He may be 36 now, but Juan Mata still turns heads in Australia, especially in opposition dugouts. Mark Jackson smiles as he recounts last week’s trip to Western Sydney Wanderers with Central Coast Mariners. The former Leeds United coach started an 18-year-old goalkeeper, a 17-year-old attacker and introduced a 16-year-old after 11 minutes. By stark contrast, the hosts rolled out their Spanish World Cup winner.
Nobody said this move to the other side of the world would be easy for Jackson. They won the game 3-1 with a little help from former Leeds academy graduate Ryan Edmondson. It was only a second victory in seven outings. Jackson’s side needed it in what has been a chastening start to his second season Down Under.
The 47-year-old has set the bar high with his achievements. His first season was a roaring success, which ended with an unprecedented treble for the A-League side. Central Coast won the Premiership (the 27-match regular season table), the Championship (the post-season play-offs involving the top six teams) and AFC Cup (the second-tier Asian club competition). Jackson was named A-League Manager of the Year.
Jackson and his players celebrate Grand Final success (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
After 13 games, Central Coast are 10th of 13 teams before the latest round begins. Jackson, who played for Leeds from 1995-2000 before a career in the EFL, saw his squad pulled apart after last season’s success, but he is relishing the challenge of rebuilding this team once again, with familiar faces around him. Ex-Leeds players Edmondson and Alfie McCalmont are on the pitch and Danny Schofield, a former youth coach at Thorp Arch, but best known for his spells at Huddersfield Town and Doncaster Rovers, is by Jackson’s side.
“There was no thought in my mind I’m going over there to be forgotten about,” Jackson tells The Athletic. “I was really confident in my ability. Myself and Danny spent quite a lot of time together in the time we were out of work. We built our relationship as two professionals.
“Danny being the top coach he is, with the aspiration to get back into coaching, not necessarily management like myself. We felt we made a good team and could offer something when the right opportunity came. We were watching games together and just waiting for that chance.”
Jackson had been out of work for four months when he was offered the chance to transform his and his family’s lives in Australia. He had been sacked by Milton Keynes Dons after failing to halt their slide into League Two in 2022-23. It was his Mariners predecessor, Nick Montgomery, who got Jackson’s foot in the door.
Leeds-born Montgomery, who’s now on Tottenham Hotspur’s coaching staff, had an existing relationship with Jackson and held the door open for him in New South Wales on his way to Hibernian in Scotland. It was a baptism of fire for Jackson, which saw him walking out on his son Lucas’ birthday to fly out on his own.
“Nothing prepares for the reality when you pack your bags, you leave your family and you jump on a plane, on my son’s birthday as well,” he said. “It was difficult. Danny had not got over the line yet with his role there, so I was out there first. We had certain stipulations because I was working on my Pro Licence. We had a lot of hurdles to navigate in that time, but we were really confident we could go over there and really implement our style and our coaching philosophy.”
Jackson flew out in September 2023 and was soon joined by Schofield, but his family did not follow until January 2024. He has been with his wife, Katie, since he was 14 years old. She has been by his side throughout his career. She is used to moving around, but this has been bigger than anything they have done before.
Onto 2025 🎉….Happy New Year to all my family & friends close by & far away ❤️ 🇦🇺🏴🌎❤️ pic.twitter.com/g8X8CwuW0Y
— Mark Jackson (@jacko55555) December 31, 2024
“When you go into a new club, and a new country, you have to immerse yourself in everything,” he said. “It’s football 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even now they’re over here it’s not changed much. To be able to go home to your family on an evening and spend time with them when you do get a little bit of time to relax, to see they’re enjoying life and giving them that life experience to live in a new country. My two daughters are here. Their boyfriends are here. My dog’s over here now. Danny’s got his family.”
Bringing staff and family to Australia is one thing, but Jackson, who admits budgets are tight at Central Coast, has dipped into his contacts book to bring players over too. McCalmont and Edmondson, who played under him at Leeds in the under-18 and under-23 ranks, needed some convincing.
“It’s not an easy sell,” said Jackson. “You speak about the projects of what we want to do. You speak about the history of what the Mariners have done in past years, with previous managers as well, how you’re giving younger players, or players who were stagnating somewhere, an opportunity to come and play, showcase their talent, and then get back on the merry-go-round back home or higher up in Europe or Asia.
“When you come to this side of the world, it really opens your eyes into what is in China, Asia, Japan, and those kind of countries and those kind of leagues.”
The merry-go-round, as Jackson calls it, is inescapable when discussing this Australian project. The assumption, from afar, is this move has been a more circuitous route to returning to an EFL job. It is not as simple as that, says Jackson. Asia, where Jackson faced the likes of Brazilian midfielder Oscar playing in China, is mentioned more than once as a possibility.
Jackson, with chairman Richard Peil, centre, and Schofield (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
None of this is discussed with any disrespect to Jackson’s present posting. He is visibly delighted to be building this project with Central Coast. Open questions about his future career are put to him. Graham Potter, who went to Ostersund in Sweden to prove his worth, is as an example.
“You never know in this game,” he said. “Certainly, myself and I know Danny as well, we want to coach at the highest level possible. Sometimes you have to maybe take a step back somewhere and go and experience something different, or do things in a different way. Graham Potter did.
“That gives us belief we’re on the right track and as long as we keep working hard and developing individuals, developing teams, developing ourselves, we can have success through our careers.”
Two years of learning & development with exceptional managers, coaches & educators on the UEFA Pro Licence.
Thanks to everyone who shared this journey & congratulations to the Pro Licence Class of 23/24 pic.twitter.com/uJvL8vKHpi— Mark Jackson (@jacko55555) June 7, 2024
If Jackson does eventually find his way home, he will likely find many of his finest success stories blossoming in England’s top two divisions. His success with United’s under-18s and under-23s is what initially got his foot in the door with Jesse Marsch before that leap to Milton Keynes.
Messages with Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood, Charlie Cresswell and Sean McGurk have been exchanged in recent weeks as Jackson admires their progress and various moves around the country, or into France in Cresswell’s case.
“With the 18s, and when I moved up to the 23s, to lead a group like that and to be entrusted to develop highly talented young individuals coming in (was special),” he said. “The club had a real go with the likes of Joffy (Gelhardt), Sam Greenwood, Crysencio Summerville coming in, Lewis Bate.
“They were highly thought of youngsters, but they were still developing. It was a huge responsibility and one I really enjoyed. I say now, it’s just not about one person who works with a young player, it’s about staff and having staff around those young players to help and develop in all areas of their game.
“We did that successfully. There were challenges working in the environment because, ultimately, when you’re working at 23s, it’s all about you readying the players for the first team. It’s not about results, but we had good young players in there. We managed to get both. We got players into the first team and have success within that under-23s group as well, which is difficult.
“There’s nothing prouder than seeing a young player step forward, someone like a Charlie Cresswell making his debut. Summerville, Joffy, Greenwood, all these players, it’s really good to see them making progress and playing at a very high level still.”
It is a high level we might yet be seeing Jackson at if he continues to lift trophies in Australia.
(Top photo: Albert Perez/Getty Images)
