The Stajcic Era, a Partnership of desperates or a Marriage Made in Heaven?

[Ironbark]

Trying to run a football team on a limited budget is not helped by changing coaches every 12 months. There comes a time when a line must be drawn or we will just keep spiralling down the extinction vortex.
Since Arnie, who at the time of appointment looked a gamble, we have carried on appointing coaches that were a gamble.
Moss, hopeless but was Arnie's mate.
Walmsley, the best coach he himself could find after a worldwide search.
Okon, had a name but no results in youth international coaching.
Mulvey, sacked after winning championship. We found out why after 12 months.

We now have Staj who comes with a successful background after getting shafted by politics. Probably a "gift horse" that has fallen into our laps.
A big jump to club coaching, but is probably the only option we really have apart from gambling again.
We also have at last a director who has the authority to speak for MC who knows something about football and is passionate. Much better than having the decisions made at distance without good advice.
It is a start.
First attempt by the new management appears to be failing and hopefully is not fatal. Recruitment has been limited by lack of resources and an understandable reluctance to come to CCM except as a last resort. Many players on the books are leftover duds from previous seasons.

On Stj's and Anton's recruiting:
Birraz: is the standout.
Duric: looked the goods but maybe lacking mobility for the pace of the A-League.
Kim: someone saw a lucky opportunity and deserves Kudos for grabbing it.
Stens: looking good but has a long way to go.
Tongyik: still a possibility but is young and also has a long way to go.
Fox: looked good, but what happened?
Silvera: Staj appears to have been dazzled by some early fanciness, but hopefully will see that SS is out of his depth here.
Others including the youth have been capable at times without setting the world on fire and have been better than last year.
Overall the squad is not nearly as good as what Okon put together but he had a "name" and CCM was not seen as big a disaster then.

What happens for the rest of the season will have some bearing on our ability to recruit next year.
It is important now to select players who will bleed for Club, Melling, Simon etc. and youth who are prepared to have a go. It appears to me that we have a few on the field who, for whatever reason, have dropped their bundle.

Whatever happens for the rest of the season Staj must be allowed to continue. If not, we are just going through the rinse and repeat cycle.
I just pray we can have one more season and that whatever plans Staj has for the Club he can get it together.

The patient is in a critical condition.

Great post and I agree completely except for selecting Melling and Simon as a way forward *grin*
I genuinely don't know how we pull this particular season from the toilet though.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Not trying to argue. Just trying to point out that sacking Staj is definitely not the way forward.

We need a rusted on Coastie billionaire who is crazy about football who will buy all or part of the Club and invest a few millions for a few years to get us back on our feet.

"Money does not buy happiness"...........................................No, but it sure helps you avoid a lot of misery.

 

[Ironbark]

Not trying to argue. Just trying to point out that scaling Staj is definitely not the way forward.

We need a rusted on Coastie billionaire who is crazy about football who will buy all or part of the Club and invest a few millions for a few years to get us back on our feet.

"Money does not buy happiness"...........................................No, but it sure helps you avoid a lot of misery.

I'm 100% with you

 

[turbo]

Staj can't be the scapegoat on this one. The public arent stupid and wont swallow that every time. If a scalp needs to be claimed we need to look at the common denominators and those behind the scenes that have been present for years of rubbish.

 

[pjennings]

Staj can't be the scapegoat on this one. The public arent stupid and wont swallow that every time. If a scalp needs to be claimed we need to look at the common denominators and those behind the scenes that have been present for years of rubbish.

Agree 100%. I remember when we used to laugh at the smurfs for continually changing the manager.

It really does come back to investment in the club (and how that is funded). What is happening now has not worked for more than 5 years. The model we are using that in reality was broken from the beginning is now just a huge pile of steaming .

The model has to change. Investment has to come. We have a good second side side signed for next year. Now we need to invest in the the main team - starting with re-signing Birraz for 3 years.

 

[turbo]

Austerity measures after the take over were tolerable as a short term thing but between poor spending and under funding we've consistently failed to put together a squad the fans can get behind hoping for even a mid table finish. There's a direct cost associated with falling crowds and memberships as even the most rusted on supporters are being driven away. It can't be a chicken and egg scenario, results are needed to try to win back the rightfully jaded supporters. To do that the club and MC need to make the first move.

 

[LFCMariners]

If only Singo wasn't such a rusted on league man. He'd spend what it took to make CCM successful and have the passion for the area to do it, even if football wasn't his first sport.

 

[Ads]

Even if Staj has the $$$.
There is 400k between the bottom of the cap & top. And spent a bit on marquee $$$.

The question is as an experienced player would you choose to come here even if the offer was 25/50/100k higher knowing you might damage your future value?

(Along with a probability you going to loose a lot)

 

[turbo]

Even if Staj has the $$$.
There is 400k between the bottom of the cap & top. And spent a bit on marquee $$$.

The question is as an experienced player would you choose to come here even if the offer was 25/50/100k higher knowing you might damage your future value?

(Along with a probability you going to loose a lot)

Bold of you to assume we are spending the cap floor and aren't doing something creative with DDS wage counting the full amount against the cap but only paying a portion out of our pocket or just blatantly not spending the cap. That's not even touching on overpaying Simon and Mcglinchey or some other wage thieves.

At 23 squad members that's 125,217 on average per player. I count 10-11 players who are likely to be anywhere near that number or above. Lets be generous and assume the other players are on 80k (12 players, 960k total), that brings your average up to 174k for top 11. Now we know some will be on much less and scholarships so that number is going to be higher in reality. How many of our players would earn 175k or more at another A league team?

 

[pjennings]

I'l assume 22 players. Second XI should average maybe 85,000. First XI average 250,000 for 9 players plus 2 marquees.

That is what is required - total spend will need to be close to or above $4M. TBH - if you invest in a decent squad your game day losses may even become game day profits.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

It is not only spending on the cap. There is plenty to be needed in support as well.
FFS this season we finally got a video analyst.

 

[bikinigirl]

Bold of you to assume we are spending the cap floor and aren't doing something creative with DDS wage counting the full amount against the cap but only paying a portion out of our pocket or just blatantly not spending the cap.

. this is one of the things that really scares me ... from what i understand we have at least a season once the Roma/Roda contribution is gone - forget the cap ... where is the cash going to come from?

 

[bikinigirl]

It is not only spending on the cap. There is plenty to be needed in support as well.
FFS this season we finally got a video analyst.

... well, to be fair, it has taken a long time to find someone that will do it for peanuts*

* by peanuts i mean the broken bits that you may find in the bottom of the bag if you can sift through the salt and other detritus. Note: by no means am I ungrateful for the work the analyst has done

 

[pjennings]

... well, to be fair, it has taken a long time to find someone that will do it for peanuts*

* by peanuts i mean the broken bits that you may find in the bottom of the bag if you can sift through the salt and other detritus. Note: by no means am I ungrateful for the work the analyst has done

Well to be really fair the best video analyst the HAL has seen was JC who did it on a part-time basis on top of his job as keeper coach.

 

[BrisRecky]

It is not only spending on the cap. There is plenty to be needed in support as well.
FFS this season we finally got a video analyst.

Really! ...did they give him a laptop so he could watch you tube highlights of the game

 

[FFC Mariner]

There are reports that ane

Really! ...did they give him a laptop so he could watch you tube highlights of the game

Settle
He'd have to use his own lap top or use one at the library

 

[Ozhammer]

I have held off saying too much about things I have heard this season, as I haven’t been able to validate some of it BUT my main source tells me things are not rosy behind the scenes.

I am led to believe that there is tension between both the coaching staff and the playing group, which is unlikely to resolve itself anytime soon, so we can expect some more departures at season’s end. How much of it is down to the coaching ethos or the team’s lowly league position is difficult to say but there are certainly issues at play.

This team was only ever going to have any chance of success if every part of the football department stuck together but I understand that is not the case unfortunately.

Given this is Staj’s first senior men’s coaching gig, I would expect him to be learning as he went to a degree, so perhaps that is part of the problem but if he was doing a great job, why would someone like Galifuoco leave, when he openly stated that he specifically joined us to work with Staj?

Oar has supposedly also not been happy with the situation for some time, so had no intention of staying way before MacArthur picked him up, not that he has really impressed during his time here tbh.

As I say, I have been reluctant to cast aspersions as I have been seen to death ride the last four coaches and so it feels like a real case of déjà vu from where I sit. As others have rightly said, just changing coaches every season won’t alter the club’s trajectory, as the issues go far deeper than that. Instead of MC having to write a cheque to cover our losses at the end of another disastrous season, perhaps he might consider writing that cheque at the start of next season and give the team a chance to be meaningfully competitive?

As for future coaching candidates, I would suggest that there are two former players who could do a good job, whilst understanding the true meaning of the Mariners original culture.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Id be really wary of allowing failing senior staff to begin yet another whispering campaign to deflect from their abject failure.
Like they usually do.
Think the rot is a bit higher up the tree than the coach.

 

[Insertnamehere]

I'd be really really doubtful whispering would be coming from the coaching team given what Staj went through with the FFA.

 

[onto it]

It is not only spending on the cap. There is plenty to be needed in support as well.
FFS this season we finally got a video analyst.

This is where the real difference comes in. The cap is nothing compared to how a group of coaches can develop players and bond them into a team. It's the difference between the bigger boys and us.
A super-coach like Arnie can work around those issues, but those people don't come along every day.