Western Sydney Wanderers assistant coach JP looks back on his memories of the Western Sydney region and speaks about his role in bringing success to the club.
Looking back on JP’s colourful career as both a player and coach, one thing is for certain, it all started in Western Sydney.
The early eighties saw the bright young defender earn his first senior gig at the Australian Institute of Sport, before moving to clubs such as Sydney City, APIA, Marconi Stallions and Sydney Olympic.
It was at Marconi where JP really made a name for himself as a player, featuring in 188 matches and scoring 13 goals for the South-West Sydney club.
Not surprising then, it was also at Marconi where JP began his managerial career, coaching the Stallions during their 2003/04 season.
Following his first season at Marconi, a stint then followed at Newcastle Jets before a return to Sydney saw him coach Sydney United, NSW Institute of Sport and Australia’s U17 side.
JP then spent several seasons at Hyundai A-League outfit Melbourne Victory, where he worked alongside Kevin Muscat to win the Hyundai A-League title.
Returning to Western Sydney for the first time as an assistant coach at Hyundai A-League level, JP understands the emotion and passion the region has for football.
“Western Sydney is a unique area and it’s a hard-working class area. There’s a lot of honesty in their work and values are very important to them,” explained JP.
“Honesty, hardworking, and being resilient. That really covers Western Sydney.
“Playing in Western Sydney, I’ve made a lot of friends and they’re always striving to be the best they can be. It’s a very unique region and they love their football and they’re really passionate about it.
“There are different parts of the community that love football and it shows in their support of the club. They have a lot of pride in where they live in Western Sydney.
“It’s the fastest growing area in Sydney so my experience in Western Sydney is exactly that. A lot of honest, hardworking and family-oriented people that are proud of where they live.”
JP will link up with head coach Markus Babbel in the coming weeks and is excited by the new challenge of working with a coach of such caliber.
“Personally, it’s a great opportunity to work next to someone such as Markus that has a massive profile in football.
“I’m looking forward to learning as much as possible and I can’t wait to work with him. His profile is second-to-none and it’s so exciting. I can’t wait to work with him and support him.”
JP sees his role similar to the one he recently played at Melbourne Victory, doing everything he can to assist the head coach in achieving success.
“It’s about bringing my knowledge, knowing the landscape and understanding the formula for success.
“It’s about bringing your knowledge into football and helping Markus to achieve what he wants to achieve. Just giving him all my support towards that, as I did with Kevin Muscat, that’s how I see my role and if we are going to do something – we are going to do something properly.
“We want to be the best at it, so hard-work and bringing belief to the group and doing things with honesty and aggression, while being humble whilst achieving these things.”
