Sydney FC have granted new coach Frank Farina’s wish for greater control over his A-League squad by axing football director Gary Cole.
The struggling Sky Blues announced on Monday they had rendered the football director role – created by former chief executive Dirk Melton – unnecessary, with Cole made redundant after almost a year at the club.
Farina is believed to have pushed for the changes and Sky Blues chief executive Tony Pignata said the club was fully backing its new coach, who arrived on Friday to take charge of the last-placed team.
“Frank’s come in and Frank will be running the football department and the decision was that the role, regardless who was in it, was surplus to requirements so we’ve made it redundant,” Pignata told AAP.
“It’s a discussion we’ve had with Frank. That’s how he’s done things in the past and we’ve brought Frank in and we’re going to give him the full support.
“It was one of the hard decisions we had to make.”
While Cole was in charge of the club’s off-season recruitment, Farina will report directly to Pignata under the changes.
Cole was hired by Sydney in December last year, eight months after he had been sacked by Melbourne Victory, and Pignata thanked him for his contribution.
Farina will oversee his first training session as head coach on Tuesday as he looks to build on some positive signs shown in the Sky Blues’ scoreless draw with Melbourne Heart on Sunday night.
Star player Alessandro Del Piero won’t be there though, with scans scheduled on his troublesome right hamstring.
The 38 year-old was substituted with 20 minutes to go against the Heart after experiencing muscle cramps and will undergo an MRI scan as a precaution.
“We’ll have to wait and see from Tuesday onwards, see how the MRI looks and go from there,” interim coach Steve Corica said.
phutbol
Guest
According to Les at TWG, this article is complete bunkum... http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/les-murray/blog/1131671/Why-was-Gary-Cole-sacked?
Titus
Guest
Seems Farina has also brought in Anthony Crea to replace Dr Craig(don't know his full name) as fitness coach.
TomC
Roar Guru
Been a rapid fall from grace for Gary Cole. Not so long ago he was lauded as the true mastermind behind the Victory's 06/07 and 08/09 triumphs. Now he finds himself sacked from his second club in 20 months.
jbinnie
Guest
Towser - Unless you have intimate inside knowledge of the workings of a board of directors in a typical sporting body in Australia,might I suggest you tread carefully on passing comment on whether a DoF is necessary or not.You seem to have taken from this report that all the DoF did was a bit of scouting!!!!!!! If that is all he was doing might I suggest it is typical of the type of club management that was prevalent in the old NSL where a group of guys sat around a table once a week,threw in their 2 pennies worth on any subject under discussion & then voted on how to improve the "status quo". We all know what happened to most of the clubs in the NSL Now you may ask what right do have I to pass comment on your comment,well for 4 years I was a D of F. at a reasonably successful NSL club & in a typical season I helped to find a fully qualified coach for the NSL team. I also employed 3 other coaches setting up and supervising a youth coaching system within the club & at every Board meeting I was expected to make reports on these goings on.Behind the scenes I was instrumental in changing the way the board was run with each director given an area of responsibility in which they were expected to supervise ,run,& then report to the board at these same meeting. There were no "yes-men" on the board for each had their operation,running canteens, tending the grounds,running raffles,supervising the junior operation,fund raising,supervising the fan's 'clubhouse",the list went on & on. Supervising these "goings on" were the "main directors" the chairman,treasurer,& secretary whose position descriptions denoted there was enough work to keep them busy. That system is used in most of the boardrooms in successful businesses today. Might I suggest that either Gary Cole had a very poorly supervised job,not to mention a greatly restricted CV if what you say is correct.. I am not a cynic at heart but I would suggest Titus may be getting a bit nearer the truth in his following reply to you. jb
Titus
Guest
Seems like the search for a coach might have created a bit of tension between Pignata and Cole, with Cole possibly favouring Merrick and TonyP favouring Farina. Regardless of that, the position isn't needed and it obviously had done nothing to enhance SydneyFC's "football department".
Towser
Guest
No suprise really. If all a Football director does in Australia is scout around for players,then consults with the coach to see if he agrees with his choices,whats the point of one?