The fledgling Sky Blues coach was under pressure to start the season but has come through at the other end
It was always going to be an extremely hard act to follow. Sydney FC were arguably the greatest team the A-League has seen under Graham Arnold - winning an FFA Cup, two premierships and a championship.
During their strongest two campaigns, the last two seasons with Arnold at the helm, the Sky Blues only lost four of 54 A-League home-and-away games in an incredible period of dominance.
Enter the succession plan to new boss Steve Corica this season - who was assistant coach during this successful reign but had never managed his own team.