Grant Lee returns home

New Sydney Olympic head coach Grant Lee admits he feels like he is back at home after returning to the club after 18 years.
The premiership winning player for Sydney Olympic took over the reigns after former head coach Peter Tsekenis and assistant coach Peter Papoythis left the club last week.
“I finished here in a player back in 1994/95 so it is almost 20 years ago,’’ Lee told Football NSW.
“But it is just like coming home – I spent eight years here and had a wonderful time, played with some fantastic teams and fantastic footballers.
“The club and its supporters were always very good to me so for me to be back here it doesn’t feel like 20 years being away.’’
After retiring Lee ventured into coaching and first got involved with several NSW age teams before joining Steve O’Connor at the AIS.
“I worked with a whole host of the boys that are in the national programs now that have gone through the last two world cups, it was a fantastic environment to be involved in where I really learnt about coaching,’’ he said.
“Then I moved out of there after David Mitchell asked me to start up all the youth and academy programs at Parramatta Power were we had boys like Brett Holman, Ahmed Elrich and Trent McClenahan coming through.
“After a couple of years I went to Sydney United 58 in the last year of the NSL which was great.
“We had kids who came through that program like Labinot Haliti as a 17-year-old kid and young Dean Heffernan.’’
During the break between the National Soccer League and the inception of the A-league Lee coached Central Coast in the NSW Premier League before taking a break.
More recently he was involved in the coaching set up for Manly United’s women’s program before he signed for Sydney Olympic for the remainder of the 2013 and 2013 seasons.
With great experience in working with youngsters, Lee is eager to give several of Sydney Olympic’s juniors the chance to impress in first grade.
“ It is all about development, looking at the players that are here and the players that are coming through and giving them the confidence to play and play the brand of football that I want them to play.
“It is going to be a work in progress but the nice thing is you can see the quality in some of the boys there and once they get it down on the grass and they play and move that’s what I enjoy and like.’’
Sydney Olympic lost several key players in Phil Makrys, Emmanuel Giannaros and Elsid Barkhousir last week.
Lee said he was confident the club would lure some experienced players to the club as soon as possible but also believes in the club’s depth.
“We need to bolster the squad as we are a little bit thin especially with some injuries,’’ he said.
“But that what the club is there for, that’s what the under-20s squad is there for as well.
“We’ve got a lot of young kids there and at 19 years of age these young kids should be knocking on the door and playing first grade.
“We will definitely have a look at that with Mike Urukalo coming on board with the under-20s we are going to be talking all the time, seeing these kids playing and seeing their capabilities.
“There will be opportunities for the kids. We need to still strike a balance but we will have a look at that in time.’’
-By Chris Georges