NEW Oldham Athletic head coach Harry Kewell believes he will be better for previous experiences of managing in Sky Bet League Two.
The 41-year-old, a former Leeds United and Liverpool forward, had previously in charge of Crawley Town and Notts County.
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Kewell, capped 58 times by Australia, said: “It’s important that you learn from your experiences.
“The Crawley situation was fantastic. I absolutely enjoyed it and had a wonderful time.
“I then obviously had the move to Notts County and again the fans and the staff were excellent, but it didn’t work out.
“Now I have the opportunity to come to a huge club and to again show what I am capable of doing.
“I’m excited. I absolutely love being a head coach and I love the league itself so this opportunity that I have to represent Oldham, a club that has got great history, is something I’m really looking forward to.
On what to expect from his team, Kewell explained he wants hardworking and passionate people around him.
He continued: “I want a winning mentality and to be winning games.
“I’m a firm believer on styles of play, but people figure that out so you’ve got to be able to change it, be able to adapt.
“I think that’s the problem with people when you get stuck with one idea, you get figured out.
“You’ve got to be able to accept sometimes football is going to change. Control what you can control.”
Kewell added he had spoken to owner Abdallah Lemsagam about the kind of players he would like and the size of the squad.
“That’s heading in the right direction and now we’ve just got to execute it,” he continued.
And drawing on his own experiences as a player and manager, Kewell added: “From my history of playing the game and the moments in my management career, the one thing that the fans will get is 100 per cent.
“They’ll get hard work and they’ll see a head coach that will give his all and I will make sure that every player will give 100 per cent. There is no room for no one dropping off and that’s what I’ll promise them.
“If the results are not there, it won’t be through a lack of trying. We will give it our all.
“I’m excited about the project and don’t get me wrong it’s going to take time. The one thing I think this club does need is stability and if we can get that, then we can start to grow things.
“We’ve got to get back to the basics and we’re having a ‘clean slate’ here now and I think the fans, myself, the owner, everybody wants to start seeing this club progress because we all believe that’s there’s a big potential.”
Kewell, remarkably, becomes the seventh manager/head coach to work for Abdallah Lemsagam, who officially became owner in January 2018.
He succeeds outgoing head coach Dino Maamria, in a message to fans, sent a farewell message to fans on social media in which he reflected on his time at Boundary Park and the reason behind his departure.
Maamria, appointed in September 2019 after Latics had picked up four points from their opening nine league games with their status as an EFL club in jeopardy, said: “When I took over, the club was in a difficult situation with a squad of 32 players.
“The club’s objective was to stabilise them and keep them in the EFL. We achieved that with a 19-point gap to the bottom then rebuild in the summer to create a competitive team that reflects the town and which the fans could relate to.
“Unfortunately, that was cut short due to our different vision in moving the club forward.”
• Former player Anthony Gerrard has provided a fly-on-the-wall insight into life at Boundary Park in a podcast on his career. However, potential listeners beware, the language is industrial to put it mildy.
