mack Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Failing to finish in the finals has proven fatal for Josep Gombau as the Spanish coach was sacked by the Western Sydney Wanderers this morning. After just 5 months and 13 days since his first game in charge, having been appointed in the wake of Tony Popovic's shock abandonment of the club a week before the season start, the Wanderers board elected to punt the charismatic Spaniard out of a job that he had been given a 3 year contract for. Gombau's tenure was dogged by pundits both in print & television hounding every move he made, with every substitution met with cries of player feuds and his best unbeaten run of games of 4 games between January 1st and January 13 was not enough to keep the wolves at bay. Gombau had to take charge of an ill-disciplined, unfit and woefully under-performing playing squad and his attempt to rebuild the team in his Catalan image was met with indifference, apathy or hostility from many in the the playing group. Hayden Foxe managing a 5 game unbeaten start to season papered over the cracks as he and Popovic before his exit saw a clear reliance on marquee Oriol Riera to save the team from embarrassment against Wellington & Blacktown City in the FFA Cup, while in the A-League the team were incapable of closing out matches strongly to hold onto wins, even against the Central Coast Mariners or teams playing a man down. If the earliest results were less than inspiring, the 5-0 annihilation in the second Sydney Derby of the season drove home that the Gombau era would not be smooth sailing to begin with, or even that he would "get the best" out of an attack as penetrative as a tennis ball thrown against a brick wall, and a defence that had more holes in it than swiss cheese. A 4-0 loss not long after to Newcastle saw urgent meetings take place amongst the club officials & staff, and a desire to transition more slowly to Gombau's intended tactics appeared to pay dividends, as the team picked up wins against Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar. That was unfortunately the peak of the Wanderers season, with back to back losses against Melbourne Victory & Perth Glory putting the side in danger of missing the finals series. A 3-0 win against Brisbane in the penultimate game of the regular season saw everything to play for against Gombau's former club Adelaide United, and yet they capitulated in a dismal 3-2 defeat, as Riera missed a penalty to bring the game level, and Keanu Baccus was sent off to kill his team's chances of playing in the finals. Rumours of squad infighting that rose to multiple fights between team-mates, poor off-field behaviour that saw Chris Herd banished from the side, the exits of Hayden Foxe & Robbie Cornthwaite after a training ground argument along with the whisper campaign in the media all resulted in Gombau losing full control over his team, and despite sections of the Wanderers supporter base wanting the club to see through the Gombau project, those who wanted a fresh direction have seen their hopes realised. The Wanderers board lost their patience with the "project manager", and Gombau was punted on Thursday morning. What direction the board go in remains to be seen. Original target Ante Milicic may be looking for a job after Graham Arnold takes over the Australian national team post-world cup, while German manager Dirk Schuster may be available in the next few weeks should his side Darmstadt 98 be relegated from Bundesliga 2. Ultimately, this season was a complete waste of time & money, and the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of John Tsatsimas and the ownership group fronted by Paul Lederer. Why on earth would any management team elect to bring in Gombau, a man who it was absolutely crystal clear would need time to implement his own style and bring in players that suited it, and then turn around and sack him 5 months later is inexplicable to me. If they really wanted to keep playing the same plodding, non-attacking style that Popovic had perfected before his exit, they should have told Popovic that it was too late to release him, or then let Foxe takeover until the end of this year. Instead, the Board effectively stole the time & money of every single season ticket holder, to watch a club held together on the pitch by Riera & Janjetovic while those in between failed to provide the remotest sense of application and skill unless they were facing the very worst teams in the competition. And for what? The new manager is going to come into a club in crisis, another dozen squad positions to fill, and the sense that having sacked their last manager within 6 months that it could happen again before Christmas. Good luck to whoever that is. You're going to need it. View full article sonar, Neverbloom, DamnedUnited and 2 others 5 Link to comment
sasam Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Incredible. Bring on the Messiah. I hope that in his first presser - he apologises for putting us in the **** 6 days out of the season. Neverbloom, DinoPresinger and GunnerWanderer 2 1 Link to comment
Midyandy Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Well well well, changes are part of the WSW way lol wayoutwest and Neverbloom 2 Link to comment
MajorMelons Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Wow wow wee wa! wendybr, Bob, WSW27 and 2 others 5 Link to comment
Whitey Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Not what I expected to wake up to. StringerBellend and wendybr 2 Link to comment
wanderersfanatic Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 I called it midway this season... I wonder what transpired behind the scenes for him to get sacked? StringerBellend 1 Link to comment
wendybr Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Oh................OK............! So the almost perpetual state of turmoil continues eh? Never a dull moment as a WSW supporter. Some here will be over the Moon, no doubt. Harvey, StringerBellend and EmMac 3 Link to comment
wendybr Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 23 minutes ago, sasam said: Incredible. Bring on the Messiah. I hope that in his first presser - he apologises for putting us in the **** 6 days out of the season. Hmmmmmmmm.... ReticentWarrior 1 Link to comment
MeurantsLane Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 18 minutes ago, sasam said: I hope that in his first presser - he apologises for putting us in the **** 6 days out of the season. And that's the thing, do people REALLY want Popa back after everything that has transpired? EmMac, wendybr, Tranquilo and 1 other 4 Link to comment
Popular Post Erebus Posted April 19, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 19, 2018 If WSW go back to Popa they will show a complete lack of ambition. He burnt that bridge by being a major cause of this mess and write off of a season. Club obviously concede they don't believe in JG nor have the patience for this "project". I doubt anyone at WSW will take responsibility for his appointment in the first place. Club needs to have a successful season leading into Wanderland 2.0 mack, Harvey, Horus and 12 others 15 Link to comment
WestGrub Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Fantastic news!! Just get Popa back in and pretend this never ever happened. GunnerWanderer, StringerBellend and DinoPresinger 2 1 Link to comment
wendybr Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 7 minutes ago, WestGrub said: Fantastic news!! Just get Popa back in and pretend this never ever happened. Hmmmmmmmmmm..... ReticentWarrior, StringerBellend, Neverbloom and 1 other 4 Link to comment
Johnno Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 if they bring back popa, it should be on reduced money to reflect the real and opportunity cost he caused the club this season WSW27 and Neverbloom 2 Link to comment
matty Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Sad but not a shock. I don't think Gombau is the only one responsible for a crap season but it was a case of wrong coach at the wrong time. Neverbloom, Burgerman, StringerBellend and 7 others 10 Link to comment
Popular Post SomeGuy1977 Posted April 19, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 19, 2018 On 17/04/2018 at 3:20 PM, tranquilo said: Gambou souveniring, in plain site. Westie style Horus, Neverbloom, EmMac and 14 others 3 14 Link to comment
tardotz Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Gambou seemed like a very nice guy unfortunately that doesn't make him a good coach. I don't think Popa will return, he had his time at WSW so I would prefer to see someone new. I don't have a problem that he left because if offered the right opportunity (and $$$) everyone wouldand some return....look at Bridge. EmMac, Neverbloom, StringerBellend and 1 other 4 Link to comment
Popular Post matty Posted April 19, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 19, 2018 Cue a "world wide search" ending in signing Paul Okon JackDoff, btron3000, Unlimited and 14 others 2 15 Link to comment
wendybr Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 7 minutes ago, SomeGuy1977 said: Gambou souveniring, in plain site. Westie style Love the WSW sense of humour! Or is it just the Aussie male sense of humour? Absolutely love it! EmMac, SomeGuy1977 and MeurantsLane 2 1 Link to comment
Harvey Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 If they sacked him to bring back Popa... MeurantsLane, wendybr, Neverbloom and 3 others 3 3 Link to comment
wanderersfanatic Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Would you rather Popa or Okon? DinoPresinger 1 Link to comment
FCWanderers Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Gombau fell out with a number of players and has left others unconvinced he has the ability to lead a title challenge next year. Club officials had also become alarmed at a noticeable decline in the squad’s fitness since Gombau’s appointment. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/football/a-league/teams/western-sydney/western-sydney-wanderers-have-sacked-coach-josep-gombau/news-story/500561c7be35fab8c7e0114ad2393455 What was going on with the squads fitness this year and their ability to run out the back end of games. Link to comment
Popular Post 1988banana Posted April 19, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 19, 2018 What a club , no coach , no active support , no sponsor and no stadium But the board stay 🤦♂️ JT🖕OUT Burgerman, Howie, WestSyd2763 and 27 others 30 Link to comment
Sithslayer1991 Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 I think a lot of us called it that if he didn't reach finals at minimum he would be sacked. For our next coach I would think overseas maybe the way to go, Merrick is with the Jets, Mulvey with the Coast and Popa well that would be silly as well from both parties, after that no one Aussie convinces me wendybr and EmMac 2 Link to comment
Tranquilo Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 think got sacked due to the way he wrote off the season and started his philosophy with a squad of players who couldn't work with it, rather than just using what he had to make it as far as possible in the league. Didn't realise the fans and club was much more bigger than Adelaide Utd and we were not ready to give up on a season after only 2 months and use it as a pre season to begin his playing style. JT wanted him to stay regardless of the outcome but the board had already made up their mind, minimum finals series if not he was gone. So the merry go round begins again. Coach shopping first and then players after. StringerBellend, wendybr, matty and 1 other 4 Link to comment
sasam Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 47 minutes ago, MeurantsLane said: And that's the thing, do people REALLY want Popa back after everything that has transpired? I personally think it would be a backwards step. Neverbloom, MeurantsLane, wendybr and 1 other 4 Link to comment
Carns Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 2 minutes ago, GrEmIoWaNdErEr said: Now hearing we could see dirk schuster original planned coach come in as the original deal fell through but would be keen to have him as head coach. We need a foreign coach no Aussie coaches we need to start over and build a winning side I believe dirk would be a great coach very similiar to marko Kurz The best coaches in the league at the moment are Australian. I don't think you should just state that you won't accept one, no matter who. Foreign coaches can be very hit and miss. The current foreign coaches: Adelaide (Kurz) finished 5th, the Nux manager resigned/got the sack and Gombau got the sack too. I understand why you want foreign, but good foreign coaches are very expensive and in demand elsewhere. If they are worth it they'll command better money in Europe or Asia (or the USA). wendybr 1 Link to comment
marron Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 14 minutes ago, 1988banana said: What a club , no coach , no active support , no sponsor and no stadium But the board stay 🤦♂️ JT🖕OUT Suits will come and go. wendybr 1 Link to comment
lloydy136 Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Arnie is taking over at socceroos and may want his own guys so hopefully ffa would release milicic now (if that was the stumbling block last time and not $). Bring him in and get some stability and pride back in the place. wendybr, EmMac, Alexander and 4 others 6 1 Link to comment
1988banana Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 13 minutes ago, marron said: Suits will come and go. Hmm 🤔 not atm DamnedUnited, wayoutwest, marron and 2 others 5 Link to comment
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