With the appointment of John Kosmina and Jim Magilton at Adelaide Utd and Melbourne Victory respectively on short-term deals, both clubs appear to have lost confidence in their own decision-making at board level.

Taking Adelaide first, upon first inspection it is perhaps understandable that United have been shaken by the Rini Coolen debacle, which saw him depart at a time when he was barely into his much-lauded four-year deal.

Their knee-jerk reaction has been to hold back from another long-term appointment to avoid another costly mistake

But what do they expect to learn about John Kosmina that they don’t know already? The guy is a legend among the football fraternity in South Australia, and has already had a successful coaching career at the club in the recentpast.

What more can they find out? He’s either the right man for the job or he isn’t.

The tentative appointment of Jim Magilton at AAMI Park is even stranger.

Victory are expecting a short-term impact from a guy who knows nothing about the A-League or any of its players. Sure, he might put the fear of God into a few people as he shakes things up in the immediate future, but it’s not exactly a vote of confidence from the board to bring him in for just six months.

How can a club plan effectively for next season when they don’t know who will be coaching them? You can't tell potential signings who will be coaching them next season. And you can't sell the quality of coaching to attract any foreign players because you don’t know which coach you are selling to them.

The incumbent coaches on short-term deals will be scrapping for results and trying to do everything they can to earn contract extensions for themselves.

This inevitably results in tried-and-tested veterans being selected as the expense of younger players who might be on the fringes chomping at the bit.

How often have we seen young players thrown into the breach make an immediate impact? Matt Leckie and Mustafa Amini spring to mind as examples. But would these guys have been selected if their club coaches at the time were under the pump?

This phenomenon is not just about Adelaide and Melbourne. Look west to Perth to see another good example, where Ian Ferguson is fighting for his coaching career.

The average age of their squad is 26.5. Compare to this to their recent opposition in week 15, Melbourne Heart. Their progressive outlook saw their team with an average age of 22 for their outfield players against Perth Glory recently.

Clubs need to be sensible about their coaching appointments. That does not mean sitting on the fence and seeing how things pan out though. That sort of coasting through and crossing fingers can be equally damaging.

Don't underestimate the mental drain that constant media speculation regarding the coaching position can have on a playing squad.

Fans want to see decisive action taken by their clubs. Removing Coolen and Durakovic were moves welcomed by both sets of supporters. It’s just a shame that the neither had the courage of their convictions to take the next step and back their new appointments more decisively.

Band-Aids can stem the bleeding, but they can’t mend things that are broken.

The opinions in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FFA.

 
Comments (9)
 
For all practical purposes both of these teams' seasons are over. They need to start the building process for next year and beyond. The question is: can short term; coaching appointments which are brought in to turn a season around ever be successful at that task?
Dave Rapson  |  
6 Feb 2012 11:22 AM
 
 
Poor Adelaide, lost in it's own insular bubble....again. When it hits the fan, Adelaide always go back to Plan A,what worked once-upon-a-time will work again; meanwhile the earth keeps spinning, Adelaide falls over dizzy, and can't get up until someone slaps their face. And suddenly they see sense until someone points out that that's not how we DID things in Adelaideand then go into remission again not GETTING what someone is trying to show them. I think it's sad that they are striving for a top 6 place......there are only TEN teams in the competition, and it looks like the reconstituted boofhead is not going to get the pissant city there. 6th place is only best of the worst, if that's all Adelaide want, perhaps give the franchise to a club with higher aspirations?
Crash  |  
5 Feb 2012 11:32 PM
 
 
I can really understand where this article is coming from but I think the fix is something that is going to take time. We are new to the whole top notch football gig and we are definitely learning from our mistakes. One of those mistakes is who we are appointing as club board members. This can be summed up in 3 points. 1. We need to have a balance between business and football in the FFA and the club boards. We are still trying to find that. 2. The more the competition grows the more we will understand what "our" style of football is, and the better we will be able to select coaches that suit our football. 3. It is going to take time for the competition to grow, for the money involved to increase and therefore our ability to attract quality and suitable coaches. Patience, Patience, Patience, but I am just like the rest of those with football in their blood, I want it to happen now. Go the Jets!!
Stepho  |  
4 Feb 2012 06:06 PM
 
 
I think expecting any manager to improve a team in such a short amount of time is unreasonable. I'd like to see Magilton given at least 3 years to really see what he's capable of.
Luca  |  
4 Feb 2012 02:25 PM
 
 
For the Victory there are 2 problems. The first is the board. The decision to sack Merrick was clearly taken not on results but on the basis that the incoming chairman didn't rate him . That was mistake. I may have missed it but has anyone sat Ernie down and asked him what he would have done at the end of last season if he were still the coach. I think i know and i'm sure if i'm right this year would not have been a disaster. The appointment then sacking of Mehmet was a further sign that this board is not up to it. The appointment of Magilton is a mistake his record is dire and nothing he has done here suggests his record misrepresents his abilities. If Victory don't get the next appointment dead right they will end up in that place where there will be a revolving door of coaches who will negotiate watertight contracts come in fail collect the cheque and leave. This will happen because decent coaches, the real deal,will not risk their career and credibility at a club with cowboys as directors. The history of football is littered with clubs like this and once in the mire it is so hard to get out. It is worth noting the template for what attributes a coach needs to have a chance at success is well known and understood tick the boxes and while success is never guaranteed the chances of failure are massively diminished. The second problem is Kevin Muscat who i hope will one day be the head coach of the Victory but might it not be better if he learnt his trade at another club to give any future managers a clear run at doing their job without someone the players have a greater loyalty to in the mix. As i say i respect Kevin but i think he and club need a couple of years apart for both their sakes.
dave  |  
2 Feb 2012 03:03 PM
 
 
Your point about teams' average ages doesn't really work; Perth are actually above Heart on the ladder, and both of them are below Wellington, whose starting 11 has an average age of 30. Similarly, it's tough to argue that Kosmina and Magilton are selecting veterans at the expense of younger players when Kosmina keeps giving game time to 16-year-old Jacob Melling and Magilton picks Marco Rojas, 20, over the decidedly tried-and-tested Hernandez, 29. There's obviously something wrong at both Adelaide and MV, but age isn't it.
Mike  |  
2 Feb 2012 12:31 PM
 
 
Reckon last night's result for MVFC may prove you right, Mr Offsider. Arhcie misses a sitter 2 mins from time, Allsopp decides to shoot from 30 yeards rather than keep the ball 2 mins into injury time and turns oiver to Thwaite to score. Oh, and just for a change, let's do another interview with a sweaty, frustrated Kewell adter the game because we've never seen one of those before.... Clueless.
Justin Yamam  |  
2 Feb 2012 12:16 PM
 
 
In Adelaide's case, they are arguably band-aid material. The return of Cassio and finding a defensive kingpin might be all they need to be top six. But, as you say, what don't they know about John Kosmina? At that club he is indisputably the playing side boss. Melbourne Victory are entirely different. Always an entertaining team to watch, they've relied on good players at the two ends of the field and a counterattacking style of play ever since I can remember. Now with their two defensive kingpins either gone or out of favour they are shipping it green. With the front players getting older and slowing up, their goal potential has dried up too. New players that have come in are finding it hard to reproduce their form at previous clubs. This team is terminally ill and it is plainly ridiculous to expect someone who needs 6 months just to learn the *Australia* ropes to turn things round in just that time. Magilton, whether knowingly or stupidly, is being set up to fail. It could be of course that he's been hired simply to pass on his *general* knowhow to Kevin Muscat. I wonder if Magilton knows that? Mind you, it hasn't taken him long to work out Carlos Hernandez.
Geoff  |  
2 Feb 2012 07:06 AM
 
 
With the teams in question not setting any records since the new coaches arrival, I think we can say the band aids have lost their stickiness already. Maybe they were duds bought from a cheap shop...,
John motson  |  
1 Feb 2012 08:48 PM
 
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