Valkanis' vision to bring “the Roar back into Brisbane”
Back in the A-League Men after nearly a decade coaching in Europe, Michael Valkanis has a clear vision for his new Brisbane Roar side - one that emphasises not just the how, but the why.
After nearly a decade spent coaching overseas, Michale Valkanis is back in the A-League Men as the newest head coach of the Brisbane Roar, “the Roar back into Brisbane”.
Last coaching in Australia in 2018, when he saw out Melbourne City’s 2017/18 campaign following the resignation of John van't Schip, Valkanis made his return Down Under in May; announced as the newest coach of the Roar following their dismissal of Ruben Zadkovich after a campaign in which they finished second-bottom and endured a winless home run that ultimately stretched to 410 days.
The former South Melbourne Hellas junior has crisscrossed Europe since last working in Australia, serving as both a head coach, most recently with Turkish side Adana Demirspor, and as an assistant to van't Schip, including stints at Dutch giants Ajax and the Greek national team. The 50-year-old told JDL Media he would have been quite content to remain on the continent, his son Dimitri is on the books of Greek powers AEK Athens, but that an alignment with executives Kaz Patafta and Zac Anderson’s plans served to lure him back to Australia.
Brought in before the conclusion of the 2024-25 finals series, his early appointment ensured Roar’s new administration was afforded plenty of time to get to work. And it was needed, too, with Valkanis describing his task upon his appointment as ‘starting from scratch’ when it came to building a staff and team. Borja Lema appointed as assistant coach and Grijia Nektarios as head analyst alongside Valkanis, the club has since added Bosnian midfielder Milorad Stajić, Kiwi defender James McGarry, and English attacker Chris Long to its playing ranks, as well as locals Michael Ruhs, Justin Vidic, and Dean Bouzanis.
The coach told JDL Media that the club remained on the hunt for a right-back, revealing that the club had come close to finding “the right one” on a few occasions to now, and possibly another central defender. The latter would ostensibly go towards covering the loss of teenage defender Lucas Herrington should he depart Brisbane, the prospect having been linked with an imminent move to Major League Soccer side Colorado Rapids by multiple reports in the United States.
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But while there’s been an obvious focus on bringing in players that fit his envisioned style of play – something desperately needed given the need to turnaround their abject form, particularly at home, in recent years – this has been paired with a desire to find those that will buy into Valkanis’ vision – he’s not a fan of the term ‘culture’.
"It was all about recruitment and who we're going to bring in and figuring out the way we want to play,” Valkanis told JDL Media. “But one of the biggest things I found out through my journey is that you've got to get the environment right.
“Everyone talks about culture, but I'd like to say that everyone is in line with a vision we want to get to. There's a vision, and we all want to get to the same place. We're all aligned by our expectations and our standards that we put in place. I'm pretty big on that because, as a footballer, you want to come to a very clear environment. There's a clear understanding of the way you want to play. There's a clear understanding of the way you've got to behave in that environment. That everyone is comfortable, everyone is fair, and everyone is working very hard and competing to be in that first XI. Because we're all aligned to achieve our vision.
“A lot of people tend to focus on and talk about attacking football, defensive football, whatever philosophy you want to talk about. Xs and Os, tactics and all this. But I'm all about the environment and the connections we all make. Because at the end of the day, they're not players, they're humans, and it's about the relationships we have with one another.
“Then comes the understanding of the way we want to play football and how we behave with one another in an environment and being able to compete to be the best every day. I'm really big on that. We want a lot of competition at the Roar; we want to compete to get better, and I think that when we do that, we push each other, we're only going to be better every day.”
After making landfall in Queensland, however, another factor, one close to home, became an increasingly large part of Valkanis’ outlook.
Despite multiple years of abject form that included going more than a year between wins at home, enduring what at times felt like near monthly outbreaks of uncertainty and instability, battling frequent frustrations with the club’s owners and the lack of resourcing they have provided, and suffering through a lack of suitable stadia in Brisbane, there remains a strong, albeit shrunk, base of support for the Roar – fans that have remained loyal to the only professional club in Australia’s third-largest state.
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And it was this contingent of loyalists that found their way into Valkanis’ vision. Not feeding into how he wants his players to approach their work, but becoming part of the why.
"We want players that are going to give 100%; they're going to work hard,” Valkanis said. “We want players who have a positive mindset and the attitude of a competitor. We want their passion to come out of it, that they love playing the game, they love working hard, and they love pushing themselves. We want people who work hard because that's what we want to give our supporters.
“I spoke to a lot of supporters on a membership drive that we did. And you listen to how hard it is to actually keep membership these days, with the costs and how the cost of living has gone up, and how much they actually love football and how much they actually love the Roar because of what the Roar has done in the past.
“We have to fight and work hard for these people and get them back to the ground and let them enjoy and put a smile on their faces after all the hard work they do during the week. The number of kids who love the Roar? Those phone calls made me want to work even harder. And they're the sort of players we want to bring, who understand that and the connection.
“It's why we planned for such a preseason this year, where we've got a lot of games out in the community. We're going into the communities because we want to engage with all these supporters. Not only to bring them back, that's not just the reason why, I wanted the players to feel who they are actually playing for and connect; connect with all these kids that come and ask for an autograph or want to take a photo. All the parents who are bringing their kids and are so happy that we're making the kids happy.
“It's that connection and that feeling. I felt that when I was at Adelaide as a player, and I knew that once I was coming back to the A-League and it was like we were building from scratch again, the Roar, rebuilding it, that's what we have to start from the community and the people and bringing all these people back.”
Header Image: Brisbane Roar