Coach Tony Popovic is committed to taking Western Sydney back to the summit and is being handed a blank cheque to find a big-name marquee who can help get them there.
Wanderers chairman Paul Lederer on Friday announced Popovic had re-signed with the club until the end of the 2017-18 season.
The move was a show of faith in Popovic, who after leading the Wanderers to the Premier’s Plate in their debut season, successive A-League grand finals and an Asian Champions League title, guided them to dismal lows this season.
They finished second-last in the A-League with just four wins from 27 games and then bowed out in the group stage of their ACL title defence on Tuesday.
Lederer admitted the results displeased him but said he never doubted Popovic.
“Absolutely it bothered me,” he said on Friday.
“But I never wavered in my belief in Tony.
“I believe we’ve got the best coach in the country.”
Despite a year remaining on his deal the Wanderers made an early move to secure the services of Popovic, who was last year named Asian Football Confederation coach of the year.
Popovic quashed speculation he fielded solid offers from Croatian giants Hajduk Split and clubs in China, Korea and England.
He says he has aspirations to coach a big club abroad one day but still has much more he wants to achieve at the Wanderers.
“It wasn’t just about the senior team it was about the vision and plans for the club as a whole and that includes an academy the youth team all the way down, the new training facilities, staff, recruitment – a while range of issues.
“We all have a vision to make the club the best and that’s something that really drives me.
“We’ve had a lot of success at the club and we want more.
“Am I ambitious to coach at the highest level in a top club in Europe or Asia? Of course. I want to be the best.
“But at the moment I see part of my development and improvement at this club.”
While Popovic’s future is secure at the club a host of players are set to exit.
The likes of Tomi Juric and Kerem Bulut are expected to sign elsewhere with the futures of Ante Covic, Mateo Poljak, Nikita Rukavytsya, Brendan Hamill, Iacopo La Rocca and Anthony Golec among those still up in the air.
Popovic said he was having individual meetings with his charges and “next week all the players will know where they stand.”
But the coach is also on the lookout for a marquee signing and Lederer says money would be no object.
“Absolutely, there’s no question but it’s got to be the right marquee,” Lederer said.
“We’re not worried about that part (financial) but more about the player giving us the added value we’re looking for.
“We’re looking all the time.”
Popovic admitted being knocked out of the ACL may have been a blessing in disguise with the benefit of a full, uninterrupted pre-season to rebuild his squad.
“It does give us an opportunity now to plan ahead,” he said.
“We know we’ll have one game week next season and it gives us a good chance to build the team up to the level that we can challenge for honours.”
Horto Magiko
Guest
Bulut is a gun...problem is he always shoots himself in the foot boom tish. Seriously tho shame to hear he's leaving wsw..and won't be playing in the HAL. Since I saw him in that u19 tourney win the golden boot I was a fan..We don't produce enough rabid strikers so hopefully someone can nurture and guide the kid. Maybe ange can reach him. He may well be our savior in Russia. Let's hope he can keep scoring goals at a decent club, grow as a player and an induvidual and stay squeaky clean off the park.
cm
Guest
Bulut has apparently promised not to sign for another a-league club.
Josh
Guest
Perth tried but Kerem made it clear he would never play for another A League club & is now overseas.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Our second :D despite reinventing the world game in 2012 they didn't allow us into the ACL that year. ACL qualification is what most fans are aiming for. With MVFC and SFC looking to retain a lot of their talent, it will be extremely difficult.
Bondy
Guest
It will be there first season without Champs Lge football other than there inaugural season the Drive By's should be back in force next year top four finish perhaps .
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Newcastle, or CCM, or AUFC should sign Bulut. A quality finisher. With Bulut in the team, AUFC would be in the Grand Final next Sunday. Heck with Bulut in the team, MelbCity may be playing in the Grand Final next week. Josh Kennedy just doesn't have the physical ability to work hard to win the ball or hassle defenders into losing the ball. He's at a stage where he needs the ball delivered to him perfectly .. like Bresciano used to provide when they played for the National Team. Cory Gameiro is another classy striker. Doubt he'll stay at SydFC with Janko and Smeltz likely to be used ahead of him.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
Where did I say I wanted him out. I merely said we should have waited to see how the new season pans out after 10 games or so. Its funny listening to a city fan give us advice on coaches. You guys had a good one in Milicic and you decided on Aloisi instead. Hey didnt he come over to us for a while. We've also got pizza boy Hayden fox. Hoping he turns out to be a great signing as I had a personal connection with him when he was a Nepean junior.
AZ_RBB
Guest
New contracts in sport are cute. Good gesture by the club to re-sign him. 4 strangely quiet months ahead.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Hahahaha, geezus what does he have to do - walk on water??? The blokes taken all before him and you want him out after one poor season which includes a hard ACL campaign!! Spare a thought for us poor City supporters trying to work out how JVS is managing to hold on to his job after so many fruitless seasons :( Bulut??? How do you build team culture with a bloke like that? You've gone from Ono, football maestro and gentleman, to Bulut. Who thought this was a good idea?
Josh
Guest
Bulut is gone, no need to keep talking about him now.
cm
Guest
Hersi injured himself and Shinji is wasting away in j2. Castalen was a hersi upgrade. Saba wasn't but if we'd had takahagi from the beginning who knows. Still a recruitment issue but let's see popa fix that without having to rush it for finalised acl squads first.
nearpost
Guest
A significant marquee could light up the start of the season, and pack out Wanderland. Who wouldn't want that? Just what the club and league needs to give it a boost...a la Del Peiro. Also Poppa's style of play has not been inspiring but his overseas purchases this year were probably his downfall. Surely Hersi, Ono would have maintained performance and got them over the line in a few games. Bulut - Hard to see him fitting in with any club culture in Australia. But hope I'm wrong.
Gareth
Guest
Popa was given a huge amount of freedom when he arrived at the Wanderers. He was able to entirely pick his own team and dictate exactly how they played. No coach starting at a pre-existing club will have this level of advantage. He did great things with it, but I think the next couple of season will be a real test of his managerial ability now that he no longer has the early advantage that he had a couple of years ago. I'm looking forward to seeing what direction he takes.
BC
Guest
Bulut was a very divisive figure in the dressing room from all reports. He showed on the field that he was selfish and abusive to his fellow players, constantly getting himself into offside positions (more akin to an Under 10 who doesn't know the offside law) and would then abuse teammates for not giving him the ball. He may be able to score goals, but he's not the kind of player that adds to a team culture.
albatross
Roar Pro
Bulut going is probably one of those bad things which is really a good thing. I could see him being a disruptive influence in any team he plays in. To say that he lacks maturity might be unfair so let's just say he seems to be poor in his choices of which advice to act on. Was he going to buckle down under the tutelage of Popovic? Highly unlikely. In any event managerial contracts in football are probably about as useful as a MoU ie. not very. A three year contact probably is about as much comfort as a football club chairman coming out of a directors' meeting on a Monday and saying that the board has full confidence in the club's manager. As I have regurgitated previously. there are two types of manager in football: those who have been fired and those about to be.
LegSpin
Guest
I think Popovic has more than used up his store credit. No one is forgetting the achievement of winning the ACL. Question for you is. How long can he ride on the back of that success. Another A-league season like this and its Adios.
pete4
Guest
Geez Popovic wins the Asian Champions League for WSW only 6 months ago and some fans forgetting it already :) Any truth to Miroslav Klose being the marquee striker next season?
RBBAnonymous
Guest
I personally think its a mistake re-signing Popovic right now. We could have waited until the first 10 games or so next season to see how things pan out. As it stands we have now locked in Popovic for a further 3 years and an expensive pay out if things go belly up. There is now the added pressure of no ACL football, signing an expensive Marquee and no excuses for non performance. He cant very well say that our A-league form is due to a heavy schedule. Furthermore we have not been able to retain key players like Bulut, who lets face it, was the only bright spot in an otherwise disappointing A-league campaign. Again we have waited too long to sort out any new signings and rebuild our squad. We will once again tear it to pieces and have players come into the squad too late in the pre season. Dont we ever learn. Its annoying, especially when our season was over before it began. We had an opportunity to go after players a lot earlier but we didnt do it. I hope we have a better season next year but I honestly cant see it. I understand the heavy load is a factor in our performance but we have also played some terrible uninspiring football. We couldnt string two passes together in some matches. We still have too much deadwood in the squad, signed too many rubbish players and we have waited too long to sign new players. All this does is point to another painful season next year with the added bonus of a obstinate Tony Popovic digging his heels in when things will inevitably go bad and a massive payout being bourne by the club. I think Tony Popovic also needs to re-think his tactics and game plans. He seems unable or unwilling to change his formation for games. Its always the same set up and coaches in the A-league have cottoned on to it. He needs to be a little bit more flexible and less rigid in his approach. The last point is his man management. He seems to be a bit old school in that he is a strict disciplinarian and has a "my way or the highway" attitude. I am not sure if that really works these days. Sure there needs to be discipline but at the same time players are also professional and want to work hard. The days of ruling teams with an iron fist are over. Dont get me wrong, Popovic deserves a chance to get things right. I just would have waited before we got out the cheque book to re-sign him. Good luck Popa, no pressure :)