A striker with excellent statistics in 2014-15, Marc Janko sensationally announced via social media that Sydney FC was reneging on a contract he was very happy to sign.
The club returned fire, backing coach Graham Arnold’s decision in the face of Sky Blue fans, who were shocked that it would not re-sign the Austrian.
Is it all really Sydney FC’s fault, or are there blanks that need to be filled in?
Janko’s arrival in Australia was lambasted by most A-League fans. Some of the criticisms were that he had not scored consistently for many seasons and that he was nowhere near the level of Alessandro Del Piero. While the latter may be true in terms of global superstardom, his input on the field was clearly more effective than that of the Italian legend.
He got off to a slow start to life in the A-League, only scoring a handful of goals prior to the Asian Cup break. But after the competition restart, Janko found his goalscoring boots. He went on to hit the net 16 times in 23 appearances, a return that saw him break Del Piero’s record of most goals scored in a season for Sydney FC and breaking Besart Berisha’s record for consecutive number of A-League games scored in.
But something changed in Janko. Something happened during that last international break that made him lose the edge. On his return, he endured a barren run of seven games without a goal, including the grand final loss to Melbourne Victory.
It only took Janko a week after that defeat to announce that Sydney FC chose not to maintain his services. He specifically cited that the club would have more respect and honour for him, especially as he was willing to re-sign on the same deal he originally agreed to. That was a reported $1.4 million for season 2014-15.
Message to my fans: (please read the pic) pic.twitter.com/DMZlCHnn2g
— Marc Janko (@JankoMarc) May 24, 2015
Sydney FC quickly returned fire, quoting Graham Arnold as saying he did not believe that Janko would not be able to cope with Sydney’s increased fixture list in 2015-16. The club needed a striker who would be able to play more often than not. This was a sensible reason, given Football Federation Australia’s reluctance to accommodate FIFA’s international calendar. Given Austria’s good chance of qualifying for Euro 2016, most imagined that Janko would be looking to play in a competition with a longer season, one that would allow the least amount of lead-up time to Euro 2016, given his age.
Many fans still did not agree to Sydney’s reasoning but it is far from unreasonable. The club has to make hard decisions and this was indeed a hard decision to make, especially given the fact that the A-League does not accommodate the FIFA international calendar.
Only two days after Janko and the club’s statements, the Daily Telegraph’s Tom Smithies wrote an article that seemed to fill in the missing blanks as to why Sydney FC would take the deal off the table, one that most fans deemed concrete.
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Smithies went on to divulge that it was believed the tall Austrian had asked for an improved deal, a $1 million increase in fact. That would have taken Janko to an estimated $2.4 million annual salary for 2015-16, in addition to also wanting ancillary benefits plus airfares to Austria covered. In a league where most clubs still struggle financially, it was no doubt a tough decision to mull over. Given Sydney’s history with Del Piero, the club treaded carefully and only offered him the same deal as 2014-15. There was also Janko’s alleged tweet that read: “I will be sponsored by Nike next season, as will my team.”
If Janko had indeed tweeted that, then no wonder the club withdrew their offer. Logically speaking, it does not take a room full of geniuses to establish Janko may have had a deal with another team in place for 2015-16 for an estimated $2.5 million. For whatever reason, that deal fell through and Janko went back to Sydney FC to see if it could still work out a deal. The club held-off on all negotiations with all players until after the grand final, which is where everything went pear-shaped.
For fans, there is no reason to believe that this was, or was not the case, but once the blanks were filled in, those in the Sydney FC offices do not seem to warrant much of the blame. After all, no one is bigger than the team as a whole and in Australia, clubs need to do what is right for them in order to keep, or maintain the road to, financial stability.
Fans also have to keep the faith in Graham Arnold. The club is now stable and Arnold’s track record speaks for itself. In each year he has been in the A-League, his teams have been competitive and constantly fighting for trophies. If he decided that Janko was no longer right for Sydney FC, he will no doubt find someone who can do the job better and lead the Sky Blues to long-awaited glory.
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