WAGGA City Wanderers head coach Blaise Fagan will hand over the coaching baton at the end of the season.
The Wanderers advertised coaching positions in July and Fagan has confirmed he will not be throwing his hat in the ring.
Fagan will sit on the judging panel as the club conducts interviews for several roles on August 10.
Fiercely passionate about providing a pathway for aspiring professional soccer players in Wagga, Fagan has not dropped the Wanderers ball altogether.
Fagan has pledged to assist the club in a directorial capacity next season.
“I’ll still be heavily involved, whoever’s going to be the first grade coach, the under 20’s coach and the youth grade coach will be working closely with me,” he said.
Throughout the State League Two competition season he has emphasised that the fledgling club requires patient leaders on board.
“It’s going to take a couple of years to establish everything we want to,” he said in May.
“We’re a progressive club, our ambition is to be competitive.”
The Wanderers have been far from competitive in 2015.
Wagga secured their maiden win on Saturday after 15 rounds.
Fagan reminded The Daily Advertiser the team came close in many of their losses.
“It just shows that the whole time we’ve been very competitive, Saturday was the day we decided to do everything well at once.”
There’s much to build on according to Fagan.
“There are many lessons learned, from selection of players to the conduct of trials, to the involvement of community,” Fagan said.
“We’ll be consulting with whole football community, we want this thing to grow.”
A shortage of senior players and a lack of depth has damaged the squad’s chances this season.
Selectors had not accounted for the volume of injuries and suspensions the team would face.
With two rounds to go, Wagga will need a miracle to avoid the wooden spoon in the State League 2 competition.
The Wanderers may not have to look too far to secure a head coach replacement. The club has interest from a number of applicants including local soccer stalwart Andrew Douglas.
Douglas, who has worked behind the scenes as the Wanderers assistant coach this season has secured an interview for the job.
However the club and Douglas have assured The Daily Advertiser there’s nothing in concrete yet.
