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On Saturday night in the Melbourne derby, Kevin Muscat will take charge of Melbourne Victory for the 200th time. It will be his 163rd A-League match, coming after 16 FFA Cup and 21 Asian Champions League outings. During that stint he's won two championships - including the 2014/15 double - and an FFA Cup. He's every chance of adding to that haul by May end given the talented squad he's assembled this season. But you have to wonder, what is he still doing here? It's something his colleagues are wondering as Muscat, the A-League's longest-serving coaching incumbent, completes his sixth season with one of the competition's heavyweights. Tony Popovic, ex-Socceroos teammate and chief title rival at Perth Glory, praised Muscat's tenure, suggesting he could make it abroad. "There's a lot of pressure at Victory and he handles it very well ... he's done a wonderful job," he told AAP. "Every year he's challenging. Most years they're winning something. "I'm sure his ambitions are very high. Why wouldn't Kevin be able to make it (overseas) if he gets a good opportunity?" Sydney FC coach Steve Corica, one of Muscat's oldest friends after stints at the Australian Institute of Sport and English club Wolves together, also agreed the sky was Muscat's limit. "It is a special bond of being a being a player and a coach (at the same club) but I'm sure he's got ambitions," he said. "He's been at Melbourne for a very long time and at some stage he'd want to move on ... whether it's Asia or Europe." So what does Muscat think about his own future, 14 years after returning to Australia to become Victory's inaugural captain? "There will be time to reflect and sit down with people that I look up to. It will be at the end of the season," he tells AAP. "I have another year on my contract as well. "But know this. If you look too far ahead you normally trip up because you don't see something. So my only focus is to do things well this Saturday night." There are other reasons for Muscat to stay in Australia. Muscat is settled and enjoys strong backing from Victory's owners after his successful tenure. Another season would give Muscat the chance to battle big-thinking expansion club Western United and another crack at the Asian Champions League. But on the basis of his six seasons at Victory, Muscat is ready for the next challenge. Since taking over the role from Ange Postecoglou, the 45-year-old has stayed true to the club's attacking philosophy. He's played finals in each season, as Besart Berisha, Leroy George, Kosta Barbarouses and now Keisuke Honda and Ola Toivonen carved a path through opponents. He's got the best out of Leigh Broxham, Carl Valeri, Lawrence Thomas, James Troisi and Mark Milligan - each at various stages of their career - and savvily kept Victory ahead in the transfer market. The only long-serving coach to have better points-per-game ratio than himself (1.74) is Graham Arnold (1.84). His four seasons against Arnold at Sydney FC yielded the same amount of trophies - four. One more would draw him level with rival Victory boss Ernie Merrick. While Muscat's record commands respect, it could be that his peers and players are the only ones offering it. A former hard man of English football and A-League leg-breaker knows some will never look past his playing days when forming an opinion of his coaching. Asked whether he believes his reputation as a bruiser has bled into perceptions of his coaching, Muscat is frank. "I don't think it, it's fact. I accept it. It's how it is," he said. "I'm not everyone's cup of tea. I'll admit that. "I'd argue for people to analyse me on the way my teams play and the results I've got. "Winning at this stage in my career is not really enough. I want to win a certain way. "I want to be known as a proactive coach. A manager that wants to attack, that's trying to win a game, not as a manager that's trying not to lose and might win. "In the main, that's what I have been able to produce in terms of the players I've signed and the brand of football. "Whether that's going to be good enough to win this year, time will tell."
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