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Oz Blog: Knowing When To Jump - Gary Van Egmond
Half the skill of coaching is knowing when to pack up and go, writes Fiona Crawford.
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Jul 2, 2009 7:43:40 AM
The highs and lows of coaching are a peculiar thing indeed. Lead a team to victory, and you’re everybody’s darling; fail to set the footballing world alight, and the knives are out before you can utter the promise of a 'return to form'.
Just ask Sydney FC, who are onto their fifth coach in five seasons — a club with a seemingly poisoned coaching chalice and who conjure up ‘don’t let the door hit you on the arse on your way out’ references.
Which is what makes Gary van Egmond’s surprise departure from the Newcastle Jets both interesting and very, very clever. Because while achieving on-field results is integral to the coaching role, so is knowing when to jump.
He may have recently signed on as coach for another four years, but van Egmond undoubtedly knew that a contract would mean little should the Jets happen to have a poor start to the 2009-10 season.
That on its own wouldn’t be disastrous. But coupled with the fact that Newcastle — aided by some player exodus and imports that failed to fire — claimed the 2008-09 wooden spoon, and the fact that they were dumped from the Asian Champions League with an embarrassing 6-0 drubbing at the hands of the K-League’s Pohang Steelers, he faced an uphill battle.
That’s not to say that Newcastle would start badly, of course, and it’s unlikely given the off-season recruiting and rebuilding the very capable Van Egmond had been doing, but it would have been in the back of his mind when he was offered the reportedly lucrative Australian Institute of Sport job.
In fact, every coach comes under fire at some stage in their career (just look at Pim Verbeek, and his team is actually performing), with other coaches' names lobbed up in the speculation about who the likely replacement would be should the axe fall. The unlucky ones find out their fate not from their employer but from the media.
Version 5 would have offered Van Egmond a chance to reclaim his earlier Newcastle Jets glory, which saw him take his inherited team to within one game of the grand final in Version 2 and to victory in Version 3.
But football can be a fickle sport and memories of victories are short. Would the knives have come out for Van Egmond at some stage during the season? We’ll never know, because he jumped long before they could be brandished.
Former Sydney FC coach Branko Culina, who was unceremoniously dumped from the club after a management change and a poor start to the 2007-08 season, was already on board with the Jets as a technical coach. He initially downplayed speculation that he would take over the head coach role before admitting that ‘once a coach, always a coach’ and subsequently signing on for the next two years.
It’s an interesting move and one that proves that despite its difficulties, coaching is an appealing career, even though Culina concedes that he’s still bitter about how things ended with Sydney.
So will Culina lead the team to victory in Version 5? For his sake, we hope so. Either way, Van Egmond’s pre-emptive jump ensured that, unlike most other A-League coaches, he never had to worry about being pushed.
Fiona Crawford
All the Australian soccer coverage you need on the Goal.com Australia homepage!
Just ask Sydney FC, who are onto their fifth coach in five seasons — a club with a seemingly poisoned coaching chalice and who conjure up ‘don’t let the door hit you on the arse on your way out’ references.
Which is what makes Gary van Egmond’s surprise departure from the Newcastle Jets both interesting and very, very clever. Because while achieving on-field results is integral to the coaching role, so is knowing when to jump.
He may have recently signed on as coach for another four years, but van Egmond undoubtedly knew that a contract would mean little should the Jets happen to have a poor start to the 2009-10 season.
That on its own wouldn’t be disastrous. But coupled with the fact that Newcastle — aided by some player exodus and imports that failed to fire — claimed the 2008-09 wooden spoon, and the fact that they were dumped from the Asian Champions League with an embarrassing 6-0 drubbing at the hands of the K-League’s Pohang Steelers, he faced an uphill battle.
That’s not to say that Newcastle would start badly, of course, and it’s unlikely given the off-season recruiting and rebuilding the very capable Van Egmond had been doing, but it would have been in the back of his mind when he was offered the reportedly lucrative Australian Institute of Sport job.
In fact, every coach comes under fire at some stage in their career (just look at Pim Verbeek, and his team is actually performing), with other coaches' names lobbed up in the speculation about who the likely replacement would be should the axe fall. The unlucky ones find out their fate not from their employer but from the media.
Version 5 would have offered Van Egmond a chance to reclaim his earlier Newcastle Jets glory, which saw him take his inherited team to within one game of the grand final in Version 2 and to victory in Version 3.
But football can be a fickle sport and memories of victories are short. Would the knives have come out for Van Egmond at some stage during the season? We’ll never know, because he jumped long before they could be brandished.
Former Sydney FC coach Branko Culina, who was unceremoniously dumped from the club after a management change and a poor start to the 2007-08 season, was already on board with the Jets as a technical coach. He initially downplayed speculation that he would take over the head coach role before admitting that ‘once a coach, always a coach’ and subsequently signing on for the next two years.
It’s an interesting move and one that proves that despite its difficulties, coaching is an appealing career, even though Culina concedes that he’s still bitter about how things ended with Sydney.
So will Culina lead the team to victory in Version 5? For his sake, we hope so. Either way, Van Egmond’s pre-emptive jump ensured that, unlike most other A-League coaches, he never had to worry about being pushed.
Fiona Crawford
All the Australian soccer coverage you need on the Goal.com Australia homepage!
| Sign up with 188BET for a FREE bet up to £25 – Great Prices, Every Game |
|
| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £100 in free bets! |
|
| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
|
| Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
|
| Sign up with Paddy Power for a free bet up to £50 |
|
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