Former Australian international Steve Corica is the coach charged with shaping the new Auckland team into an A-League football force. Corica is about to cross the Tasman to spearhead the club financed by American billionaire Bill Foley and admits some of the immediate challenges are daunting.
Steve Corica shares vision behind Auckland’s A-League ambitions for Bill Foley’s new club
Former Sydney FC coach Steve Corica has been named as the new man at the helm of the Auckland A-League football team. Photo / Photosport
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We need players who have won stuff before, but also with the right attitude and the resolve to win trophies.
We’ve identified players from the (New Zealand) national league, especially younger and scholarship players.
We will start training around July - if we can have most of the squad here by then it would be great.
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Normally the foreigners arrive as late as August or even September, but being a start-up club I’d like them here close to July so they can gel with the squad.
Any hints on who the foreigners might be - the A-League has had a sprinkling of famous players like Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler.
It’s not about the names to me - it’s about who will fit in with the style of football I want to play, which is quite an aggressive, fast game. So we will be looking for foreigners in that department, and marquee players for that as well.
In the past the A-League has had marquee players like Robbie Fowler, Alessandro Del Piero, Nani and Daniel Sturridge - some have done well and to my mind, some have failed.
I’d look at players like Bobo who may be unknown to people but have been very successful in the A-League.
Have you met Bill Foley, the American owner of the Auckland club?
We’ve only talked on the phone and in Zoom meetings so far. I’ll get to meet him in February, in Auckland.
Bill Foley sees this Auckland club as part of the network underpinning his English Premier League side Bournemouth…how do you think that will work?
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If Bournemouth can help us in any way that would be great, but they are a very different product.
We have a smaller salary cap to fit 25 players under. Four of those players can be outside the cap - two marquee players and two designated players.
We want to bring in players for an exciting style because we want Auckland people to get behind the team from the start.
There might be a new mood in New Zealand football…
There should be, with this new team coming in. It should be exciting for everyone, to get behind the team.
We want a really strong New Zealand presence in the squad, and we must have a good connection with the local teams and the public.
The Wellington Phoenix are doing well in the A-League and there will now be a derby game in New Zealand which is always special.
I’ve been involved with the Sydney v Wanderers derby and it’s one you look forward to straight away, at the start of the season.
Wellington v Auckland will be an exciting game to be involved in, especially the first one.
I’m confident we will succeed but there are a lot of challenges. It might take one, two or three years, but we want to win stuff. That’s my aim and the owner’s aim.
Career highlight?
Playing for the Socceroos - I think everyone wants to play for their country. It was fantastic. I was the first person to play every level for Australia which is pretty special, and in two Olympic Games.
My best memory was beating France at the Confederations Cup in 2001, just after they won the World Cup. They had a lot of quality players in their team.
We also beat Brazil in that tournament but lost to Japan in the final.
I had quite good games, one of my better tournaments for the national side. We scored from a free kick that I sort of set up against France. I think they underestimated us a little bit, as they do, and we surprised them. It was certainly a highlight of my career.
Did you chase a contract in England, or did someone chase you?
It was funny really. I thought German football would suit my style and was on trial with Cologne. Leicester had a pre-season game with them and decided they wanted to sign me. I can’t remember what I did in the game, but Leicester did have an Australian on its coaching staff. Sometimes things are meant to be.
Your teammates at Wolves and Walsall in England included future All Whites coaches Danny Hay, Darren Bazeley and Neil Emblen…that seems like quite a strange Kiwi football coincidence.
Yes, I played with all three of them…Baze and Emblen probably came out here because Danny Hay, (Socceroo) Kevin Muscat and I spoke highly of Australia and New Zealand.
They are great guys and we had a lot of fun together. They came out here in the early days of the A-League and stayed.
I’m also still friends with Danny Hay…I speak to him and Baze quite a bit and the connection is proving very handy (in putting the Auckland team together).
Bazeley is now the All Whites boss - what was he like as a player?
A very good, hard-working right fullback who got forward a lot and was a good crosser of the ball.
What was your highlight as a club player in England?
Probably my first game for Leicester (in the second-tier division one). I scored against Sunderland, at their ground, a great way to start my career. I do remember the goal well, a left-footer from about 20 metres out.
Who were your football heroes - did you ever get to meet them?
I used to love Diego Maradona, my idol growing up. When I was 19, I was in an Australian squad that played against Argentina. People were lining up for photos but I managed to snag one with him. To meet your boyhood hero at that age is fantastic.
I got a photo with Pele as well at the (1989) under-17 World Cup in Scotland - I scored a goal against Brazil when he was watching.
I supported Liverpool as a kid, and still do, because of the Australian ties with Craig Johnston playing for them, and I got to meet him. My son supports Liverpool as well - it runs in the family.
You grew up in a very small Queensland coastal town…
It’s called Innisfail, just south of Cairns. I was a football-mad kid, with two older brothers playing. That toughens you up a bit in the backyard. I went from there to the Institute of Sport in Canberra when I was about 16, then to Marconi in Sydney, to England, and have seen a lot of the world.
Another Innisfail kid was the great league fullback Billy Slater…
He is younger than me - I think my brother knows him though.
Speaking of league - the Auckland Warriors burst back into public prominence last season. Does your role in Auckland include helping build the profile of the new football club?
I believe my job is to promote the club and I want to be as active as possible. But I’ve got a job to do as well and it’s quite a big job at the moment, to get everyone in on time to start the season.
Ange Postecoglou is flying the flag for Australian football as the new manager at Tottenham Hotspur…
I was over there not long ago and went to London, and spent a couple of days at training with Ange and watched a couple of games.
He’s very aggressive and plays a very entertaining style of football. He’s doing a great job, not only for himself but for Australia and its coaches. It shows no matter where you come from…I think we’re a bit underestimated by people in Europe.
Ange believes in his ability and the style of football he wants to play and brings in the right people for that. They don’t have to be big names to him - he wants the right personality first and foremost, although they have to be able to play as well.
You are known as ‘Mr Sydney’ - how hard is this move to make?
After 19 years with Sydney, it was the perfect time for me to go to a new club.
It would have been hard to go to another Australian club because of the Sydney bonds, but a new venture in New Zealand is a good step for me…it is daunting as well.
Is this a big family move?
I’ve got a couple of daughters in their 20s who will stay here, but our 14-year-old boy will finish the school year then move over to Auckland.
I’ll move out to Auckland early in the year, come back to Australia for a little bit, then move permanently in April.
Chris Rattue has been a journalist since 1980 and is one of the most respected opinion writers in New Zealand sports journalism.
