How did it come to this?
Milos Ninkovic is one of the Isuzu UTE A-League’s all-time greats. At Sydney FC, he should be revered; across seven seasons in Sky Blue the silky midfielder won three Premierships, three Championships, an FFA Cup, two Johnny Warren Medals and one Joe Marston Medal.
But after his off-season move to Western Sydney Wanderers, he’s been enemy number one.
Throughout the season, both he and Sydney FC coach Steve Corica have been engaged in a war of words. After Saturday night’s Sydney Derby final, those words erupted into one of the most explosive altercations we’ve seen from two prominent figures in the Australian game.
As the Sky Blues progress to the Semi Finals, Ninkovic and the Wanderers are licking their wounds. The dramatic post-game scenes have only added fuel to the derby fire which set to blaze through the off-season.
You’ll get a closer look at what unfolded at CommBank Stadium on Saturday night in this week’s episode of A-Leagues All Access – but to understand why the change room stoush unfolded, you must cast your mind back to June of 2022, where ill-fated contract negotiations and that infamous Instagram video set the bitter feud into motion.
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June/July, 2022: ‘My hand was forced‘
“I have an important announcement to make and I feel my fans & followers should be the first ones to know.”
These were words of then-Sydney FC star Ninkovic in June, beginning a video uploaded to his personal Instagram account to announce that “with great disappointment I will no longer be playing in the colours where you are most familiar with me and the club with whom I’ve achieved many victories.”
“My decision doesn’t come lightly,” he continued. “My hand was forced so to speak, but it had to be made as my integrity is most important for me and the sport that I’ve dedicated most of my life to so far.
“I totally understand that Sydney FC is moving in another direction and has a different vision moving forward.”
The situation took a complicated turn just days later, when the club insisted the two parties had not come to a concrete decision. But, after weeks of internal discussions, Ninkovic’s exit was formally announced.
Sydney CEO Adam Santo said: “We were optimistic he would accept our offer to continue playing and remain at the club long term, where he would transition into full-time employment… despite our best efforts, Miloš has decided to move on and we thank him for the major contribution he has made to our club.”
Ninkovic departed the club on 221 appearances in Sky Blue – behind only Rhyan Grant and Alex Brosque on the club’s all-time leaderboard.
By early July, rumours of a sensational cross-town switch were confirmed. Milos Ninkovic was a Wanderer.
November, 2022: ‘I deserve a bit more respect‘
Ninkovic’s contract standoff with the Sky Blues was a complicated situation, which he unpacked in late-November as he starred in Episode 06 of A-Leagues All Access.
The A-Leagues’ docuseries followed Ninkovic through his preparation for the first Sydney Derby of the season; Sydney FC fans were still getting used to seeing their club legend adorned in the red and black hoops – and on November 12, they prepared to deliver him a hostile reception when the two clubs met at Allianz Stadium.
“It’s going to be hostile for Ninko,” said Corica in a pre-derby press conference. “The fans loved him but he is the enemy now. He’s wearing red and black and it’s a derby, the fans are passionate about the club and what we want to achieve and they’ve got the same from their end.”
In the All Access episode, Ninkovic claimed his citizenship status was tied up in his contract negotiations with Sydney.
“I never thought I’m going to play for any other club,” he told All Access, “but they offered me nothing.
“They put some conditions that I couldn’t accept, to get the citizenship before the season start if I want to play one more year. If I don’t get the citizenship, I have to retire.
“I can’t go to the shop and buy citizenship. The agent who did my permanent residency told me: ‘Please, you need to wait for six months’. That means right now if I accepted that offer from Sydney FC, that would mean that I would have to retire.
“I said: ‘Okay, thank you for your offer, that’s it, I’m not going to stay’ and I post that (video) on Instagram.
“Two days after that, the club announced they offered me a new contract and I didn’t accept, which is totally not true. I think I deserve a bit more respect. I didn’t want to retire because someone else told me I had to retire.
“That was the reason I signed for Wanderers.”
Ninkovic played from the start for the Wanderers in the first Sydney Derby of the season, providing the crucial assist to Kusini Yengi’s strike in a 1-0 win on the road.
The All Access episode ended with Ninkovic getting a shoulder ride across to greet the Wanderers’ active support, linking arms with his Wanderers teammates as the Red and Black Bloc belted out antagonistic chants about his former club.
February, 2023: Rudan replaces Ninkovic in the eye of derby storm
But on the Sky Blue side of the derby divide, it was Corica who had the last laugh after his side’s 1-0 win over the Wanderers at CommBank Stadium in mid-February.
The Sky Blues were stung by the way the Wanderers behaved following their Round 6 victory at Allianz Stadium, and when the final whistle blew to conclude the former’s 1-0 win away from home in February, Corica and Rudan flew into an intense verbal on the touchline.
It spilled into the post-match press conferences.
“I think Rudes was a little bit frustrated with their performance and the result,” said Corica.
“We took it on the chin when we lost (the first derby of the season) at our home ground, he’s probably being a little bit of a sore loser.”
Ninkovic received 32 minutes off the bench on that night in February, and was a peripheral figure in the Wanderers’ derby defeat.
March, 2023: Ninkovic shines as Wanderers lower Sydney FC’s colours
The Wanderers mauled Sydney FC by four goals to nil in March, and Ninkovic was well and truly back amongst the thick of the derby action, creating two of his side’s goals as Sydney FC were flattened at their brand-new home.
It was such a damaging result that Sky Blues captain Alex Wilkinson issued an apology to the club’s fans. But, he also delivered a pledge for what was to come: “There are five crucial games coming up and we need to perform to ensure we make (the) Finals Series.”
Sydney went unbeaten through those five games to book their spot in the post-season, setting up the fourth and final instalment of the Sydney Derby in week one of the finals.
May, 2023: ‘He was very upset, gesturing, pointing… it got really spiteful’
A Sydney Derby final was unprecedented in the Isuzu UTE A-League, prior to this season. It meant that no one knew what to expect when these two rivals met at CommBank Stadium on May 6 – not even those involved.
Ninkovic was the target of what Network 10 commentator Simon Hill described as “a constant barrage” from his former side, with the likes of Luke Brattan, Jack Rodwell and Alex Wilkinson closing him down at every turn, depriving him space in between the lines and essentially marking the Serbian out of the game.
Ninkovic let his frustration get the better of him with a pair of late, crunching tackles on Brattan, the second of which earning him a yellow card. On the 76th minute he was hooked by Rudan. Sydney had achieved what they set out to achieve, and went on to secure one of the club’s most famous victories.
The tension that followed the final whistle was palpable; Sydney FC had pulled off the ultimate heist, coming from a goal down to score two second-half goals and win 2-1. Corica let out a palpable, expletive cry as the result was confirmed, pumping two strong fists in the air. Rhyan Grant laughed as he stared down the Wanderers technical area, then went eye-to-eye with Wanderer Amor Layouni, who leapt off the bench to retaliate.
Then, as the press pack waited to speak to the two head coaches, Ninkovic entered the Sydney FC change room.
KEEPUP’s Tom Smithies was one of those awaiting the two coaches; he explained what came next on that evening’s episode of The Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast.
“We turned around and Milos Ninkovic was being dragged past us by a couple of Sydney FC team officials,” Smithies said. “He was very upset, gesturing, pointing, really angry, and really had to be pulled away.
“This conversation continued for several minutes with the Sydney FC officials who were trying to calm him down, guys who used to work with him when he was at Sydney FC.
“There’s been long-standing antipathy between those two since Ninkovic left the club. It went through the first derby, and got really spiteful. We could see it happening during the match; there was a point in which Ninkovic and Corica were going at each other, Corica from his technical area and Ninkovic a few metres away on the pitch, and you could see the body language was angry. It’s carried on after the game.”
Speaking on Wednesday morning, Sydney FC defender Rhyan Grant gave a player’s perspective of the situation.
“From some that’s sort of in the middle of it, being between Milos and the club, it’s a little bit disappointing. He has still got a very good relationship with a lot of the players,” he said.
“Obviously, what he’s said in the media about the club and Bimbi isn’t great. From my personal view, I didn’t really like it but at the same time I have to take him on face value and he’s never doen anything wrong by me.
“In saying that, there’s a line.
“Whether he wanted to come in the changeroom to genuinely wish us all the best or to rile up Bimbi, I suppose you could only ask him, but it’s a difficult one. A hard one to be in the middle of.”
On Thursday night, A-Leagues All Access will take you behind the scenes at CommBank Stadium, reliving the moment that had been brewing long before the finals – and in fact, long before the season itself had set into motion.
