Former Socceroo John Aloisi completed his impressive coaching comeback this season by guiding Western United to the 2021-22 A-League Men championship.
Aloisi’s side finished the regular season in third before beating premiers Melbourne City 2-0 in the grand final.
The former Australian striker had been without a coaching job for three years since parting ways with Brisbane Roar in 2018.
Now in charge of his third A-League Men club, the 46-year-old hit the ground running with Western as they secured their first piece of silverware in his first season at the helm.
With Aloisi’s coaching reputation restored, he has been thrown in the mix to one day become Socceroos coach.
Graham Arnold is unlikely to continue in that role should Australia fail to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and while a dream job for Aloisi, he was coy about being handed the role anytime soon.
“I’d like to hope and believe Australia are going to make the World Cup first. I want Arnie and I believe in Arnie that they will make the World Cup,” Aloisi said on the Football From A to Z podcast.
“But I mentioned that of course I’d love to coach Australia one day. That should be every coach’s dream. It was a dream of mine as a player and it’s no different as a coach.
“I want to coach the Socceroos one day. When that happens, if it ever happens, I don’t know and whether they’d come calling I’ve got no idea.
"But it’s something that’s always in the back of my mind. It’s a dream of mine and it’s a goal that I will have."
🎶 Oh, John Aloisi 🎶
— Western United FC 🏆 (@wufcofficial) May 31, 2022
Wait for it 🤣 pic.twitter.com/GucbMk0bMr
Aloisi’s rise back up the coaching ranks comes after a challenging few years where he missed out on numerous jobs in the A-League Men.
The ex-Socceroo was particularly close to becoming Melbourne Victory coach in 2020 before falling short, but hasn’t taken such rejections to heart.
“I don’t know if they (Victory) regret it but I was one of the candidates. I interviewed a few times there, spoke to the board and I was confident that I had the job but I ended up missing out,” Aloisi said.
“Part of coaching, and it’s the same with playing, you’re going to have your set-backs, your times where you’re not wanted by certain people.
“One thing about it is you don’t go away thinking it’s personal because there’s obviously reasons why they don’t want you. It might not be what you're like as a coach, it might not be what you’re like as a person - you’re just not the right fit in that moment.
“It is hard. You never like to miss out on a job you think you can do well in.
“It wasn’t only that one. I interviewed for the Newcastle job just before Craig Deans got it and then I was sort of starting a process with Adelaide United as well before Carl (Veart) got it but they cut that short because they were confident in Carl which is fair enough.
“There were a few jobs I did go for. It was three years. Three years is a long time without coaching, without work.”
After a stellar comeback season with Western United, Aloisi plans to take a short break in Spain over the off-season before planning his club's championship defence.
