Stability never has been a trademark of the A-League. This season even more so.
Take your pick from the bunch: the farce of Jonny Steele’s short lived Newcastle stay, Western Sydney remaining winless after six games, a cacophony of on and off-field problems in Gosford and David Villa’s premature exit to name a few.
The latest candidate is Brisbane Roar – having also previously been nominated for Liam Miller’s messy departure – after the sacking of coach Mike Mulvey.
The Championship-winning honeymoon has swiftly turned into a repulsive divorce, with the club’s handling of the matter particularly deplorable if suggestions that the public knew of Mulvey’s axing before the man himself are true.
Critics of Roar’s haste have been somewhat silenced as behind-the-scenes details emerge, with Courier Mail journalist Marco Monteverde suggesting Mulvey’s ego was far too significantly inflated after the victory over Western Sydney in May.
Regardless of the true motives, Roar have little time to dwell. Former Netherlands international Frans Thijssen will step in as interim head coach ahead of his switch to the technical director role at season’s end.
Alongside the club’s football director, Ken Stead, Thijssen will be tasked with getting Brisbane’s “football style and philosophy” back on track. After all, that is the reason Mulvey was booted, according to CEO Sean Dobson.
It suggests Mulvey was the black sheep among Roar’s coaching staff, leaving Thijssen with a clear picture of what direction the club’s board wants to take.
The Dutchman enters the A-League with a task more difficult than you would expect for the defending champions and has a number of key challenges to address in his first season.
Player morale
As I wrote a fortnight ago, Roar’s recent plight has emphasised the significance of culture at a football club.
There is plenty awry in the dressing room at Suncorp Stadium and with the chief scapegoat now gone, one would expect harmony to infiltrate the club immediately.
But it is unlikely that Mulvey was the sole source of all player issues and Thijssen must focus on rebuilding whatever fractured relationships remain.
This doesn’t mean taking the lads down for a night of bowling and pizza. It involves reiterating the club’s vision and policies. From the football philosophy to the behavioural expectations, ensuring there is no repeat of Liam Miller’s dummy spit or the Shane Stefanutto versus Jamie Young verbal stoush will go a long way to steadying the ship.
Results
Brisbane may have lost five from their first six matches but the joyous nature of not having a relegation system means they sit three points away from the finals positions and won’t hit the panic button if they pass the 10-game mark with less than a point per game.
The quality of this squad means a streak of wins is never too far away, as the demolition of Newcastle threatened to prove.
Combine it with the handful of other clubs struggling for one reason or another and it’s hard to see Roar failing to appear in the finals.
If Thijssen can pick up a couple of wins initially, it will help straighten up all of the other issues.
Perhaps even more pressing than the A-League is the AFC Champions League. Roar return to the big stage hungrier than ever to make an impact, having never notched a win in Asia.
It will be no easy feat but Roar will fancy their chances of challenging for a spot in the knockout stages. Far from a distraction, the competition will provide another focal point for Thijssen.
New coach
With Thijssen only temporarily occupying the touchline, he will play a major part in recruiting Mulvey’s successor. There will be no rush to appoint a new head coach and Thijssen and Stead will choose the next man very carefully.
The most important factor to come into consideration is that the incumbent coach must understand Roar’s football philosophy and be willing to embed it heavily into their style. There is little chance of Thijssen recruiting someone who wants to make sweeping changes, particularly after the Dutchman has spent time making his own mark.
Thus, the champions need a coach who fits their mould and can accept the influence that Thijssen and Stead have on operations.
One of the greatest gripes for football managers is being spoon fed advice, but Mulvey’s exit laid bare the repercussions of opposing a club’s direction.
stu
Guest
He is cheap!!!
j binnie
Guest
Batou Thank you ,you have extended on my thoughts exactly.When people set out to say you are "nitpicking" they are offering nothing to a debate and are simply reacting to their initial thoughts on what they think they have read.. I have nothing against Frans Thijssen but was intrigued enough to look up his CV for although I remembered him well as a player with Ipswich Town and Notts Forest around 1980 I had no knowledge of his coaching career.What did I find,? As a coach from 1995- 2001 he coached at four different clubs with very little success on the field, He then appears to have switched to youth coaching from 2002-2009 mainly in Middle Eastern countries.Then the surprise from 2009 till 2014 (November) there is nothing on his CV. and that did strike me as a little strange. When one remembers the plethora of Dutch based coaches we have had both internationally and at club level in recent times,the cynic could be forgiven for asking what's going on here????? Cheers jb
Batou
Guest
Interesting jb. It is certainly an odd situation all around, especially with the ACL coming up and relatively little time for Thijssen to get it all together before then. If that goes badly, or the results over the next few weeks/months do, then I can see this really tainting the club's relationship with its fans.
Ash
Guest
any confirmation/truth to the rumour that the party making the media aware of the MM dismissal was the ball & chain of the CEO?
j binnie
Guest
Towser - I wasn't reading too much into Franz's comments, more at the fact that it sounded as if he was repeating what he may have been told by someone "in power".I personally do not think any coach coming into a new job would use these type of words in his opening gambit to a reporter from the media.An experienced man would admit he has not seen a lot of football here and will reserve his judgement until he can do proper assessments. Now what he tells his players in private would be another matter altogether,but just as obviously,not for public release. Agreed???? jb
j binnie
Guest
John L- There is a saying in the English language that you obviously have not heard so I'll print it in English for you. "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit and only fools indulge in it." You obviously missed the complete point of my comment so I'll try again to explain .He is reported (by the reporter) to have said things in English, yes???? As I said he has not seen Roar play much or for that matter any HAL play other than last weeks game.yes???? You missed completely my middle sentence which stated he may be repeating an edict spelled out by a "controlling individual" (my words) in the club. yes???? Now if you are an avid fan of world soccer then you will not have to be told that in our league the "first touch" and "accurate pass" ratio is not as high as elsewhere in the world especially in Europe where Franz played most of his football hence my comment about "if he is serious then the reserve team better clean their boots". Agreed ????? So if you read between the lines you will note that I said nothing at all derogatory about the man,his language, or his "philosophy".(that word again). By the way you will also note that Franz played for 5 years of his football playing career in England and Canada so I would think he would have more than a fair share of English in his vocabulary. Agreed again???? Cheers pal jb
JohnL
Guest
Towser, what i read into FT comments was "if you don't have good ball security, you will be replaced by someone that does" Which to me is a fair enough comment... Professional footballers should already have this.
Towser
Guest
jb I wouldn't read too much into Thijssen's comments,all new coaches have to make a statement they mean business. Unfortunate that "philosophy" was ever mentioned by Dobson as everybody now see's any utterance from the Roar as a direct line to Aristotle.
JohnL
Guest
jbinnie, feel free to ask FT exactly what he meant in Dutch, and then you can translate that to us in English. I see your comment as nothing more than nitpicking on someone that does not have English as their number 1 language. I will await that along with your comments that supplies answers to the many questions you expect other people to answer, but you never seem to provide answers yourself.
nordster
Guest
Well thats heartening! They should let u use winkies ;) A comment like that in this country could easily be construed as serious!
j binnie
Guest
Have just read this morning's press report on Franz Thijssens "philosophy". Now I know he has not seen Roar play all that much or for that matter the other 9 teams in the HAL, but if the reporter has quoted him accurately the Roar reserve team better get their boots polished for he has stated categorically,and I quote from the article "if you lose the ball you face the axe",and "Good players don't lose balls" and "Bad players lose balls" Now that is really putting it "on the line" and one has to think is an extension of the new "philosophy","culture" or "mantra" laid down by the controlling individual in the club's higher echelons of power. Hope that 'philosophy doesn't carry over to Bayern's Pepe Guardiola for if it does Alonso and Boateng had better start looking for new clubs they both falling under that latter category giving the ball away and the European tie to Manchester City. Are this lot for real? I can't wait for the next philosophical announcement.jb
j binnie
Guest
Mitchell - Another offering that poses more questions than it answers.Let's take the discussion back to basics and see where it takes us using your "break up" to examine what has happened. First of all let us consider this word "philosophy". The Oxford Dictionary defines the word as meaning " Love of wisdom or knowledge especially that which deals with ultimate reality,or with the most general causes & principles of things" Now after perusing that I would defy any punter sitting in the stands at a football match to use those words in relation to his team.!!! Now to the headings in your article. Player morale. When a team loses 5 games out of 6 player morale has to be low. Low morale shows up in many ways but most of all is best measured by the application to the game by each individual player.This variation in turn affects the team performance and manifests itself in many different ways but poses questions to be asked that 'fuel the fire" so to speak.Players are diverse characters but they are not all stupid and the lackof recruitment this year,not only to replace exiting "stars", but in efforts to improve the overall performance of the team,would not have gone un-noticed among the players but because of the nature of selection of teams would cause them to keep their mouths shut.If this argument is accepted the question gets back to who was responsibel for the lack of quality recruitment??? Results-If viewed in numbers the Roar results so far have not been bad losing games by the odd goal not exactly thrashings.However for a management member to come out and say results don't matter is only adding more "fuel to the fire" mentioned previously.Players play the game to win and I would put it to any reader that winning "nice" or winning "ugly" is of very little consequence to the average fan on match day or for that matter to the player, considering his monetary return is usually allied to 'points gathering" during a season.So we have a CEO wanting to play like Barcelona with a team decimated by tranfers and lack of quality recruitment. Again we have the question raised,who was responsible for the lack of quality recruitment? New Coach- The dialogue with Franz Thijssen did not begin last weekend,that is a given fact. He was in the country to view the Victory game with no publicity given or sought by the club.This could have been easily explained due to Thijssen's apparent involvement in the genre of youth coaching during his recent years of employment.in the Middle East, but no,once again the secrecy in seeking a replacemnt under the guise of looking to youth development in the future is tainted with a reasoning that again "feeds fuel" to the already mentioned "discontent". How could a man,with no knowledge whatsoever of a club,it's players, it's present league position be expected to alter the status quo in the immediate future?.Once again,the question, who was responsible for this subterfuge that reminds one of 007 and M at their very best. Mitchell - The answers to the same question,the board???? the Chairman of the board????The Ceo????? the managing director???? the performance director??? or (for a laugh in such a serious matter ) the bootboy????. Take your pick but someone is to blame that is for sure. not only on the field but most definately off the field.It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall in Frank Lowy's office when he and Gallop are discussiing this occurrence and resulting publicity at oneof their up to now prize franchises in the HAL. Cheers jb
Mitchell Grima
Expert
It's called sarcasm, champ.
Dribbler
Guest
One wonders why they need a coach at all. Just purchase an android and load it with the Roar Philosophy microchip and then sit back and wait for the results to flow. They will be World Club Champions in no time at all. Why didn't any other club think of it? Always innovating at the Brisbane Snore.
Lionheart
Guest
Roar management have really messed up on this one. I don't get how Stead can apparently bear a far greater influence than the head coach. I also don't get how Stead, and the GK coach for that matter, aren't held to account for poor recruiting and scouting. Stead didn't like the way they trained last year apparently, and nor did Dobson. So why didn't they boot him in December, when he already had the championship in the bag. It's an impossible task for Thijssen this season. Inexperienced and cold in, mid-season with ACL to boot. I fear club management have just set the Roar on its bum, and it's likely to take a lot more angst yet to recover. I only hope the fans stick it out.
Chopper
Guest
One has to ask where all the football knowledge is at the Roar. What coaching credentials have Dobson and Stead got? I doubt if they have any and they certainly have no coaching experience. Stead, I believe has a conditioning certificate? So does this give these guys the knowledge and right to design a club playing style or club culture. If they do have the knowledge and ability to set this agenda maybe they also spend a bit of time polishing up their CV's because it will not be long before they will need them. After all the leak could only come from someone in the know.
Ian
Guest
Didn't see or know of too many fans and members silenced because of Marco's article. That was a comment piece not a factual story. As said above - it appears there has been a lot of self justification crap in order to pulverise Mulvey as the root of all evil. Our playing style last year seemed to please fans and commentators alike so don't know it strayed so much from the 'philosopy'. Apart from more defensive focus against Victory last Friday it didn't appear this year either. And i welcome different set ups and styles so if were slightly defensive against Victory it can show a willingness to adapt to different situations. Doesn't really matter now. I just hope the players come out and make a statement on the field.
Mahler
Guest
I have rarely heard such a stream of bulldust as that emanating from the Roar chief exec at the press conference. One wonders why they need a coach at all given that apparently the Board knows how to conduct training sessions and anyway they don't care about results (!!!) - which leads to the question of why they bother turning up at all. Now they have a a fill-in who can hardly speak English and who admits to knowing next to nothing about the A League or Australian football. All this stream of conbscousness stuff about 'philiosophy' etc and the coach apparently wanting to move outside the restricted alley of what the owners/board insoist on - what way is that to run a football club? Much of what we heard yesterday was a crock of self-justification crap. Mul;vey was a marked man even though the Roar were champs - had they not been he would have been out immediately. They just waited for the right moment - and it came after 5 defeats.
nordster
Guest
" but the joyous nature of not having a relegation system means they sit three points away from the finals positions" Ha i would read "joyous" as quite *lazy* and *soft*!!! I mean to be so weak as to revel in being only a sniff from the playoffs....despite being down near the bottom....sums up the fault of this league to a tea! Weak as, Mister Grima...weak as...:(...;)
DT
Guest
I think you can take "results" out of the challanges. The club made it quite clear yesterday that they don't care about winning.