Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen admitted he had a ‘good feeling’ when he met the Reds’ new owners on Monday.
SA philanthropist Robert Gerard heads the consortium that also includes new chairman Greg Griffin, Dr Richard Noble and businessman Bruno Marveggio.
Coolen said the announcement is welcome news for the Reds who have been under the FFA’s control since May 2009 when SA businessman Nick Bianco handed the club back after taking over in 2006.
“I think everyone has been waiting for this moment and that’s what the club needs,” he said.
“They all come from Adelaide, they all have a good background so I only think it can be positive.”
“I spoke with all of them about a few things and of course in a couple of days and a couple of weeks we will talk about a lot of things. I met them all yesterday and it was a good start and a good feeling.”
The Dutchman admitted he has met with the new consortium and spoken to each of the owners but denied official discussions had began regarding list management and the possibility of bringing in a marquee signing.
Coolen said those talks are on the agenda but first said it was more important to establish the direction of the club.
The Reds coach said talking about the goals for the current campaign was paramount, with a keen eye on the future.
“We didn’t speak about that (marquee player), that is details for a couple of days later. Definitely we’re going to speak about everything but we didn’t speak about that yesterday,” he said.
“I think we have to speak about what we can do this season, what are our goals this season, what can we do, what can’t we do and what for the next season.”
“It depends on the available players on the market, what kind of player we need and how much money we need for everything. We will also talk about the bigger future and I think they’re happy to talk about that because if you want to build up the club, make it a better club it is important what happens this season.”
