Image: Mark Avellino
The NPL season might only be two rounds old but it has already seen its first coaching change with Green Gully manager Arthur Papas departing the club to take up a role in Saudi Arabia.
The 37-year-old has agreed to join Saudi Professional League side Al-Ettifaq as an assistant coach until the end of the current season, with the club currently placed in eighth place on the league ladder.
Having earned promotion from the second tier last season, the 2015/16 Saudi First Division Champions parted company with Spanish coach Juan Carlos Garrido on the weekend.
In his place they have re-appointed his predecessor Eelco Schattorie, with the Dutchman previously coaching the Dammam-based outfit before making way for Garrido in November.
The 45-year-old Dutchmen has previously worked with Papas’ former AIS mentor Jan Versailjen in both the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates while also coaching Red Bull Ghana.
Like Papas, Schattorie has been deployed in India, coaching I-League side United from 2012 until 2014 before a stint managing East Bengal in 2015 prior to his spell in The Kingdom.
Having been handed his first senior coaching role aged 30, Papas guided the Oakleigh Cannons to the 2011 VPL Grand Final in a year in which he was awarded the Coach of the Year award.
Assistants’ roles with the Melbourne Heart Youth team under John Aloisi as well as the Newcastle Jets senior side alongside Gary van Egmond followed for promising young manager who also worked with Versailjen in his role as manager of the Joeys.
A move to the subcontinent in 2012 followed with Papas named as India U23 manager prior to embarking on a two year-spell with I-League side Dempo in addition to a coaching role with the Palian Arrows, which saw his stock rising across Asia.
It was no surprise then when he was appointed assistant manager to Brazilian legend Zico at FC Goa in the newly-formed Indian Super League in 2014/15.
A return to Melbourne in 2015 saw Papas take over from Miron Bleiberg at Oakleigh, with the Cannons struggling in the relegation zone after recording just one win from their opening nine games.
He engineered a turnaround, with the 2006 VPL Premiers avoiding a relegation battle as well as making the final of the Dockerty Cup and Quarter Finals of the FFA Cup.
Papas then swapped Oakleigh for Keilor by agreeing to coach Green Gully in 2016, immediately returning the club to the finals while embarking on another memorable FFA Cup run to the Quarter Finals, which saw his chargers defeat the Central Coast Mariners 2-1 in the Round of 32.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to join such a big club, in a league that is regarded within the top three in Asia. I am very grateful to the Green Gully board for allowing me to pursue this offer, it’s the only part of making this move which has been difficult as Green Gully are an outstanding club, filled with fantastic people across all levels, but I also know I would have regretted not accepting this challenge,” Papas said.
Papas has been replaced by 20s manager Brian Vanega, who was an assistant to Vaughan Coveny at Melbourne Victory Youth last term and is an ex-Green Gully player who retired from playing in 2015.
Of Argentine descent, the 31-year-old is originally from Sydney, where he featured for NPL NSW sides Blacktown City, Macarthur Rams, Penrith Nepean United and Wollongong FC before moving to Melbourne in 2011. He won the 2013 Dockerty Cup with Gully, while also enjoying a short spell with the Goulburn Valley Suns and Oakleigh before his retirement two years ago.
Green Gully’s next game sees them visit the Bullen Lions on Monday as they look to record their first win of the season after opening their account with a loss and a draw.