Mehmet Durakovic sacked by Melbourne Victory
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Melbourne Victory have sacked coach Mehmet Durakovic just a day before their home A-League clash with Newcastle Jets.
At a press conference this morning, club chairman Anthony Di Pietro and managing director Richard Wilson confirmed the axing and announced Kevin Muscat will step in a caretaker coach for Saturday’s game against the Jets.
The Victory board lost faith in Durakovic after a spluttering start which has yielded just three wins along with six draws and five losses.
After three successive losses, the team has failed to gel and is languishing in eighth spot on the 10-team ladder despite a star-studded line-up including the acquisition of Harry Kewell.
Durakovic, the former youth team coach, was only appointed full-time in June after a stint as caretaker following the sacking of long-time coach Ernie Merrick in March.
Under Durakovic, the Victory have only been competitive against the lower-ranked sides and struggled against the pace-setting teams.
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January 6th 2012 @ 11:34am
nordster said | January 6th 2012 @ 11:34am | Report comment
was watching this on FSN … they also said they’ll be announcing the new coach in next 24-48 hours. Muscat as interim only Di Pietro confirmed, was asked specifically whether he was in running… “no”
January 6th 2012 @ 11:46am
Ben Carter said | January 6th 2012 @ 11:46am | Report comment
Muscat as interim? Egads! Hope he stays around until Jan 13 v United to get reacquainted with Kossie at least. If you believe the ‘meedja’ then Uncle Frankie Farina is among the possible “permanent replacements”. Maybe it’s time we stopped recycling coaches – even if they do have some level of fan respect and fond memories…?
January 6th 2012 @ 11:55am
Dean said | January 6th 2012 @ 11:55am | Report comment
Muscat is in charge for 1 match v Newcastle on Saturday. The head coach will be announced in 24-48 hours and Di Pietro has specifically stated that Muscat is not a candidate for the head coach job.
January 6th 2012 @ 2:55pm
Kasey said | January 6th 2012 @ 2:55pm | Report comment
Di Pietro also said they conducted a world-wide search for the replacement for Ernie Merrick, only to hire Mehmet ‘youth team coach’ Durakovic.
The MVC board has some serious questions to answer IMO.
Why on earth did/would they sack the coach that won them 2 championships in the first place? they still haven’t answered that one to my satisfaction.
January 6th 2012 @ 3:01pm
Dean said | January 6th 2012 @ 3:01pm | Report comment
Far more serious question is why did AUFC sack Kosmina after he took them to 1st & 2nd position in consecutive years and then re-hire him a couple of weeks ago?
January 6th 2012 @ 3:12pm
Kasey said | January 6th 2012 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
Kossie never had a problem with producing results[ first stint 86 games ,managed for 38 wins, 25 draws & 25 Losses]
[A Premiers Plate, a Grand Final appearance and 2 qualifications into the ACL No matter what you say about his contemporaries at the time, his record speaks for itself.](until he went to SFC!), but if you check, our finals W/L/D record under A. Vidmar wasn’t too hot either:( . Also, after we got humped 6-0 in the GF, Kossie embarrassed the chairman at the time (Nick Bianco) by not taking the loss on the chin and trying to pin it on the refs being against us. Its okay for the fans to be irrational like that, but when a club official does it it embarrasses the club. So he was asked to resign. One hopes he has learned his lesson about conducting himself post-game if the result is poor, AND has a plan to win finals games. Honestly how hard is it to say” yep, we just weren’t good enough on the day and they outplayed us” ?
January 6th 2012 @ 11:46am
Qantas supports Australian Football said | January 6th 2012 @ 11:46am | Report comment
My Gawd I didn’t see that coming
Branko Culina ?
January 6th 2012 @ 6:49pm
Roger said | January 6th 2012 @ 6:49pm | Report comment
Here’s one that’s hoping yes
January 6th 2012 @ 11:52am
beau.vass said | January 6th 2012 @ 11:52am | Report comment
We may have lost comfortably on the scoreline in the end against Heart, Roar and Mariners, but to suggest we were not competitive in any single one of those games is taking it a bit too far. I don’t think anyone who knows what they are talking about would agree with that.
Surely you have only read the scores and deduced it from them, go and watch the games and if you still have the same opinion, stop writing about football.
January 6th 2012 @ 12:07pm
Board Out said | January 6th 2012 @ 12:07pm | Report comment
Let me guess, it was a ‘mutual parting of ways’.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:05pm
Kasey said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
BO:
In the presser , DiPietro specifically said “the coaching tenure of Mehmet Durakovic has been terminated effective immediately…Kevin Muscat took the squad for training this morning”
KM will coach against the Jets and my mail is that after finalising his dispute this morning Branko Culina is front runner for the full-time job If true, I hope they wait until after the Adelaide United game to let him takeover Muscat v Kossie…unbelievable:)
So if we assume it was KM pulling the strings of the squad, then what if anything will change for the Jets game? Perhaps messages will be passed faster as the middle-man is now gone?
January 6th 2012 @ 12:23pm
Nathan of Perth said | January 6th 2012 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
I would like to announce here on the Roar that the next coach of Melbourne Victory will be me. We’re gonna play 3-2-5 and attack, attack, attack
January 6th 2012 @ 1:02pm
Ben Carter said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
Love it Nathan! Even better, why not 1, 1, 8 to really make the most of your options?
January 6th 2012 @ 6:50pm
Roger said | January 6th 2012 @ 6:50pm | Report comment
Now that’s a formation that would work
January 6th 2012 @ 12:34pm
Realfootball said | January 6th 2012 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
My tip is Farina. He knows Harry well from the NT days, and Archie too, no doubt. More importantly, he has the cred as a former top line player that Culina lacks.
Farina’s a bloody good coach who had some extracurricular issues. I hope he gets another chance.
January 6th 2012 @ 12:56pm
harry sachs said | January 6th 2012 @ 12:56pm | Report comment
rubbish! Farina showed over a number of years that he has no idea. Stop recycling these never-weres. MV need Paul Okon or somebody of his ilk, or somebody from abroad. For the A league to continue progressing we have to leave the Kosminas, Farinas, Fergusons etc behind.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:38pm
Realfootball said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
rubbish! Okon has absolutely no credentials to suggest that he is ready for a pressure job like this.
I think you will find Farina has an NSL title as a coach, and he had some outstanding results while Roos coach, without ever having the backing and resources that, for example, Hiddink had.
Way too quick on the trigger there, Harry.
January 6th 2012 @ 5:47pm
langou said | January 6th 2012 @ 5:47pm | Report comment
Farina would be a good match, he has domestic success in the NSL and I thought did an O.K job with The Roar especially in building young talent. He is also known for his people skills. He coped allot of flack as national coach but if you look at our 2006 and 2010 world cup campaigns, they were largely based upon the team that Farina built and developed in the early 2000′s.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:00pm
The Cattery said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
Farina is probably a very good fit for MV right now – it’s pie in the sky to think MV are going to grab some top notch coach from somewhere. The question will be whether Farina can work with Muscat as his assistant, but he will know Arch, Harry and Muskie very well. Former Socceroo, good European pedigree, and his Socceroos coaching stint was not as bad as people make out, in fact, at one point he was being looked at by Italian clubs.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:05pm
Ben Carter said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
Hi Cattery – generally agree. I went through a period where I was miffed by Frank, but have now kinda come full circle and can at least appreciate his Socceroos era for what it was – darn hard work!
This was a man who didn’t appear to always have the same level of admin support that he would have liked. He’d been calling for extra games for Australia for years before the newly-organised FFA signed Hiddink and everything went into the proverbial stratosphere since.
Right now Victory could do a lot worse, although Harry you have a point, too – longer-term, A-League clubs should, where possible, look further than our shores if required to secure the very best coaches possible.
January 6th 2012 @ 3:25pm
Kasey said | January 6th 2012 @ 3:25pm | Report comment
Graham Arnold was pilloried in the football press when he was National team coach..what has changed?? only the context in which he is the manager. FF could be a perfect fit for MVC. I don’t see it, but that’s why I’m not involved at that level perhaps.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:09pm
Dean said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:09pm | Report comment
Former CEO of The Nix, Tony Pignata has just Tweeted that: “New MVFC Coach will be from overseas and not a local coach. And it is not Roy Keane ” Someone else had previously stated: “receiving mail that euro coach is due to arrive in the next 24-48 hours? apparently euro league experience.”
There’s never a dull moment supporting MVFC.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:11pm
Ben Carter said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:11pm | Report comment
Hmmm…a shame, really. Keane and Muscat would’ve worked well together…
January 6th 2012 @ 1:12pm
Kasey said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:12pm | Report comment
O/S coach?? Rini Coolen and his UEFA A-badges are available.
We need to get out of the mindset that ‘just because’ someone has O/S experience, they know what they’re doing. If the new guy is from O/S, I hope his CV includes at least winning a trophy.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:15pm
Ben Carter said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
Well put Kasey – Rini, Branko, Frank, etc… The merry-go-round, really. Was it just me or wasn’t there supposed to be a succession plan with Merrick handing over to Muscat in time for the start of the 2012-13 A-League season at one point? If so, is it still the intention of the MVFC board? And if so, then why on Earth would anyone want to come into a club as a senior coach now, only to be given the flick within 12 months so Muscat can take over?…..
January 6th 2012 @ 1:34pm
Dean said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:34pm | Report comment
I’ve not seen any evidence of a “succession plan involving Muscat”. What I’ve heard consistently from MVFC board is that Muscat had it written into his final playing contract with MVFC that, upon retiring, he would be employed for 2 years as Assistant Coach. That’s it. Nothing about assuming Head Coaching role.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:44pm
Qantas supports Australian Football said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:44pm | Report comment
Kasey—-I can sympathise with your sentiments but a good overseas coach can offer something providing he has a very good local assistant coach who knows the Australian scene like the back of his hand. Rini failed in my view because he got rid of all that good local knowledge around him—-thinking that they were all backstabbers and just waiting for him to fall on his sword. Perhaps he was right as it did come to that although from another source.
January 6th 2012 @ 2:47pm
TomC said | January 6th 2012 @ 2:47pm | Report comment
Bernd Stange would be a logical choice. Out of a job. Knows Australia well and has apparently been keen to come back.
Although probably keener on perth than Australia as such.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:19pm
Johnno said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:19pm | Report comment
Hiddink.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:22pm
Ben Carter said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:22pm | Report comment
Dafter ideas have been aired Johnno – and, judging by the fact that he resigned from the Turkey job in November apparently, one would assume Guus might even be (gasp!) available…
January 6th 2012 @ 1:34pm
Johnno said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:34pm | Report comment
That would be a dream Ben if Aussy Guss came back and coached in the A-league, and there have been more dafter ideas around for sure. To be honest it would not surpass me if an Asian coach comes in or a European coach with Asian experience)like Pim Verbeek and Holger had Asian coaching experience).
Playing in Asia in Asian champions league experience in Asia is always good, but who knows, Aussie soccer for mine has gone to Dutch and i was happy a someone else form another country got the soccer’s job, just something different.
January 6th 2012 @ 2:16pm
Stevo said | January 6th 2012 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
How about dragging Dragan Stojković away from Nagoya Grampus ?? Comes from a long line of gifted Yugo/Serb players and would have respect in the dressing room and pull in a few more followers of old NSL clubs. Just dreamin’
January 6th 2012 @ 2:28pm
Delije Sever said | January 6th 2012 @ 2:28pm | Report comment
Would personally love to see that happen.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:38pm
Dean said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
Strong suggestion the Head Coach to be announced in the next 48 hrs is former Argentinean NT player, Abel Balbo – who was rumoured to have a verbal agreement to join MVFC as Tech Director earlier this season.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:41pm
Realfootball said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:41pm | Report comment
The Harry Kewell soap opera rolls on. But if Pignata’s right, it won’t be Balbo.
January 6th 2012 @ 1:47pm
Qantas supports Australian Football said | January 6th 2012 @ 1:47pm | Report comment
Balbo? Now that’s a wild card I didn’t think of..