Reigning Hyundai A-League championship coach Gary van Egmond has agreed to a three-year extension which will see him through to the end of the 2012/13 season.
Van Egmond, who took the Jets from the foot of the Hyundai A-League ladder when he took over in October 2006, to the championship in 2007/08, was named coach of the year last season.
While 2008/09 has proven a tougher season so far, van Egmond and assistant coach Mark Jones have agreed to extend their stays at the club. They were initially contracted to stay until the end of next season, but with the expansion of the Hyundai A-League looming, the club was desperate to sew him up on a longer-term deal.
“I’ve been talking with the Chairman, Mr Constantine, and John Tsatsimas, the CEO, and we’ve been discussing the future and we want to build something. We want to ensure that football here at the Newcastle Jets Football Club is going to keep progressing, we want to ensure that the players within the Newcastle area, or the northern New South Wales catchment if you like, will have opportunities,” van Egmond said.
“It’s important to have stability, and I’m over the moon with myself and obviously Mark joining on board to provide the stability for the football club to move forward,” he said.
Van Egmond said he was very excited about the future of the club, especially with an Asian Champions League campaign looming next season.
“We can keep evolving the club in footballing sense and in an overall sense; obviously with Asia coming up it’s another journey the club is going to take,” he said.
“We’ve been probably one of the premier clubs as far as giving young ones a go and developing them and that won’t change in the next five years either. So the overall direction that the club is heading is something which I felt is something I definitely want to be part of, and with the support of the administration I think we can achieve great results.”
Newcastle Jets chairman, Con Constantine, said the long-term deal gave a real sense of stability about the club.
“I think if we do it now it sends a very strong message to the players, which is very important, and also to our support base knowing that at the end of the day we have our coach for the next five years,” Constantine said.
Jets CEO John Tsatsimas praised the pair for their football and coaching expertise.
“Certainly we are very happy from a club’s point of view. It is a ringing endorsement of the coaching abilities of Gary van Egmond and Mark Jones. They have certainly taken this club, from a playing point of view, to another level,” he said.
