Linton resigns on the eve of pre-season | (Credit: Getty Images) Linton resigns on the eve of pre-season | (Credit: Getty Images)

Melbourne Victory Women’s coach Vicki Linton has announced she is standing down from her position with the W-League side to return to Sydney for personal and professional reasons.

Linton, who is from Sydney, intends to pursue an expanded role with Football Federation Australia’s national women’s teams.

Linton, who guided Victory to consecutive finals appearances, has been in charge of the side for the last two seasons, during which she has nurtured a number of young players to international representation with the Matildas.

Football Federation Victoria (FFV) Chief Executive Mark Rendell, who oversees the team in conjunction with Melbourne Victory, wishes Linton well in her future endeavours.

“Vicki’s achievements with both the National Training Centre and W-League players over the last two years have been outstanding and we are disappointed to be losing her from Victoria. However our loss will be to the gain of women’s football in Australia.”

FFV has already commenced the process of finding Linton’s replacement and in the interim Darren Tan will expand his current role with the NTC squad to include the W-League team to ensure they are fully prepared for the upcoming season.

“Darren has shown he is an extremely capable coach and recently led the NTC girls team to the NTC Challenge in Canberra. We believe he will provide a seamless transition to the W-League from his current duties,” said Mr Rendell.

Melbourne Victory Women kick-off their W-League campaign on 20 October away to Perth Glory.