By Nicholas Creely
Dandenong City has secured a major coup signing Stuart Munro as its coach for next season.
The NPL2 club is now the third south-east club Munro has coached, having previously had stints as coach of the Dandenong Thunder and Oakleigh Cannons.
These two stints were highly successful with Munro leading the Thunder to the 2009 VPL minor premiership and the Cannons to the 2006 VPL minor premiership.
The 54-year-old is a former Scottish professional footballer and a highly rated manager.
After his stunning career spanning almost two decades, Munro left to live in Australia and has gone down the coaching path ever since.
During 2011-13, Munro was an assistant coach at A-League club Perth Glory before he returned to the Thunder as its technical director in the newly formed NPL.
Munro then left the Thunder and took on the senior coaching position at newly formed women’s club Southern United.
The signing of Munro is going to lift City into a strong position to push for promotion from NPL 2 into the top tier of Victorian football.
The club has also announced Tommy Pondeljak as Munro’s right-hand man.
Poneljak has played at a very high level, featuring both in the A-League and NSL throughout his playing career.
In other NPL 2 news, the Thunder has lost Huss Skendevoric to the A-League club Adelaide United, where he will head up the youth development and women’s football programs.
This leaves the Thunder in search of a new senior coach for the 2017 NPL2 season.
However, the Thunder continues to bring good news in terms of player signings.
Former Socceroo/Bundesliga/English Premier League and A-League veteran Simon Colosimo has put pen to paper for a second season.
The 37-year-old defender will continue to add steel to the Thunder defensive unit, as it looks towards 2017.
Thunder Media Director Nait Ragipi told the club’s website that the signing of Colosimo will benefit the club both on and off-field.
“Everything he brings to the club is done with the utmost professionalism and sincerity,” he said.
“He is not just a fantastic player with a huge history behind him, he is a true gentleman and a role model to the youth and upcoming talent around the club, who learn from him and try to emulate him both on and off the pitch.
“What he brings to a club is more valuable gold, and we are very fortunate in having a living footballing legend at our club.
“We’re both proud and humble Shime feels as passionate about our club as we are about having him.”
The re-commitment of Colosimo comes off the other boom signing by the Thunder, when star striker Brandon Barnes decided to stay on at the club last week.
