MICHAEL Trigger has returned to Ballarat City FC senior men's team as manager as the club looks to turn around their disappointing season and remain in NPL3 into next season.
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Trigger, who led the team in 2022, departed at the end of last season to Preston after the team avoided relegation with a last day win.
He has been called upon again after the departure of Harry Bingham, which was announced on Wednesday after 11 NPL3 games in charge.
The task ahead of Trigger is immense as the club looks to remain at NPL level, but in his words "the ladder doesn't lie", so he's aware of what is required, pointing to his role as a long-term one going forward.
"It's something that's only come about in the last 48 hours or so, I didn't think I'd be back so quickly, but things didn't quite work out as I thought elsewhere, so the timing was right," he said.
On the pitch, Trigger was previously one of City FC's most important players leading the club with 13 goals in his 21 games last season.
He said his focus in the short term would be on improving from each training session, to each game, starting with his first training session on Thursday night.
But he said he saw his role in the long term as re-building the culture the be the pathway destination for all juniors in across the western district to strive to.
"We want to stay in NPL, None of us want to be back in State League, but right now we know the performances have simply not been good enough," he said.
"We will strive for what we can achieve now, but if next year, wherever we are, hopefully NPL, it would be great to have a boring year where we can consolidate."
