Murray United senior coach Igor Srbinovski officially departs club

The newly-appointed senior mentor relocated to the Border from Melbourne to take on the top job and run the club's junior Bright Red and SAP program.

Srbinovski led the side in two pre-season fixtures against NPL 1 outfits Oakleigh Cannons and Altona Magic last month, before the club was forced to make the difficult decision to discontinue its senior men's program due to a lack of numbers in the under-18s and under-20s.

"I would firstly like to send my gratitude and appreciation to Darren Yates and the Murray United board for the opportunity to lead the senior men's program," he said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, due to the difficult decision made by the board to indefinitely discontinue the senior men's program, I will be moving on from the club and the region.

"I came to the region with the ambition of establishing a senior program that would cement Murray United as a regional powerhouse in NPL with a key emphasis on homegrown talent, sadly, for many reasons outside of my control, it was not to be.

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"My real disappointment is that the senior men's team was moving forward extremely well and achieving everything that we set out to.

"We showed in our first two pre-season games against NPL1 opposition, Oakleigh Cannons and Altona Magic, that we were able to perform at a high level and compete with the state's best whilst starting with five teenagers and a majority of locally-based players.

"I would like to acknowledge and thank all the players that committed to the program from day one until the very end.

"Their sacrifice and efforts are something that they can look back upon and be proud of, as am I.

"On a personal note, it was a pleasure meeting everyone in the region and having the opportunity to be involved in this great club even if for such a short period.

"My last message is to all the key stakeholders in the region's football community as well as governing bodies.

"I implore that you all set aside any differences, come together and set actions in motion for the greater good of football in the region.

"The youth in this region deserve every opportunity to play football at whatever level they aspire to and the fact that Murray United won't have a pathway to NPL senior football is heart-rending."