A self-confessed fan of video game franchise Football Manager many years ago, Keilor United’s inaugural head coach Mark Torcaso could hardly hide his excitement at the prospect of brining together his own superstar team from scratch, in similar vein to the management sim.
Not only that, but the new project ahead of him draws plenty of parallels to his journey with former club Bundoora United, which he led through a remarkable rise up the state leagues to become one of the premier teams in the now defunct Women’s Premier League.
We spoke to the new manager for the first time about his ambitions with the newly-formed Keilor United, the people behind the club and his plans for player recruitment.
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Q: Congratulations on the job firstly, but it must be bittersweet for you in terms of the circumstances that lead to your move to Keilor?
A: It was obviously tough with Bundoora not getting into the WNPL but it is what it is. Now we focus on the next stage and it’s almost at a similar point [to my start at Bundy] where we want to rebuild and start from scratch. This club seems very ambitious and have got the right drive to become a powerhouse I think personally. The people I’ve spoken to at the club seem very committed and motivated to try and get the club back to what it once was – as it was a powerhouse eight or nine years ago – and return them to that stature.
Q: Can you tell us a little but about who was behind the Keilor bid?
A: The people behind the scenes are the current Keilor Park presidents and secretaries who have done most of the appointing, along with the new president of Keilor United. It’s Keilor Park that’s driving it with the new people that are from United. They are the president [Eric Psarianos], secretary [Paul Portelli] head of sponsorship and merchandising [Nigel Peterson] and the technical director [Kenny Price] who I’ve spoken to on a number of occasions.
They’ve been a part of that club for a very long time so they know what they want. They’ve also got good girls playing there so hopefully they’ll get it back to the level they once were.
Q: What can you tell us about the Keilor United project, their ambitions, facilities?
A: From a facilities point of view, they have got access to Keilor Park Recreational Reserve – two artificial pitches and three grass (two of which are good for match play). One has the right amount of lighting for night matches, so I don’t think many teams would be able to boast that they have five grounds of facilities for playing and training. From that perspective, it looks very bright.
In terms of their ambitions and the discussions that we’ve had, having brought Bundoora from the lower divisions into the Premier League, [the thought is[ maybe I can bring that for them too and that’s something I’m pretty confident I can. The people just seem like they want the club back to where they were and the two jobs [Bundoora] match.
Q: How exciting is the prospect of basically building a club from the ground up?
A: Coming with the disappointment of Bundy not getting into the WNPL, on a personal note I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to coach or be a part of it at all. But once I met with the people at Keilor, it re-ignited my fire and know that this is something that I want to do. As they spoke, I just got that burning inside and I thought, ‘Hang on, I want to be a part of this again’.
The fact that these people seem so motivated and so passionate about women’s football, it sort of matched together perfectly with me. It was all positive from the start, I was quite keen and they were quite keen. So from my point of view, coming from the disappointment [of Bundy], this gave me a lot of excitement – I actually can not wait to get out there and help this club get to the higher level again.
Q: How hard was it to make the decision to leave Bundy? Was there every any consideration to stay and do the rounds in the State Leagues or was that not where you wanted to be at this stage of your coaching career?
A: There was a number of discussions that I had with the club, and when I was at the point where I wasn’t sure what to do, Bundoora were very supportive. They said ‘obviously we would like you to stay, we’d work with you to help continue your coaching but they also were very cooperative and very understanding that if I wanted to coach at the highest level, I would have to move on. From that perspective, they have been absolutely amazing. Throughout that journey over the nine years, that’s how they were with me, so supportive. This time, when I wanted to look at another option, they were still supportive and they were encouraging.
I had a number of conversations before I accepted the job at Keilor with a number of Bundoora people and asked them for advice as to what I should do. They were very supportive, saying ‘In the end if you want to be coaching at the highest level, you don’t want to miss the boat’. That was something that re-ignited the fire a little bit and Keilor is the perfect place to do that.
Q: Quite a central location in regards to the WNPL. It’ll firstly make travel quite good, but on top of that, it should make it a hot spot for players to come to as well as help with youth recruitment. Do you believe this works in the clubs favour?
A: I was actually surprised how close the club was from my house, the few times that I’ve gone down to the club in the last few weeks, its been a 15-20 minute drive, so from that perspective it’s been good. From the other perspective, [the club] it’s also a good pocket where there’s a lot of strong female teams in junior ranks in that whole Western Suburbs area. The good thing is there’s now an avenue for those girls to be playing at an elite level from 13’s up to seniors. From that point of view, it’s fantastic as these girls now have somewhere to go and I’m happy to be a part of that.
I think the best part of the WNPL is that it’s designed to be an elite pathway so my understanding is that Keilor will be the elite development club for the Western Suburbs. That means any player at any club in the area would be looking at playing for Keilor if they want to play at the elite level. So [being in the WNPL] should attract players.
Q: What’s the plan for the senior fold next year? Is there plans at all to use what’s in place with Keilor, or will you perhaps be looking back at Bundoora and going with tried and tested talent?
A: In regards to seniors, Keilor were a side that were quite successful in the past – in the last few years they’ve been hanging around State League One & Two – so I think the standard of player will be there. But to be a powerhouse, we’re going to have to bring in some strong and experienced players from the Premier League.
Obviously having a number of strong connections with a number of players from Bundoora, there’s a possibility of those players being a part of it, which is fantastic. It’s exciting for myself and for them, which in the long term will encourage good young players from the Western Suburbs to want to come to the club, because you’re going to have some potential big name players here, which will be great.
The fact that this is the highest level, I don’t think there’s going to be a problem with attracting the really strong players. Like I said, the links that I have in the past with players, I’m hoping that it helps bring some strong players across. Possibly a few players from Bundoora might come across but also some from other clubs that want a fresh start or want to help the club get back to being a competitive team.