Frank Farina during his stint as Brisbane Roar coach. Picture: Nathan Richter Source: The Courier-Mail
DAVID Davutovic looks at who will replace Ian Crook at Sydney and names his goal of the round. Join his live chat from 9am AEDT.
DRAMAS IN SYDNEY
For me, the alarm bells started ringing in round 3.
Sydney FC had just beaten Western Sydney Wanderers in the inaugural Sydney derby and coach Ian Crook told the media conference that he was relieved as he’d started doubting himself.
You seldom hear this kind of rhetoric from top coaches.
And like the highly-publicised and pressurised Melbourne Victory post, Sydney FC is a plum job which has become tougher since the arrival of Del Piero.
I was in Sydney for the game and Crooky didn’t look comfortable facing a press pack of 20 after the game.
He was back to his normal self on Sunday when he announced his resignation.
As always, one can point to other reasons for Sydney’s horror start (shipping 16 goals in six games) such as a series of soft tissue injuries.
But Crooky put his hand up for the post about six months ago and having tried it out, realised senior football - and in particular the Sydney FC job - wasn’t for him.
Some will call him a coward, but I respect him for conceding that he was out of his depth.
Sometimes it’s about knowing your place in the world and Crooky admitted that he’s more comfortable on the youth league paddocks, which is an important job in itself and requires a different skills set to a senior role.
WHO SHOULD COACH SYDNEY FC? CHAT WITH DUVA FROM 9AM AEDT.
THE REPLACEMENT
Though my mail is that Sydney will go local, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do jag a foreigner.
‘The resignation of Del Piero’s coach’ has made global headlines and FC chief Tony Pignata would have received dozens of CVs in his inbox already and there will be hundreds more coming in the next 48 hours from all over the world.
With Del Piero’s influence I expect some impressive Italian candidates to put their hand up.
Should they stay local, my tip is Frank Farina.
Tactically he’s sound, he’s a good man manager, he won’t be overwhelmed by Del Piero having handled Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell in their prime and he can understand Italian which will aid communication with ADP.
Aurelio Vidmar and Paul Okon are good candidates but they’re tied up with Australia’s national teams.
RUNNING START FOR GALLOP
FORMER NRL boss David Gallop commences his post as FFA's new chief executive today at a time when the A-League hasn’t been in a healthier state.
Healthier than last August - pre-Alessandro Del Piero, Emile Heskey and Shinji Ono - when Gallop was announced as Ben Buckley’s replacement.
Buckley, who was appointed John O’Neill’s successor in 2006, was hopeful of announcing the new TV deal last Friday as his parting gift but it was held up in red tape.
So the $156m (or $39m from 2013-17) deal between Fox Sports and SBS will be Gallop’s first significant announcement, probably sometime this week.
And it comes off the back of another extraordinary round of ratings for Fox Sports:
- Melbourne Victory’s extraordinary comeback against Sydney FC rated more than 155,000, the second-highest rating game of the season and third-highest home-and-away game ever.
- Newcastle’s visit to Western Sydney Wanderers attracted more than 100,000 viewers;
- Melbourne Heart’s 4-1 rout of Brisbane Roar had 93,000 watching.
I reported on the healthy state of the game in yesterday’s Sunday Herald Sun, with TV, crowd, betting and membership figures all breaking records in 2012-13.
The average audience prior to round 6 was 97,500, with Sydney FC leading the way with all six matches rating upwards of 100,000.
There is still a way to go - AFL and NRL matches rate in the high 300-low 400 thousands.
But as Fox Sports chief Patrick Delany told me yesterday the 100 per cent improvement from two years ago is staggering.
The diabolical 2010-11 season which averaged 43,000 and when Fox Sport’s Matchday Saturday often out-rated matches.
Fox’s coverage has been first class and with SBS screening a live game per week (Friday nights) from the 2013-14 season, exposure will only increase.
Gallop will hold a press conference at noon before conducting a series of interviews.
And listen out for his soccer vernacular - my mail is that he’s been studying the round-ball code feverishly in the past few months to get up to speed.
HARRY UPDATE
As I reported yesterday, Harry Kewell met with John Aloisi on Tuesday and they weren’t discussing the Cup Day formguide.
As it stands, there is no offer from Heart and I don’t expect this scenario to change.
Kewell wants to play on, this is clear, but Heart’s the only A-League club he’s spoken to, which I find intriguing.
With every day the odds of Kewell returning to football lengthen - I reckon Harry needs to bite the bullet and decide which country and club will give him the best chance of reigniting his career.
GOAL OF THE WEEK
A tough week to choose a winner.
Andrew Nabbout’s first was a beauty, Richard Garcia and David Williams’ goals oozed class but my favourite came from Parramatta Stadium on Saturday.
Ryan Griffiths’ header was impressive but Joey Gibbs’ goal gets my vote.
Aaron Mooy threaded a pass that led to a series of clever one-touch passes and movement with Shinji Ono playing a central role.
See the goal below.
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