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A-League aspirants target Liverpool legend
SMH | Tuesday, 06 May 2008

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Liverpool legend Ian Rush has been offered the coaching job at A-League aspirants North Queensland by a consortium hoping to take over the club.


North Queensland and the Gold Coast are likely to join the competition next year - possibly along with a west Sydney team and a second Melbourne side, as Football Federation Australia considers a mass expansion to a 12-team league.

Gold Coast have virtually settled on former Queensland Roar coach Miron Bleiberg for their entry to the competition, while a possible change of ownership structure has paved the way for Rush to become North Queensland's founding coach.

The Townsville side had originally pencilled in former New Zealand international Wynton Rufer for the job, but the initial backers of the NQ bid have since been replaced. Melbourne businesswoman Melissa Fischer-Massa took over the licence earlier this year, but now she too could make way for a partnership between a Melbourne marketing company and Townsville group headed by Don Matheson, who owns The Willows Golf Club.

It is this consortium that recently approached Rush, who has yet to respond to the offer. The new group will make a formal submission to the FFA next week, and is favoured to gain the licence over Fischer-Massa, possibly as early as next month.

Rush has been approached as much for his perceived marketing pull as his coaching ability. Since retiring as a player in 2000 - when he made two appearances as a guest player for Sydney Olympic in the old NSL - the former Wales international has made little impact as a coach. He had a brief spell as part-time strikers coach at Liverpool in 2003 - when he worked under Gerard Houllier - and his only experience as head coach was a turbulent stint at English lower-league side Chester City the following season.

Since then Rush has worked as a television pundit and is employed part-time by the Welsh FA as the elite performance director. If Rush rejects the Townsville offer, it is likely the NQ backers will go with a local coach, with former Sydney FC coach Branko Culina among the contenders.

Meanwhile, Mark Milligan's Olympic dreams are hanging by a thread after he was left out of the Olyroos squad for this month's warm-up tournament in Malaysia for skipping the training camp in Townsville. Milligan's hold on the captaincy is also under threat.

Milligan was hauled before FFA technical director Rob Baan and high performance manager John Boultbee yesterday to explain why he was in England for trials rather than in camp. Milligan is without a contract after finishing his deal with Sydney FC last week and, because of injury, hasn't played competitively since early February. Missing the Malaysian tournament, which starts next week, is a serious blow in his attempt to gain match fitness.

FFA officials issued a brief statement yesterday, saying: "In light of the reasons provided by Milligan, he will not eligible to attend the Olympic football team's Olympic Games preparatory tournament in Malaysia to be held from 13-25 May 2008." No mention was made of whether it would impact Milligan's chances of playing in Beijing.

In A-League news, Perth Glory are edging closer to signing veteran keeper Frank Juric, who wants to return to Australia after a decade in Germany. Juric, 34, has spent most of his time abroad as a second-string keeper, and finishes his deal with Hannover 96 this month.

Perth start pre-season training this week and will compete in a four-team tournament in China next month along with Wellington Phoenix.