Rini Coolen has the right to feel hard done by after being sacked by Adelaide United this week because, after signing with the Reds for the start of last season, statistics suggest he could have expected to keep his job until at least Round 24. Not quite two seasons, but nearly.
Almost halfway through the A League’s seventh season, there has been 33 coaching appointments, meaning a coach in the A League can expect to last 1.91 seasons from the day they sign their contract – giving them the lowest job security of any domestic football coach in Australia.
(These numbers took in to account the now defunct North Queensland Fury and the two head coaches in their history and the New Zealand Knights’ three head coaches. Extremely short term stints, such as Craig Deans’ single game in charge of the Jets this season, were not counted. Anyone who wants to check my maths is more than welcome to drop me a line.)
In a corresponding period of time – slightly longer actually, since the AFL and NRL seasons are now complete – the coaches of Australia’s other footballing codes have had cause to sleep much more soundly than their A League counterparts.
An AFL coach is the safest in the land. Since season 2005 there have been the exact same amount of AFL coaches as the A League – 33. However, with the AFL’s 17 teams compared to the A League’s 11 (including North Queensland and calling New Zealand/Wellington one), this means an AFL coach can expect to last an average of 3.42 seasons.
The NRL, with its 16 teams, has had 40 coaching appointments since 2005 for a coaching life expectancy of 2.75 seasons.
So what do these numbers mean?
For the AFL and NRL, a stable coach has generally resulted in success on the field. The most successful club in the AFL since 2005 has been Geelong, where Mark Thompson was in charge from 2000 before resigning at the end of 2010 to see Chris Scott take over and win a third premiership since ’07.
The other premiership-winning clubs since ’05 were Sydney, West Coast Eagles, Hawthorn and Collingwood, and all of which have only had one coach, except Sydney which have had two.
During the period in question the two most successful NRL clubs (stripped premierships aside) have been Manly and Melbourne, both of which won two grand finals and both of which have only had the one coach.
The other clubs to win the competition during this period – Wests Tigers in ’05, Brisbane in ’06 and St George Illawarra in 2010 – have also been beneficiaries of stable coaching, with the Tigers only having one coach and St George two. The Broncos have had three, but their ‘06 premiership was the sixth of Wayne Bennett’s record-breaking 21 year reign in Brisbane.
Meanwhile, in the A League, stability of coach has not necessarily correlated with on-field success.
The two most successful clubs in the A League, Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC, could not have had a more contrasting approach to coaches. With five coaches in their history, Sydney are equal first (with Newcastle and Perth) for appointments. However, Melbourne, with two coaches in their history, are equal first of the foundation clubs (with the Central Coast Mariners) for keeping a coach on the books.
The only other two clubs to have won the A League championship were Newcastle – with the aforementioned five coaches, counting Gary Van Egmond’s two appointments – and Brisbane with three.
So while it would seem folly to tell the A League their approach to coaching isn’t successful on-field, the argument could be made it is part of their continued failures off-field.
A theory as to the lack of translation between participation and spectatorship in the round ball code is the perceived “European-ness” of football, compared to the readily identifiable “Aussie-ness” of both AFL and NRL.
Parts of this European-ness are the low scoring matches, the dependence on foreign marquee players and the carry-on players are inclined to indulge in if an opponent so much as bumps them.
But another part of this European-ness is the lack of worth to a coach’s contract. Only in football could a manager the quality of José Mourinho be sacked but Chelsea managed it. It’s a unique and baffling aspect of the code that we Australians can’t get our heads around.
While plenty will point to the fiasco that has been the Bulldogs’ coaching merry-go-round this year – with three coaches in six months – the fact is Kevin Moore wasn’t sacked, he was told he would not be re-signed so quit. And Jim Dymock was told he would be head coach unless Des Hasler came a season early. Though it was some pretty murky water, it wasn’t poisonous.
The same could not be said of Nathan Tinkler’s 2010 signing of Branko Culina until 2015, then sacking him barely a year later. Or Rini Coolen taking Adelaide from wooden-spooners to third place in his first season, before being sacked not half way through his second.
Professional sport is a cut-throat industry and the only language it truly speaks is results. But numbers don’t lie and the amount of bums on seats is higher for the codes where the coach has cause to believe his contract will be honoured.
The A League clubs need to realize Australians don’t appreciate blind victory, we want a little loyalty and stability as well. However if this is too much to ask, how about a bit of common sense?
An A League club on the lookout for a new coach should do the maths before they offer their man a four year contract, like Adelaide did for Rini, or they’ll end up paying their youth team coach half an annual salary cap.
If the Reds have learned their lesson, Kossie can expect a contract that will keep him at Adelaide until just short of round 10, season 2013.
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