- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
So John Kosmina, a man fond of dust ups and discussing the mentally unstable, is back in the coaching game.
“[It] Lets the lunatics out [of] the asylum. The lunatics run the asylum,” was how Adelaide United’s new manager described the Internet in a post-match press conference during his time at Sydney FC.
It’s one of many controversial moments Kosmina gifted us with during spells in charge of both Sydney and Adelaide.
Coupled with the modest success his teams managed during his two different A-League appointments, it makes ‘Kossie’ an interesting replacement for Rini Coolen who United sacked over the weekend.
According to Chairman Greg Griffin the reasoning was simple.
“We have gone to John (Kosmina) because he is a passionate South Australian with a great history, he has taken this club to being Premiers before, he is a man who believes in the club, he has passion, and essentially the reason this ownership group got involved with Adelaide United was so that there would be a strong football presence in South Australia,” explained Griffin.
While I appreciate the thinking behind the idea that Adelaide needed someone to “steady the ship”, when was “passionate South Australian” a good enough reason to hire a coach?
The hope will be that, like Ange Postecoglou did before taking on the Brisbane Roar position, Kosmina has developed himself as a coach during his time away from the dugout.
Though recent comments from the 55-year-old about Adelaide midfielder Dario Vidosic and social media have me wondering whether this will prove to be the case.
Kossie on social media:
“I’ve been in trouble for this comment before but the internet has let the lunatics out of the asylum.
“I know social networking is a part of modern culture and you can’t change that but what I can’t deal with is that the younger generation live their lives by it. I think it creates feeble-mindedness and people hide behind computers.”
And on Vidosic:
“If he had a bad back fine but you don’t broadcast that to the whole world. I bet you he wouldn’t have been keen to take it off if he had a better game. And Ross Aloisi played with stress fractures for years.
“I had the same problems in my late 20s at Sydney City and Carl Veart had a bad back … these types of guys got on with it – they were winners.”
I wonder how Vidosic, who is a key component of this United playing squad, reacted to the news that a man who publicly hammered him just a few weeks ago is his new coach.
Regardless, what’s most troubling is the incoherent nature of the decision making of Adelaide United’s management team.
Since the new ownership group came in last year, severe cost cutting measures have been implemented around the club while at the same time Coolen was handed a well paying four-year contract.
It’s a decision that has now forced the club to keep the Dutchman on in a behind the scenes role – an unfortunate situation for all involved.
Furthermore, in the hope of building a side that could challenge for the title, United invested heavily in Coolen’s plans – a choice that saw a high turnover of players including fan favourites Travis Dodd and Marcos Flores shown the door. Now the Reds have to start all over again.
We must reserve judgment on Kosmina until he’s had a chance to prove himself again, but the information coming in on those making the key decision at Adelaide is troubling.
Lunatics running the asylum? I hope not Kossie.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.