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Melbourne Victory expect to return to training next week and have named Grant Brebner interim coach for the remainder of the 2019-20 A-League season.
Melbourne Victory have appointed Grant Brebner as interim head coach for the remainder of the A-League season.
Brebner won two A-League championships as a Victory player and was working as an assistant coach to Carlos Salvachua, before the Spaniard returned to Europe in May.
W-League and academy coach Jeff Hopkins has been named A-League interim assistant coach for the remainder of the season.
Victory were sitting 10th and seven points outside the top six when the season was suspended, and have five regular-season matches to complete.
They expect to return to training next week ahead of a planned mid-July season resumption.
"Grant and Jeff know our players well, and we want the transition to be as seamless as possible," Victory chief executive Trent Jacobs said.
"Their priority will be to get the team to the fitness level required to perform, once the season resumes in mid-July.
"With respect to the search for our next A-League head coach, the recruitment process is progressing and remains on track. We will provide a further update in due course.
"It is not our intention for the successful candidate to be involved in the conclusion of the 2019-20 season, therefore they will be officially taking over in preparation for the commencement of the 2020-21 pre-season."
The FFA has yet to formalise the return to play dates but Brebner said he was looking forward to resuming training, then games.
"It's obviously been a challenging few months, so it's great to get back to work and start preparing to play football again," Brebner said.
"This season hasn't unfolded as planned, but over the coming months the focus for the team will be to enjoy what we do and play tough attacking football, which is what our members and fans expect.
" ... we have a great opportunity over the coming months to lay some strong foundations which the next head coach can then build on next season."
