Scottish born and a decade-long veteran of the rough and tumble NSL, South Melbourne’s newly appointed Under 20’s coach Brian MacNichol has graduated from the school of footballing hard knocks, and enjoyed a professional career that’s nothing like what Australian football has today.
While players of the ilk of Aaron Mooy these days are held on a pedestal for their footballing talents, their working environment is set up for them to achieve success in every facet of their lives, from catered diets, to world class analysis and training facilities.
For 48-year-old MacNichol, his professional career involved working a job to make ends meet, and making four-hour round trips, all to foster his footballing ambitions.
Migrating to Australia with his parents at the age of four – father Brian going on to coach for over two decades in their sunny destination of Queensland – the midfielder began his career playing football for Rochdale Rovers, a club his brother Scott remains the current Technical Director of.
He took the opportunity to move south, signing with Brunswick Juventus as a 21-year-old, coached by Roberto Vieri (father of Italian legend and Australian-born Christian Vieri).
A two-year spell saw him then picked up by Heidelberg United to launch his professional career in the National Soccer League, playing for four years before taking up an opportunity to play overseas in Hong Kong, before returning back to Australia with the now defunct Collingwood Warriors.
His professional career was capped off at Gippsland Falcons, under the tutelage of former Socceroos boss Frank Arok, where he played with the likes of Eugene Galekovic, John Hutchinson and Archie Thompson.
But by playing in regional Victoria, he’d committed to an exhaustive travel schedule, which mixed with his day job and soccer commitments made for a frenetic and often testing lifestyle – something he believes is a far-cry from the professional environment of modern football.
MacNicol is hoping to instil a similar old-school mentality into the minds of South’s young brigade in order to help their progression into the South Melbourne senior line-up and beyond.
“I think that players these days have a lot more to play for than my days in the NSL. We’d work for a job,” MacNicol told.
“That’s what I try to explain to these guys is that the opportunity they’ve got now compared to when I played [is much better] – where you’d have to work all day and then travel two-hours (like I did at Gippsland Falcons) then get home at 10 o’clock at night.
“The professionalism they have in the A-League is second to none. They’ve got it lucky. I try to enforce that in them that the opportunity they have now, I wish I could have had it.”
MacNicol’s experience in the field of coaching began as his career wound up as he found himself back in the Victorian State Leagues with North Coburg, where he was also an assistant coach to Terry Kirkham.
His next move saw him brought to Berwick City by experienced Scotsman Ian Williamson, who was serving as their technical director at the time.
“One of our first team players Matthew Millar, I began coaching him at the age of 12,” MacNicol told of his experience at Berwick City.
“Ian Williamson brought me into the fold, and I started there. Southern Bluetongues were next, where I won the title twice with the under 13’s and under 17’s [in a three year spell].”
He first crossed paths in a professional sense with South Melbourne senior boss Chris Taylor at Dandenong Thunder, where he was appointed their senior assistant coach under his tutelage.
There, he quickly forged a strong relationship with the Leicester-born manager, someone he holds in the highest of regards.
“I’ve worked under CT as an assistant and he’s a very successful coach. His runs are on the board,” MacNicol said.
“He’s won Championships with numerous clubs and with South Melbourne.”
“This club in its NSL days was the biggest club in Australia – it was the pinnacle. Everyone wanted to play for South Melbourne, I would have loved to,” he added.
“It’s still a massive club with a lot of people here I have respect for. Facility wise, we’re second to none and there’s not much difference between here and the A-League in regards to being at this club.”
The opportunity to work with South Melbourne and most importantly Taylor once more was an opportunity MacNicol couldn’t turn down, swiftly replacing the hole left by the outgoing Sasa Kolman, who departed for the Segunda Division in Spain with Deportivo Alaves.
He’s keen on working in close vicinity with the first team in order to best help his fledglings earn their senior stripes, and has admitted he’ll give younger boys the chance to progress through the 20’s and gain on-field experience.
“The pathway for these guys is to come through the under 20’s and I think we had five or six 16-year-old’s playing [on Sunday] which for me and the club is great.
“These guys will hopefully be the stepping stones from the 20’s going into the first team. CT is big on youth and he likes to promote youth and I think that’s the way.
“No disrespect to Melbourne City but they’re not promoting their youth players. Melbourne Victory for me is the other way, they’re promoting youth and they’ve got players playing, not more experience. But these days it’s all about the results and I understand it that way as well.”
Under his watch, the 20’s this year promise to be a hard-working, tight-knit unit, with a touch of Scottish brunt and a never-say-die desire fuelled by their collective love for the game.