Darije Kalezić: We hardly knew ye.

I get the impression there are a lot of people on this forum with close ties to domestic football. Is there an ACFC supporter out there who knows Ramon well enough to get on the phone to him and ask him to clarify his coaching qualifications - something that could then be shared with the rest of us? Ramon might like the opportunity to set the record straight, end the wild speculation, and protect his reputation. Any volunteers?  

Is the only reason I am still on this forum, so don't take that away from me!

Yeah steady on mate. Lets not ruin all our speculation, in fighting and name calling for some stone cold facts. 

I'm pretty sure you pasionate guys are barking up the wrong tree.

We've already heard Vidmar is top of the list.  

I'd like to hear more on Vidmar from you fully certificated football posters ...

I think I’d prefer Ramon to Vidmar, if possible. 

Aurelio 'Pissants' Vidmar.

If he thought Adelaide was pissant...

Maybe he did back then, when he was riding a high wave of success at first, and then they all turned on him the following year. 

These are the lean days for mediocre coaches in the A-League so if Aurelio wants some redemption and to prove himself to the doubters, he could not pick a more redeeming cause than the Nix.  I do not think he is our saviour, but after the Kalejzic Half Season I am OK with almost anyone with at least passing A League experience.

To contribute to my own request, I need to copy someone more knowledgable than me's thoughts

https://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/could-aurelio-...

37% win rate would actually be a big improvement

... if we could draw the rest?!

(Would be interesting to know what Nix coach had the best win rate and what that was?)

Big personality

Outspoken

Strong recruitment and prefers physically strong players

Strong varied playing career.

Wouldn't be all bad?

------

"

So who could the Nix choose to prevent social darwinism claiming their entire club? Enter, Aurelio Vidmar.

New Zealand media has reported that Wellington were already in talks with the 51-year-old before confirming Kalezic's departure, as the club recognised the need for contingency plans to ensure their future.

A favourite son of both the Socceroos and Adelaide United, Vidmar is a departure from the Nix mantra.

The A-League's 2008/09 Coach of the Year posseses a large, outspoken persona in stark contrast to his predecessor. His record at Adelaide United, however mixed, was one of strong recruitment and physical prowess - two of Wellington's biggest weaknesses in the recent past.

He led an unfancied Adelaide side to a pioneering Asian Champions League final in 2008, while his playing experience across Spain, the Netherlands and Japan - in addition to his international coaching experience with Australia - gives him some pedigree in approaching the role.

But is Vidmar really the right man for the job, or another quick fix for a long-term problem?

His winning percentage of 37% at the Reds fails to deliver confidence, as does his failure to qualify for the Rio Olympics with the Olyroos, or his short spell at Thai club Bangkok Glass, where he departed in circumstances rumoured to be less-than-pleasant.

Again, the Socceroos legend who once joked about "beheading" his players proved a little -larger-than-life for coaching. Intermittent success, pockmarked by controversy is hardly a recipe for survival.

Sure, at a Thai club that's run through 16 managers in 10 years, perhaps he deserves to be cut some slack.

But at the moment, whether Wellington Phoenix is any more of a stable, successful outfit than a mid-table Thai club is an uncertain proposition in itself.

"

Definitely would seem a willing candidate right now.  And might be pretty motivated to do well ... 

Not disagreeing, but why? I don't know much about both of them to differentiate. Genuine question.

Vidmar's Adelaide went okay for a while but then turned quite shark and his record with national sides since then hasn't been great shakes either.

Makes you wonder if Welnix think 'why didn't we just leave the job with Buckingacre'?

A lot of People say that The step up will be too much for Remon but if history tells us anything the most successful AW coach of all time was hire from the National League... Ricky, yes all the rumours about Ryan taking the team at the World Cup etc are floating around but if like me you stayed up all night to watch NZ vs Wales with a extremely young side with Siggy, Smeltz and co draw 2-2 you felt this guy knows what he’s doing... the same man went on to be arguably the best Nix coach of all time. I feel we need to take a shot with Remon (as long as he gets a piece of paper to say we can) and see what happens.

He has after all done wonders with some young local players..

Ridenton - got his first shot with ACFC before the Nix

Clayton

Cullcott

Browne - although choose PNG over NZ

Te Arowhai

Also his contacts for imports is strong and there are players all over the league that he has put clubs onto, remember Andreu who played for ACFC only to come back for WSW

The only question remains for me is if he really want to work for Dome!?!

hang on, hang on. Apparently you need "qualifications". But Kalezic apparently has these qualifications. Maybe these "qualifications" are actually no sharking use. Did Matt Busby have these "qualifications" ? Maybe football is shooting itself in the foot my making everything unnecessarily restrictive and complicated. Im sure George Best didn't go onto the pitch with his head full of the tactics and other shyte that the current crop of ordinary players and coaches deem so essential.

Well, I am actually less worried about his track record with Adelaide than his track record with the younger national sides. Facts escape me but I recall reading scathing articles in Sydney Morning Herald at that time, when his efforts with the youth team were uninspiring.

I am more forgiving about his shyte year with Adelaide, because that was when they were in AFC league after his good year before. I did not think they actually had the squad to cope with both campaigns at the same time.  

I am writing this off the top of my head, so someone with more time and worse insomnia can correct me if I got my facts wrong..

Glad to see the Popovic talk has simmered down, its dangerous to even think he would come here. Will only be disappointing when we end up getting Vidmar

What would Fox Sports think of Vidmar?

I just hope he comes to the job with a strong commitment to promote young Kiwi talent. If fact, the club should come out and state publically that this is written into his contract. Basically, as Vid rebuilds the squad, if the choice is between young Kiwi players, and young Aussies of similar ability, the Kiwi kids gets the jobs. 

What are we going to call him? Vid the Impaler? (Suggestions welcome.) lol

Any coach would likely come with a dream of updating the squad and meeting the club's building NZ youth plan, whether its successful will largely depend on the club allowing the coach/manager to spend money to get there. I expect that getting the quality of player we want to allow us to use largely NZ players is going to be costly.

While  i like the fanciful idea of filling the squad with local players. Is that really something that's going to help us retain our position in the A league. Let's not kid ourselves that a team based mainly on local talent is going to be competing for the toilet seat on a regular basis. Just don't think if we field a team based mainly on locals that looses more than they win it's going to help in any way with attendance figures. Surely the first job is to turn us into a genuine comptitive team. Agree positions should go to locals if they are of similar talent. But we need to be winning before any idealistic shark comes into it.

Agree with you, although I would like to a least try and develop some talent.  We've always been quite conservative in our approach and I really hate it when Australian teams chuck a 16 year old in against us and he tears us apart.  We've had talented young players in the squad before, but very rarely have they actually been given enough opportunities to prove themselves until we were left with no other options.

Two things on Ramon: 1) Why has he waited so long to progress his education? That is concerning to me.

2) An aspect that's seldom discussed is how he's always coached arguably the best team in the league.  Not saying it was easy, and he's done really well locally and internationally with ACFC, but before considering an appointment, we should really ascertain that he has the skills to take a mediocre (middle of the table at best) team and push them as high as they can.

Not putting him down - I think on a certain level it's harder to coach 'big teams' (and ACFC are certainly that at our level), in order to keep them performing at the required level and managing usually bigger egos.  All I'm saying is that, despite the Nix playing above ACFC, it would be a very different kettle of fish for him.

That's all I want to see, which wouldn't make the squad any weaker, just more 'Kiwi-centric'. I'm not advocating anything fanciful, and the bulk/cream of the crop should still come from wherever we can find the right talent to make us serious contenders (and help us stay in the league). If down the road we find we've morphed into a league powerhouse of mainly Kiwi talent, then great. 

awesome imports + a couple of aussies of nathan burn's (usual) standard + kiwis works for me

This, so much this. Particularly #1, he has, supposedly wanted the nix job for a number of years now but has been overlooked - and the qualifications thing has been raised every time. so I think the question has to be asked - why has it taken so long to gain the qual? is this acceptable? If not will we accept multiple "failures/delays". Or de we see it as he isn't really that interested in having the job?

More importantly, does he actually want to be a professional head coach or is he happy to be a technical adviser/administrator?

He's no spring chicken (not old for a coach I know), and if he wanted to be a 'career coach' you think he'd have jumped on the chance to further his education and looked for a gig somewhere other than Auckland?

Again, don't want to bag him - but I think these questions are important. 

I think there are huge question marks over Ramon; but in terms of the calibre of coaches we can realistically attract right now - he'd still likely be the best.

He's definitely an interesting proposition - and I'd be inclined to prefer him to, say, the likes of Vidmar or others who haven't been involved in day-to-day coaching for a while.

I think most of us would prefer him over a coach who hasn't had his hand in the game for ages or over one with a  poor record. But I'd hate to pick him up cos there was no one better with all the unknowns about him

I can kind of understand the rationale of why they put these requirements in place but I'm not certain its necessary at the top levels of the professional game where you are measured on your results in the end not the letters after your name.

Well the FFA are not changing that (or anything for the betterment of the A-League) so...

I think the unknowns are predominantly around the quals and why he hast achieved them earlier - given his supposed interest in the Nix job. It's just bizarre that you'd have an absolute must for something and not get it before expressing an interest in a role.

I agree about the unknowns surrounding Ramon. We're running out of seasons - and too close to the end of our current licence - to take that kind of risk. (BTW, never did get anyone on this forum to volunteer to talk to him directly and set the record straight re his coaching qualifications.)   

would he actually talk to one of us if we did?

I think also some of the confusion comes about due to a lack of understanding of what quals Ramon actually holds. According to

http://www.transfermarkt.com/ramon-tribulietx/erfolge/trainer/17036 he holds his UEFA Pro Licence which is UEFA's requirement to coach/manage in the top European leagues.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Pro_Licence

Born/age: Sep 20, 1972 (45)

Place of birth: Barcelona

Nationality: Spain

Appointed: Jul 1, 2010

Contract until: 30.06.2018

Trainer licence : UEFA Pro licence

Avg. term as coach: 7,69 Years

Preferred formation: 4-3-3 off.

That's just completely wrong.  Even his most ardent fans have not stated that (nor his LinkedIn) 

Transfermarkt and wikipedia aren’t the most reliable of sources. His own LinkedIn got changed to show he doesn’t actually have the UEFA licence, but “level 2” from acadef which is described as “UEFA equivalent” on their website. 

The court ruling, while using some confusing language, shows that it must be treated the same within Spain. But as someone else said if you had to go to court to get that ruling in Spain, it’s very doubtful the course is recognised by UEFA.

We may never know unless someone tries. Plan B could be for someone to try and get the info from ACFC. They must know their coaches qualifications.