The news this week that Bobby Despotovski, Perth Glory’s coach for the last five seasons, has stepped down was not a major surprise to the WA women’s football community. It had been rumoured that Despotovski was likely to leave as soon as he was overlooked for the A-League head coach role back in September, with the club deciding to appoint Richard Garcia instead.
What remains unknown is who will replace Despotovski and what sort of team they will put together. Perth Glory has tended to recruit their coaches locally, with all five of the WA team’s coaches since inception coming from local ranks, so our list of potential candidates looks at who from the Golden State may be available.
Looking at the coaches from WA NPLW clubs who finished in the top four, only Danielle Brogan from Perth SC remains, as coaches from MUM FC, Fremantle and Northern Redbacks have all departed for one reason or another.
Brogan has the credentials at the playing level. She has seven Matildas caps, over 50 appearances in the W-League (including 14 appearances for Glory) and has also coached the WA Senior Women’s State team. Her knowledge of the local game is obviously a bonus, but the timing of the W-League season means she wouldn’t be available for NPLW duties if Glory were to appoint her.
NTC coach Ben Anderton is an outside possibility from the NPLW, but as he only managed to guide a highly talented NTC squad to fifth spot it may well be that he is just not ready yet.
Outside of the NPLW the only other area where coaches are likely to come from is via Perth Glory itself.
Current Perth Glory W-League assistant coach Jessine Bonzas has been at the club under Despotovski for 4 years and knows the local game inside out. Bonzas would be a strong candidate if the club is looking at maintaining stability and continuity, but if they decide to move in a new direction she may not be the right fit.
Terry McFlynn joined Glory last season to be the club’s Academy and W-League Manager. He has since become Manager of Football Operations and might be an outside bet.
Another possibility is Chris Coyne, who has recently been appointed as head coach of the Glory’s U20 Academy team. If he were to be appointed, Coyne would become the fourth male coach for Glory and be another one with no previous experience coaching women. In fact, Perth Glory has only had one female W-League coach, with foundation coach Nicola Williams only lasting a year.
Whoever gets the nod will have a big task ahead of them as there has been little in the way of any news about the possible squad. This suggests that the core of the 2020-21 squad will be drawn from last season’s edition, minus Kim Carroll (Brisbane Roar), Shannon May (break), Isabella Foletta (Canberra United) and Celia Jiménez Delgado (Olympique Lyon).
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