Australian football spent last week mourning the loss of Radio Vidosic, who passed after a short battle with cancer aged 64. Arriving in Australia from his native Croatia (then Yugoslavia) to play for Queensland Lions in 1988, Vidosic went on to a broad managerial career that left an equally broad legacy.

Be it in Men’s football or Women’s, as the main man or assistant, through to underage national team programs, Vidosic found a way to succeed in varied environments, but always with trademark warmth and empathy, as evidenced by the tributes that have flown in from all corners of the game.

Melbourne City Women’s undefeated 2019/20 double saw his first silverware as a head coach, while he was most recently Head of Women & Girl’s football at Brighton & Hove Albion, where his son Dario is head of the women’s team.

In Men’s football, he’ll likely be best remembered as right-hand man to Ange Postecoglou during Brisbane Roar’s seismic Roarcelona period, back-to-back Champions in 2010/11 & 11/12 including 36 games unbeaten. He stepped into senior job after Postecoglou’s departure and also managed City’s men in his own right, variously also assistant at Sydney FC, Victory and Wellington.

‘He had a massive impact on all of us at the Roar’ said Erik Paartalu, an integral figure in that Roar side.

‘Like many of us players, I think he’d been waiting for the great opportunity that presented itself under Ange. Without Rado, one of the key ingredients in the makeup of that squad and coaching staff, it just wouldn’t have worked.

‘Ange was they guy that had the ideas and what he wanted to do, but Rado was the guy that would be doing the video sessions, the passing drills, the one always resonating with players and telling us how to execute what the coach wants, in different detail rather than just from the horse’s mouth.

‘I just remember spending a lot of time with him in front of a laptop going through my own personal vision, what I could do better. And at that time in 2010 when I first met Rado, that wasn’t really the thing that was done back then, video analysis and all that.’

Rebekah Stott played under Vidosic in City’s undefeated 2019/20 double, shortly before she was diagnosed with cancer in early 2021. She paid tribute to her former manager: ‘I’ll always be grateful for your belief in me after cancer. You took me in when I didn’t know if I would ever play again and supported me through every single step.’

‘It’s a tremendous legacy – and that’s the thing, right? We all look inside ourselves and think, what are we going to be remembered by when we leave?’ said Paartalu.

‘The one-on-one work that Rado could do, that’s what he possessed. That was his skill, being able to talk to someone like a normal human being, but in a football environment. He had football honesty.

When he spoke, I always thought ‘yeah, I’m in agreement with him’, because he saw the game the way he saw it. Some assistant coaches I’d worked with before, it could be like an attack to try and help you to get better.

‘But with Rado, it was done in such a nice, gentle way that it always felt like he had your back. That’s the biggest memory I’ll have.’