The Great 2016/17 Coaching Saga

Is the fact rhat Smeltzy re-signed an indicator that Greenie & Bucks have the job?

Teams often do better under interim managers than they were doing previously but it doesn't necessarily mean that will reflect in long term results. Also, home (sort of) games against CCM and WSW aren't probably the best benchmark for overall performance. I'd still prefer someone with some sort of established pedigree.

That's a fair point on interim managers' short term vs long term results I still lean towards wanting an experienced manager though, but I won't be up in arms if Des and Greenie gets the gig for the rest of the season. 

It's a tough dilemma to be in, give Des and Greenie time to prove themselves and risk the season, or sign a new manager and risk the season? Risky risky. 

Think this is an important factor. Midseason you'll always have a limited number of candidates for the job, any external manager will need to get up to speed with the players, and if they want to overhaul the playing system this could take some time (see Amor at Adelaide, Ange at Brisbane)

I wouldn't be surprised if Des/Chris get the gig, even if just until the end of the season. It would probably be a relatively smooth transition, and we've already seen some tinkering with the system that makes us look a bit more dangerous. 

Can u think of another coach who could be available at the end of the season?

Wait for someone to be sacked?

Ramon, Taylor are ready now. Both have histories that should promt the decision makers to  seriously consider them.

(assuming he applied). Well contracts tend to finish at the end of the season so think it's safe to assume the pool of coaches would be greater in 6 months time.

Just on Ramon, I was talking to a friend over the weekend about him. He suggested that Ramon doesn’t have much flexibility in his approach and tends to sent up the same way for the entire match. Something that people criticised Merrick about. That was certainly evident in their game down here against the WeeNix I saw. Can’t say I’ve seen a lot of their games this season to completely agree, but their lack of goals this season perhaps supports this argument. 

I have had an incling that he has become more direct in recent times. 

Rigidity is fine, as long as we win.

There will be a number of English based coaches available over the next month as clubs have their annual cleanout. Briatore had more managers at QPR than any othe club in  the time Des and Chris have run the Nix.

I'm not convinced with that statement. Generally [I'd think] we'd be getting someone without a club at the moment. So it doesn't matter that much to them starting mid season [happy to have the gig]. Admittedly, makes it a little hard in terms of no preparation with the team but on the upside [for the manager anyway] minimal pressure to perform immediately.

Yes true, but Popivic was assistant at Crystal Palace and Muscat was assistant at a very succesful Victory.

Greenacre has been assistant at a very unsuccessful Nix. Even though both Ricki and Ernie take all the flack for the poor showing of the Nix Greenacre as assistant should be under the spotlight as well. As an ex striker I would imagine he would have some input into the attacking side of the team. However they have been consistently poor in this area for a number of years. This season, pre Wanderers we had what?....nine goals in nine games?  5 of those playing a poor CCM. This despite having some real exciting attacking players

The bounce the Nix have had in the two games since Ernie left can be attributed to multiple reasons. The players realise they have to pull finger, the senior players have more input etc. Its a common accurance in football. Those advocating Greenacre should front up with why they think he is senior A-League coach material.....apart from the fact he is a good guy and is popular with the players.

The Nix have underperformed this season(again) The coaching setup needs a cleanout. What they have been doing has not worked. Time for new blood, fresh ideas and a different perspective. 

It has been reported that Wellix have been flooded with applications from all round the globe. Pro coaching jobs are not exactly in overabundance. If the best we can do is Greenie and Buckingham then we should just give up. Wheres the ambition to make this club great?

Great post

Id be happy for Des and Greenie being there for the season.

Greenie has had many years on the fringes and i think he deserves a chance at this level. He speaks well, and was a very experienced pro.

Des is the unknown to us, but very qualified. If he's happy to assist Greenie id be happy. Not sure if co coaches are sustainable as there must be a time where both disagree. That's when you need a gaffer, the gaffer then falls on his sword if all goes wrong.

if greenacre gets the job, that will be me for a while 

I agree, I was just pointing out that the fact that they're an assistant does not mean they aren't a good coach. Greenacre probably has quite a bit of input in the attacking third, and was definitely in charge of set peices both parts of our game which we are woefull at, even though we've hired the best dead ball player in the league. 

Des Buckingham is still an unknown quantity and we don't really know the power of balance between the two, we assume that Greenacre is the defacto head but Buckingham has more coaching experience and was a first team coach at Oxford United.

I also think that coaches can be like players, we're going to attract one of three types of coach, the first is someone who has bad form or is close to the end of their career and can't get a gig elsewhere, the second is someone who's burnt out on football elsewhere and want's a league which is quieter and has less pressure with no relegation, etc. And the third is someone who is unproven but young and hungry.

I kind of want the young and hungry person which might be someone from a lower division who wants to step up, an assistant that wants to be a first team coach, or someone who was promoted to quickly or was coaching a team with bad cattle or political problems and wants a chance for redemption.

I got no idea is Greenie is a good coach. Nor does anyone here. Ditto with these other applications. 

But it is very possible that he (or Des) did provide a different perspective as Ernie. But as Ernie could well have over ruled him or disagreed. I'm sure most people in their day job, have had a different view point to their boss. I certainly have. Don't see why football is any different. 

A very good post, spot on.

I would add that there not many pro coaching gigs at a national level league (which is what HAL is) with no relegation risk.

Many coaches in Europe would take the ignominy of a wooden spoon one season over  the pain of relegation to a lower division with all attendant problems (such as lack of TV exposure for lower leagues, often crummy facilities for visiting teams, possible sponsorship woes, loss of players etc). That is why this is a good league to coach and it is fair that FFA requires a good coaching license from applicants.

I agree that Greenie is a nice guy and a great club servant and I wish him well. However the apparent flood of applications tells me we could yet make a "quantum leap" with a new coach that would get this otherwise good squad perform better than so far this year.

Unfortunately this is not a profession where length of service is enough of a merit.  We should be scoring more goals with Greenie in  charge, or even with him as an assistant coach, since scoring goals was his main skill as an out-and-out striker. The least he could do, he should be teaching  Roy how to take penalties effectively. 

Noone has any idea on the quality of those 50. Think I read somewhere (was it when the Jets were looking for a coach) that they could take a quick glance at 3/4 of them and discard pretty easily. 

The caliber of most candidates looking for a job mid season can't be too high.

There are always good coaches that have fallen on their swords (like Ernie), or have had political issues with some crazy owner. But most are going to have mediocre records.

Big Sam needs a gig and no one will touch him in the UK : )

There are plenty of coaches on Transfermarkt. You just have to find some one who like the challenge. Take a second tier Bundesliga coach, they should be pretty good, they all speak English. Not sure why people always think in the 'local' coach market. Greenacre as assistant to help him with the A-League knowledge.

Rory fallon just lost his job #alignment

All we can judge Greenie and Des on as head coaches is what they've achieved in the role. I'm more than happy with the 2 performances so far and if they maintain that standard then I see no issue with them taking the helm for the remainder of the season and allowing us to undertake a thorough hiring process in the offseason. More time to consider options is not a bad thing.

Obviously if performances and results start to slip then that will need reassessing, but so far they have done the job they have been asked to do and, based on performances, they have earned the right to carry on in their current roles.

The differences in team shape, passion and quality have been night and day in the last 2 games compared to the rest of the season and I feel improved performances are worth persevering with.

Fans threatening to stop supporting the club because they hire a pair of managers who have been performing well is laughable and speaks volumes about the types of fans those people are, not naming names.

I thought we had the same issues against WSW that we had under Ernie, actually - they just waltzed through our midfield like it wasn't there. We were very, very lucky to get anything out of that game.

CCM are a bunch of no hopers, but we did play well against them.

Lets see how we go playing against a decent team away from home.

I was about to leave in the 65th minute IIRC, YF zone was at the end the 'Nix were attacking and hadn't seen the ball in ages, we were giving the ball away easily and the whole body language of the team was down. 

Still Parkhouse, Kosta and Krishna is a good combination, and Watson and Smeltz isn't a bad plan B.

On the playing away from home- our record in Melbourne and Adelaide is absolute pants and can't be much better in Sydney.

Maybe, but Greenacre has to take some responsibility during the Ernie era

With the recent Joseph Parker fight I will use a boxing analogy - under Ernie we were a boxer that liked to lead with a jab, since he has gone the CCM game we came out swinging more, looser but against a poor opposition we won then against better opposition in WSW we came out swinging again but WSW were eventually able to gain control with their jab. We got a couple of blows in against the run of play  and towards the end with both teams tiring it became a slugfest. 

Agree entirely, but if Ernie had turned performances around like Greenie has (so far) then I wouldn't be calling for his head. The present is a far better judge of ability than the past.

I don't want to be negative but I also want to be realistic - I would be happy for Des and Chris to get the job for the rest of the season and we can then judge them on a larger body of work but for people to either lock them in or discount them after two games is silly.

As has been written earlier the team naturally was going to lift after Ernies departure no matter who was in charge - CCM are also very poor and WSW to be honest should have won that game.

There would be calls of corruption if Dimas was a boxer.

Beating CCM is no achievement and us drawing WSW wasn't down to the coaches, rather down to individual talent. Had Moss not saved that penalty it would've been the end of the match. Had Krishna not played some really inspired football at the end there it would've been the end of the match too. Not sure why people are praising the coaches against these two opponents (one of whom is extremely bad).

Must have missed the bit where Greenie made the foul in the box. 

So when they said an announcement was imminent, how imminent was imminent?

When did they say an announcement was imminent? The only thing I saw was they were hoping to sign someone by Christmas which, unless the Phoenix suddenly pull out their "Important announcement" tweet right now, is looking unlikely.

How great is Moss though?

I thought that someone on here had said that the club had said an announcement was imminent? 

um, the brain explosion after the penalty?

Yeah, I saw that too but there's been nothing from anywhere else so I assumed they were just talking shark.

The club did say they would like to make a decision by Christmas

Not that imminent then