After a 20-year association with the AIS, O’Connor took over the Sydney FC youth team in 2008 in a move that also that encompassed the role of club technical director.

With the youth side winning the inaugural NYL title in 2009, O’Connor was set to take the next step and guide the reigning champions’ new academy structure in 2010.  However he was deemed surplus to requirements by the club’s new owners.

O’Connor was informed of this the day club legend Steve Corica retired. The playmaker subsequently began coaching the club’s youth team, with Ian Crook appointed Corica’s assistant.

And while O'Connor, a 44-times capped Socceroo, stresses his relationship with the FC coaching staff remains friendly, he decided to start his own academy called International Football Institute (www.interfootball.com.au).  

O’Connor believes Sydney has more than enough quality young players.

“It sort of came when I was holding trials for the Sydney FC youth team and the academy we were going to set up there,” O’Connor, nicknamed Rocky during his career with the national team, told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“I saw a number of players who clearly had the potential to take the next step. There’s a lot of them around – it’s a huge market but we just don’t offer them in Sydney many full-time football environments.

“If they didn’t get into NSWIS (NSW Institute of Sport) or those types of academies, often they weren’t training in an environment that allowed them to improve if they were only training two or three nights a week.”

The former defender added his academy will focus on coach training – and for players, it wasn't just ball work.

“It’s not only the technical side but it’s the mental side in terms of how to improve their football," he said.

"What I’d seen in the past it was more just going out and training without any real thought about what do they really need to do to improve. So that’s important as well.”

For O’Connor it’s challenging that there aren’t many full-time jobs outside the A-League and various state academies, but he’s looking to a brighter future...perhaps even with the second Sydney franchise.

He added: “If Rovers do come in there’s scope for working with players and getting them into the club’s academy or youth team.

“I’d like to coach in the A-League myself and with my background at the AIS of of working full-time, 48 weeks a year with players, often twice a day, I’m quite comfortable coaching an A-League side or within that environment.”