It’s rare to witness longevity in Australian football coaching staff.
However, in the world of Marconi head coach, Peter Tsekenis, and assistant coach, Peter Papoythis, a magic formula exists which has seen the coaching duo share 17 years together – including eight years in their current roles at Bossley Park.
Three years ago, the pair was joined by well known coaching analyst, Manny Spanoudakis, who has added another strand of expertise to the coaching regime.
With the National Second Tier imminent in 2025, the three coaches have a new challenge to restore the famous club to its former glory.
It’s no secret the club paraded some of the greatest players in Australian football history during the NSL – with the likes of Jim Rooney, Ray Richards, Ernie Campbell, Alan Maher, John Russell, Gary Byrne, Bertie Mariani, Richie Williams, Stewart Robertson, Paul Degney, Mark Jankovics, Peter Sharne, David Lowe, Rob Wheatley, Luke Casserly, Kimon Taliadoros, Ian Gray, Roberto Vieri, Rod Brown, Eddie Krncevic, Paul Carter, Tom McCulloch, Tony Henderson, Jean Paul de Marigny, Frank Farina, Peter Katholos, Steve Corica, Mark Schwarzer and Ian Hunter filling Marconi Stadium every time they appeared.
This season is a watershed in preparation for the National Second Tier and the Club is currently in fourth spot, just two points behind leaders Western Sydney Wanderers.
“There were a lot of changes this season with a refreshed squad of young players adding to the core group,” Peter Tsekenis said.
“Unlike Marconi in previous years and some other clubs, we believe it‘s important to cultivate youth development and this year will see several players emerging to make their mark on the League.
“Nevertheless, we’ve experienced the usual injuries and suspensions early in the season, but after the unfortunate 3-2 away loss to Sydney United, we bounced back with that resounding 4-0 win against St. George which was repeated with another 4-0 defeat of Hills United last Saturday night.”
“It was a total rebuild this season because we lost thirteen players in the off season and the new players have to understand what the coaching staff want,” Peter Papoythis said.
“The loss of James Bayliss in the first round for the season due to a popped shoulder was certainly something we didn’t expect.
“Fortunately, the established players Marco Jesic, Brandon Vella and Nathan Millgate are a mainstay and are supported well by Dominic Costanzo and James Temelkovski.”
“With the addition of the younger players this year, there has been a great energy to train and learn,” Manny Spanoudakis said.
“The five games played in fourteen days preceding the Sydney United match was a real test for the squad.”
“We were accused of parking the bus against Sydney United in the second half after dominating the first half and leading 2-0, but the heavy program certainly didn’t aid our cause,” Peter Papoythis added.
“There were no instructions to close the game down and our players simply didn’t rise to the challenge by neglecting the plan to play more into the opponents half in the second 45 minutes,” Tsekenis explained.
“Closing shop isn’t in our vocabulary and we’d had a good week of preparation,” Spanoudakis said.
“However, with new, young players who only have 30 games under their belt, game management, fitness and the extremely congested program weighed against us.
“We faced a similar situation on the Wednesday night, after the Sydney United defeat in the Australia Cup match against Southern Districts when we were down 2-0 at half time.
“In the second half we returned to our game plan and scored four goals which proved the players had learned from the Sydney United loss.”
“The late loss to Sydney United was a setback but we didn’t set out to defend and some credit must be paid to our opponents for coming out at us throughout the second half and the winning goal was a screamer which couldn’t be prevented,” Papoythis added.
With the stronger level of competition anticipated in the N.S.T., Tsekenis believes the brand of football will be similar to the NPL but the quality of player the League will attract will be better which will ensure a rise in playing standards.
“I’m programmed to play in the NST as the competition will provide a new challenge playing against Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and hopefully Tasmanian teams” he said.
“The NPL has its limitations and younger players will want to play in it and critically the Marconi club is totally switched on for it to provide something different for our supporters.”
“This will encourage former NSL fans to reconnect with the game as they will be seeing the best players from NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and possibly Tasmania competing at the highest level in a more professional League,” Spanoudakis added.
In anticipation of the step up to the N.S.T. , in the last two years, the Marconi club has implemented major refurbishment to the ground facilities, including a brand new state of the art scoreboard, painting of the grandstand, new world class change rooms for the home and visiting teams and two new synthetic pitches with grandstands and scoreboards.
“The field dimensions of these pitches are bigger than some other club’s facilities and it means irrespective of the weather we always train,” Tsekenis said.
“These facilities were a great investment because they were used for the home base of the Columbian Women’s World Cup squad last year,” Spanoudakis explained.
“The club is also planning replacement of the plastic seating if there is a positive response to the NST from supporters.
“Who knows, if demand is great enough for the NST, the club could make the ground an all seater boutique stadium.”
This begs the question as to how a club like Marconi with 40,000 members isn’t in the A-League.
Peter Tsekenis believes as a coach you always aspire to the next level and geographically Marconi sits between Macarthur and Western Sydney Wanderers.
However, at this stage the club would appear committed to establishing itself in the NST before it entertains thoughts of applying for the A-League.
“It would be a perfect fit but it really depends on the aspirations of the club Board and the demands of the members,” he said.
“Yet there are players from the club who have moved on to A- League and that will continue to happen.
“Some players are content to play NPL as they earn more money playing part time football and working in a job.
“This is the case with some players who have been approached by A-League clubs but prefer to play part time football.”
“The club has everything to offer if it wanted to make a bid to play in the A-League and I would love to be part of it,” Papoythis added.
“However, consolidation in the NST is the first objective and then it’s up to the decision makers whether the A-League should be pursued.”
“A number of players in our current Marconi squad could step up to A-League if they were given the opportunity to train on a full time basis,” Spanoudakis explained.
“The N.S.T. needs to be fulltime so we can have six sessions per week, rather than only three.”
With the advent of the NST, there will also be more opportunity for coaches, but Peter Tsekenis always has adopted the philosophy of not looking too far ahead.
“I’m privileged to be coaching at one of the biggest clubs in the country and seeking success for the club this season is my main focus,” he said.
“The NST will be the next challenge and naturally to progress to a coaching job in the A-League with Marconi would be ideal.
“Beyond that I would love to be involved with the junior national teams which I experienced as a player.”
“I dream of having a full time job in football like coaches have in Europe even in the lower divisions because it’s difficult when you’re working in a business and trying to commit to football totally,” Papoythis added.
Manny Spanoudakis doesn’t look too far ahead but believes if you focus on the job at hand, opportunities will naturally present.
“I have really enjoyed my stint at Marconi for the last three years and if coaching at a higher level became available, I would consider it carefully,” he said.
“However, my main focus currently is to assist the coaching staff in their goal to add trophies to the club’s collection.”
