If you want something done right, do it yourself.
Shepparton Soccer Club is kneeling at the promised land’s doors for the first time since 2019 and there’s no better figure to step in as coach than the latest appointment.
Lifetime Red and club president Stefo Radevski has put his name down to serve as division one mentor in 2024, with the top-flight finally at arm’s reach after five years.
COVID-19 forced the club off the pitch in 2020 and 2021, while refurbishments to home ground Vibert Reserve put a spanner in the works during 2022.
The club re-entered the fold in 2023 with entry into the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League division two ― a completely new format ― and after the side topped the ladder, promotion brings a return to division one football.
It comes with a caveat: Shepparton requires a senior and reserve side to be eligible and for now, that’s the priority.
Shepparton needed someone at the table’s head and Radevski will be precisely that ― for now.
“I was speaking to Donny Stojanovski about who we were going to approach and I said to him, ‘you know what, I think I’m just going to do it myself’,” he said.
“Next year is our 65th anniversary; I may as well do it ― I’m going to be there anyway.
“I know the game just as well as anyone in our area and, so in order to bring a bit more stability going into div one, I think it was the right thing to do to keep that role as someone who’s homegrown, part of that club.”
Radevski said if a better candidate emerged in the coming months he wouldn’t be afraid to surrender power.
However, to get the ball rolling, Shepparton needed a coach.
The new Reds’ manager knows the club inside out and, as for coaching, Radevski has a successful track record.
It’s not what you’d guess, though.
He recently lifted the Shepparton Netball Association 15-and-under premiership cup with Mooroopna’s division two side, his daughter’s team.
He knows the task in 2024 will come with more scrutiny and pressure than youth netball, but has set realistic ambitions for Shepparton’s re-entrance to division one football.
“We’ll look to try and build a competitive team,” he said.
“To say that we’re going to build a team to go out there and smash every other club and win it, I’d be stupid in saying that or even thinking that.
“But as long as we’re competitive, that’s the main thing, and bringing back the culture we used to have, bridging that gap between juniors and seniors even more so and making it a destination club for people in the area.”
Radevski has sounded the klaxons for past Reds to throw the boots back on while sounding out interest from Melbourne and current division two players.
He admits while Vibert Reserve may not have the same appeal as the “glitz and glamour of Shepp Sports City”, youth numbers are on the rise.
Shepparton fielded 110 juniors in 2023, the highest ever at the club, and strong ties to Goulburn Valley Suns and Melbourne’s Preston Lions provide a genuine semi-professional pathway.