Melbourne Victory have sacked coach Mehmet Durakovic after just six months in the job, and promoted Kevin Muscat as caretaker coach.
Melbourne Victory have sacked coach Mehmet Durakovic after just six months in the job, and promoted Kevin Muscat as caretaker coach.
Victory have won just three games all season, losing five and drawing six, to leave them third from bottom on the Hyundai A-League ladder, and 15 points behind leaders Central Coast Mariners.
The Melbourne Herald Sun reports that Durakovic was told by the Victory board at 7am this morning, following a series of board meetings to decide the under-fire coach-s future.
Under pressure from the start, Durakovic never fully convinced the Victory board or fans that he was the right man to take over from Ernie Merrick, the man who guided Victory to two A-League championships.
Despite a number of highly publicised transfers in the off-season, including the arrival of marquee man Harry Kewell, Victory have been punished by inconsistency over the season. A run of three bad losses of the Christmas period sealed Durakovic-s fate, with the club desperate to salvage something from the season.
While the club boast an embarrassment of riches in attack, with Kewell, Archie Thompson, Carlos Hernandez, Danny Allsopp and Jean Carlos Solorzano, the midfield has often been overrun as Durakovic-s persistence with a narrow diamond formation leaving his side over-exposed on the flanks.
Muscat has been elevated to caretaker coach in the short-term, with an announcement due on the club’s choice as interim coach within the next 48 hours.
It is repored that Muscat is not in line for the top job yet, with former national team coach Frank Farina being mentioned as a possible appointment.
With Durakovic’s sacking following the decision to release Francis Awaritefe as director of football, Victory chairman Anthony di Pietro denied the board had made bad decisions to drag the club often held up as a standard of consistency into crisis.
“We-ve been successful in the brand development and financial management, but unfortunately in relation to recruitment there’s always risk,” di Pietro said.
“No matter how good your due diligence there is always risk with appointments. But we-re being proactive about change.
“We have given Mehmet every opportunity to succeed this season, but we found [onfield] we were inconsistent and the team lacked direction.
“Mehmet is a wonderful person of high integrity, who has my full respect on a personal and professional level. This is always difficult but it-s a professional decision.”
What do you think about Durakovic sacking? Have Melbourne Victory made the right decision and who should be the next coach? Have you say below.
