Craig Deans (born 7 May 1974) is an Australian former

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player and former head coach of the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

Playing career

Deans was a central defender for multiple Australian clubs, with most of his appearances coming in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

. He made only two appearances in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

before a long period of injury Deans forced him into retirement as a professional player in 2007. He had success with the Perth Glory, winning two titles at the club.

Coaching career

In 2008, Deans became the inaugural

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

coach for the

for their team in the new

A-League National Youth League A-League Youth, formerly known as the National Youth League and Y-League, is an Australian national soccer youth developmental and under-21s league, founded by Football Federation Australia and now run by the Australian Professional Leagues. Th ...

. On 5 October 2011, he was appointed interim manager of the

after the sacking of

Branko Culina Branko Culina (; born 1 October 1957 in Zadar, Socialist Republic of Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a football (soccer) coach and former player. He previously managed Sydney FC and the Newcastle Jets in the A-League. Club career Culina was born in ...

. He returned to his previous job when a full time manager was appointed. In 2014 he took over the club's youth team, and then in 2015 he became the head coach of the Women's team. In the 2015/16 W-League season he won the Coach of the Year award for rebuilding a Newcastle Jets team that had senior players

Emily van Egmond Emily Louise van Egmond (born 12 July 1993) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for San Diego Wave FC and the Australia women's national team. She previously played for German side 1. FFC Frankfurt and VfL Wo ...

Hayley Crawford Hayley Crawford (born 27 March 1984) is an Australian soccer player who played as a midfielder for Newcastle Jets and Canberra United in the W-League and for Macarthur Rams. She has also captained Newcastle Jets. She has represented Austral ...

, Tori Huster, Angela Salem, Katherine Reynolds and Amber Neilson all exit the club in the off-season. After the sacking of

Ernie Merrick Ernest Merrick OAM (born 15 January 1953) is a Scottish-Australian coach, who last managed A-League soccer club Newcastle Jets. He was released on 6 January 2020. He was the former head coach of the Hong Kong national football team and A-League ...

in Round 13 of the 2019/20 A-League season he once again took the role of interim manager. He had the role for 5 games, with 1 win, 1 draw and 3 defeats and did not apply for the role on a full-time basis. After

Carl Robinson Carl Robinson (born 13 October 1976) is a retired Welsh international footballer who played as a central midfielder. He is currently the assistant coach for Major League Soccer club D.C. United. Club career Wolverhampton Wanderers Robinson s ...

was appointed Deans went back to his usual role as an assistant coach.

Newcastle Jets Head Coaching Appointment

When Robinson joined the

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

after they had sacked

Jean-Paul de Marigny Jean-Paul de Marigny (born 21 January 1964, in Mauritius) is an Assistant Coach with Melbourne Victory. Jean-Paul is a former Socceroo. Managerial career Melbourne Victory de Marigny served as an assistant coach of A-League side Melbourne Victo ...

prior to the start of the Covid delayed 2020/21 season, Deans once again took the interim head coaching role with his first game a 1–0 loss to the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2020. Unlike earlier occasions Deans applied to take over the head coaching role permanently. After 7 games his side had 2 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses then on Wednesday the 10th of February 2021 he was appointed on a two-year contract as the full time head coach. On 3 June 2021, Deans announced that he would be resigning as the manager of the Newcastle Jets at the conclusion of the season.

Honours

With

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

: * NSL Championship: 2002–2003, 2003–2004 With Newcastle Jets: * W-League Coach of the Year : 2015–16

References

External links

Newcastle Jets profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deans, Craig 1974 births Living people Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Australian soccer players A-League Men players National Soccer League (Australia) players Carlton S.C. players Perth Glory FC players Newcastle Jets FC players Newcastle Jets FC managers A-League Men managers A-League Women managers Association football defenders Newcastle United Jets FC players Australian soccer coaches