Sydney FC’s problem is a long-standing one, to do with leadership. It’s essentially about a lack of leadership, or too much leadership, depending on which way you view things.
What Sydney FC lack above all else is an identifiable leader.
Instead they appear to be a mish-mash of egos who believe they’re leaders, each working to a different agenda.
Indeed, cast an eye over the club and it’s hard to work out if the boss is David Traktevenko, Scott Barlow, Tony Pignata, Frank Farina, Alessandro Del Piero, Zeljko Kalac, Terry McFlynn, the gear steward or the kid who leads out the team alongside the bloke with the armband.
One of the quintessential formulas to the success of the Central Coast Mariners, Brisbane Roar and Western Sydney Wanderers in recent years is that it’s been clear who ruled the roost at each club.
Whether it was Graham Arnold, Ange Postecoglou or Tony Popovic, the common thread is that each club have or had a man who’s the face of the club, making the football decisions.
Postecoglou famously insisted on autonomy when he took the Roar gig, asking to be judged in 12 months or more. Even after his move to the Melbourne Victory there was hardly any doubt who was the boss.
Yet, at Sydney, there’s rarely been such an authoritative figure.
It looks like a place where people without much of a clue about football are making football decisions, influenced by people with even less of a clue.
For example, even after his successful first season at the helm, there was much undermining of Vitezslav Lavicka.
A lesser man would have walked after he was denied his want to re-sign the influential Karol Kisel after winning a championship in his first season.
The club’s chief delayed, and by the time they made up their mind, Kisel had committed to a return to the Czech league.
The club eventually decided to re-sign Kisel, but by the time he returned, a season later, the horse had bolted.
Kisel was a year older, on the way down, Lavicka had been undermined and it had all gone pear shaped.
What Lavicka had brought to the club was a professionalism it had not seen. He turned around a club that had been in crisis prior to his arrival and shifted the culture to one based on hard-work and respect, with the club’s fans at the core of everything they did.
While Lavicka ultimately couldn’t build on his first year’s success, I was never convinced he was given much control.
Look at the club culture now, less than two years after his departure.
It is a club built on short term thinking.
Recruitment and retention are not things Sydney FC do well.
Everything is about survival, as if finishing in the top-four of the A-League is some sort of a grand achievement.
Incentivising as such is always a recipe for disaster.
There is no technical plan, and worse, little understanding of what a good technical plan looks like.
Chopping and changing managers at will, hiring the wrong ones, recruiting and retaining players because they are available rather than because they fit a plan, the mistakes are constantly repeated.
The reality is the culture starts at the top, and while many might rightly criticise Frank Farina for much of his average technical work, the real questions rest around the thought process for bringing in a manager of Farina’s ilk in the first place.
Farina himself has never made any secret of the fact he’s only interested in short-term results, not that he’s had any great success in recent times.
Yet Farina has only been in the chair for 14 months. The problems run deeper.
For example, who’s responsible for the decisions to renew McFlynn’s contract for the past three or four seasons?
For all his stellar service to the club since day dot, the reality is that the most recent championship winning season should have been his last, yet he survives, and fans wonder why the club has problems.
On the other hand Dimi Petratos, a reserved kid taking time to blossom, frustrated by his environment, snaps, and is released, only to eventually find a place where he’s nurtured, putting egg on face of his former employer and the goalkeeping coach he had a bust-up with.
It’s a club seemingly forever in crisis, or a millimetre away.
A couple of poor results and the chiefs start fishing around. The only solution appears to be buying success, yet it never works.
Not helping the club is the poor media advise that surrounds it. Too often it’s the blind leading the blind.
Every solution comes down to waving a magic wand, only to eventually sack the manager and give his replacement the job of working with a squad lacking balance.
That manager is then either unable to demand autonomy, or get it, and the vicious short-term cycle repeats.
It’s a study in how not run a club.
Even if Pep Guardiola was in charge, you’d sense there’d be some larrikin or 20 telling Pep how to do his job. Or worse, they wouldn’t know who he is.
Farina will eventually get the chop, but until the club’s heads realise the problems are about a lack of leadership, and they’re part of the issue, little will change.
bobbym
Guest
Get Lyle Gorman to head a new admin team At Sydney FC
TheVolley
Guest
Meanwhile SFC's goalkeeping has been poor for years.
JonJax
Guest
Arto, we're on the same page. The media are now pushing Rudan as a possible coaching candidate for next season. I'm in favour of appointing neophyte coaches like Rudan as long as there is a strong TD to act as "carrot and stick" to the newbie as well as act as a circuit breaker between the football department and our dysfunctional board. It may well be that Vidosic is a suitable candidate or perhaps given the down economy in Southern Europe and the Balkans a suitable candidate for TD can be sourced from there? My preference is for a strong technician rather than a a celebrity TD. Regarding Tony's comments on leadership clarity- the proposed TD is the man!
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I should qualify that, Arto. A relatively short space of time would be 6-8 months. These types of plans require detailed consultation with people involved, including the fan base & local community, and this takes time to do at a substantive level. Then there's implementation.....
nordster
Guest
Cool ...interesting discussion... Just on 'cast offs' im not saying they are bad per se...everyone should get another shot....the problem is that its the dominant type of internal recruiting. So the quality of players moving is lower and this affects the ability of a coach to build great teams. Take away the ban on transfers and the more ambitious local clubs would be able to recruit in demand players. Just as overseas clubs do here. Just on equality in sport....i would say that the best teams in an unequal league will always be better than the best teams in an equalised league, all other things being the same. This is a good thing for standards at the top of the league with primo talent condensed at less clubs. Once a two division league is in effect, you would not require equalisation as there is competion at both ends of the scale. A second div is actually more affordable than people think if an NYL style cost base is implemented rather than the CBA that blows out costs for smaller up and coming teams.
Mani27
Guest
agree with this assessment of Barlow. Happened to be in his presence once, arrogant snob would be putting it nicely. He's a self-appointed Managing Director and not Chairman by qualification. What did he do at Telstra, work in the call centre? The hole Board is of very poor quality.
Arto
Guest
@ Nordster: I didn't realise that part about the salary 'floor' and I can see how that would be restrictive to new entrants - so that's a valid point. I don't follow your point about the cast-offs though... I thought it shows that (like in any other league around the world), players perform differently in different club environments meaning that a part of a managers brief is to get the max potential from a player. This also means that just because a player played badly for one club, doesn't mean they are a bad player (and vice versa!) - cases in point, are the long list of ex-SFC players who have performed for every other club they've played for apart from SFC!!! As for interclub transfers, I agree I can't think of too many 'highly rated' players transfering mid-season (only Lustica at the moment, and that's open to debate), but there are plenty of players who move at the end of season and whether they are cast-offs is also a topic for debate - eg: how would you rate players like Stuart Musialik of Mark Bridge, who have both been major parts of their team's sucesses yet left midway through their respective contracts for no transfer fees to their former clubs? The Chelsea vs Northampto Town example was mainly used as an extreme display of the disparity that can come about through removing the regulations set in place to equlise the clubs somewhat - remember, clubs can still spend unequal amounts on other aspects of the football club such as training facilities, coaches, etc. I'm not sure why you thought I said the league needs to be equalised to be interesting, I was more pointing out that there needs to be an element of a level playing field for there to be long-term interest - if I use a less extreme example such as is it as interesting to have a Top 4 in the EPL or a Top 2 in La Liga that doesn't change as it is this season with the current trends in the standings (obviously Man Utd fans are so happy about this, but I think the neutral is more interested)...
nordster
Guest
Wow talk about over stepping from the PFA...now they want to regulate coaches and training as well? Geez and people try and tell me the league is not over regulated... You would think they would be treading more carefully given the climate in Australia right now re unionism.
nordster
Guest
It doesn't constrain them from signing the grey beards (loving that name lol) directly but does affect the type who would come here. Once an overseas coach has spent some time here they will see how constrained recruitment here is. Maybe not so much for a TD who is focused on broader issues. Fact is this league does restrain coaches from doing the sorts of things they would do in other leagues to build a squad. Especially at the so called bigger clubs. Would a coach want to come here and put their reputation on the line in this scenario? Maybe they will see it as a cruisy job i dont know...especially when the expectation is that a top half finish will do...ie making the finals. On balance, the hal is not a great league for coaches on the recruitment side of things. I fail to see how that can even be in question.
nordster
Guest
Franko i guess u can hope any future grey hair doesn't do his Due Diligence on the league regs! :) Or wait for the exit interview and see what he thinks then. Gombau probably loves the lack of pressure from no relegation battles...just shows he is a soft coach after a soft challenge? Perhaps...
nordster
Guest
Thanks for the reply. As for the cap its also worth remembering that it comes with a floor of 85 per cent. So while it may constrain costs at the top, it maintains a high entry point for potential new teams. And we see how hard it is for teams from non capital city catchments as is. Remove the floor and it opens up more regional areas. The success of WSW using cast offs is proof of the mediocrity of the league...as much as it was great for me as a wsw fan...its a bad sign for standards in the league. There are transfers between teams but i still think they are mostly cast offs, not in demand players. Berisha is an interesting example as he actually wanted to stay at BR but was forced to move due to the cap not allowing Bris to compete. I dont see the role of the league to equalise so your Chelsea v Northampton example ....im not sure of the relevance. The gap between top and bottom of a theoretically unequalised HAL may not be that wide. Or maybe it would? Any future second div would need a semi pro element imo. Either way a disparity between top and bottom of any field is a fact of life as u say. Disagree that the league needs to be equalised to be interesting....most football leagues globally are not equal and are still popular. Once u factor in a second division it is possible. Take away the CBA and a second div club could potentially run on a NYL budget of around 1-2million per season based on figures quoted by NQ fury.
Arto
Guest
+1 Not sure though if this can be turned around in a relatively short space of time... I also believe SFC needs major surgery to the top admin staff - Barlow sounds like a bit of a cancer on the club and the only cure we have for cancer at present is surgery (ie: cut him out of the club!)
Arto
Guest
@ Nordster: I agree with the removal of the transfer fee ban - this will in turn force clubs to better make use of the resources they currently have, as well as potentially reward the grassroots level of the game by allowing money to flow down to them... As for scrapping the salary cap, I disagree as it's also forces clubs to spend within their means and as we see in plenty of overseas leagues clubs don't manage to do this with depressing regularity - we don't have so many football clubs that can play in the HAL that we can allow them to go into receivership only to be re-incarnated by new owners and play the following season. Another point I'd like to raise is you mention for SFC to make a differentce they need to buy quality HAL players & not the cast-offs. Well, how do you explain WSW's success then? And as we have seen in a couple of instances recently, there are in fact 'transfers' between HAL teams (eg: Lustica to Roar from AU, Berisha from Roar to MV for next season, Flores from MV to CCM before this season, etc.) - it's just that there aren't any transfer fees involved (something which I think is wrong)... Also, equality may well be a (somewhat) misplaced notion in sport - it is also misplaced in lots of other facets of life too - but in some instances it's actually essential in sport (as in other facets of life) as without it the entire meaning of competition is eroded. Why would you want to compete in a contest that you have absolutely no chance of winning? If you argue that the higher odds of success inspire you to greater achievment, it could be said without an equal set of rules to start with the payout is not even guaranteed... Taking your idea to the extreme, of couse Chelsea & Northampton Town (currently at the exact opposite ends of the professional football scale in England as I write) are not the equal of each other. Yet what is the point of those 2 teams being in the same competition week-in, week-out? What do either team get out of that? I'll refer you to my other post to your comment about the over-regulation of the HAL (ie: explaining how the HAL is over-regulated), and ask how exactly would simplifying (or lessening the amount of) the rules help in such a scenario as Chelsea vs Northampton Town?
Arto
Guest
@ John: SFC have many examples of poor recruitment, ADP is definitely NOT one of them - it's best bit of recruitment in the history of Australian SPORT, IMO... The impact he's had on the HAL as a whole will be felt for years to come even if his skills look to be waning this season... You're better off listing players like Tiago, Warren, McClenehan, Fabio, etc. to name just a few from the past 2 seasons as bad bits of business! And while we're at it, we can also list the players who have come to SFC and had their careers stall or ruined even; Jamieson, Musialik, Bojic, Emerton, Aloisi, etc. For a club with SFC's ambitions, that's a very bad sign!!! I agree though that the results their decision-making look like the leadership at the top is poor (and that's being kind, IMO!!).
Arto
Guest
@ Christo the Daddyo: I was thinking in this vein a couple of weeks ago too, as I actually argued on here in another thread that if we took out the 2 games against Roar, SFC were actually in the Top 4 (if I remember correctly?!)... However, I now realise my mistake in that it's too simplistic to say that we've won almost as many games as WSW or that we're only 9pts behind with a game in hand - it's the trends that tend to be more important; 7 losses from the past 10 games (with 17 goals conceeded & only 1 clean sheet!)... I think there needs to be a circuit-breaker now and that to me is Farina being dismissed, but maybe the board waits until the end of the season (and hopefully has already started the process of planning for a successor!)... Plus, what in the last few games has made you think that this current trend will turn anytime soon? They played ok in the 2nd-half against AU, but they still conceeded a goal by being sliced up by good play (will the Og Monster stop that?)
Arto
Guest
@ Jon: I'd argue now that Barlow should be fired, but I can't really see Taktovenko doing that... I actually feel a little depressed by SFC's future prospects as given Traktovenko didn't want to sell up to MCFC recently and thus wants to remain involved with the club, so I can't see Barlow's negative influence being removed from the club anytime soon... Whilst, I was sceptical to Farina's tactical knowledge & ability, I actually thought (like Christo the Daddyo) that he was probably a good fit at the time given the situation SFC was in with Crook's resignation mid-season. It was more of a mistake to offer him a 2yrs deal after last season (meaning when they sack him now, they'll probably have to pay him out - unless of course they put in a clause stating that he can be dismissed without compensation if they don't make a certain table position) as I saw no sign of SFC improving greatly whilst he led the team last season and with this being (most likely) the final year of ADP being in town (unless by some miracle we can keep a hold of hin in some coaching capacity??!!), it was imperative that we had a strong team in order to make the Top 2... The crazy thing about all this is that ADP's legacy is in real danger of being wrecked by the incompetence of the very people that brought him to the club! It was undoubtedly one of the best decisions in the history AUSTRALIAN SPORT to bring him to the club, but it looks like being a classic story of what might have been - imagine ADP in a team like Roar or dare I say it pre-Muscat-managed MV??!!
Jon
Guest
Kalac. The kid got in a training ground bust up with Kalac, because apparently Kalac wouldn't pass him the ball during a training match and Petratos had a go at Kalac for not passing. Why the Goalkeeping coach was involved in a training match I don't know. Maybe they didn't have enough players? But apparently Kalac fired up and told Petratos that he wasn't playing well, offered to show him some match videos of Petratos' recent efforts to demonstrate how bad Petratos was. They swore at each other and had to be pulled apart. And that was the end of Petratos at Sydney FC. To be fair to Kalac, he was playing poorly, struggling to stay in the squad. The question is why is he playing so well now at Brisbane? Why couldn't we get the same quality and discipline out him?
Arto
Guest
@ Franko: Not meaning to pick on you, but I would suggest that Jonjax (and I agree with him) is trying to point out that the idea is to have a Technical Director (TD - who SFC actually had for a year in Gary Cole, before they correctly realised his work wasn't as good as it 1st seemed) so that a club is not dependent upon the on-field success of the coach for the football strategy to be implemented (the idea being that the strategy is bigger than just the way the team plays on the field)... I'd venture that it might well be challenging for a Trappatoni (to use your example) to stay out of in-game matters or for an ESTABLISHED manager (eg: Farina, Culina, Bleiberg - these names are only for the sake of argument and are not my actual candidates for the coaching role!) to work underneath said Trappatoni-like TD. However, I would rather SFC spent money on the TD role and bring in a person like Rudan or Corica as manager (also add to the list Aurelio Vidmar or someone else with experience working underneath a big-name manager). The other clubs have shown that it's possible to find a star player who's not known, so I'm sure SFC could find the same to compliment the manager's playing style...
Arto
Guest
@ Nordster: If you mean to say that 'greybeards' or marquee TDs (as I like to call them) are scared off by the prospect of working in a league with a salary cap, then I'm not sure I agree with your opinion - maybe they would view it as an additional challenge? I mean, after all, Australia is not a bright spot in the world of football of the ilk of the top leagues of Europe or even Sth America, so anyone who is interested in working in the HAL is probably going to have an open mind to start with when it comes to the league set-up... As with the other comments to your post, your constant harping on about how the HAL is restrictive to recruitment (& I extrapolate further, club excellence) is, IMO, starting to get a little 1-dimensional - you talk about constraining regulations, but just how do these regulations (care to name them?) in the HAL restrict clubs from recruiting said 'greybeards'?
Jon
Guest
You know, I doubt he even had an interview. It's jobs for mates at Sydney FC. I sat once in the chairman's box to watch a game. I sat next to a really nice couple who were very conversational. i told them I was normally in the Cove and they started asking me questions about what I thought of the club and things like that. Half way through the bloke told me he was one of the clubs investors. At one point he asked me what i thought of John Kosmina. The bloke told me what a great bloke Kosmina was, how nice he was. That seemed to be the extent of his opinion of the guy, that he was nice to talk to. Nothing about his coaching, his philosophy on the game, just that he liked the man. They appointed Kosmina coach a couple weeks later. It's jobs for mates at Sydney FC, always has been.