What do you do the morning after resigning as a head coach in the A-League?
Sleep.
“I woke up at like 10am. I’m usually up at 6,” former Wellington Phoenix boss Giancarlo ‘Chiefy’ Italiano told Football360. “That was weird because I’m a workaholic… usually I’m reviewing the game and worrying about what’s happening next week, and getting my ideas clear for training.”
It’s been over a month since Chiefy stepped down as coach of Wellington Phoenix.
He sensationally announced it during his press conference after a heavy loss to New Zealand rivals Auckland FC.
It brought an end to his seven-year association with the Phoenix – firstly as an analyst and second assistant coach before becoming Ufuk Talay’s lead assistant. Then, the Australian was appointed head coach in 2023.
But Chiefy’s resignation was certainly not a knee-jerk reaction to Wellington’s loss to reigning premiers Auckland.
😭 Giancarlo Italiano could not cop losing 5-0 to Wellington’s bitter rivals.
He walked into his press conference, announced his resignation and spoke with extraordinary candour.
An A-League coach who did not have a professional playing career and scaled his way to the top of… pic.twitter.com/QWyKWGnX6A
— Football360.com.au (@football360au) February 21, 2026
“The decision to leave was probably brewing for a couple of months, so it wasn’t out of the blue,” he explained.
“It’s a very tough role to take on when there’s constant pressure, whether you’re doing well or not well, or you’re somewhere in the middle. There’s always someone with expectations of where you should be. That pressure slowly builds over time.
“I think coaches who are at a club for a long period of time have even more expectations because the expectation after a long period is that if you’re there, you need to win something and do something. I get that.
“The one good thing not being there, is being able to catch up on the sleep I’ve missed over the last five or six years. I’m enjoying walking the dog everyday at the beach.”
Chiefy has always been honest, whether it’s assessing football games or his own coaching. The 43-year-old has also been more than willing to provide deep analysis into tactics – a refreshing change within coaching circles.
His press conferences were always a must-watch during his near-three-year reign.
So, how does Chiefy look back on his tenure with the Phoenix – a stint that saw him guide Wellington to their most successful season when they agonisingly missed out on a maiden Premiership and a Grand Final berth during his rookie campaign?
“My biggest regret leaving the club is I didn’t win a trophy,” said Chiefy, who insisted he owes a lot to mentor and friend Ufuk Talay. “That’s one thing I wanted to do.
“Even the (2023-24) Minor Premiership. Conceding that last-second goal at the Mariners, that was probably just as big a disappointment as not getting to the Grand Final.
“But I’ve learnt so much about myself, a lot about human relationships in general, how important it is to get the best out of people, and the ability to create environments.
“Also the turmoil is where I learnt the most. Anyone that goes through this, comes out the other end a different person. What I learnt now, I wish I had it in the first year because I think we would’ve won the league easily.
“I don’t say that tongue-in-cheek. I just feel you need those things to give you a bit more texture when you make decisions.”
There were ups and downs during Chiefy’s tenure – an 11th-placed finish followed a stunning 2023-24 campaign after the departures of Alex Paulsen, Ben Old, Finn Surmann and Bozhidar Kraev among others priors plus injury woes – but the Sydney local well and truly galvanised the city of Wellington in year one.
The Phoenix came within a whisker of reaching the Grand Final. In front of a record crowd at Sky Stadium, Chiefy’s men agonisingly lost to Melbourne Victory in extra time after Oskar Zawada’s last-gasp strike forced an additional 30 minutes of play.
It was a sea of yellow for the biggest match in the Phoenix’s history, and it is a night that still haunts their former coach.
“Even though those memories were great, I felt that was the year we were going to win the league, if there was ever a year we were going to win it,” Chiefy said.
“When I was driving home with my mum, I was reflecting on the game.
“I just remember turning to her and saying, we just missed one of the biggest opportunities to make history. I know everyone’s happy with coming second and we’re almost there but I just felt a bit deflated, extremely disappointed with the result because it was such an even game. Then when (Adama) Traore scored that bomb, I thought okay it’s going to take that to beat us.
“Then when we got back into the game, it was such an unbelievable flick-on, opportunity. When you have that momentum, you need to capitalise. That was the disappointing part.”
That memorable season not only captured the hearts and minds of the Wellington public, it attracted the attention of clubs abroad.
This is a fascinating response to major pressure on your job.
Wellington Phoenix have won 6 of their last 31 A-League matches and they were smashed 5-1 overnight.
This was the how head coach Giancarlo Italiano responded to questions about the safety of his position.
“If I felt… pic.twitter.com/8rwm3EldiK
— Football360.com.au (@football360au) December 30, 2025
They were eyeing Chiefy.
“At the end of the first season, it was a bit of a whirlwind,” he recalled. “I was lucky enough that I had a couple of clubs reach out. One team in Japan and one in Scotland.
“Nothing eventuated from that because I wanted to be loyal to the Phoenix and stick my contract out.
“I didn’t think it was the right time to move as well because I felt as though I had just been given that opportunity and I wanted to build on what we did in that first season. The timing wasn’t great.
“But like anything, football is about timing and feeling, and making sure when you do make your next move, it’s the right move not for the sake of it. Everything has to align.
“That’s the one thing with myself that I realised in this role. Whatever choice you make in terms of a club, what you want is your beliefs and what you want out of football to align with what the club wants to do.”
Now, what is next for Chiefy?
The talented and charismatic Australian is “trying to fall in love with football again” as he prepares for his next job while watching more of his favourite league – LaLiga.
“I’m going to spend a lot of time now watching and refining my football model, and what ideas I can take for my next role,” he said.
“I want to go visit Asia and see the football landscape. I want to network with likeminded people and see what other clubs are doing.
“I’m looking forward to going to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and maybe Japan again. It’s a very underplayed scene. There’s a lot of good things going on with a lot of good teams. There’s a lot of inventive coaches. I want to see how things are doing.”