Manny Spanoudakis is a name synonymous with success in NSW football, both as a player and a manager. Now, he’s returning to familiar territory as the new head coach of St George City FA, a club he first led during their inaugural season nine years ago.
Recently, Spanoudakis served as an Assistant Coach and Technical Analyst at Marconi, working alongside Manager Peter Tsekenis and Assistant Peter Papoythis—a unique role for him, as it marked his first coaching stint outside of a managerial position. His time with the Stallions ended on a high, securing a dominant 3-0 victory over Rockdale llinden in the 2024 NPL Grand Final.
Now at St George City, Spanoudakis reunites not only with the club but also with his son James, who will be the assistant coach under his guidance. James has honed his coaching skills under some great names at St George, including experienced football director Aytek Genc.
In an interview with Soccerscene, Spanoudakis reflects on his recent experience at Marconi, his unique father-son coaching dynamic with James, and his ambitions as the new manager of St George City FA in the NSW NPL1.
Theo Athans
Having just completed your stint at Marconi and it ending with great success after a grand final win, what was it like working under experienced coaches and what was your highlight?
Manny Spanoudakis
My tenure at Marconi was the first time ever in my coaching career where I wasn’t the head coach. I was very appreciative of the opportunity presented to me by Peter Tsekenis and embraced the project, using it as a platform to enhance my own leadership. The thought process being that ultimately, when I go back to being a head coach, I will have lived life through the lens of a staff coach.
My experience at Marconi was very enjoyable, there was a very good bond and a mutual respect with the head coach (Peter Tsekenis), I had known him and the assistant Peter Papoythis very well, add that to my history and successes as a head coach, we had a real instant connection with a common goal and that goal was to win a trophy for the club.
It was very good to go to a club in that capacity (as a staff coach) and also great to work at such an iconic club like Marconi, what I call a proper football club. I believe Marconi is one of the biggest in the country when it comes to infrastructure and resources that the club has.
Many highlights during my time but you can’t go past winning the Grand Final this year to cap off what was a really enjoyable stint at the club.
T.A.
You’re joining your son James at St George City, it’s a very unique father/son coaching story. How exciting is this opportunity for you but also how has James’ coaching journey been like since he stopped playing?
M.S.
It is unique and that uniqueness was a key component of me making the decision to accept the offer at St George City FA. I did have other offers in NPL1 but ultimately, I have a connection with the club, we started the club in 2016 when Aytek Genc, the Head of Football, called me this time nine years ago and said, ‘I’m working on a new project, please don’t accept an NPL1 job until I run you through it.’
He shared with me a vision of St George City FA and that vision was what has happened right now, the club has spent the last two seasons in NPL1. I’m very proud of my role in the foundational years of the club, my objective was to get the club from NPL4 to NPL2 as quick as possible and I was very lucky to be able to do that within three seasons, winning two trebles along the way.
On that journey my son James was a player. I had limited interaction with him three years prior to that when I had won the treble in NPL2 with St George FC. James was a young player and he did earn a few 1st grade caps under me during that season.
So as a player he has been a part of the teams I have coached and won championships in NPL2, 3 and 4. Unfortunately James suffered very bad knee injuries, had multiple surgeries and was told at 25 or 26 years of age that his knee won’t be able to hold up playing football.
One thing my dad told me all those years ago when I was playing in the National League was focus on your education so you have a contingency plan and James took our advice and finished a business degree majoring in sports management but at the same time started all his coaching badges.
He made a soft transition at St George City FA and thanks to Aytek’s mentorship, James has developed a very astute football brain. He has coached u16’s into the 18’s into the 20’s and this year was the 1st Grade assistant coach working closely with Mirko Jurilj. At the same time, the club has been supporting him and he’s finishing his A licence next month so he’s on the right trajectory to be, with a little bit of luck, a very good football manager in the future.
So when the opportunity was presented to me to go back to a club I helped start and had an emotional connection to, and the opportunity to do something I had spoken to my father about before he passed in April which is to work with my son in a coaching capacity, it made the decision very easy for me and I accepted the offer from Aytek.
T.A.
What are your ambitions with St George City FA and how special would it be to win a trophy with them?
M.S.
Aytek and I worked together over 20 years ago in the NSW NPL when I was head coach at St George Saints FC. He was my assistant, and we only had one ambition and that was to win trophies. As much as we all want to win things, we want to build a football program that leaves a legacy and underpins success into the future. When you think of clubs in NSW like Blacktown City, they’re always contenders every year.
We don’t have the financial resources of other clubs so we need to build our football program and the next evolution of that program, or at least that’s what I have been charged with, to make us a contender.
There’s no magic wand or multi-millionaire president so there’s a process we’re going to go through and that process hopefully will allow us to build on the really good work that the club has done in the first two years in NPL1. As a community club, our aim is to build something that’s sustainable and can grow organically particularly now with rule changes around grassroots and home-grown players.
We need to leverage the foundation we already have at the club, add to that, evolve, and then build a football program that has us as a top 2 or top 4 contender every year. That’s the ultimate goal, for St George City FA to be recognised as a ‘club of choice’ for aspiring players. The club has built a strong reputation and a brand that allows us to attract really good young talent, take them through the development pathway and deliver them as first team players, ultimately putting them on the shopfront for A-League and beyond.
And if we can win trophies along the way, that’s fantastic!
