Arnold back in hot seat

Sydney boss appointed to take over Socceroos after World Cup

IT was on a sunny December day just over a decade ago that Graham Arnold learned officially he had ceded control of the Socceroos after his illfated stint as “interim” coach.

Arnold was sitting in a cafe in Darlinghurst, Sydney with a journalist when Football Federation Australia announced the appointment of Pim Verbeek as the long-term successor to Guus Hiddink.

The prospect of Arnold ever returning to the job looked remote in the extreme. The memory of that was part of his pride yesterday when the open secret of his appointment from July was made official.

The challenge of defending the Asian Cup, and qualifying for the next World Cup, is his.

The cliche is “unfinished business”, but now the man once thrown into coaching the national team almost straight from his playing days takes the senior job on his own terms and for all the right reasons.

“It feels like I’ve never left,” Arnold joked. “Walking into the building, my office used to be down the corridor and it’s still there. I know what the job is about — it’s tough, but I know I’ll do a good job.”

“You learn from mistakes as a coach and obviously I made plenty, but I am a person who learns. My strengths [now] are man management and attention to detail.”

Arnold paid tribute to Ange Postecoglou’s “legacy” and said he knew many of the Socceroos players well through his many coaching roles.

“I’m big on Australian talent,” he said. “I expect to do great with this squad. We have the defence of the Asian Cup next year — it will be more difficult over there [in the UAE] but we go expecting to win.

“I see a lot of strengths in this team, but I believe they’re moving into a ripe age.”