A BURNING desire to see Ballarat return to Victoria's premier soccer league has driven James Robinson to sign on for a further two years as coach of the Red Devils.
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Robinson was officially announced as coach of the Reds on Tuesday, re-signed as the man in charge of steering Ballarat back to the top tier of the National Premier League Victoria competition.
The Reds were relegated in the cruellest possible fashion in September, relegated due to a 95th-minute goal between Port Melbourne and Werribee on the last game of the year.
The pain of that day still haunts Robinson, who is using it as motivation for Ballarat to win a championship in NPLV1 and return to the top bracket.
"That day was a tough day and still carries on as a tough day and we still learn from it," he said.
"We don't want to sit around and say we are comfortable to be in NPLV1, no chance. We're heading to go straight back up, the desire and the ambition is still there."
Robinson, who was signed in January to lead the club in the inaugural NPLV season, originally came to the club as a player/manager but did not manage to pull on the boots at all for the Reds.
He will operate solely as manager in 2015, with no intention of playing.
The 32-year-old said he was well aware of the challenge of gaining promotion back to NPLV, but the vast majority of the 2014 squad had signalled its intention to stay on.
Star English import Danny O'Donnell is a "95 per cent chance" to remain, although the Reds have lost striker Paul Harvey, Deng Aguek, Sean Harding and goalkeeper Jordan Franken.
Robinson said the relegation back to NPLV1 had made it a challenge to retain the playing list, but the commitment from most players was unquestionable.
"Obviously the boys want to play at the highest level possible," he said.
"A lot of the local boys had offers to go to Melbourne, but they've got the belief and the vision that everybody else here has got - that this club can be something fantastic, and it will be something fantastic."
Reds chairman Duncan Smith said Robinson had always been the main target for the club.
"His professionalism is second to none," Smith said.
"James was a standout to take the position on again and we're very pleased he's accepted the position again."
Jonathan Davey, who turned around Sebastopol Vikings' season in the FFV state league five this season as interim coach, has been appointed as coach of the under-20 side.
The Red Devils season gets underway on February 22 next year.