Tom Smithies: Graham Arnold the right man to blaze a trail for Aussie coaches in Asia
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- November 14, 2013
GRAHAM Arnold seems to have had more rumoured goodbyes than John Farnham, but this time the man who brought the Gosford club its maiden A-League title really seems to be in the departure lounge, literally and figuratively.
It's fully deserved too, for since he joined the Mariners in 2010 he has built on the community club's superb foundations and helped to lift the league's tactical sophistication.
Since last year when Arnold all but joined Sydney FC, this columnist has argued that Arnold would be best served by spreading his wings beyond the A-League and proving himself overseas.
If he completes negotiations to become the J-League's latest head coach, Arnold will have the opportunity to do exactly that. He has spoken of wanting to conquer a frontier, of becoming a trailblazer where only Eddie Thompson has coached before.
He knows the Japanese league, from his days of playing there alongside Tony Popovic and Ian Crook. And he has the chance to show that Australian coaches can and should become as exportable a quantity as the players.
When Arnie took over the Mariners he built from the back, constructing a defensive base that drove his side to within two minutes of winning the title in his first year.
But he always wanted more, as witnessed by his signing of Patricio Perez as a creative No 10, a move that was cancelled within a year thanks to the Argentine's homesickness.
In January last year came Tom Rogic, another playmaker with wizardry in his bones; when Celtic stole Rogic, Marcos Flores was brought in.
@CCMariners have confirmed coach Graham Arnold in talks with Asian club. Phil Moss will take over if he goes.
— Tom Smithies (@SmithiesTele) November 13, 2013
But in so many positions Arnold has had to rebuild constantly, and eventually that wears anyone down. In the J-League his own paypacket will be magnified, but so will the budgets he can deal with.
There the expectation will be to do well in Asia, not simply make up the numbers, in front of big crowds and fervent support. In the A-League he has shown he can coach with few peers, but a bigger - and infinitely more demanding - stage awaits.
Meanwhile back in Gosford, all eyes turn to Phil Moss - once of Manly United in the state league, and lieutenant of Arnold at the Mariners since the beginning three and a bit years ago.
Colleagues talk of a man with a sense of dignity and an understanding of the gravitas that comes with the role. But for all the merit in the Mariners' succession plan, the road to hell is paved with the resumes of assistant coaches who stepped up.
Some do succeed of course and Moss has undoubted tactical acumen. Either way it's a fascinating plotline that Arnold and Ange Postecoglou, the two men dubbed as the A-League's supercoaches, could both have left it within days of each other.
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