New Canberra FC Head Coach Zoran Glavinic has fired a statement of intent at their PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues: Capital Football rivals unveiling five new recruits for the 2015 season as they aim to return to the top of the pile.

Midfielder Robbie Deeley makes the switch from Canberra Olympic, striker Muad Zwed joins from Tuggeranong United, fiery English goal-getter Thomas James has been snapped up from Monaro Panthers whilst former Olympic defender Joel Valtonen has been recruited after a year’s sabbatical. Thomas Milicevic, a young talent with masses of raw potential, has also signed on the dotted line after spending 2013 in the NPL20 competition with Senior NTC. With these players on board Canberra FC has the makings of what they hope is a championship winning squad.

By their own stark admission Season 2014 was one of under-achievement for Canberra FC. They scraped into the Finals series of the National Premier Leagues: Capital Football competition before losing the Grand Final in dramatic fashion to long-time rivals Belconnen United. They were also runner’s-up in the Federation Cup. And, whilst that may be good enough for many clubs in the national capital, for the perennial trophy-gatherers it clearly wasn’t what they were used to.

Now, under the stewardship of Glavinic, who coached the club back in 2000, and his Assistant and new Technical Director Leo Exarhos, who was head coach of the Canberra Olympic team that won the Grand Final in 2013, FC appears to have made some shrewd acquisitions.

“After last season we knew that we had some rebuilding work to do for 2015,” Exarhos commented at the unveiling of their new signings. “We decided to take an aggressive approach to our recruitment this season and get a number of players signed up before Christmas. With the attraction of a place in the Westfield FFA Cup if we win the Federation Cup and the PlayStation 4 NPL Finals Series if we top the table, we felt the need to hit the ground running.

“All of the players we have brought into FC have experience of playing in the top tier of the local competitions. We are confident that they are a good fit into the dressing room dynamic, which is vitally important at this club, and that they bring a skill-set and ability to help get this club back challenging for, and winning, the major honours again.”