FFA Board
Ray Gatt reports that Heather Reid's temporary absence ($) from the FFA Board, as part of the continuing fallout from the Alen Stajcic dismissal, is unlikely to be filled but the Board will “continue to evaluate” her position. The Board needs only four members for a quorum, and has five who are still available at this point. He says former Board member Danny Moulis or chair of the Women's Council Ros Moriarty may be asked to join.
The local Canberra paper has written about Reid's temporary absence also, with none other than Mark 'Text Message' O'Neill keen to be quoted about Reid, and trying to steer the story away from Alen Stajcic and on to Reid as a victim of “abuse” on social media. O'Neill says the 'abuse' is nothing different from what Reid has put up with previously and that she is as “tough as old boots”.
Alen Stajcic
Perth Glory W-League coach, Bobby Despotovski, says that if Alen Stajcic is a bully, then so is he. Despotovski is concerned that Stajcic has been unfairly sacked because he is a hard taskmaster. ”If that can happen, and the survey is an indication of we're sacking the coaches and the coaches are bullies because they have high standards for the players, then you know what, put me in that category because I'm a bully as well. I have very high standards for my players, myself, and the club. So if that is classified in women's football as a bully, then I should get sacked. Simple as that, because I'm no different than Alen.”
Hakeem Al-Araibi
Peter Fitzsimons weighs-in on #SaveHakeem.
The Asian Football Confederation has also finally written to the Thai Government about Hakeem Al-Araibi, writing to the Thai Prime Minister asking him to reject the extradition request from Bahrain. Better late than never, is our view.
A-League
NSW teams
An interesting read here from Tom Smithies on the state of NSW A-League teams, which comprise 40% of the competition. Other than Sydney FC (currently third), none are in the top six and that is unlikely to change over the remainder of the season. Smithies notes that “at least two of the four have finished outside the top six in every season” except one since Western Sydney Wanderers came on the scene which he says is a “damning indictment” in a league “where mediocrity is rewarded” with 60% of teams in the finals.
Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar
Adding a little bit of spice to this weekend's fixture, Marco Monteverde and Val Migliaccio report that that Adelaide United manager, Marco Kurz, is the frontrunner to take on the vacant Brisbane Roar job when his current contract expires at the end of this season. Darren Davies is the current interim manager at Brisbane Roar and is on contract with them until the end of 2019-20
Central Coast Mariners
Defender Kalifa Cisse has announced his immediate retirement from playing to take up a coaching role with the Mariners' Academy and ambassadorial roles for the club. Although he hasn't played much for the club, and has been sent off twice, he is said to be a positive force in the dressing room and is well regarded.
Perth Glory
“Go West” could be Bruno Fornaroli's new theme song, because that's where he is heading ($) from next season (picture). A mid-season trade with Andy Keogh fell through, but Fornaroli will still join Perth Glory as a marquee player, even though he has sat out most of this season. The same report here.
Melbourne City
Still on Melbourne City, their transfer window negotiations are referred to here by David Davutovic as “chaotic” with the club still trying to secure a striker. As reported yesterday, they've run into a hitch with Jamie Maclaren whose club, Darmstadt, want a transfer fee (no doubt realising that Melbourne City is owned by the City Football Group), and with his loan club Hibernian “playing hardball” over his release.
Western Sydney Wanderers
Vedran Janjetovic has been given another chance after last week's catastrophic error, but he has been warned he'll be on the bench if he continues to make mistakes like that. Manager Markus Babbel says he's made a mistake, and now it's important that he gets back up and deals with it. AAP report here.