Although highly sought after, foreign coaches have had mixed success in the A-League. The earliest examples, such as Steve McMahon and Terry Butcher were hired irrespective of their poor managerial records and reputations elsewhere, while Vitezslav Lavicka won one title with Sydney FC to add to those he won in his homeland.
Adelaide United has had two, and will now have a third foreign coach following the departure of Josep Gombau, with Barcelona legend Guillermo Amor taking the helm, and in doing so reflecting how much better the team has handled the situation than they might have previously, and the improving standing of the A-League as a whole.
Few coaches have left such a deep impression on the competition, and not merely one’s own club, as Gombau. He may not have won the trophies that Lavicka, Ermie Merrick, Graham Arnold, Ange Postecoglou, Kevin Muscat and Tony Popovic have, but he is a character who could be as entertaining as the team he put out on the field. The Reds, and consequently the A-League, got tremendous value from the Spaniard over two seasons, in which Adelaide United have changed markedly, on-and-off the field.
Not too many knew of Gombau before he came to Australia, although his previous work seemed promising. He inherited a squad that had been undergoing a transition, with the return and quick depatrue of John Kosmina and then Michael Valkanis as caretaker coach. But this was a team that already had a lot going for it, not least the duo from Argentina in Jeronimo Neumann and the splendid Marcelo Carrusca, along with established players like Bruce Djite, Eugene Galekovic and Nigel Boogaard. Players from Spain like Sergio Cirio and Isaias Sanchez were added to the mix, and it looked like a squad capable of challenging.
It did not have the best of beginnings. After 2013-14 opened with a win, an eight-game winless streak seemed to signal the sort of crisis so often associated with one of the A-League’s perennially dysfunctional clubs, where acrimony is par for the course. Somehow, this did not come to pass. Adelaide United rebounded magnificently and picked up 32 points from 18 games. Cirio, Neumann, Carrusca and Fabio Ferreira sparkled as United racked up impressive results – 4-0 over Central Coast Mariners, 3-0 away to Sydney FC and 5-1 over Wellington Phoenix among them – to finish in 6th place, which though slightly disappointing was in-fact just four points off Western Sydney in 2nd place. Their 45 goals scored was the highest in the competition and although they exited in the first week of finals, it left high hopes for the next season.
For the most part, United did not disappoint in 2014-15. They began among the front-runners and would finish in 3rd place, with the biggest result a 7-0 win over troubled Newcastle Jets, while Sydney FC again were beaten 3-0 by Gombau’s men. Cirio was joined in attack by Pablo Sanchez, while Carrusca still pulled the strings in midfield and Craig Goodwin also made a contribution to the goals tally. Gombau was winning friends throughout football in Australia, establishing himself as one of the characters of the game. Many wanted to see Adelaide United ultimately triumph in the league, but it was not to be as they would come unstuck in the semi-finals at the hands of Sydney FC, who themselves were swept aside by Melbourne Victory in the grand final.
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No longer, however, are Adelaide United a perennially frustrating and dysfunctional club where things just fell apart. Gomabu has left the South Australians in a far better state than he found them, but his replacement Amor should be expected to carry on the good work, an internal promotion that should carry on the club culture and style of play. The transitions from John Kosmina to Aurelio Vidmar to Rini Coolen, then back to Kosmina all carried a certain degree of bitterness. There is no such this time, only goodwill and good wishes for Gombau and for United. And that, alas, is progress.
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