Graham Arnold spoke to the media after it was announced he would be continuing in his role as Subway Socceroos Head Coach until the end of the next FIFA World Cup™ in 2026.
Watch the full press conference below or read on for the full transcript of his main points.
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Opening remarks…
I'd like to pass on my gratitude and thanks to Chris Nikou and the board and James Johnson and the organisation for throwing their trust and faith in me again to do another cycle with the Socceroos. I just love them. Every time I put that Socceroos shirt on and I'm around the Socceroos, I bleed Green and Gold. It's just always been a special time in my life. Whenever you're in with the Socceroos, it's always a special moment.
Obviously, it's been a tough road at times, but I have so much belief in the group of players and the great staff that you know this is just a start. Obviously Qatar was a fantastic achievement, but there's plenty more to come and I truly believe that. So I'm really looking forward to what's in front of us.
Reasons for re-signing…
Yes I had interest from overseas, but I want to help Australia and help Australian kids. I took the Olyroos on last campaign to help Australian kids and as I said to JJ (Football Australia CEO James Johnson) in Qatar, if I did consider staying on, and I want to stay on, it's not just about the Socceroos. I want to help Australian kids. I want to help the pathways. I want to help get the Socceroos a home.
The Socceroos don't have a home. Football for the kids, the pathways, and there's no home of football. How can you have a football culture if you don't have a home? All the years that I've been around Australian football, it's probably over 45 or 46 years, the organisation is always here or there and get moved around. I said to JJ and the board that if I did stay on it's something that I want to do, to leave a legacy for men's football. So it wasn't just a matter of just signing for the Socceroos.
Yes I looked at other clubs - I could have gone to Europe and had a couple of offers from Middle Eastern nations but at the end of the day, I want to help Australia. Probably what inspired me the most was seeing those fan sites, seeing how the Socceroos reunited the nation and seeing how many people love Australian football. And just to see that was something that's just driven me even more to help the game as much as I can over the next three and a half years, not just the Socceroos.
More in the tank...
If I honestly thought that we'd reached our max I would have gone, but I don't believe that. I have so much belief that we have so much more to do and I spoke to quite a number of the players to get the vibe from them as well, as if they feel that we've got more to achieve and all of them were like, 'we're only 50% Arnie.'
We've got so much more with these kids coming through. So it's one step at a time. What's great is that potentially this year we're going to have some friendlies here in Australia to build on that. But also it's one step at a time that one step and first step is the Asian Cup. Last time I did the Asian Cup in 2018. It was more of a talent ID-type Asian Cup because I knew there were going to be all those retirements that happened.
Future team objectives…
As I said, one step at a time. The first step is going to the Asian Cup to be successful and win it. Secondly is direct qualification for the World Cup because I really don't want to go through that (the play-off process) again. And thirdly, to achieve more than what we did at the World Cup (in 2022). So when you look at those three goals, and I put that to those players and the senior boys and they're all on board with that, they understand exactly what I believe in and what I expect from the players and so, looking at that again, there is so much more improvement to do. Yes we can always look back and say well, we went through a tough time with COVID, and we went through that. But I still say this and I truly believe it, yes, it was hard.
But what it did do was built this great culture that we've got. And because of COVID, because of the number of players that were ruled out, it created depth. Today is a new day. It's a new campaign, we're starting over again, I said this last time but there's no guarantees. All players that are eligible for Australia are on the selection sheet today to be chosen for the rest of this campaign. We've got some very good kids overseas and René Meulensteen will be staying on and he will be working overseas to look at those kids overseas, but also there's a few kids that have Australian passports that can play for us as well. It's important that we get to those kids as well, I think what we achieved in Qatar will inspire those to play for Australia and the Socceroos.
Importance of stability and continued improvement…
I truly believe, and again I'm so appreciative of this, that stability is key. Now this will be probably the first time that I can remember since Frank Arok that we're going to have that type of stability and I know as a player back in those days, okay we didn't make the World Cup, but to be able to continue and move forward. And it's not like we got everything perfect in the last campaign.
There was a lot of improvement, even on the staff side of things, the resources side of things that we're talking about with the government, helping with some high-performance funding for the Socceroos to give us what is required to be one of the best nations in the world. So we've got so much improvement in front of us and cleaning up and fixing up that as I said, I expect a great three-and-a-half years ahead.
Ensuring pathways in place for future Australian internationals…
The kids are out there. Like I'm watching the A-League every week and you've seen some kids there that are doing exceptionally well and kids overseas. Tony Vidmar is holding a European-type talent identification camp in Italy in March. And as JJ said, as part of my role to mentor and help those three coaches (Brad Maloney, Trevor Morgan and Tony Vidmar), it's just so crucial that we get that right. The planning and the preparation for the junior national teams because the Socceroos just don't happen just out of the blue.
The ingredients need to be there. And the preparation needs to be perfect, the planning so when I go and just help Tony Vidmar when I say that and just in a position of just being there, just in case, because of all the experiences I've had, and to see those young kids in the Under 23s to qualify for France Olympics next year in 2024. Again, it's just a compact again, it's not another normal cycle. It's a three-and-a-half-year cycle with a lot more teams. And we're still instead of playing 20 games, we're playing 16 with direct qualification. It's just so important that the kids are given that opportunity to come through.
Discussions with the older players currently in the squad...
As I said to the older players, it's one step at a time. I've never ever dropped a player or retired a player without telling him or just left him out completely and didn't say anything to him. I communicate with that and exactly like I did with Timmy Cahill, (and) Mile Jedinak. I ring them, talk to them, and at the end of the day, yes I'm saying that, you know it's going to be difficult. We got these kids coming through. It's your decision. Do you want to stay on or do you want to retire?
And so it's at the end of the day, it's their decision if they want to retire. But it's about the respect for the players and making sure that they're looked after and, you know, why would someone retire at 30 or 31 when they could be Olivier Giroud, Lionel Messi. That age to get to a World Cup. It's all about what their mind is telling them and what their desire is moving forward that if they want to do another World Cup campaign, at the age of 30-34. Because as I said before, many times, they have to get what's right at club land and are playing a lot of football, a lot of match minutes. (They're) fit, hungry, healthy, and they all want to play in our Green and Gold shirt.
More government funding needed…
The funding will help the programs but again, the home of football is crucial. You know if there's something that we've missed out on that every other sport gets. NRL, club teams, get funding and get to fantastic training facilities. AFL clubs, fantastic training facilities. We're a national team. We play worldwide and we've got nothing, we've got nowhere to go. We don't have a museum.
If we had a perfect facility that they would help us with. That could be training grounds to run the pathways. It'd be a great little stadium that we could play in and we can have a museum to respect all those players like the Harry Kewell's, the Timmy Cahill's and Johnny Warren's of the world that have done so much for Australian football, that will not be forgotten and that will inspire the kids to become those type of people by having that.
Hopes for the game by 2026…
Everyone loves football in this country. When the Socceroos play, the Matildas play, national teams play, every AFL fan becomes a football fan, every NRL fan becomes a football fan. And it's in everyone's heart. It's there, we've just got to get it out a little bit more. And, you know, if I don't have a role to help the APL, you know, but I'm there for advice if need be. But, again, it's just the pathways in the development of the game and making sure that we that at the end, just seeing kids fulfil their dreams- that's the most important thing.
When you see players go overseas and doing what they're doing today, it reminds me of the years ago when you know, the Harry Kewell's and even when I went away in 1990, to play over in Europe, you just want to see kids fulfil their dreams and their potential because they all have it in them it's just getting it out of them.