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Well, I can put one lingering unsolved mystery to bed. Graham Arnold has no intention of quitting his assistant coach role with Pim Verbeek and wants to go to South Africa 2010. I have this on the best authority next to Arnold himself and that is Verbeek.
Arnold is not exactly a drinking mate of mine for reasons well known to regular readers of this column so rather than ring the man himself I’ll take it from the Socceroos coach as gospel.
There was a suggestion just before the ill-fated Olympic campaign in the Fairfax press by Michael Cockerill that Arnold was on his way out of the FFA and on to Europe after Beijing and when that didn’t materialise there were reports he was likely to take the coaching reins of the new North Queensland franchise in the A-League.
That didn’t bear fruit either.
In fact, so I’ve been told by Verbeek, Arnold’s intention was always to stay on with the Socceroos till 2010. At least it’s settled then.
We would have preferred, of course, to have heard from the man himself and his reasons for staying on, but two months on Arnold has said nothing about the Olyroos, Socceroos, anything.
I’m not going to use this column to bash the bloke but is it really out of line to expect from a coach of a publicly funded sporting team some explanation for what went awry in China?
He’s the coach of a men’s national team, our penultimate collection of football talent. Huge responsibility but, it appears, no accountability.
Amazing. The guy is untouchable.
One other thing I can also dispel. From first-hand discussions with Verbeek, it’s clear to me Arnold
picked his own side.
During the week in Sydney, we spoke. The name Bruce Djite came up. Verbeek inferred that he was informed of Djite’s omission rather than having input into omitting him.
So this talk that the Olyroos squad was selected by a committee and not Arnold appears to not be correct. If anything, the committee – Verbeek and other FFA hitters – approved Arnold’s selection; that is quite different to selecting them.
So it was Arnold’s baby, and it was another failure.
Verbeek clearly holds Arnold in high regard and wants him by his side in South Africa. He says Arnold is aware of the criticism and expects nothing less of the media in this country; he has a tough skin and can handle the scrutiny.
It’s Arnold’s family and friends who are most affected by negative press.
All well and good.
Arnold, though, would likely present a more forgivable and sympathetic character if he had the courage to face down the questions the Australian football media want to ask of him.
Nobody is perfect; people make mistakes.
To own up to an error is admirable. Australians respect candour and humility. But to take a team comprising some our best under-23 male players to the Olympics with the stated aim of winning a medal, win nothing, and then skedaddle off into well-remunerated obscurity without the will, inclination or otherwise to say one word to the public about what went wrong is the height of hubris.
The protection of Australian football is worth more than the protection of Arnold’s ego.
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