Where to now?

With the season having been completed  a fortnight ago the club's football operations find themselves in an uncustomary period of uncertainty. Neither the 2012 reserves or first team coaching positions have been confirmed or announced.


This for a club of Athena's stature and profile is not only unusual but frankly unacceptable.


We know that to have success in football you need stability, and without that the club is going in a different direction every six months and it finishes more often with disaster than success.
 
Athenista believes that stability breeds success in football and he is a "complete enemy" of the quickfire approach to management. In order to cement this desired period of certainty the club must move quickly to ensure that quality coaching appointments are made as soon as possible.


Regarding our first team there is no question that current custodians Ante Kovacevic and Taki Nicoliades should be given the reigns once again for 2012.

Athenista is a great believer of technical stability in the club. It is this stability off the park and at Board level that is crucial for the success on the park of  any football club. A year into its current reign the current Board leadership has effectively only made one football decision - that was to dismiss reserves coach Jamie Goodman without any input from Kovacevic at just over the half way mark of season 2011 with the side sitting second and days away from a cup semi final appearance.Goodman was more than a reserves coach since with Kovacevic being a  player coach, Goodman was also a first team assistant coach.

At season end in 2010 the club saw the strategic recruitment of a quality highly respected coach in the Kovacevic appointed Goodman from the relegated Swan United. This carefully thought out move was made early and enabled the coaches to hit the road running in the cut-throat environment of young talent recruitment that resulted in a totally new look reserves outfit that seemed destined for success

 

These two men along with first team assistant Nicolaides hand selected the impressive reserves squad– that until the sacking of course – were turning in very commendable performances. 

Where this action failed so miserably was in its lack of insight for what message it sent to parents and young players considering their future at Floreat Athena FC in 2011 and beyond - especially when the ages of the entire squad was already amongst the youngest the league. This effectively resulted in not only the forced departure of the coach but also young players who potentially could have made the step up to first team football since this was the basis of their selection in the first place.

The move to sack Goodman according to several board members who have disclosed to this blogger - did not result from a full and frank discussion or a vote of any sort.

Hence now, it is this less than favourable decision making structure and behaviour that has led Kovacevic to delay his decision regarding the sudden and most deserved “Board” offer  to secure his coaching services a few weeks back. He felt reluctant to accept the initial offer of an extension without the absolute leader of the Board in attendance. Given that he (Kovacevic) had no say in the dismissal of his appointment  his stance to delay his decision until the appropriate time essentially oozes of common sense - a truly defining features of the mans disposition.


Only time will tell – in what ultimately will be one of the club’s football department’s most important decisions to be made in at least a decade. This will only up there with the now historically successful 2004-2005 rebuild phase engineered by Michael Roki and past president Peter Koulizos. This period included the recruitment of Ante Kovacevic to Floreat Athena FC directly from the A-League outfit Perth Glory in 2007 by club vice-president at the time Con Poulios.


 I am led to believe it will only be a matter of a few days where can hopefully release a sigh of relief that only stability can bring with the reappointment of Ante Kovacevic as senior coach of Floreat Athena FC.