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Adelaide United’s owner Nick Bianco has warned his players and coach to show more grace in defeat than their counterparts did after the 2006-07 A-League grand final debacle.
Melbourne Victory’s record 6-0 win at Telstra Dome two years ago was followed by a wave of vitriol from then-coach John Kosmina, captain Ross Aloisi and other senior players, mainly directed at the referees.
Kosmina and Aloisi lost their jobs, Bianco saying at the time Kosmina’s comments had “embarrassed South Australia”, with Aloisi one of three players found to have brought the game into disrepute.
With the Reds rank underdogs ahead of Saturday night’s clash, current captain Travis Dodd said Bianco had warned similar behaviour would not be tolerated.
“(He said) to go out there and give everything we’ve got, but if it doesn’t come off and we don’t get the win to be gracious in defeat, not to have a repeat of 2007,” Dodd said.
Coach Aurelio Vidmar has already had one post-match meltdown, after United’s semi-final thrashing by Melbourne a fortnight ago, when he said the club was rife with politics and labelled Adelaide a “piss-ant town”.
But he will maintain a smoother front on Saturday night.
“If you get beaten you have to accept that a better team won on the day, you have to be gracious,” Vidmar said.
“Also when you win you have to be the same, you have to be humble in victory and that’s the way the game should be played.”
But Vidmar said it was not just after the match that there would be more calmness.
“There was a lot of people getting excited (in 2007), everyone running round in a frenzy really that week organising things,” he said.
“But this week has been really relaxed, we’ve been able to lock ourselves away and do our work on the training track, which has been great.
“It’s been really, really low-key … that’s been a big difference from a couple of years ago.”
He said Adelaide would also be able to look back on this season with some satisfaction, even if they lost on Saturday night, because they had reached the Asian Champions League final and placed fifth in the Club World Cup.
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