Photo: Smile for Peter
Dandenong City have announced the departure of senior coach Aaron Healey and his assistant Gerry McDonagh after respective three year associations with the club.
The duo joined the club in 2014 as Hajduk embarked on their maiden campaign in the restructured competition with Healey serving as the club’s Technical Director while McDonagh was a junior coach.
Healey stepped into the head coaching role following the departure of Ivan Duzel at the conclusion of the 2014 NPL2 campaign while McDonagh became the club’s 20s coach.
The latter stepped into the role as senior assistant mid-way through 2015 following the departure of Joey Rajher with Bernie Moyano becoming the 20s coach at the beginning of this season.
Moyano is also exiting Frank Holohan Soccer Complex as part of a coaching exodus following Ljuban Palinic’s resignation from the Technical Director’s role last week.
Dandenong City president Tony Dorotic thanked Healey, McDonagh, Moyano and Palinic for their services, but said the club was ambitious and as such would embark on a thorough search for quality replacements.
“Aaron has been at the club for three years and two years as senior coach and in that time we’ve played some great football and got some good results.
“We wish Aaron the best in his future endeavours. He is a highly credentialed coach and one of the best and we will always be proud of our association with Aaron.”
The role was Healey’s first senior head coaching role having previously served as Ernie Merrick’s assistant at Melbourne Victory during the club’s first six seasons in the A-League, helping the club win two Championships in the process.
His reign at the club saw City clinch two successive third place finishes in the NPL2 East standings without ever really pushing for promotion although their most notable performance came in last year’s 5-0 demolition away to Melbourne Victory Youth.
“Gerry has also been a fantastic servant to our club and we thank him for his commitment and wish him the best in his next role. Likewise with Bernie”, Dorotic added.
“Ljuban has been involved in coaching at the club for seven years & in the last 2 has been in the position of Technical Director. His enthusiasm & passion for the game & development of youngsters is to be admired. We are currently in discussion with Ljuban to see whether we can keep him at the club in some type if coaching capacity.”
“We are now actively searching for a Senior Coach and Technical Director for the 2017 season. We are an ambitious club that has enormous potential, so we encourage any interested suitably qualified applicants to send through their expressions of interests by emailing president@dandenongcityfc.com.”