this is the right time for him to test himself up a division. We at the club wish him all the best for next year.
Looking at the bigger picture, what would you say are the long-term plans for a club like Kingston?
Our long-term plans are to obviously get into the NPL while developing players for the first team. The club has been working really hard to make our juniors a powerhouse like it used to be when I started at the club. We have already had massive numbers to all our junior trials for all age groups in October.
The club has invested a lot of time and money to ensure we bring in talented junior coaches while retaining some of our coaches from last year like Saleem Nasser. Saleem took his under 12 side to the Quarter finals of the Melbourne City FC Cup. He has also played a huge role in producing some players who had first team experience last year in the first team like Luke Morrey at the age of 16.
Finally, given you’re a relatively young coach in the league, how has your time at the club furthered your coaching development?
Not many clubs would have taken the punt appointing a young coach. Most clubs these days are driven by immediate success. When I took the role, both the club through Con Nitsikas and Jim Lambrou had full confidence in me. We had the same goal in mind and that was to get the club’s name back in the top divisions while building on our junior set up. And what better way to do that than having a young coach with the hunger to learn and develop the club at the same time.
Last year with the inclusion of Billy Theodoropoulos by my side I think I grew as a coach both with the way I conducted myself on and of the pitch. He has coached at the highest level in Victoria (taking Oakleigh to the VPL Final) and his experience really complemented my coaching style. He made me understand the importance of being organised for training sessions and on game days. Billy has also decided to stay on with me next year and we both feel the club is in a great position to challenge for the title next year.