Coach Kalezic to leave Phoenix early
The Wellington Phoenix have started sounding out candidates for their next head coach after the shock announcement incumbent Darije Kalezic will leave the football club at the end of the A-League season.
Former Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar is understood to be top of the list. Club officials have held informal talks with the 51-year-old Australian, even before Kalezic confirmed in a fan update yesterday he would not be continuing.
‘‘Head coach of the Wellington Phoenix, Darije Kalezic, wishes to announce that he will not be continuing as head coach of the club next season,’’ the update read. ‘‘The parties were not able to find a mutual agreement on how to proceed forward and because of this have decided to move in separate directions.’’
Kalezic took Phoenix training yesterday morning, although the team does not have a game this weekend.
A Wellington Phoenix spokesman confirmed Kalezic would stay on for now, but did not rule out him leaving before the end of the season. The spokesman confirmed the club had begun looking for coaches for next season.
The last part of the fan update was seemingly related to what was understood to be a clause in Kalezic’s contract that said he could be sacked if the team did not make the top six.
At nine points behind the sixthplaced Western Sydney Wanderers with six games to go, the Phoenix have a mathematical chance of making the playoffs, which was the only thing keeping Kalezic in the job.
It has been a season of abject failure under the Dutchman, with just four wins and five draws from 21 games.
Their 17 points represented the worst ever haul at this point of an A-League season, three points shy of their inaugural campaign in 2007-08 (when the season was 21 games) and 2012-13. Both of those seasons ended with the Phoenix winning the wooden spoon.
VIDMARK CREDENTIALS
Should Vidmar replace Kalezic, it would be a step back towards hiring a coach who knows the A-League. Vidmar was in charge of Adelaide United from 2007-2010.
His first season was a rocky one, finishing sixth of eight teams, but the following year Adelaide enjoyed one of their best-ever campaigns, making the final of both the A-League and Asian Champions League – the first Australian team to achieve the latter.
Unfortunately, both finals ended in losses, but the ACL success meant they also made the Club World Cup due to ACL winners Gamba Osaka being from the CWC host country of Japan.
Vidmar could not replicate that success in 2009-10. His team finished last in the A-League – although they again made the knockout stages of the ACL – before he left the club for a dual role of Olyroos coach and assistant coach with the Socceroos.
During his time in the Socceroos setup, he was caretaker manager for one game in 2013, between the departure of Holger Osieck and the arrival of Ange Postecoglou. It ended in a 3-0 win over Canada.
His Olyroos teams failed to qualify for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, which led to Football Federation Australia to not extend his contract after 2016.
He was hired by Thai side Bangkok Glass in August, 2016, taking over at the backend of a season which ended in their equalbest ever finish of third in the Thai Premier League.
The team was sitting fifth in the league in July 2017 when it was announced Vidmar would be leaving by ‘‘mutual consent’’.
He does not appear to have had a coaching job since, but would seem a suitable replacement for Kalezic given his knowledge of the league and relationships with some of Australia’s best young footballers.