Phil Stubbins says his top priority as Newcastle Jets Head Coach will be to develop a hard-working culture and winning mentality.
Phil Stubbins says his top priority as Newcastle Jets Head Coach will be to develop a hard-working culture and winning mentality at the club.
After arriving from Thailand on Monday, Stubbins held his first press conference as Head Coach of the Jets at Hunter Stadium on Tuesday morning.
The former Adelaide United assistant coach said he was excited to get started in his new role.
“To come to a club with a proud history and to be involved in the A-League as a person in charge in my own right is a great opportunity,” Stubbins said.
“I-m thrilled to be here and I-m certainly very, very excited about the potential of what the club can achieve.”
Stubbins said he hoped to earn the respect of the Jets- faithful through his strong work ethic and results on the pitch.
“First and foremost in terms of what I bring to the table, there-s a lot of honesty and hard work involved and that-s just how I am as a person,” Stubbins explained.
“I think that will transcend into the group from day one at training. We want to work hard and we want to be a club that-s known for a certain identity which is a clear one and a positive one.
“We want to be effective at the end of the day and we need to win games.
“I think it-s four years now that the club has not been in the finals and that needs to change.
“You-ve got a great stadium here, there are 10,000 Members and the potential to have 15,000 to 20,000 people at the club on game day, that-s what we-re all aiming for.”
Stubbins said he hoped to establish a clear identity at the Jets that is representative of the Hunter region-s working-class history and would make the club-s members and supporters proud.
“Perception-wise, I wasn-t born in Madrid, Barcelona or Milan or one of those exciting locations – I-m from Hull in the north of England,” Stubbins explained.
“My background is a hard-working one. I think I fit in with the community of Newcastle and I think they-ll get a guy who is pretty sincere and honest about how he goes about his day-to-day business.
“I-ll be doing my utmost for the club in terms of trying to establish a strong culture and come this time next season hopefully we-ve had a good strong campaign and the club has turned the corner.”
Stubbins was Assistant Coach at Adelaide United during the most successful period in the club’s history, which included reaching the final of the Asian Champions League and competing at the FIFA Club World Cup.
The 51-year-old said his time with the Reds had helped shape his coaching philosophy and outlook on the game.
“The Asian Champions League was a good experience because I think if we just tried to play in a certain way, which was our way, I don-t think we would have been able to overcome the tops teams, with all respect to ourselves and the club at the time,” Stubbins said.
“If you-re not pragmatic and you-re not able to bend and sway in the wind to determine a result, at the end of the day people want to win.
“We-ll start by putting things in place where we want the result first and then if we can play in an open and expansive manner we-ll do that and if it means we have to play in another manner with a different formation, we-ll do that as well.”
Stubbins said no time will be wasted finalising the Jets playing squad for the 2014/15 season.
“We-ve been going through things and having a look at the roster and the balance of the squad and determining how we-re going to take to the field come day one,” Stubbins said.
“I think there will be a lot of discussion with potential targets that we want to bring to the club and at the end of the day we want to put out the strongest team possible.
“We-ll certainly be putting in the diligence to bring in the players that we feel are a good fit for the club and doing the job for us.
“There are a lot of young players at the club and I think next season is an opportunity to see the fruition of that and for their potential to reach its maximum.
“I think we definitely need the balance right, so to keep some experienced players is certainly at the forefront of our mind.”
