Rene Meulensteen

Rene Meulensteen is currently assistant manager of Australia. He has forged a hugely impressive reputation for himself during a long career working alongside Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. After retiring from playing in the lower leagues of his native Netherlands at the age of 29, he began coaching the youth teams at NEC Nijmegen. His next step saw him work with famed Dutch coach Will Coerver in Qatar, with Meulensteen coaching the national side at various youth levels. As his reputation continued to grow, he was offered the manager's job at Al-Ittihad where he won the Arab Cup. He then took a similar role with Al-Sadd, with whom he won the Qatar version of the FA Cup. He arrived at Old Trafford in 2001 and was tasked with coaching the club's youngsters, specifically concentrating on the technical aspect of the game. When United's reserve-team manager left four years later, Ferguson turned to Meulensteen to take over and it proved an inspired decision as they went on to win the FA Premier Reserve League Shield, the Premier Reserve League North and the Manchester Senior Cup. Meulensteen's progress didn't go unnoticed and he was subsequently approached by Brondby to become their new manager. However, due to differences in opinion as to the best way to take the club forward, his time in Denmark was short-lived and he returned to Manchester in January 2007 when he was made technical skills development officer. He held that role until September 2008 when, after a management reshuffle following Carlos Queiroz's departure, he was promoted to first-team coach. Following Ferguson's retirement at the end of the 2012/13 season, Meulensteen too left the club. Following a brief stint in charge of Russian outfit Anzhi Makhachkala he took over at Fulham. He was subsequently head coach of Maccabi Haifa in Israel and Kerala Blasters in India before becoming assistant to Graham Arnold in Australia in 2018.