Tony Popovic was once credited with the best own goal in the English Premier League.
As a player, Tony was one of those who just got the job done with no fuss and little fanfare, even if he got it wrong. He’d just dust himself off and carry on regardless.
You could rely on him week in week out to put in a solid performance, whether it was for Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Crystal Palace, Sydney FC or the Socceroos.
Thankfully for Western Sydney Wanderers he seems to have instilled that work ethic into his team and boosted his coaching career.
Popovic’s return to Australia to take up a head coaching position could have taken a very different turn.
He was first courted by Tony Pignata from Sydney FC and offered more money to take over one of his old clubs as head coach and manager.
Instead he chose a clean slate at Western Sydney and backed the confidence and leadership of Lyall Gorman and the FFA’s promise of greater control and personal accountability at the Wanderers.
It was certainly a brave move, but a challenging and exciting one as well.
For season eight of the A-League, the Wanderers were the new kids on the block.
Popovic, the former Socceroo captain, was on a hiding to nothing when he took on the job. He was not expected to get too many positive results, but at the same time the eyes of the Australian football world were focused on him and his team.
When the new franchise was announced in April last year it wasn’t all beer and skittles. They had three players, one new coach and no sponsors, but they certainly didn’t lack any optimism or self belief.
Football Federation Australia rolled out the red carpet and the team was even launched by the Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who had taken a keen interest in the political habits of Western Sydney voters and their love of football.
No one expected the Wanderers to be a great success in their first ever season.
The FFA were sweating on the results of the new boys as the season got under way, and when Popovic’s side was struggling for goals in the early games and sitting near the bottom of the ladder as expected, the critics sharpened their knives and pens.
The FFA started to wonder if they had done the right thing with their $5 million investment.
This after the A-League had not been travelling too well in previous years, an expensive failed World Cup Hosting Bid and the FFA’s finances shrinking by the minute.
North Queensland and Gold Coast had been new clubs introduced to the A-League in the previous couple of years, and both had fallen by the wayside spectacularly with disgruntled owners and billionaires threatening legal action.
They withdrew from the competition and large claims for lost revenues were made.
But the Wanderers fortunes started to turn both on and off the field.
The relatively unknown players started to gel together and get the Popovic philosophy, a lucrative sponsorship with the NRMA was sealed and Japanese international Shinji Ono joined the club as their marquee player.
The Wanderers started to upset a few of the more fancied teams, including a thrashing of table toppers Adelaide United under John Kosmina.
Suddenly they started to look like a finals team, and moved slowly into the top six.
Well, it just continued from there and after a record 12 wins on the trot the Wanderers overtook Adelaide and the Mariners to claim top spot on the table.
In their final game away to the Newcastle Jets they emphatically sealed the A-League premiers plate in their first ever attempt. They were hailed as the greatest ever new franchise in Australian sport.
The on-field success led to off-field gains with sell out matches and Wanderers’ merchandise in short supply.
Many shops in Parramatta ran out of Wanderer’s gear and had to wait weeks until new supplies were available.
The financial success of the club is so great that the budgeted $5 million outlay will now look like only costing the FFA a $1 million loss on the first year of operations.
They are also in serious discussions with a few investors and looking to sell the club for up to $20 million dollars; a massive return on their investment.
But Tony Popovic is not satisfied with what he has achieved this season.
As an Aussie who was born and grew up in Fairfield in Sydney’s West, like Harry Kewell, he knows what it would mean to win a grand final and the Golden Toilet Seat as the Western Sydney head coach.
This Friday the Brisbane Roar stand in the way of the Wanderers making the grand final at a likely sold out Parramatta Stadium.
Knowing Poppa and what he has achieved in such a short time, he will not want to fall short in his attempt to achieve the second part of his dream debut for Western Sydney Wanderers.
Should they win the grand final, the happiest people in football, other than Popovic, the Wanderers and the Red and Black Bloc would have to be the FFA and Frank Lowy, a long-time advocate for football in Western Sydney.
Whatever happens now is all a bonus for the new boys, but what a shot in the arm that fairy tale ending would be for football, Western Sydney and the A-League.
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