Adelaide United powerbrokers have met with Aurelio Vidmar following the coach’s controversial comments after Saturday night’s poor performance against Melbourne Victory, with the outcome deemed ‘positive’.
Vidmar had hinted at fractures within the club and the city of Adelaide that were harming the Reds’ on-field performance immediately after their second straight heavy loss to fierce rivals, Melbourne.
Vidmar later apologised for the comments as he arrived at Adelaide airport, maintaining he meant no disrespect to his home town and its people.
Club owners Nick Bianco and Dario Fontanarosa, Chairman Mel Patzwald and CEO Sam Ciccarello sat down with the embattled coach on Sunday for almost two hours with all parties emerging pleased with the discussions.
“We’re delighted with the outcome of the meeting,” Patzwald said.
“We’re all heading forward in the same direction, Aurelio has the unconditional support of everybody who was at that meeting and we’re just looking forward to a terrific game on Saturday.”
Vidmar confronted the awaiting media after the meeting and was also happy with the show of support from the club’s off-field leaders.
“We just cleared the air. There were a few issues we needed to solve and it was a really positive meeting,” he said.
“In the light of my comments, I certainly meant no disrespect to the people and city of Adelaide so I want to make that extremely clear.”
“Everyone said exactly what they thought and everyone was really pleased with the outcome. All we’re doing now is focusing on the preliminary final on Saturday.”
Controversy aside, Vidmar now faces a monumental task in getting his team up for the clash with Queensland Roar on Saturday after his team’s diabolical effort at the Telstra Dome.
Adelaide were completely out-played all over the park by the Victory, and if the Reds do manage to bounce back against the impressive Roar at Hindmarsh Stadium they will go some way to setting up a fascinating re-match with their finals nemesis in the Grand Final.
