Craig Deans

Craig Deans
Personal information
Full name	Craig Deans
Date of birth	7 May 1974 (age 49)
Place of birth	Perth, Western Australia
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Centre back
Senior career*
Years	Team
1998	Western Knights
1998–1999	Perth Glory
1999–2000	Carlton SC
2000–2004	Perth Glory
2003–2004	Newcastle United
2005–2007	Newcastle Jets
Managerial career
2008–2010	Newcastle Jets Youth
2010–2011	Newcastle Jets (assistant)
2011	Newcastle Jets (interim)
2011–2014	Newcastle Jets (assistant)
2014–2015	Newcastle Jets Youth
2015–2020	Newcastle Jets FC W-League
2020	Newcastle Jets (interim)
2020–2021	Newcastle Jets (interim)
2021	Newcastle Jets
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Craig Deans (born 7 May 1974) is an Australian former

Newcastle Jets

.

Playing career

Deans was a central defender for multiple Australian clubs, with most of his appearances coming in the

A-League

before a long period of injury Deans forced him into retirement as a professional player in 2007. He had success with the Perth Glory, winning two titles at the club.

Coaching career

In 2008, Deans became the inaugural

A-League National Youth League.^[1]

On 5 October 2011, he was appointed interim manager of the

Newcastle Jets after the sacking of Branko Culina.^[2]

He returned to his previous job when a full time manager was appointed.

In 2014 he took over the club's youth team, and then in 2015 he became the head coach of the Women's team.

In the 2015/16 W-League season he won the Coach of the Year award for rebuilding a Newcastle Jets team that had senior players Emily van Egmond, Hayley Crawford, Tori Huster, Angela Salem, Katherine Reynolds and Amber Neilson all exit the club in the off-season.

After the sacking of Ernie Merrick in Round 13 of the 2019/20 A-League season he once again took the role of interim manager. He had the role for 5 games, with 1 win, 1 draw and 3 defeats and did not apply for the role on a full-time basis. After Carl Robinson was appointed Deans went back to his usual role as an assistant coach.

Newcastle Jets Head Coaching Appointment

When Robinson joined the

Central Coast Mariners on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2020. Unlike earlier occasions Deans applied to take over the head coaching role permanently.^[3] After 7 games his side had 2 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses then on Wednesday the 10th of February 2021 he was appointed on a two-year contract as the full time head coach.^[4]

On 3 June 2021, Deans announced that he would be resigning as the manager of the Newcastle Jets at the conclusion of the season.[5]^[6]