Jets’ wooden spoon sealed coach’s fate
FOOTBALL Federation Australia officials face myriad tough decisions in coming weeks involving the Newcastle Jets, but sacking Phil Stubbins as coach was not one of them.
Forget the politics. Forget the mid-season debacle that resulted in a cleanout of players and coaching staff.
One quick glance at the A-League table is enough to suggest that Stubbins’ departure was a no-brainer.
Three wins from 27 games (two of which were against teams backing up after midweek fixtures), 23 goals for, 55 goals against. Does anything else need to be said?
In any sporting competition anywhere in the world, a coach with such a dismal record would be on the endangered species list.
Perhaps if Stubbins had a long history of success elsewhere, he would have had a chance of surviving. But this was his first head coaching position in the A-League.
Stubbins is entitled to believe he was a victim of circumstances.
He assumed a squad ravaged by the exodus of key players like Adam Taggart, Josh Brillante, Emile Heskey, Ruben Zadkovich, Michael Bridges and Craig Goodwin.
Newcastle had not made the finals in the previous four seasons, and before a ball was kicked in 2014-15 they appeared, on paper at least, to be a motley crew who would finish with the also-rans.
How much role Stubbins played in assembling his squad, and how much he was restricted by his budget, is a moot point.
Perhaps not even Sir Alex Ferguson could have worked miracles with the players at Stubbins’ disposal.
But in professional sport, 99 times out of 100, the buck stops with the coach.
In the case of Stubbins, sympathy will be in short supply after the mid-season purge that resulted in the departures of veteran players Joel Griffiths, Billy Celeski, Kew Jaliens, Jeronimo and Adrian Madaschi and coaching staff members Clayton Zane, Neil Young and Andrew Packer.
Stubbins might have had the backing of former owner Nathan Tinkler, but he had long since lost the support of the team and the club’s fans.
That three players, Zenon Caravella, Ben Kantarovski and Scott Neville, knocked back Stubbins’ offer of the club captaincy spoke volumes for where their loyalties lay.
There were suggestions that whatever late-season success the Jets enjoyed had been built on tactics devised by the hard-nosed new assistant coach, Mark Jones.
Above all else, the supporters had seen enough.
Stubbins became the obvious target for their vitriol.
Had he been retained, this would have continued and presumably many members would not have renewed their season tickets.
Removing Stubbins will be the first step towards winning back the Novocastrian faithful.
He will, naturally, be disappointed, but he should also perhaps realise he was lucky to survive as long as he did.
source:theherald.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 