Macarthur FC will be on the lookout for a new coach following the surprise announcement by Ante Milicic that he will leave at the end of the current A-League season.
The inaugural head coach of the Bulls says he will return to his native Croatia for family reasons.
Milicic says he will always be a Macarthur FC supporter.
“It has been a great honour to be the first ever head coach of Macarthur FC,’’ he said in a media statement today.
“I was attracted to this role several years ago because of the exciting opportunity to help build the foundations of this great club in a region, South Western Sydney, that has a very exciting future,’’ Milicic said.
“I will remain a great supporter of the Bulls forever.
“We are now determined to finish the season strongly,’’ Milicic said.
“I want to thank my players, coaching staff, passionate fans, club chairman Gino Marra, CEO Sam Krslovic and the members of the board for their great support.
“I leave with mixed emotions, but for family reasons I will be returning to Croatia.”
Bulls CEO Sam Krslovic praised the efforts of Ante Milicic over the past two seasons.
“On behalf of the board of Macarthur FC, I would like to thank Ante for his extraordinary work over the last two seasons,’’ Krslovic said.
“He has introduced a world class football environment at the Bulls that will serve us well into the future.
“Since offering Ante his first ever coaching job at Sydney United in 2009, I have enjoyed seeing Ante’s growth and success as a coach in the A-League and Australia’s men’s and women’s national teams.
“We wish him well in the future, and he is always welcome back at Bulls.
Ulises Davila, appointed by Milicic as captain, thanked the departing coach on behalf of the playing group.
“On behalf of the players, I want to thank Ante for his great work ethic and sharing his impeccable football knowledge.
“I will forever be grateful that he bestowed the captaincy on me this season. The players and I wish him well in the future.”
The Bulls, who are on a finals knife-edge, host Newcastle this coming Sunday in their second last match of the home and away season.
They will probably need to win both of their last matches to qualify for the finals.
In their inaugural season the club came within one win of playing in the 2020-21 A-League grand final.
A tough schedule and injuries have made the job a little harder this season, but Milicic can hold his head high for moulding a very competitive team from scratch two seasons in a row.
Remembering, too, that those two seasons were played in the middle of a global pandemic that is only now starting to slowly recede.
Hopefully Milicic is not lost to Australian soccer and he returns to coaching at some stage in the future.
