It was announced on Wednesday morning that van’t Schip resigned from the role to attend to his terminally ill father back home in the Netherlands.

Valkanis came from Adelaide United last season where he spent 13 years as a player and assistant coach. The caretaker position is familiar to the 42-year-old who was temporarily in charge of the Reds after John Kosmina's resignation in 2013.

He also conceded there were tears after the Dutchman briefed his squad for the last time and paid tribute to his contribution in his six years at the club.

“He gave me a call, he spoke to me personally and then we met the next day to speak again. I’m not going to lie that we didn’t get emotional about it,” Valkanis said.

“It’s amazing how in a short time how much we bonded and how close we really got when he told me. I was in complete shock because I didn’t see the year ending without him being next to me.

 “He had a word to the team in terms of quickly focusing on the next game and giving support to the coaching staff and focusing on the staff at hand and continuing on what we set out to achieve.

JvS lifts the FFA Cup trophy with his team after defeating Sydney FC 1-0

“He’s a special person, a gentlemen, a real football person and for me personally one I thoroughly enjoyed working with, we all did.

“As coaching staff we had a good time and it’s important he brought the first piece of silverware to the club as well.

“I don’t think he’ll ever be forgotten here and we have a lot of respect for him.”

City play Western Sydney Wanderers at home on Friday night and could welcome back Osama Malik and Michael Jakobsen from injury.

Valkanis now faces the task of turning around the club’s slump after being winless since winning the FFA Cup in November.

He conceded the workload has increased heavily for the coaching staff, especially for assistant coach Joe Montemurro who is also the head coach of City’s W-League team.

He said van’t Schip had full faith in him to continue their possession based football and to take the team forward.

“There’s a philosophy at the club, I was brought here at the beginning because I’m a believer of this philosophy and the football we want to play,” he said.

“I worked under John because we were both on the same page... We’re very lucky and comfortable here and we’ve got a lot of good people who work at the club.

“There’s a lot of belief in the staff and Pep (Montemurro) was doing a great job when I was an assisting John. Pala (youth coach Joe Palatsides) will also step up.”

Valkanis is excited to partake in his first game as head coach and is unfazed about the prospect of undertaking the role long-term.

Valkanis on the sideline for the Reds at AAMI Park

And with a number of Reds players linked to City last month, Valkanis labelled half of the transfer stories as “untrue”.

He also drew from his experience at the Reds when they lifted the FFA Cup in 2014 as City now sit fourth on the table.

“The cup win was significant for the club because it took a lot of emotional energy out of the players and everyone in the club,” Valkanis admitted.

“There was also a lot of physical energy because we had a tough schedule, I’m not going to shy away but we were playing tough teams… top four teams and competing in the cup took its toll.

“When I look at that last game against the Mariners, a lot of people can look at it as a negative we drew 2-2 and we were leading but there was a massive positive and that was the last 10 minutes.

“They turned the arm wrestle around and in the end we equalised, it could have been 3-2.

“That’s what we needed – to awaken the line within and that’s what we saw in the first part of the season.”