Merrick had the right to expect more from players
The coach did the noble thing in resigning but the blokes on the field must shoulder some of the blame.
‘‘Football management is a mug’s game. You sit and watch while eleven blokes run around, with your fate in their hands.’’
So said legend Brian Clough. Though ex Phoenix boss Ernie Merrick may not agree with the first sentence, he must certainly share the frustration and helplessness suggested by the second.
He assembled the best team he could, a team many felt could finish high up the table.
On the training ground, he applied the expertise and experience that guided Melbourne Victory to a barrowload of trophies.
He gave the players the latest and greatest in sports science, nutrition and match analysis. He sent them out on match day expecting a bang, and he got … nothing.
Most managers in Merrick’s position do their best Winston Churchill impression and never ever give up, some because they have blind faith they can turn things around, others because resigning is worse for their bank balance than the sack.
Others chuck in the towel, thinking ‘‘Bugger this mate. I’ve got better things to do with my life than getting beat every week,’’ before heading off for a nice holiday in Port Douglas.
And others resign for a more noble reason: ‘‘I’ve been here long enough. I should have built a successful team by now, but I haven’t. Time for someone else to have a go.’’
Ernie Merrick, it’s generally believed, fits into the final category. If the losing was the reason, he’d have bailed last season during a horror run that yielded just three wins and two draws from their last 18 matches.
The players are feeling guilty. ’’This is on us,’’ they said, and that’s largely true.
Merrick had the right to expect more, but always acted with dignity when his insides were turning upside down by a missed penalty or stupid red card.
It could have been so different.
Between injuries, horrendous refereeing decisions and rough treatment from the FFA (e.g. no dispensation when the Nix were without their All Whites), there’s enough genuine excuses there to keep even the most pessimistic fan upbeat.
Indeed, just three weeks ago, after the Nix won two on the trot, the tide appeared to have turned. Most managers in Merrick's position do their best Winston Churchill impression and never ever give up, some because they have blind faith they can turn things around, others because resigning is worse for their bank balance than the sack. It hadn’t. Just another false alarm.
So what’ll happen next? Here are some scenarios, some likelier than others.
1 – The Phoenix are, as chairman Rob Morrison says, ‘‘a really good team,’’ and will burst into life any moment. It might merely need a tactical tweak from the next coach, like Antonio Conte’s change of formation at Chelsea, to spark it off. Or they might just need a win to boost the confidence and get the ball rolling a la Adelaide United last season.
2 – The Phoenix are not a really good team and will continue to struggle regardless of who takes the helm. Clubs everywhere chop and change coaches in their search for the winning recipe, with little success. Generally, winning consistently is achieved only by the clubs with the biggest budgets.
3 – Merrick had ‘‘lost the dressing room’’, which means that not only did he have to change in his car, his players had stopped trying. A new coach = a new attitude = instant results.
4 – The Phoenix bring in a top coach, he builds a new team over two or three seasons, and the team improves on its previous best finish of 4th.
5 – The Phoenix board, after seeing both Ricki Herbert and Ernie Merrick struggle at the helm, decide it’s players, not coaches, who win games. They pick the team themselves, like clubs did in the old days, and use the money saved on the coach to buy better players.
6 – Gareth Morgan introduces his new tax on houses and loses all the home owners in his squad to Australia.