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“No matter how much due diligence or expert advice you get, there is always risk in appointments,” said Melbourne Victory chairman Anthony di Pietro as he gave Mehmet Durakovic the chop.
Fair enough, but there shouldn’t be too much risk in appointing Jim Magilton as the new coach because Victory’s season could hardly get any worse.
They might have edged their way back into the top six with a lucky win over the Newcastle Jets last weekend, but it’s a far cry from the premiership challenge many expected the Victory to put up with such a star-studded squad.
Anything can happen if Magilton leads the A-League’s self-proclaimed “biggest club” into the finals, but even if he fails to land some silverware, few will blame Victory’s problems on the Northern Irishman.
It was clear from day one Mehmet Durakovic never had the authority to lead the squad, so why di Pietro and his board appointed him in the first place remains a mystery.
The Victory chairman claimed Durakovic was appointed after an “exhaustive global search” – evidently one which completed a full 360 degree circumnavigation before ending with the appointment of Victory’s former youth-team coach.
Now Magilton has been hired after what Victory officials will claim was a similarly exhaustive approach, although the simple truth is the former Ipswich Town and Queens Park Rangers manager was in the right place at the right time to take over.
He was last involved as an assistant with League of Ireland side Shamrock Rovers and no doubt jumped at the chance to take over as head coach of the Victory – even if, as reported, it’s only on an interim basis.
If the Victory do well under Magilton, they’ll have all the proof needed to sign him to a long-term deal.
And if he fails to guide the struggling outfit into the finals, Victory officials can begin their global search all over again.
What could be a problem for di Pietro and his bumbling cohorts is the virulently anti-British sentiment currently in vogue in the A-League.
When rumours of a British coach were announced, it didn’t take long for cries of “another Terry Butcher” to start appearing online.
Magilton’s recent coaching achievements have rightly been pored over, although he wasn’t really given much of a chance to succeed at either Ipswich or QPR.
He went from stalwart player to rookie coach at Ipswich before being sacked not long after the club was bought by new investors, before he was hung out to dry by QPR after what appears to have been a fictitious ‘bust-up’ with midfielder Akos Buzsaky.
He’s said all the right things about playing “passing football” and employing an attractive style, yet I’m sure most Victory fans would simply settle for more wins after a largely forgettable campaign thus far.
Magilton will have to prove more adept at reining in certain egos than Durakovic was, but the man who has come out looking the worst from the whole affair is arguably di Pietro.
Whatever air of Euro-style sophistication he was hoping to conjure has so far resembled more of a ‘look at me’ desperation, and after erring with the appointments of Durakovic and axed football director Francis Awaritefe, he’ll hope it’s a case of third time lucky with Magilton.
There’s still plenty of time left for the Victory to begin a charge up the standings and with the teams around them on the table not exactly world beaters, Magilton should comfortably guide his team into the finals.
So Victory fans have got what they want – the axing of Mehmet Durakovic – and Jim Magilton now has little to lose as he takes up the reins of the A-League’s latest crisis club.