Mehmet Durakovic’s six-month reign at Melbourne Victory is over, with the former Socceroo axed this morning.
Assistant coach Kevin Muscat has been named as caretaker, but a new head coach is expected to be named in the next 48 hours. Already the rumours and suggestions are bandied about as to whom the next coach of Australia’s biggest football club will be. The main suggestions are:
Branko Culina
He has the experience, the know-how and is available after being controversially sacked by the Newcastle Jets just days before the season started. Culina knows Melbourne well, having played with Essendon Croatia and St Albans Dinamo, and having coached several clubs in the Victorian Premier League and the NSL.
He also knows the A-League, after stints coaching Sydney FC and Newcastle, and hs teams generally play attacking football. But the 54-year has been axed by his last two clubs, putting a question mark over his ability. Still, Culina remains the early favourite.
Frank Farina
Betting agencies have the ex-Socceroos coach Frank Farina favourite to take up the role. Farina certainly has the experience, with an NSL title in the bag with Brisbane Strikers, and has previously coached the likes of Victory strikers Archie Thompson and Harry Kewell.
Like Culina, he is also available after being dumped by the Brisbane Roar back in 2009, although he is currently in charge of the Papua New Guinea national team, I imagine he would not hesitate in assuming an A-League job if it came his way.
But also like Culina, Farina has been sacked from his past two roles in hardly the best circumstances, with the Socceroos and Brisbane. Definitely a frontrunner.
Ange Postecoglu
Melbourne born-and-bred, Ange would be somewhat of a left-field choice for the Victory. Obviously he would be a great appointment – he loves the city and is regarded as Australia’s best homegrown football coach after engineering the Roar’s transformation to a history-making side.
But with the Roar no longer easily the best side in the A-League, and with an Asian Champions League campaign on the horizon, it remains to be seen if he would up and leave at the time when the Queensland club needs him the most. The former South Melbourne coach is an outside chance for the position.
The rest of the pack
Other names are being bandied about in quick succession.
Abel Balbo – the Argentine who was involved in the drama with Harry Kewell hiring him as his personal trainer. Roy Keane – who was linked with the position after Ernie Merrick was sacked. Former Socceroos mentor and coaching guru Guus Hiddink, which seems unlikely considering the pay packet he would demand.
Gianfranco Zola, a playing legend who was previously managing West Ham in the Premier League. Ex-Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna, who is now working in the Chinese Super League. Dutch coaches Rini Colen and Jan Versleijen, but they are both long odds. Former Perth and AIS head coach Ron Smith, as well as Socceroo legends Paul Okon and Ned Zelic. And of course Kevin Muscat, though Victory has indicated that Muskie won’t get the top job. But there are others who could suit the role, like current South Melbourne coach Eddie Krncevic.
Australian football does have a recent history of recycling coaches in the A-League, so Culina and Farina have a good chance of getting the job. But overseas coaches remain in vogue, and after the Durakovic failure Victory may want to go with an international big name.
That’s where the likes of Keane, Zola, even Ruud Gullit and others, come into the frame. It’s very hard to say who will get the Victory position, but the best thing is we won’t have to wait long to find out.
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