Newcastle Jets Looking for New Coach
Paul Williams
Here we are again, the Newcastle Jets are looking for a new coach. This will now be the fourth season in a row the Jets have started the campaign with a new man in charge. Jets fans must be sick of this feeling of déjà vue.
It's little wonder they haven't made the finals since the 2009/10 season, a remarkable stat in a ten-team competition where 60 percent of the league make the finals every year.
The way the season ended the Jets hierarchy were left with little choice but to axe Mark Jones, it was clear he had lost the playing group. The bigger issue is the lack of stability and continuity from one-season to the next. Whoever inherits the Jets job will be inheriting a squad put together by not one previous coach, but a mix of them.
Players signed for different systems and different purposes, square pegs all trying to be squeezed into a round hole.
Jones' axing has led to a flurry of news reports linking anyone and everyone with the job, with media and fans alike salivating at the thought of Harry Kewell or Robbie Fowler, who are said to be on the short list, taking up the job.
But can the Jets afford to take another risk on an untried rookie coach? They tried that with Scott Miller and Mark Jones and it hasn't worked. What the Jets need most now is experience and stability, not a name. Of course all coaches must start somewhere, and there's no guarantee that just because others have failed that Kewell or Fowler would also fail, or vice versa that an experienced coach would succeed. But runs on the board count, and the Jets can't afford another false start.
Whoever comes in to replace Jones, however, must be allowed to overhaul the squad and be given the time he needs to do it, and owner Martin Lee must make available the funds to invest, and that means marquee players to bring some buzz back to the Hunter.
As the competition risks splitting into the haves and the have nots, with pretty much the same clubs making the finals this season and last season (with the exception of Adelaide United), if the Jets don't start to invest and claw back ground conceded to the bigger capital city clubs then one wonders if memories of them packing out Hunter Stadium and contesting for A-League silverware will remain just that, memories.
The Hunter is fertile football territory and the fans have put up with mediocrity for far too long. They deserve better.
As too do Adelaide United fans and players.
Just what is happening with player contracts at Hindmarsh Stadium? No one seems to know, and we're left in the farcical position of the club signing a replacement for captain Eugene Galekovic - without any confirmation that Galekovic will be leaving the club at the end of their AFC Champions League commitments? Am I the only one who finds that incredibly disrespectful to a great of the club?
The Reds missed a giant opportunity to give a fond farewell to the loyal servants of the club at their last home game against Western Sydney two weeks ago. With nothing to play for, the night should've been turned into a celebration of two club legends - Galekovic and Argentine wizard Marcelo Carrusca.
We still don't know for certain, because the club is stubbornly staying silent, but it seems almost certain neither will be at the club next season. The club should've taken the opportunity to be open with the players and the fans, explained their decision not to offer new contracts and encouraged fans to turn out one last time to send them off with the farewell they deserved.
Instead, it was left to the Red Army to lead the tributes with a Tifo display pre and post-match. But there was an underwhelming sense to it all. This needed the full treatment from the club, and not for the first time they were found wanting.
It's things like that that help build a culture at a club. Just look at how Melbourne Victory sent off Archie Thompson, or Sydney FC sent off Mark Rudan earlier in the A-League's history, for an example of how it should be done. While Thompson, and many Victory fans, may not have agreed with the decision they were at least given the chance to say an emotional goodbye.
But a strong club culture is not really something Adelaide United has ever been accused of having. There were howls of protest after the messy departure of another club legend, Travis Dodd, and this is a case of history repeating itself.
The question is simple, when will they learn?
Copyright © Paul Williams and Soccerphile.com
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