Popovic Abroad (Popa Watch)

[StringerBellend]

Just now, mack said:

I assume the board wanted them to go straight back up and have zero patience.

That would be my guess

So what's the odds on him going to Victory?

We might have had him back pre Carlo Magnifico

 

[pseudonym]

City signing him might be an outside chance if the club and fans are annoyed by Kisnorbo

[Sithslayer1991]

Looks popa gets the flick from club politics, team was doing quiet well and a game in hand if they were to win would put them 2nd on the table. 

[Carns]

Player revolt (Garb alluded to similar).

Greek players didn't like Popa and his ruthlessness.

[mack]

If that's true it's just going to make things worse for them. You can't give in to players like that and expect any improvement in a club which just got relegated.

[Sithslayer1991]

Agree and to be honest looks very plausible if it was player revolt doesn't make sense otherwise.

[Midfielder]

1 hour ago, pseudonym said:

City signing him might be an outside chance if the club and fans are annoyed by Kisnorbo

More likely MV... City are playing reasonably well ... MV are falling apart with the last of the start up investors quitting the club today...

Only trouble with Popa ...... does Popa come with his kids... 

Edited February 23 by Midfielder

[WSWJACK]

Think he would be an outside bet for the Palace job, not beyond the realms, bookies would list him just to spread more bets.

[Davo]

1 hour ago, WSWJACK said:

Think he would be an outside bet for the Palace job, not beyond the realms, bookies would list him just to spread more bets.

Be a real outside bet. I saw a stat earlier that after this morning's win Palace have their joint highest points total in a Premier League season after 25 games. Seem to be going ok under Woy so I can't see them dumping him for Popa.

[WSWJACK]

13 hours ago, Davo said:

Be a real outside bet. I saw a stat earlier that after this morning's win Palace have their joint highest points total in a Premier League season after 25 games. Seem to be going ok under Woy so I can't see them dumping him for Popa.

See Woy is calling it a day at the end of the season, Eddie Howe is favorite to replace him, just mention Popa as he is fondly remembered at Selhurst Park and usually figures in the betting list when they change manager.

[Davo]

2 hours ago, WSWJACK said:

See Woy is calling it a day at the end of the season, Eddie Howe is favorite to replace him, just mention Popa as he is fondly remembered at Selhurst Park and usually figures in the betting list when they change manager.

Interesting, I hadn't read that about Woy although he's in his 70's so fair enough. Still think we'll see Popa back in the A-League although I'm sure The World Game will run a story about him being on the Palace shortlist.

[Paul01]

 

 

[Sithslayer1991]

41 minutes ago, Paul01 said:

 

 

Club politics what can you do?

Being an Aussie coach overseas looks far more difficult than being a player.

[FCB]

18 hours ago, Carns said:

Player revolt (Garb alluded to similar).

Greek players didn't like Popa and his ruthlessness.

No sympathy from me.  The "how" Popovic departed WSW has been bugging me ever since it happened.

When Lederer chose not to block the move, that was his personal decision. That Popa was in a position to pull the whole training group (Foxe only stayed because he didn't want to go to Turkey) is a contractual matter, and maybe that's just the way contracts are drawn up these days. That the club did not have a Plan B after Popa's departure was naive at best, but reeked of negligence. That was all the club's doing. 

But: it was Popa who pulled the trigger, five minutes before the season kicked off. That's were his personal ambitions emerged, and made him look like a single-minded, ruthless and opportunistic operator. Arguably he is too big for the HAL, but seems to be too small for obscure clubs in Turkey and Greece. Throw in a bit of nepotism, and potential employers are looking at a potentially toxic figure.

Next stop: MV followed by a third attempt in Europe via Crotia?

 

 

 

[jockman]

7 minutes ago, FCB said:

No sympathy from me.  The "how" Popovic departed WSW has been bugging me ever since it happened.

When Lederer chose not to block the move, that was his personal decision. That Popa was in a position to pull the whole training group (Foxe only stayed because he didn't want to go to Turkey) is a contractual matter, and maybe that's just the way contracts are drawn up these days. That the club did not have a Plan B after Popa's departure was naive at best, but reeked of negligence. That was all the club's doing. 

But: it was Popa who pulled the trigger, five minutes before the season kicked off. That's were his personal ambitions emerged, and made him look like a single-minded, ruthless and opportunistic operator. Arguably he is too big for the HAL, but seems to be too small for obscure clubs in Turkey and Greece. Throw in a bit of nepotism, and potential employers are looking at a potentially toxic figure.

Next stop: MV followed by a third attempt in Europe via Crotia?

 

 

 

Despite  the success he achieved in those early years at WSW which should be applauded,  and is a distant memory now.  I also do not feel much sympathy for him  anymore.  We seem to have eventually recovered from the Void he left and are building a competitive team under the Welsh Wizard and  King Kenny. If he resurfaces again managing the Victory or for that matter any other HAL team  it will be temporary  until he disappears overseas again.   What is the record for the same manager coaching different teams in the A League.  He needs to be careful this will not look good on his Resume !!!!! 

[ZachMercer]

45 minutes ago, jockman said:

Despite  the success he achieved in those early years at WSW which should be applauded,  and is a distant memory now.  I also do not feel much sympathy for him  anymore.  We seem to have eventually recovered from the Void he left and are building a competitive team under the Welsh Wizard and  King Kenny. If he resurfaces again managing the Victory or for that matter any other HAL team  it will be temporary  until he disappears overseas again.   What is the record for the same manager coaching different teams in the A League.  He needs to be careful this will not look good on his Resume !!!!! 

I can't imagine players refusing to play for you looking that good on your resume right!

[MartinTyler]

2 hours ago, FCB said:

 

But: it was Popa who pulled the trigger, five minutes before the season kicked off. That's were his personal ambitions emerged, and made him look like a single-minded, ruthless and opportunistic operator. Arguably he is too big for the HAL, but seems to be too small for obscure clubs in Turkey and Greece. Throw in a bit of nepotism, and potential employers are looking at a potentially toxic figure.

 

If he's too big for HAL but not good enough for pub football in Turkey and Greece, where exactly does he fit in?

[FCB]

1 hour ago, MartinTyler said:

If he's too big for HAL but not good enough for pub football in Turkey and Greece, where exactly does he fit in?

I'd say it leaves him in the wilderness.

A few weeks ago CR offered an insight into his future plans. His ambition is to coach in the EPL, and being in Australia he now wants to achieve that via the "Asian route". He expects WSW to play in the ACL, doing well enough to get the attention of big Asian clubs, and then be successful enough to score a job in the UK top leagues.

That path seems to be unavailable now for Popa.

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, FCB said:

I'd say it leaves him in the wilderness.

A few weeks ago CR offered an insight into his future plans. His ambition is to coach in the EPL, and being in Australia he now wants to achieve that via the "Asian route". He expects WSW to play in the ACL, doing well enough to get the attention of big Asian clubs, and then be successful enough to score a job in the UK top leagues.

That path seems to be unavailable now for Popa.

He's made his bed, let him rot in it.

No sympathy whatsoever..

Edited February 24 by Smoggy

[Davo]

16 hours ago, FCB said:

I'd say it leaves him in the wilderness.

A few weeks ago CR offered an insight into his future plans. His ambition is to coach in the EPL, and being in Australia he now wants to achieve that via the "Asian route". He expects WSW to play in the ACL, doing well enough to get the attention of big Asian clubs, and then be successful enough to score a job in the UK top leagues.

That path seems to be unavailable now for Popa.

It's crazy as Popa was so far down that path himself. Won in Australia, won in Asia, had clubs from all over Asia chasing him, including in Japan where he had contacts from his playing career.

I was going to contrast that with Ange, who went to Japan and is doing really well, but then I double checked Ange's record. After winning NSL titles with South Melbourne and having a run at the Young Socceroos job he went to the Greek third division and was gone within a year after a falling out with management. I guess he learned from it and took a different path the next time while Popa didn't learn from his time in Turkey tried the same thing again.

[Carns]

And obviously another difference for Ange was he spoke Greek so could communicate easily with the local players. Obviously didn't save him in the end but it would make things a bit easier.

[Sithslayer1991]

But even Ange mentioned being in Japan is no walk in the park. You need a translator that likes you, have an open mind on the culture cause in Japan the older players say when they can retire not the other way round and then get the players at the club to buy into what you are trying to do. 

 

[Davo]

I was curious about Pope’s old Turkish club so I looked them up.

Popa got sacked and the whole board resigned. New coach came in, got sacked as well. Won three games all season, came last and got relegated to the second division.

Came dead last in the second division and got relegated again.

Ended up in the relegation spots in the third division but relegation was cancelled that year due to COVID so they survived.

Now in their second season of the third division and after 25 games they have one win, two draws and 22 losses for five points (three of which were deducted by the federation) leaving them dead last and 22 points from safety.

Short of the club folding all together or the stadium exploding I can’t think of how it could have gone any worse.

[Wanderboy]

22 minutes ago, Davo said:

I was curious about Pope’s old Turkish club so I looked them up.

Popa got sacked and the whole board resigned. New coach came in, got sacked as well. Won three games all season, came last and got relegated to the second division.

Came dead last in the second division and got relegated again.

Ended up in the relegation spots in the third division but relegation was cancelled that year due to COVID so they survived.

Now in their second season of the third division and after 25 games they have one win, two draws and 22 losses for five points (three of which were deducted by the federation) leaving them dead last and 22 points from safety.

Short of the club folding all together or the stadium exploding I can’t think of how it could have gone any worse.

Wow!!

And we thought we had it bad moving to Olympic Park.

(Well, we did) but geez, what a shite fight that club is!

Crazy Turks.

Edited February 25 by Wanderboy

[Sithslayer1991]

14 hours ago, Davo said:

I was curious about Pope’s old Turkish club so I looked them up.

Popa got sacked and the whole board resigned. New coach came in, got sacked as well. Won three games all season, came last and got relegated to the second division.

Came dead last in the second division and got relegated again.

Ended up in the relegation spots in the third division but relegation was cancelled that year due to COVID so they survived.

Now in their second season of the third division and after 25 games they have one win, two draws and 22 losses for five points (three of which were deducted by the federation) leaving them dead last and 22 points from safety.

Short of the club folding all together or the stadium exploding I can’t think of how it could have gone any worse.

Its the curse of popa leaving a club I tells ya

[Keithie]

Popa leaves a trail behind him , I think the desire to make his boys great players is hurting him as a coach. 

He should never ever be considered for wanderers again. 

 

[beatsurrender]

Popa is a decent coach but his choices leave a lot to be desired. It's almost like he's really desperate to coach in Europe despite bad portents. "Me... pick me.. I'll do it"

Edited February 26 by beatsurrender

[Sithslayer1991]

The popa curse is already in effect after 3 games Xanthi has won 2 points they are now in 6th place and 11 points behind 1st place.

[MathyouWSW]

3 hours ago, Sithslayer1991 said:

The popa curse is already in effect after 3 games Xanthi has won 2 points they are now in 6th place and 11 points behind 1st place.

Any Australians played?

[Sithslayer1991]

14 hours ago, MathyouWSW said:

Any Australians played?

Izzo and Brilliante played all 3 games. Jurman played in at least 1 game (which was the last game) it is unclear if he played the 2nd game however.

Also unsure about the Popovic boys I think they may have left because they aren't on the team sheet.