Innisfail premier coach dumped
INNISFAIL United’s Premier men’s coach John Salogni has been shown the red card after players said they’d had enough of the former Cairns Football Club’s NPL goalkeeping coach.
Cutters president Paulo Di Carlo said Salogni stepped down after things came to a head at a team meeting on Wednesday.
“John’s a great guy and a great coach, but some of the players weren’t happy with the way things were going this season and took a stand,” Di Carlo said.
The Cutters currently sit at the bottom of the FNQ Football ladder with seven points and a tally of two wins, eight losses and a draw from 11 games.
Di Carlo said the club wanted to finish the season on a happier note and had appointed last year’s coach, Adrian Favero, as caretaker coach.
“We’re hoping John will stick around as our junior coaching development officer and look after our Under 13s and Under 14s here at the club and in the region,” Di Carlo said.
“Adrian will be coach for the last six or eight weeks of the season.
“It’s not ideal but we’re trying to retain players for next year.
“Our biggest concern was that the club has quite a few talented young players and we want to keep them involved in the game for next year.
“John’s a great coach and there’s nothing wrong with his coaching style, but we’ve had a few injuries and a few of the players just didn’t want to play underneath him anymore.
“It got to the point where we tried to work with him but some of the players just didn’t accept him, which made it hard.
“If players won’t accept you, then it just makes the situation untenable.”
Salogni declined to comment on Thursday.
The Cutters are 10 points below fourth spot and remain a mathematical chance of finals.
The Cutters travel to Cairns today to play third-placed Stratford Dolphins at Nick Brko Field.