FRANK Farina’s future as Sydney FC coach is hanging by a thread as the former Socceroo is reportedly close to being sacked.
The Australian understands Farina could pay the ultimate price within days following the Sky Blues’ 3-0 loss to Adelaide United at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
As much as the club wants to get rid of its sacking-of-coaches mentality, it is under intense pressure from fans calling for immediate action to arrest a form slump. The side has won just one of its past eight matches and slipped out of the top six.
Rado Vidosic, who has a two-year contract, is mooted as a possible interim coach, though Italian great Alessandro Del Piero indicated recently he might be ready for a coaching role.
The development came amid one of the blackest days in the club’s history during which:
Farina had the full contents of a plastic cup of beer thrown over him by a fan.
The atmosphere at the game was described as toxic.
Members of the club’s supporter group, The Cove, unfurl a banner saying “We want Farina out”. Another banner, written in Cyrillic, was also produced saying “(SFC chairman, Scott) Barlow and (SFC CEO, Tony) Pignata out”.
One of the leaders of The Cove was evicted for refusing to hand over the banners, sparking a mass walkout of the group. Fans later staged a noisy protest outside the stadium.
The club apologised for the fan’s eviction, saying it did not order the banners to be taken down.
Sydney officials went to ground yesterday as rumours circulated regarding the immediate future of Farina, who has been in the job since late November 2012 following the mid-season resignation of Ian Crook.
Farina’s appointment was far from popular with a large section of Sydney FC fans. Their dissatisfaction with him has steadily grown from disappointment to anger and vitriol.
There has been a concerted effort to force the club to sack him several times even though Barlow told The Australian when the side was in an early season slump that Farina had his full support.
It is believed Farina has a clause in his contract that will enable the club to part company with him if it does not finish in the top four this season. As it stands, Sydney is five points from fourth-placed Melbourne Victory with nine matches left and looking unlikely to reach the top six, let alone the four.
Despite the loss and the beer-throwing incident, Farina acted professionally and with dignity when quizzed by the media after the match. He joked about the offender having to buy another beer and having to get his clothes dry cleaned.
However, he expressed concerns about the lack of protection for players and coaching staff on the open benches. Unlike in Europe, they have to sit on uncovered plastic seating in the open and close to the fans.
“I think it’s an issue with the benches. The A-League has to improve that situation. The benches are terrible,” Farina said. “If something like that can happen, I think it highlights that they’ve got to do something about it.
“Its not just about tonight. Players can have things thrown at them from the stands because a lot of the grounds are very close.”
However, a Football Federation Australia spokesman told The Australian the head body is not responsible for providing covered dug outs and that it was up to individual clubs.
“It may well be a cost and fan seating issue,” he said. “Often the covered dug out restricts the view of premium-cost public seating.”
Pignata said the club would likely bring in covered dug outs next season and that Sydney was in discussion with the SCG Trust, which runs Allianz Stadium.
Meanwhile, the club strongly denied it asked for the banners to be taken down during the match.
It issued a statement in which it said Barlow and Pignata “were made aware that a staff member of Sydney, who was located at pitch level during the game, did request that a number of banners in The Cove supporters’ area be removed. The direction did not come from us or any other Sydney board members.”
source:the Australian.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 