Fozzie not happy with Joeys Coach

Jan Versliejan the Young Socceroos Coach will move to Coach the Australian Under 17 side after the completes his duties with the Under 19's in Saudi Arabia this year.....and the current Under 17 Coach South Australian Martyn Crook will presumabl get the flick.


Makes sense as the intake for the AIS is falling this year and most of the Young Socceroos are off to A-League clubs. Will they get as good a development opportunity as if they had two years at the AIS like Viduka and co, definitely not.

That said the AIS has now recognised the need to change their focus, produce better players at a younger age and this is a good thing...and much needed.

At 17 a player is not ready for the A-League and will need to feel the Youth League set up they enter is valuable. I doubt there is the infrastructure in A-League Club structures yet to be confident that the players development will continue.

Australia has a long history of developing players late. Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi may jump on to the scene as 17 or 18 year olds. But Lucas Neill and Tim Cahill are just two Aussies who has to wait a long time to get to Premier League football.

Fozzie slates the Under 17 Coach Martyn Crook saying he clearly isn't the best we have. His side didn't qualify for the Under 17 World Cup.

They lost in injury time, but if the benchmark is qualification, and it is, then Crook's position should be at least reviewed or ended.

That said Versleijen's appointment to the AIS and Under 17 Coach would appear to solve that problem in the immediate future.

But who coaches the Under 20's from here on in?

And this is the last Under 20 team that will have real time together, and this squad has already been eroded as Club v Country/AIS battle takes place.

James Holland, Jason Hoffman and Seb Ryall are just two who have long left the Under 20 nursery at the AIS as Clubs recognised their qualities. They were ready for top-grade football. So moulding the Under 20 sqiad will be much harder from here on in.

For any Coach.

So what next?

Fozzie wants "political appointments" of NTC's wiped clean and our technical director to control and influence these appointments.

Well we don't have a Technical Director, Rob Baan is off, and changing NTC appointments or at least reviewing them to ensure we have the best Coaches of our young kids.......

Well good luck with that one:)

But time for a review is well due.

Many have held positions from the days of old soccer. Not necessarily a bad thing, but clearly with the changes in the game, the new focus, a ruthless reappraisal should be undertaken by the new Technical Director.