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Popovic quits! Turkish club poach Wanderers coach

Tony P has the Perth G on fire. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
1st October, 2017
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Western Sydney Wanderers boss Tony Popovic has sensationally quit the team to take up a job at Karabukspor in Turkey just a week before the new A-League season begins.

It was reported on Sunday by theDaily Telegraph the Popovic had resigned his position at the club that morning, and the Wanderers confirmed this in a press conference later in the afternoon.

Popovic has coached the Wanderers for all five seasons of their existence with his remarkable achievements in that time including a premiership in their first season 2012-13 and victory in the AFC Champions League the next year.

The Wanderers also went to the grand final three times under Popovic’s tenure but were never able to convert that into a championship win.

He has reportedly knocked back a number of offers from teams around the globe but will now move to a team that finds themselves third from the bottom of the Turkish Supa Liga with just one win from seven matches this year.

The Wanderers will now find themselves plunged into chaos without a head coach just seven days before their first game of the 2017-18 A-League season, to be played at home against Perth Glory next Sunday.

They’ll undertake a search for his replacement beginning immediately.

“Our members can be assured we will be taking the time to consider the right candidates for this role to ensure the work we have done leading into this season is not disrupted and the right manager is appointed to continue our journey in becoming the best sporting organisation in Australia,” said Wanderers CEO Tsatsimas.

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“We have a robust organisation that can handle anything thrown at us, on and off the field, led from the Board of Directors down to the club, so we will once again exhibit our resilience in the coming weeks.

“While we can’t hide the fact that the timing is not ideal, I can assure our members, our fans and the Australian football community that we will not take a step backwards in our pursuit of the title this season and we will be ready for Round 1 on Sunday.”

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