With Auckland FC’s first ever competitive match around the corner, aleagues.com.au speaks to Black Knights inaugural head coach Steve Corica to discuss what goes into starting a club from scratch and much more.
Many football fans reading this will have at least had some degree of experience when it comes to playing the video game ‘Football Manager’; A simulation game designed to give players the chance to be a head coach.
In it, they get to build a squad in their image, sign and sell whoever they want and design their own tactics from scratch as they bid to conquer world football with their chosen club.
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For Steve Corica, his first off-season as the inaugural head coach of Isuzu UTE A-League new boys Auckland FC has been a bit like playing Football Manager.
“Well obviously it is a blank slate, trying to get the pieces of the puzzle in order… you’ve got to start from somewhere!” laughed Corica as chatted to aleagues.com.au from his office in Auckland.
“It’s just crazy, the amount of stuff that goes into starting up a club. We had no gear, no balls, no mannequins… nothing!”
But once those things were acquired – a job Corica tackled himself – the club began recruiting the players needed for the first ever season in Auckland FC’s history.
The next question then is, where do you start?
“The briefing was from our owner, Bill Foley. He’s got a lot of stuff that he loves about New Zealand. He’s got restaurants, bars, wineries down here so obviously the brief was to get as many Kiwi players as possible. So that’s where we started.”
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Joined in key roles by Director of Football, Terry McFlynn, and Head of Player Recruitment, Doug Kors, Corica and co set about building out their 26-man squad.
“We started with the National League here (in New Zealand). We were watching three, four games a weekend every weekend, as much as we could just to get to know the players more. We did get a lot of players from the National League. So they haven’t played in the Isuzu UTE A-League before,” he explained.
“A lot of younger players as well, scholarship players, they were the first ones that we brought in. Then we wanted to bring in a group of Australian players as well that had won trophies before, which is why we brought in (Jake) Brimmer, Scott Galloway and Dan Hall.
“The other thing that we did is we wanted to try and get as many All Whites as possible. So myself and Terry went to watch the All Whites play when they were in Egypt. We sat down with every single player we could and had a chat with them to see if they were interested in coming to the A-League.
“From that trip we signed probably around four or five which was great as well, because they’re all national team players, or have been involved with the national team at some stage.”
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Among those players to have sat down with the Auckland FC football department was All Whites Captain and current Premier League marksman Chris Wood.
“We did speak to him,” confirmed Corica, when asked if the club tried to sign the Nottingham Forest striker who currently has four goals to his name in just seven matches this campaign.
“But, you know, I think that’s probably a little bit unrealistic for us right now. He’s doing well in the Premier League, but not saying that in maybe two, three years, this could be a different story.
“But right now, he’s banging in goals – so it would cost us a lot of money, let’s say that much!”
So with the homegrown contingent of the new Auckland FC squad now in place having signed New Zealand internationals such as Tommy Smith, Nando Pijnaker and Cameron Howieson, the Black Knights looked to sprinkle some foreign stardust upon their squad, which is where arguably their biggest recruit fits into the puzzle: Japan international, Hiroki Sakai.
With 75 caps to his name, Sakai not only brings with him boatloads of experience from the three FIFA World Cups he’s been to with Japan, but also arrives with individual playing experiences in Europe and Asia that make him one of the biggest names to have joined the Isuzu UTE A-League this off-season.
Remarkably though, the acquisition of a player who has not only won the AFC Champions League but also competed in the upper echelons of European football almost fell into Corica’s lap.
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“That was, I’d say, the surprise packet of everyone,” revealed Corica when discussing the signing of the former Hannover 96, Olympique Marseille and Urawa Red Diamonds star.
“A defender probably wasn’t the position that we were looking for at the time for a foreign player, but it was probably too good to refuse. He has friends here in New Zealand and (for) family reasons he wanted to leave Japan.
“Everything’s about timing and it was perfect timing for us. He’s another fantastic, humble guy for what he’s done, a real leader as well.
“(He’s) played in three World Cups. He’s played in France, played in Germany, played in Japan, been the best player in the Champions League at Urawa. He’s obviously our most experienced player and you know he’s going to be fantastic for not only our club, but also for the A-League.”
But if Sakai is the club’s biggest recruit, without doubt Auckland FC’s most eye-catching piece of business was the deal which saw them sign former Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper Alex Paulsen on a season-long loan from Premier League side AFC Bournemouth.
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“Obviously Bill (Foley) owns both clubs, they were going to loan him out anyway,” said Corica when asked about the move to sign Paulsen.
“So for us it was great, he’s an Auckland boy. He had a fantastic year last year at Wellington and we had the opportunity to bring him here for one year – we were definitely going to take it!
“He’s a great young goalkeeper, a great boy and he wants to do well. He wants to improve and get better. He’ll be back to Bournemouth probably next year so we’ll make the most of the time that he has here.
“It was a real statement at the time as well being Goalkeeper of the Year last year. He’s going to be a big part of how we go this season.”
Not only has Paulsen’s arrival in Auckland given the Black Knights a real shot in the arm ahead of their debut campaign, but it’s also lit the fuse ahead of what is set to be an enthralling first meeting between Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix.
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Dubbed the ‘Kiwi Clasico’, the Isuzu UTE A-League’s newest rivalry will officially commence on November 2 when Auckland FC travel to the home of their new rivals Wellington Phoenix and in their new head coach, Auckland FC have someone who knows a thing or two about derbies in the A-Leagues, especially ones which have been born after a new club entered the competition.
“Yeah, it is similar,” remarked Corica when asked about his experience of the first ever Sydney Derby which took place in 2012 following the birth of the Western Sydney Wanderers.
“There was only Sydney FC at the time and then Wanderers came in. So there’s people who used to support Sydney but a lot of them went to Wanderers because they’re out West. Maybe it’s very similar here.
“We’ve got supporters in Auckland that would support Wellington because they were the only team in New Zealand. That’s going to change a bit now with us coming into the league and being from Auckland. It’s a big city, probably the biggest city that didn’t have a proper A-League team.”
For Corica, this season will be his 20th involved with the Isuzu UTE A-League from both a playing and coaching capacity but crucially, his first away from Sydney FC.
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After winning four major trophies during his time in charge of the Sky Blues, the 51-year-old parted ways with the club following a disappointing start to the 2023-24 campaign.
Far from perturbed by his dismissal, Corica was emboldened, and used his brief spell away from the game to go and pick the brains of some of football’s best coaches in a bid to broaden his own coaching horizons.
“I went to England and I watched Ange (Postecoglou) for a few days at Tottenham. I watched a couple of their games, watched their training sessions. I went to Japan as well and spent a little bit of time with Musky (Kevin Muscat) when he was at Yokohama F. Marinos, I spent a week there actually with him.
“I went to Bournemouth because I knew at the time I was close to signing here, so I went to Bournemouth when I was in England as well. I met the coach, Andoni Iraola, and watched a few of their training sessions as well.
He added: “They’re all a little bit different, all of them have got their different beliefs in football but they just believe in what they’re doing and just go and do it really.
“But you know, we’re all doing very similar things here as well. A lot of the training sessions are similar to what I’ve seen Ange do to what we’re doing. They’ve got high quality of players and stuff like that but I think it shows we’re all on the right track here.
“I think you do take little things away though, the way they do their weeks, that lead into games, how hard they train (before games). That’s different with all coaches, so you take a little bit from from everyone, really. It was very interesting to see all three different coaches and how they worked.”
Anticipation is building nicely ahead of Auckland FC’s inaugural Isuzu UTE A-League match against Brisbane Roar at Go Media Stadium on October 13, with many keen to see just what sort of side Corica has been able to put together and crucially, just what type of football they’ll play.
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“Pre-season is long – three-and-a-half months long – but probably we needed all that time and I think we’re still going to improve as the season goes on, it’s only natural.
“You know, a couple of our foreigners only come in maybe two-and-a-half to three weeks ago – they’re not even fully fit.
“We’ve worked hard to try and get a good defence, that’s key, because most of the times in the A-League, if you have the first or second best defensive record, you’ve got a very good chance of winning games and winning the Championship .
He continued: “But it’s not only the back four. We’re talking about the whole squad working hard defensively. That’s obviously my motto and how we go about things defensively, but with the ball.
“We’ve always wanted to play exciting football, attractive football. We want to score goals and get the crowd excited about it and create chances.
“That’s my philosophy and you know that won’t change.”
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