Image: Northcote City
The team at TCF were split on a sole Manager of the Month for NPL2 in April, with Zeljko Kuzman and James Coutts splitting the points for various reasons. It was a difficult month overall to make a pick, with Melbourne Victory and Dandenong Thunder enjoying unbeaten runs, and Ballarat also dropped just the one game in a resurgent month, which made the decision all the more difficult to make.
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Zeljko Kuzman (Northcote City)
Northcote City were victims of a trend in 21st century Victorian football where the state champion ends up relegated within three years. Think Altona Magic, Preston Lions, Dandenong Thunder. The semi-professional nature of the league means such peaks and troughs relative to resources available aren’t that uncommon.
Historically in the NPL era it’s been difficult to bounce back from relegation. Player and staff turnover means there’s been a period of adjustment to life in the second tier and it’s not always yielded a full recovery. North Geelong have been the only team to bounce back up, with Dandenong Thunder coming agonisingly close before dropping off late last year.
Zeljko Kuzman was tasked with a re-build, with coach and club having a point to prove in 2017 after a less-than-ideal 2016 for both. Kuzman’s exit from St Albans came mid-season amid “irreconcilable differences” with club hierarchy.
But his relationship with numerous players from St Albans and Richmond allowed him to recruit strongly at Northcote, with familiar names making up the squad – Josh Knight, Peter Sawan and Alec Goodwin – alongside an excellent visa acquisition in Welshman Matt Whatley and the goalkeeping coup of ex-A-League man Griffin McMaster.
As documented in a TCF article last month, Kuzman’s focus has been about high standards and competition within the squad, which has paid dividends not just in April but throughout the year as City sit pretty on top of the West table, and are still alive in the FFA Cup having knocked out two top-tier clubs along the way.
“We’re fussy about standards and comfort is a standard killer – something we don’t want to get into. We don’t think about the end prize, we think about standards that we set. Competition is rife,” he told TCF last month.
“There is the belief we can compete against any team in the competition but it’s a long season and anything can happen. We’re happy with our start. Momentum is important and we have built some momentum and the belief and confidence is there.”
April proved to be an unbeaten month, with the only draw coming against second-placed West outfit Moreland Zebras. The biggest scalp was undoubtedly East leader Dandenong City, claiming a huge 2-0 win at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex.
There were also more regulation victories against Werribee City and Eastern Lions, alongside a big effort against Murray United, who have been the surprise packets of 2017, moving up to fourth on the East table, and whose coach James Coutts is our second Manager of the Month.
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James Coutts (Murray United)
Murray United’s existence in the NPL came a year later than most, and it’s fair to say life in the system hasn’t always been rosy.
It’s part and parcel of being a regional club, for whom resources aren’t as easy to come by compared to metro counterparts, and the tyranny of distance compounds that difficulty.
James Coutts is a young player-manager who was thrown in the deep end in the club’s inaugural NPL season in 2015 following the resignation of senior coach Mick Richards.
The then-28-year-old former Bournemouth youth came to Murray via a stint at local club Twin City Wanderers. That season Murray finished in eighth with 22 points and Coutts went from caretaker to full-time manager.
2016 was a much more difficult proposition as the side picked up 14 points, ninth on the ladder only above Nunawading City, whose first win in the NPL era came against United. Nothing seemed to go right, Salford City captain Christopher Lynch an example of that, who was a big coup but who got injured immediately.
Now 30, Couuts still plays and coaches but the winds of change arrived in 2017. Ex-A-League man Chad Bugeja was the first domino to fall, but the biggest scalp came via the arrival of Melbourne Victory legend and Socceroo Archie Thompson, whose initial short stint has been extended, which reflects well on the relationship between club and player. Other signings also bolstered the squad, and the emergence of youngsters like Lewis Greenwood have been a perfect storm.
“Archie has come in and been great since day 1, he’s great with the young players and you can see from his performances on the pitch he is enjoying his football and the style of play we are adopting at Murray,” Coutts told TCF.
“We’ve been playing well in a lot of our games this season however hadn’t been able to turn those performances into results. Having a settled team and starting 11 certainly helps as we missed key players early on. All credit to the boys though as they’ve gone out there and got the results lately.”
In April, wins came against Werribee, Richmond and Bendigo – neither of whom have set the league alight, but still, Coutts’ men did the job against them.
The biggest result arguably wasn’t a win, rather a draw, against Dandenong City via a 2-2 draw on the road, proving themselves against a club with top-flight credentials. The final-week defeat to West promotion leaders Northcote City was hard fought but by no means a disgrace, with Murray a serious proposition against whoever they come up against.
“It’s an old cliche but we are taking each game as it comes, the boys are working hard in training and hopefully we can get back to winning ways this week. If we keep playing good football then we believe the positive results will continue,” Coutts concluded.