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The Matilda's, Australian Woman's national football team

Nnnnnathan12

By Nnnnnathan12
in Womens Football

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btron3000

btron3000

Posted
Posted

Wow. About 1000 times better than anything Gallop has ever written or said.

I know that doesn’t clear his name, and he was a bit unclear about what happened between the PFA report and Jan 18, but if the FFA haven’t given him a chance to defend himself they’re ****ed. If true, this has unfair dismissal written all over it, whether the FFA have a good reason to sack him or not. You can’t just march someone out without explaining your decision or allowing them a chance to respond.

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Wanderboy

Wanderboy

Posted
Posted (edited)

The FFA have come out fighting after this morning's press conference from Stajcic.

 

There's a lot about this whole situation that just doesn't sit right with me. Clearly, no one knows the full story except those involved. Sure, where there's smoke, there's fire. Maybe. Yet, there is so much of this story that just screams "another FFA **** up" and football politics. The fact that Stajcic claims he has had messages of support from 25 former or current Matilda's appears to me that things may not have been like what the FFA are trying to portray.

 

Quote

Chris Nikou, the Chairman of the Football Federation Australia (FFA) said on Monday: “The FFA’s Board notes Mr Stajcic’s comments this morning. We disagree with many of his assertions and were surprised by a number of his comments.

"Indeed Mr Stajcic, by his own admission and in the presence of an FFA lawyer and the FFA CEO David Gallop, said that the team environment was ‘dysfunctional’ and was ‘always going to be this way’. In those circumstances, we decided to act in time to put the team’s FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign back on track.  It’s the Board’s duty to make these decisions. 

“We have been 100% focused on the immediate and long-term well-being of our team and staff. Our decision to act was driven out of care and concern for our players and people. It was and remains our sole motivation. Any suggestions to the contrary are incorrect.

“Nothing Mr Stajcic said today changes the facts, that built up over time, that informed the FFA’s decision to legally terminate his employment as Coach of the Matildas.  The FFA reached a unanimous view that Mr Stajcic was no longer the right person to enable the Matildas to perform at their best - on and off the pitch. 

"Coaching contracts generally contain provisions to deal with situations where the Board determines there needs to be a change of coach.  They do so by providing for a pre-agreed payment to be made in lieu of notice which is what occurred here. 

David Gallop, FFA Chief Executive Officer said: “We are not going to get into a point by point debate that further distracts the team. Mr Stajcic knows that the team environment, contrary to today’s comments, was not satisfactory.

"A change was needed. We are also mindful that the people who participated in the review processes, including the surveys and other information gathered, did so on a confidential basis. We will not breach those commitments to players and staff.

“We appreciate and acknowledge Mr Stajcics’ best wishes for the team and the players and it was never our intent to cause him or his family distress. It was a decision based on the best outcome for the players and staff.

“Our focus is on the recruitment of the new coach of the Matildas. We will be announcing the new coach in the coming weeks.”

 

Edited by Wanderboy
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btron3000

btron3000

Posted
Posted

They paid him out? Bizarre. If the FFA had some sort of proof, they should have either sacked him properly or, if it wasn’t clear it was a sackable issue but they wanted to pay him out to be rid of him, had him sign a confidentiality agreement. If he wasn’t going to sign one, and you don’t have certain proof he deserved to be sacked, you’re destined for a court (and PR) battle.

This “he admitted it was disfuctional” is entirely dependent on context. If it was a normal conversation and he didn’t know sacking was on the cards, that doesn’t count as giving him an opportunity to respond to the reasons he’s being sacked.

What a mess.

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sonar

sonar

Posted
Posted (edited)

This is just speculation but I'm wondering whether when they recieved back the replies to the annonymous "survey" of the players the FFA saw some of the replies of certain players,  panicked and thought along the lines of  .....gee, if any of this is true we can be sued for squllions by these girls.......we'll be all decisive and sack the guy without doing due dilligence and investigate the claims first. If I was Stagic I would want to know....what date, what time and where it happened .

Edited by sonar
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marron

marron

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, MartinTyler said:

At the time of his sacking Tara Rushton on FOX implied that she had received info which supported the sacking. In the light of yesterdays pressers etc has she made any further comment about this?

I seem to remember Bonita Mersiades's article - although it might have been another one - inferring that FFA had deliberately leaked a little info to certain media personalities who could then all say "if you knew, you'd understand, but we can't say", and clearly hoped people would just swallow it all because, you know, it's Tara, or whoever. If this is true, it seems likely they were careful to choose people who would not question it at all and just get out there and repeat the right lines.

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Davo

Davo

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Carns said:

Tracey Holmes from the ABC seemed to be one of the chosen too.

Even Lucy Zelic was back peddling a bit yesterday.

Both of whom I admire for their integrity usually.

Makes you wonder how many of them knew they were acting as the FFA propaganda arm and how many were just victims of lazy journalism.

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SBW

SBW

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, wendybr said:

I can't understand how procedural fairness has just been so blatantly swept aside. Can they really get away with this???

I struggle to understand how ANY organisation can act the way they do....an absolute law unto themselves.

Thats how the FFA operate, David Gallop did the same thing in the NRL about 'procedural fairness', David Gallop doesn't care about the truth, if he says you're guilty, you're guilty, doesn't matter if you're innocent and have been found with no wrong doing, you are guilty and he has facts to back that up, thats how he is treating Stajic and thats how treated Brett Stewart.

2 hours ago, Carns said:

Tracey Holmes from the ABC seemed to be one of the chosen too.

Even Lucy Zelic was back peddling a bit yesterday.

Both of whom I admire for their integrity usually.

Yeah I noticed Lucy sort of back peddled yesterday on the project, Tara has been completely silent since she briefly talked about it on Shootout defending the sacking of Stajcic.

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SBW

SBW

Posted
Posted

To quote the great Donald Rumsfield

Quote

there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know.

Known knowns: FFA, someone linked directly to the FFA

Known Unknowns:  Stajcic, Journos, some people close to FFA

Unknown unknowns: Matildas squad, general Australian football community, #sokkahtwitter 

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Sithslayer1991

Sithslayer1991

Posted
Posted

A lot of journos have back peddled. Their opinion came before the army of Matildas came in support of Stajic and of course other information in regards to who filled in the surveys (majority not the Matildas) and now Stajic has publicly said he has no idea why he was sacked and it starting to look like agenda by FFA and unfair dismissal.

 

Seriously what a mess so much for the great hope in the code.

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Wanderboy

Wanderboy

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, scarcev said:

A guilty man does not ask for an Independent enquiry to be held.  You want to go on about toxic culture then wait until Ross Aloisi is appointed, the most toxic **** in the A League is on the shortlist.

OMG.

If RA is coach of the Matilda's at the World Cup as opposed to Stajcic, we are well and truly rooted.

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LeeMarvin

LeeMarvin

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, scarcev said:

A guilty man does not ask for an Independent enquiry to be held.  You want to go on about toxic culture then wait until Ross Aloisi is appointed, the most toxic **** in the A League is on the shortlist.

'Toxic' is the term that is currently in fashion for when you want to make accusations against someone but have nothing specific to back them up with.  And unfortunately many organizations now seem to care more about media and social media perceptions than old fashioned concepts like due process. 

It is a scary world we have created for ourselves my friends.

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btron3000

btron3000

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Burztur said:

The fact that they can't state anything clearly and specifically about Stajcic's failings just shows its rubbish. Looks like Gallop is under review now.

Yeah I generally find the thing to look for in these situations is more what they don't say.

Stajcic never really expanded on what he thought was wrong with the methodology or process of the first survey, but that could have been as much down to the fact that no journalist asked him to expand on it.

The FFA's comment about Stajcic admitting the team was dysfunctional "in the presence of the CEO and an FFA lawyer" speaks volumes. If they could have said "Alen Stajcic was given an opportuity to respond to the reason for his sacking" they would have.  Even if they could have said that they met formally to go through the survey feedback, you'd think they would do that. But they didn't say that. It's got the smell of a massive stitch-up.

The thing that gets me most now that I think about it, is that ONCE AGAIN the only time Gallop shows any guts whatsoever is when he's attacking someone within the football community. Where was his backbone when the fans had their details hung out to dry by the Tele? Where is his backbone when some AFL stooge puts the boot into football? Where is he when football is being hounded as being a hooligan's game when stats show more violence at other sports?

Let's hope they finally punt this imposter.

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btron3000

btron3000

Posted
Posted

Though this part:

"It is understood the board and its new chairman, Chris Nikou, remained sure their decision to terminate the contract of Stajcic was the correct one for the Matildas but were dismayed they were forced to act in such a manner and so abruptly. Sources suggest the board believes many of the issues around the team's culture should have been flagged much earlier and rectified well before ending in the catastrophic events that tarnished the FFA's brand and damaged the image of Stajcic.

suggests the Board - who it seems ultimately made the call - are innocent of any wrongdoing. LOL 

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scarcev

scarcev

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, btron3000 said:

Though this part:

"It is understood the board and its new chairman, Chris Nikou, remained sure their decision to terminate the contract of Stajcic was the correct one for the Matildas but were dismayed they were forced to act in such a manner and so abruptly. Sources suggest the board believes many of the issues around the team's culture should have been flagged much earlier and rectified well before ending in the catastrophic events that tarnished the FFA's brand and damaged the image of Stajcic.

suggests the Board - who it seems ultimately made the call - are innocent of any wrongdoing. LOL 

and yet Emma Highwood who is employed by the FFA attended every camp and was responsible for the girls' welfare and team culture not only keeps her job but hasn't had even a remark made about her by the FFA.

Edited by scarcev
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Wanderboy

Wanderboy

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, btron3000 said:

Though this part:

"It is understood the board and its new chairman, Chris Nikou, remained sure their decision to terminate the contract of Stajcic was the correct one for the Matildas but were dismayed they were forced to act in such a manner and so abruptly. Sources suggest the board believes many of the issues around the team's culture should have been flagged much earlier and rectified well before ending in the catastrophic events that tarnished the FFA's brand and damaged the image of Stajcic.

suggests the Board - who it seems ultimately made the call - are innocent of any wrongdoing. LOL 

Also suggests that the Board is passing the buck. Gallop will be the fall guy here, but surely, there were others at play. We actually know that there was. 

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