Melbourne Victory coach Jim Magilton says he will look to overhaul the club should his contract be extended into next season.
The Victory’s finals aspirations were extinguished in underwhelming fashion at the home of great rivals Sydney FC, finally putting to bed a disappointing campaign.
Sydney secured a 1-0 win thanks to a first-half Karol Kisel penalty, but the differences between the two sides was greater than the scoreline indicated, with the home side failing to capitalise on numerous attempts on goal.
The result took Magilton’s modest record since he replaced Mehmet Durakovic to one win, five draws and four defeats in his ten matches.
“Let’s say I wouldn’t like (to leave with) the record I currently have and I’d like an opportunity to rectify that,” Magilton said.
Asked if he would turn the club on its head if given the opportunity, the Northern Irishman answered: “Yes, I think it’s apparent to anyone… that change is needed whether I’m here or not.”
“Obviously I recognise that the club have achieved great success with players that have done great things for the club…the club has been very loyal but I just think it needs freshening up.”
“It is quite evident tonight that there needs to be greater quality come in, greater consistency in the approach to everything we do, and that has to come with a change of personnel, a different mindset and I think it needs to be done sooner rather than later.”
The Victory could have suffered a far heavier defeat than the 1-0 scoreline with Mark Milligan twice saving on the line, while Kisel and Joel Chianese were both guilty of spurning gilt-edging scoring opportunities.
The Victory sorely missed Carlos Hernandez who was serving a one-match suspension, while Harry Kewell turned in a subdued performance on his long-awaited return to his home city.
“We had a catalogue of errors at times,” Magilton said.
“We looked a poor side at times, because we made poor decisions.”
“To be honest every time Sydney went forward they looked like they were going to score. Our back four looked very, very nervous and again it was poor decision making.”
