Former Socceroos defender Tony Vidmar is set to start working at Melbourne City on Monday as assistant to head coach Warren Joyce, as the latter continues his sweeping changes to bring about cultural change at the club.
Former assistant Michael Valkanis was dumped last week, with Joyce on Friday explaining that he wanted everyone at the club to be working on the same philosophical lines.
Joyce got City got back to winning ways on Saturday night with their first victory in four games after they turned over high-flying Newcastle Jets 2-1 in the Hunter Valley.
The win lifts City into clear third on the table, just one behind the Jets and six adrift of Sydney.
"I thought they showed a tremendous amount of spirit in the second half to drive the game and I thought we thoroughly deserved the result," Joyce said after the match, going on to praise goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis, who came in to the side after Eugene Galekovic was injured in the warm-up.
"Bouzanis made some great saves, to be fair it's not easy for anyone to come in at short notice like that, obviously he's not had a game in a while and he had five minutes notice. I thought he was magnificent tonight."
After a bright start which saw them win their first four matches on the spin, City had not won in the last four, losing twice at home to league leaders Sydney and Perth Glory.
Joyce was delighted with the character his players showed on a dirty night in Newcastle.
"I think the attitude has been first class throughout the season, even the games we've lost, like last week, we were driving the game with 10 men and we could have gotten something out of the game. The game before [against Brisbane] there were three mistakes but we should have still had something out of the game. The West Sydney game we could have won by a country mile."
"Goals obviously can change games, and wins and losses can change how you view it. We didn't play brilliantly in the first four games but got four wins. But certainly the spirit was there and you're trying to build on that ??? the performances have actually gotten steadily better."
If character, commitment, the will to win and dedication to the cause is the message, he could hardly have found a better exemplar than his new assistant.
Vidmar was one of the so-called Golden Generation that took the Socceroos to the World Cup in 2006, although injury ensured he could not be part of that squad.
The younger brother of Socceroos star Aurelio, he famously took one of the penalties in the shoot out victory over Uruguay in November 2005, which brought the Socceroos to the World Cup for the first time in 32 years. He was not available for the World Cup finals in 2006 due to a heart problem that required surgery.
Since his retirement in 2008, Vidmar he has largely been involved in youth coaching.
Vidmar worked with current City teenagers Daniel Arzani and James Delianov as well as Stefan Mauk in the junior national set-up.
Vidmar said: "From everything I have seen, Melbourne City is a club with great ambition and determination. It's one year since they won the first men's trophy, and I hope to be part of further success in the coming season."
He observed City's triumph over Newcastle from the stands on Saturday and will begin work on Monday alongside Joyce and goalkeeper coach Jess Vanstrattan.
