Former Murray United coach James Coutts calls for regional support

James Coutts led the Border NPL outfit to its highest ever finish, fifth in 2017, and was extremely sad to see the club withdraw from senior competition this week.

While he knows mistakes have been made in the club's short history, Coutts is adamant a lack of support for regional clubs from Football Victoria has been the major factor in Murray's recent demise.

"You'll see some stuff on social media and everyone is very quick now to look at pointing blame," Coutts said.

"People will either say 'AWFA didn't support with players, clubs held onto their own,' or some might say 'Murray didn't do enough', but I think it's wrong.

"Unfortunately the NPL structure is not conducive for the amount of teams required and players required in regional areas. It's as simple as that.

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"In my opinion, FFV (Football Victoria) has a lot to answer for if they want regional players and regional teams to be successful and sustainable long term.

"It's happened already at Bendigo, it's happened now at Murray and I know there's been similar concerns at other regional clubs as well.

"Three or four years ago we met with FFV and we had concerns then with the pool of players between the age of 15 and 18 within regional football because not enough want to go down the elite player pathway.

"There's no hiding behind it, it's expensive. There's big fees, there's travel on top of it.

"I know there's been some clubs in AWFA who have been amazingly positive and have got great setups there to help players progress, but my view on it is having both under-18 and under-20 squads under the seniors is not going to work."

Coutts added if there had been more support from Football Victoria and a better understanding on the outlook for regional clubs, Murray could have survived.

"I've been at North Geelong for the last couple of years and the problem with under-18s and under-20s isn't just regional," he said.

"It's very much highlighted in regional areas because the pool of players is smaller, however, I know there's clubs in Melbourne that have under-18s and under-20s that they know are not going to make it to their seniors and are nowhere near the standard, but they have to fill spots.

"That is wrong in terms of junior development and we had to do it at Murray at times, however, if you don't do it, as per what's happened now, you don't field a team and you haven't got a club.

"There needs to be a lot of questions answered by FFV and the NPL structure as to is this really working for every club? Not just your metros or your high-end clubs who bulk all their groups because they've got the budget to support what they want.

"Are they really helping out every player and every team in the state to give them the best chance at succeeding? I think regional clubs are being failed."

Coutts said it was an unfortunate outcome for Murray to pull the pin, but believes it's important for the club to reflect on everything it has achieved.

"I feel for a lot of players locally like Melkie (Woldemichael), Sean Pye and Lewis Greenwood, who have been there for a while and now unfortunately there is no pathway for them," he said.

"Also for the young players coming through who would still like a pathway locally.

"I've spoken to (chairman) Darren Yates in the last two days about how positive the female program is and the juniors as well with (technical director) Adam Carty.

"They've put in so much effort for this club.

"It's unfortunate with the seniors and what's happened, but there can be much more attention put on the junior program that Adam has done an unbelievable job with.

"I'm sure there's going to be some people who might be happy and there might be a bit of 'I told you so', but I know the effort that has gone in behind the scenes to get to this point."