Tara Murray
The future will be on show for Gisborne this year in the FV state league 4 west season.
It will be a different looking Sky Blues, with the club’s focus on ensuring a pathway for the juniors coming to fruition quicker than expected.
Speaking last week, Sky Blues president Carl Valeri said it had been a pretty exciting off season for the club.
“We’ve had a lot of changes,” he said. “Change always brings lots of obstacles.
“The objective for us is to become a pathway club and create some opportunities for the junior players, the younger players.
“It’s come to fruition a lot quicker than expected.”
The club announced on Saturday, that Valeri would also coach the men’s side, replacing Glen Bristow, who had been appointed to replace Danny Moore who departed after the season.
Mick Spasojevic, who took the under-17 boys side to the finals in 2022, will be Valeri’s assistant coach.
Valeri said there had been some turnover in the playing group.
“A lot of older players decided to step away or have left to play at other clubs,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity for the young players.
“We’ve had 18 of our under-17s step up. It was amazing to see and everyone had a smile on their face [after our first practice match].”
Valeri said they had a nice mix of youth and experience in the side, an opportunity he wished he had growing up.
The playing group will get to play with one of the best, with Valeri said before the coaching announcement that he was pulling back on the boots as well.
Valeri, who played 52 games for the Socceroos, retired from professional soccer in 2019 and last played for Dandenong City in that year too.
“I’ve pulled back on the boots,” he said.
“It’s more of the leadership role in the team and helping guide those youngsters. It’s going to be hard work, my wife keeps pointing out that I’m closing in on 40.”
Valeri said they were still looking for more players to join the team for next season.
After coming off their best ever finish, Valeri said the focus this season was improving each week.
“What we have created is unique and happened so quickly,” he said.
“The focus is on performance and creating an environment which is competitive, which is amazing and there’s that youthful intensity.
“Good performance relates to results. The aim is to play well and if we can do that, more often and not it will relate to results.”
The Sky Blues women’s program is also growing, with the club hoping to have two women’s sides for the first time.
The side also has a new coach with Tony Ivanov taking over the coaching role.
“It’s a very exciting space,” he said. “We’re close to having two teams in that competition.
“We’ll have a state league 3 team after winning a championship last year. We’ll look to have a state league 5 side, we’ve had so much interest in the senior women’s department.
“We’ve got a head coach and assistant coach for the first time. Tony ?? played in the old NSL [National Soccer League] and has coached more than 20 years.
“The environment is great and growing week by week.”
