One of the most decorated Socceroos of all time and a member of the Football Federation of Australia’s Hall of Fame, John Kosmina represented Australia in 60 internationals, scoring 25 International goals.

Kosmina represented Australia over a twelve-year period, debuting against Hong Kong in 1976 and concluding his career at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

He also captained Australia on several occasions between 1982-1988.

Kosmina as a player was a very fierce and aggressive competitor and hated losing. He led the team from the front as our main striker and often found the net when his country needed him to.

His fierce competitiveness was also his downfall in some ways, and he was often in trouble with referees, linesmen and the sport’s judiciaries. He resented authority, bent the rules and tried to do things his way.

Kosmina has made the move into football management with some degree of success, but not without controversy.

Is that aggression and lack of respect as a player rubbing off on his teams now as a manager?

Adelaide-born Kosmina led his home-town club Adelaide United to the inaugural Hyundai A-League premiership in 2006, topping the ladder by seven points from nearest rivals Sydney FC.

Kosmina, who turned 50 a couple of years ago, has also coached at National League level with the Brisbane Strikers and Newcastle Breakers in the old NSL competition.

However, as Adelaide United coach, John Kosmina is most remembered for two major controversial incidents, and not just for winning the first A-League premiership.

In season two of the A-League, Kosmina was cited by Football Federation Australia (FFA) for grabbing the throat of Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat during the round eight A-League match against Melbourne Victory at Docklands Stadium.

The incident occurred after Muscat appeared to accidentally knock Kosmina off his chair while retrieving a ball from the sideline.

Kosmina immediately got up and grabbed the throat of Muscat, and the pair had to be separated by officials and assistant Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar.

Muscat was yellow-carded and Kosmina ordered off the sideline for the incident as Adelaide went on to win 1-0.

Then came the disastrous, and in some ways regrettable, Hyundai A-League Grand Final loss to Melbourne Victory.

Adelaide United players Carl Veart, Valkanis, Ross Aloisi, defender Angelo Costanzo and manager John Kosmina were all forced to publicly apologise for the comments they made in the wake of the team’s thrashing by Melbourne at the Telstra Dome.

But Veart, who fronted the media with Kosmina, refused to back down from his comment that “three blind mice” could have done a better job than referee Mark Shield and his two assistants.

“I said what I said, I am not going to take it back,” Veart said. “I could have phrased it differently – and we will move on from there.”

The only thing the veteran striker was willing to apologise for was his team’s performance.

Kosmina just snickered in the background. Aloisi, Valkanis, Costanzo and Kosmina showed more contrition.

A red-eyed Aloisi, who had been scathing of Shield for handing him a second yellow card which forced him from the field before halftime, said he now regretted his comments.

“It was the wrong thing to do, it was the wrong decision,” Aloisi said. “In life you make mistakes and you gain experience by making mistakes and I made a mistake.”

Kosmina, who coached Adelaide from the stands during the grand final because of a ban stemming from his criticism of referee Matthew Breeze after the club’s preliminary final victory only the week before, was also apologetic. But it seemed with a certain lack of sincerity.

After a short-lived A-League managerial debut, Branko Culina was sacked from Sydney FC and John Kosmina handed the prized Bling FC manager’s job during A-League season three.

Sydney FC have continued the pattern of Kosmina coached sides’ poor discipline, and after a relatively disappointing year with key players suspended for important games at the wrong times of the season, Sydney FC could only manage fourth position, being eliminated by Queensland Roar in the minor semi-final.

This was no better than what the controversial Terry Butcher had achieved with Sydney FC in season two of the A-League.

The A-League pre-season has just concluded and the Kosmina coached Sydney FC start Hyundai A-League Version 4.0 with a number of injuries and suspensions.

John Aloisi, Mike Enfield and Brendan Santalab are already out with injuries, and Mark Bridge is on Olyroos duty.

The strike force at Kosmina’s disposal has gone from threadbare to almost non-existent after Alex Brosque and short-term signing Dez Giraldi both received their second yellow cards of the pre-season, ruling them out of the first game.

Mitchell Prentice will also miss the first game after a straight red for bringing down Durante in the penalty area in the last minute of regular time in the Phoenix game.

The lack of discipline of Kosmina managed teams is bearing bad fruit again.

Kosmina blasted his players for their dumb actions that have left Sydney FC without its best team, particularly in attack, for the season opener against the Victory.

But when Kosmina tries to discipline his players, are they perhaps not listening and maybe even thinking to themselves: “So what, you would have done the same thing.”

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