ROB Stanton helped foster a winning culture at Sydney FC that led the Sky Blues to consecutive A-League championships.
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A renowned tactician, the two-time championship winning player also has an eye for identifying and nurturing talent.
It was those traits which convinced Newcastle Jets executive chairman Shane Mattiske - and the owners - that Stanton was the right man to pilot the club for the next two seasons.
Stanton takes the controls from Arthur Papas, who resigned last week and is now reportedly the technical director at Thai champions Burriam United.
The 51-year-old has been Steve Corica's right-hand man at Sydney for the past five seasons and has also worked closely with Socceroos boss Graham Arnold.
"Rob comes to us from a winning club, with a culture of success," Mattiske said. "He served a five-year apprenticeship at Sydney FC, learning from Graham Arnold and Steve Corica. Importantly he knows how to bring a team together to perform. He is a coach we see as being able to build off the last two years. He is aligned to the football philosophy - the style of play that the Jets have."
Corica said Stanton deserved an opportunity to lead a club.
"He is a dedicated football man with a very good tactical brain and he deserves an opportunity to step up," he said.
Before rising to the A-League squad at Sydney, Stanton led the youth team to a title and also had success at Sutherland, winning a NSW NPL premiership.
"He has had that experience of leading a team, whether it is in the NSW NPL or the youth team, and had success at those levels as a head coach," Mattiske said.
"The thing that is strong for Rob is the focus on developing youth. He has demonstrated that skill at Sydney and in his roles prior to that. I know our fans want to see players like Archie Goodwin, Jacob Dowse and Lucas Mauragis do well. Rob is the coach to do that. We will see more youth come into the team."
Stanton, who as a player won consecutive national leagues titles with Wollongong, was among 30 applicants for the job who included high-profile candidates Ruben Zadkovich, Scott McDonald, Alen Stajcic and Aurelio Vidmar.
"Robbie is a hard working coach and someone who lets his efforts do the talking in terms of results," Mattiske said. "For our fans, the things that they enjoyed about the way Newcastle played, they will see more of that under Rob. Ultimately, what is important is that fans see results. We believe we have the coach to deliver those results for us."
Stanton and his assistant, Sutherland Sharks coach Damir Prodanovic, will take their first training session on Tuesday.
The Jets play Melbourne Victory in an Australia Cup qualifier on July 17, giving the new boss three weeks to get the squad in match shape.
"He has a great knowledge of some of our key players, having worked with Brandon [O'Neill] and Trent [Buhagiar] at Sydney," Mattiske said.
"He was also assistant coach to Dwight Yorke of the A-League All-Stars in 2022 and was involved with Reno [Piscopo] and Callum [Timmins]."
As well as prepare for the Australia Cup qualifier, Stanton has four places to fill on the roster and four visa spots available.
James Gardiner
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
