New Whittlesea Ranges coach Gianfranco Impellizzeri to targeting promotion in the next couple of years to the top tier of the National Premier League.
The club last week announced that ImpellizzerI would take on the head coaching role, replacing Vinco Buljubasic at the NPL2 club.
Impellizzeri has long been involved in Victorian football, with a long playing and coaching career.
Most recently, he took Dandenong Thunder to the NPL2 east title and promotion this year.
After one season in charge, he left the Thunder.
Impellizzeri said he was excited by his new role at the Ranges.
“It’s a very big job,” he said.
“In my opinion, the club has the potential to become one of the biggest clubs in Victoria, especially in Melbourne’s north.
“My main priority is to get this club promoted. It might not happen straight away and it’s not an easy target, but it is possible.
“I’m going to try and get close in the first season.”
The Ranges finished fifth this year with an 11-6-11 record, after losing several players during the transfer period.
He said he would focus on creating a squad of players that wanted to stay together.
“It’s not going to be easy to become a winning side,” he said. “But I bring experience with me and that’s important to the Ranges.
“NPL 2 is one of the bigger and toughest leagues to get promoted from.
“One of the secrets to football is creating a squad with loyalty and friendship, not just on the pitch.
“One of the bigger tasks is to not only to reach the goal of being promoted, but to have a close group of players.”
Impellizzeri said he would look to add some experience to side, which has a lot of young talent.
He said the talent coming through the ranks was something that had attracted him to the role.
“The Ranges in the past few years has done an amazing job and have become a really powerful club, with close to 40 youth teams,” he said.
“It’s one of the bigger clubs and I’m happy to be involved. Bringing through youth remains one of the targets.
“It’s not only about bringing players through – we want to also get coaches coming through the ranks from juniors to seniors.”
