Springvale White Eagles have commenced preparations for the 2016 NPL2 Season with the announcement of Boyan Mitkov and Gus Caminos as the senior and U20s managers respectively.
The appointment of the duo comes weeks after the resignation of Zed Mihajlovic following two challenging years in the NPL, where the club finished in the bottom half of the table both times, prompting the departing Mihajlovic to publicly question the direction of the club.
Mitkov comes to White Eagles Stadium following a stint as U20s manager of Dandenong Thunder, having returned to Australia at the start of 2015 after spending the last few years in Europe, and was immediately approached by the club upon his return to the country.
“I was actually approached by the White Eagles at the start of the season when arrived from overseas with the view to become the club’s technical director, but at that stage I wasn’t too certain of which direction to go in and subsequently took up the coaching role at the Thunder half-way through the season,” Mitkov said.
“Once the season came to an end, the club sat down with me again and decided that if Mihajlovic were to resign as expected, then for me to take over and this has in the meantime eventuated.”
Mitkov’s prior coaching experience primarily centres on youth football, including prolonged spell coaching several South Melbourne junior sides, where he nurtured the likes of Peter Skapetis, Stefan Zinni, Ajdin Hrustic and former White Eagles junior and current Bentleigh Greens defender Milos Ridesic.
Caminos on the other hand comes to the club after successfully guiding the Caulfield Cobras to promotion from State League 3 in 2015 and a memorable FFA Cup run, where the side sensationally knocked off the St Albans Saints in the early rounds before being defeated by Heidelberg United.
His previous experience includes being Chris Taylor’s assistant in Dandenong Thunder’s all-conquering 2012 side, as well as leading the South Melbourne U21s to league success in 2013 before taking charge of Malvern City’s senior side in 2014.
Caminos cited working with Mitkov and a renewed focus undertaken by the club as being the motivating factors behind his move to the White Eagles.
“One of the main reasons why I’m here is basically because of Boyan and the attitude that he and the club has towards giving opportunities to a younger crop of players, who often miss out in the results-driven business of many of the top clubs around the state,” Caminos said.
“We are both driven by the desire to make this club strong and powerful and our previous experiences working with high quality youngsters will help us prepare younger players for senior football.”
“We both have similar philosophies, similar understandings and a great respect for each other and thus am excited to be here.”
Both men stated their desire to restore the club’s reputation, which has in recent times suffered from underwhelming league performances, highlighting the development of talented young players as being integral to the revival.
“Gus and I are working towards getting well balanced teams out on the park in both the seniors and the 20s, with the former comprising of a mixture of senior players as well as youngsters”, Mitkov said.
“The club is well known for producing players and a lot of the young players we are targeting often miss out on exposure at a higher level due to a variety of circumstances, namely not being at the right club at the right time.”
“I think that we’re on the right track here as we’ve got people around this club now who are football minded, with the committee and coaching staff undergoing a transition, with all our coaches from now on having the respective qualifications.”
The pair also insist that Victoria’s second tier competition is the perfect breeding ground for younger players to establish themselves as senior footballers, instead of the top flight where clubs often prefer proven experienced players in favour of unproven youngsters looking to break into senior football.
“It’s a well-balanced environment to educate and develop younger players while producing results on the park in a competitive background,” Mitkov said.
Caminos added: “Through the support of experienced players and experienced coaches beside them to guide them and help them along there is no reason why youthful sides cannot be successful in NPL2, which is better suited to this than say the NPL or the state leagues beneath us.”