REDLANDS United first team coach Graham Ross has been nominated for the National Premier Leagues Queensland coach of the year award.
Ross, a former professional player, came to the club when Redlands were staring down the barrel of relegation and turned the team around with a late-season surge that saw the Red Devils win six games on the trot between round 22 and 27.
He is up against heavyweight NPL coaches Grae Piddick, Warren Moon and Ben Cahn for the award, but Redlands United president Andy Bradley said he deserved credit for turning the season around.
"We brought Graham on-board six or seven games into the season to add some stability and some experience to the club," he said.
"He brought a few new faces into the squad and reset the players' expectations.
"His coaching style is very direct but the big thing for me is he made some big decisions on players.
"He is also an ex-professional so we knew he had been there and done it at the highest level."
Bradley said he was the first Redlands coach to earn recognition with Football Queensland since Matt Chandler, who coached the first team during their dream 2016 run which saw them progress to the round of 16 in the FFA Cup and win the NPL for the first time in the club's history.
Ross lifted Redlands off the canvas this season, taking them from last place to the top seven with back-to-back upset victories over Peninsula Power and Gold Coast United.
He will take the reins of the first team again in 2020 after re-signing with the club in August.
Ross had received 57 of the 326 votes at time of writing.
Olympic FC coach Ben Cahn, whose side made the 2019 NPL grand final, had polled the most votes with 116.
The winner will be announced on Saturday, November 2 at the inaugural Football in Queensland Awards Night.
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