Brian MacNicol has had a career in Australian football that has spanned many decades.
The 53-year-old had strong ambitions to play football professionally ever since he was a youngster in Queensland, but growing up in the sunshine state forced him to make difficult decisions to pursue that dream.
“Back in those days when I was going through the ranks, the two big clubs in Queensland, Brisbane Lions and Brisbane City weren’t in the NSL,” he told Soccerscene.
“So, to progress your football career in Australia you had to either move to Sydney, Adelaide or Melbourne.”
MacNicol would ultimately choose to move to Melbourne, with a few clubs interested in the 21-year-old at the time.
He would eventually trial and sign for Brunswick Juventus, who was coached by Robert Vieri at the time (the father of Italian superstar Christian Vieri).
MacNicol would spend two seasons at the club before moving to Heidelberg United, where he would launch his career in the NSL – eventually playing for other clubs including the Gippsland Falcons.
“Compared to the A-League – the standard in the NSL was probably not as good technically, I think,” he said.
“But I believe there was better players going around in the NSL days; you had your Viduka’s, your Okon’s, your Zelic’s, they were playing at 19-20 years of age in the competition before going overseas, they were unbelievable players.
After his playing career ended, which also included a stint in Hong Kong where he played in the Asian Champions League, MacNicol would focus his attention on becoming a coach.
The former NSL midfielder worked under some great coaches and motivators in his time, which helped this transition.
“I’ve had some really good coaches in my playing career, MacNicol said.
“Obviously, I had Frank Arok, Stuart Munro, as well as Gary Cole for a short period of time.
“I had Stuart and Frank for a much longer time, I think they were great man managers and I really enjoyed their sessions during my playing career.”
MacNicol would go on to work, amongst other roles, as an assistant coach for Dandenong Thunder, under 21’s coach at Oakleigh Cannons (which he has been doing for the past 3 years) and under 20’s coach at South Melbourne.
Speaking about his time at South Melbourne, MacNicol said: “South Melbourne is a big club, back in the old NSL days they were one of the biggest clubs in Australia.
“The facilities there and everything else made for a good environment. At the time when I was there, they had some very good youth teams – so it was a good experience.”
Since moving into coaching, MacNicol has been heavily involved in the youth development at these NPL clubs.
He explained the system overall for young players is much more advanced than what it was when he was going through the ranks in his youth.
“It’s unbelievable the setup these days,” he said.
“Back in our day we didn’t really have many pathways, there wasn’t anywhere near the programs they have today, no Miniroos or NTC.
“They did have the NSL Youth League and the VIS I believe, but that was about it.
“The kids these days are so lucky, with the pathways they have. It’s not only that, when I was growing up, I don’t think we had the coaches with the knowledge that the kids today do.
“Even when you look at community football it was just a dad coaching back then, it wasn’t someone who was qualified or a past player who could give you a bit more knowledge.
Despite the increase of standards in the system, MacNicol believes a youngster’s desire to progress in some cases has dropped off in comparison to past eras.
“I believe youth development wise the kids are technically very good, but some of them lack a bit of heart, which I think is missing from the old days.
“You didn’t complain back then, you just did it – if the coach yelled at you, you moved on. I know it’s an old school mentality and things have changed, but I think that is the key bit of difference,” he concluded.
