The A-League has thrown up many curveballs this season and as we head into finals it’s time to consider which Gaffer is the king-pin.
You could make a case for any of them, but it’s near impossible to split them, so that’s what I did.
Kenny Lowe – Perth Glory 8/10
At the end of last season Perth were in disarray.
The salary cap scandal that embroiled the club saw a mass exodus of players including high-flying Jamie Maclaren and midfielder Brandon O’Niell.
It’s fair to say that we all thought the Wild West was headed for a miserable season. Except that’s just not how Lowe operates.
He will tell you about the, “character” of his team and how they, “worked ever-so-hard”, but he won’t tell you about how he revitalised a club through exceptional recruitment in January.
Bringing in Shane Lowry and Kristian Vadócz solidified have created a team difficult to breakdown and bringing back Andy Keogh has paid dividends up front.
It’s not just his mid-season overhaul in January though.
He’s re-signed Perth’s best talent, Socceroo Josh Risdon for another two seasons. Lowe even transformed Marc Warren from what was destined to be an un-memorable A-League career, into one of the toughest wing-backs in the league.
Fair play, Kenny you’ve had your doubters along the way and you’re proving them wrong one-by-one.
John Van’t Schip – Melbourne City 7/10
This might seem tough on the Dutch manager, but a lot of what Melbourne has done has to be attributed to their attacking trio.
Mooy and Fornaroli have been two of the best players across the league this season and it is unsurprising City have done so well when you watch these guys.
Throw in Harry Novillo and you have the most potent attack of any A-League club.
Despite this, City have only improved on their overall position by one place from last season.
At times they lacks the solidity of a championship-winning team, we saw that in the last few weeks.
Nonetheless, Melbourne are in the finals and anything can happen on the day. The Melburnians will be hoping City can regroup and deliver what would be Melbourne City’s first title and Van’t Schip’s first as a manager.
John Aloisi – Brisbane Roar 8.5/10
Ironically it is the understudy of Van’t Schip that has seen apprentice become master.
Well perhaps not master, but Aloisi smashed expectations this season at Brisbane.
When first announced as the new manager it seemed like Aloisi could be blow his last chance to salvage his managerial career at a club troubled by financial burden. From bringing in his brother Ross, to helping Jamie Maclaren become a lethal striker, the gaffer has given the club the best chance of winning a title since 2013-14.
All the while having to deal with the consequences of off-field dilemmas he had no control over.
Most enjoyable is seeing how he has grown, Aloisi is calmer in his press-conferences and has an un-dying belief in his players and they reciprocate it for their boss.
The question is can Aloisi finish their incredible season with an incredible prize?
Tony Popovic – Western Sydney Wanderers 9/10
Every top manager will face adversity in their career, for Popa it was the dismal effort in the A-League last season. But like every top manager does, they redeem themselves.
This is what has made Popovic the manager of the season, he doesn’t shy away from a challenge and this season’s results prove it.
The introduction of the Spanish Armada (Alberto, Andreu and Dimas) was pivotal to the rebuild, as well as backroom changes like bringing goal-keeping coach Zelko Kalac and a new assistant to help turn the tide season. It was a huge risk and it paid off.
The Wanderers are the best team in the competition on their day and the expectation at Wanderland will be to win the title.
The only team that can stop them is themselves, on occasion the Western Sydney have not delivered when everyone expected to.
There are plenty of talented teams around them and if the Wanderers don’t deliver they will get caught out.
Guillermo Amor – Adelaide United 8/10
Some might say it is unfair not to give Amor the top accolade, take nothing away from what Amor has achieved. Indeed the Adelaide faithful will be en Amor with Amor (apologies to all Spaniards out there…).
But considering Adelaide was coming off a strong foundation laid by former manager Gombau, the squad hadn’t changed much and they finished third last season. It seems Adelaide are simply realising their full potential.
That’s not to say Amor didn’t work hard to get Adelaide to the top, but there are managers who had a much lower starting base. That is what separates Popovic from Amor.
whiskeymac
Guest
Selflessly made others look good. Which other coach had such an impact on all the other teams?
Ian
Guest
Does it really matter? Wow one quote. I'm impressed.
Paul
Guest
lets see based on last season 1. Muscat (Melbourne Victory) Premier's Plate and Championship winners after Perth salary cap scandal. FFA Cup Winners.. Lost Milligan and Assistant Coach. Position @ end of 2015/16 season 6th 2. Arnold (Sydney) Premier's Plate runners-up and Championship runners up after Perth Salary cap scandal. Lost Ibini and refused to re-sign Janko. Position @ end of 2015/16 season 7th. Led ladder for 3 rounds but had Brosque out for half the season.. 3. Gombau (Adelaide) FFA Cup winners 2014. Position @ end of 2015/16 season 1st with Gombau replaced by Amor. Lost Awer Mabil. Squad reasonably stable. 4. Merrick (Phoenix) @ end of 2015/16 season 9th. Lost Nathan Burns. 5. Van't Schip (Melb City) @ end of 2015/16 season 4th. Recruited Fornaroli and Sorenson amongst other with backing of City Football Group. 6. Thijissen (Brisbane) @ end of 2015/16 season 3rd with John Aloisi as new head coach. Much back room issues. Lost Brattan gained Corona and MacLaren. Lead ladder for 10 rounds but poor away record. 7. Lowe (Perth) @ end of 2015/16 season 5th. Multiple player losses due to salary cap scandal. Recruited Diego Castro. Poor season up to January transfer window, motored since then. 8. Moss(Mariners) @ end of 2015/16 season 10th.moss replaced by Walmsley! 9. Popovic (Wanderers) @ end of 2015/16 season 2nd. New assistant coach +3 other spaniards as well as Nichols, Vidosic, Neville, Jamieson with big clean-out. 10. Stubbins (Newcastle) @ end of 2015/16 season 8th. Under FFA control with Miller as coach. Some good signing in January Transfer window. Amor started with a good squad. Aloisi had to make the background troubles disappear into the background. Lowe had a demotivated squad and improved after the January transfer window. Muscat had on paper the best squad but appears to have dropped the ball. van't Schip should have won the league but could get his teams defence in shape. Popovic started with only a fewmain players from the seasons before squad, Bridge, Topor-Stanley, Cole and Hamill with latter 2 injured for most of the season plus changing from counter-attacking to a possession based team Last year Kenny Lowe would have been coach of the year but for the salary cap debacle. I think Popovic has the edge unless the Wanderers lose the semifinal at Pirtek!
Batou
Guest
So who was the worst manager of the year? It would surely have to be Wamsley, who lead his young (and very poor) team on a season long kamikaze mission with an impressive disregard for the fact that it wasn't working. (dis)Honorable mentions though to Arnold who should have done much much better and didn't have the excuses that Wamsley can make, Muscat who didn't do much better than Arnold with an even better squad, Miller who at least tried with what he had which wasn't much, Merrick who got a very poor result out of a reasonably poor team and Van't Schip who got an average result out of a potentially very good team. As an aside, I believe CCM set a new record for goals conceded (70 vs 60 for Fury in 10/11) and goal difference (-37 vs -34 for NZ Knights 05/06 and Fury 10/11) although to be fair the 05/06 season had only 21 rounds so NZ Knights could probably have claimed that one if the season was the same length.
Batou
Guest
Amor Aloisi Lowe Popa .... massive gap .... the rest
Batou
Guest
Where did you get that idea Kaks? I always thought that it was to talk about crowds, TV audiences, other sports, flares, future expansion teams, potential league structures and pretty much anything else other than football.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Yes, that's the mission statement, isn't it?
AZ_RBB
Guest
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Adelaide played away twice to 4 of the 5 other finals teams. Remarkable.
AZ_RBB
Guest
I thought the whole point of The Roar was to talk about how much we hate AFL.
hogdriller
Roar Rookie
Horto, i'm just glad Berisha is OK and that he's playing also, as having him not play would just be another excuse for MVFC fans to cry foul on Sat morning after their HAL season has finished, lol. Although I do feel that Durante should also have been punished just as Berisha was for his actions, the thing that really gets me is that even after Berisha has lied about what actually happened (Durante's hand to Berishas throat) in front of the IDC which is chaired by an apparent QC, and the fact that the IDC could see no evidence of such a claim from the actual footage, that they reduced the original ban so he could play in the upcoming Finals. They have chosen to ignore the facts of what happened in favour of a major boost for tomorrow nights game. What kind of precedent does that set for any other 'incidents' or suspected foul play that goes before any of the FFA Panels/ MRP/ Appeals etc in the future? Are they going to adopt such Policy for other Finals games or other important fixtures but yet follow a stricter Policy for normal League Round games?
Waz
Guest
That's a fair point if you want to exclude the cup, ACL etc.
Horto Magiko
Roar Rookie
Based on the sitter missed by McKay, and the ("we haven't had a keeper in the league look this good since they were snared by Valencia/Dortmund") form of Thomas of late... Hmmm tough one...
Midfielder
Guest
good point ...
Horto Magiko
Roar Rookie
It's easy. Amor is. He won the highest honor in the land. The challenge/test doesn't get any harder than that. Whoever wins the cute little post-season mini-tourney (finals) will undoubtedly get all the adulation. Such are the idiosyncrasies of the Strayan game....but there is only one 'coach of the year' here. And it's already been decided.
Ian
Guest
Bias does exist. This is true. ;-)
Paul
Guest
On that basis Wanderers were "very close" (closer in fact) to achieving what Brisbane Roar did - 3rd place. But keep going, I look forward to your article after the award titled "Poppa is the best coach not to win the coach of the year award" lol
Ian
Guest
'BRFC fans will cry foul over Berisha beating them singlehandedly' Whilst you moan about McKay being on a roundtable top 10 list.
Paul
Guest
The fox bias has been awful this season, I think they've been told to be controversial. Take your pick who you think they're biased for/against but they've hardly been objective in their analysis. I'm sort of over them and didn't watch last night for that reason.
Paul
Guest
If Kenny wins the GF that may happen.
Paul
Guest
Your from Sydney. Say no more lol.