Father and son leave Phoenix
Assistant coach Rado Vidosic has resigned from the Wellington Phoenix, taking his son and midfielder Dario with him.
Rado Vidosic was brought in at the same time as head coach Darije Kalezic in June, with the pair said to have an existing relationship. That was now understood to be a shared agent, with little significant contact between the two before they arrived in Wellington.
Whatever the case, the pairing just hasn’t worked and there have been rumblings for a few weeks that Vidosic was unhappy about Kalezic’s approach, particularly his tactics.
Whether it got to a ‘‘me or him’’ ultimatum with the club is unclear, but the resignation speaks for itself. The club have backed Kalezic.
Dario Vidosic joined the club in August to play under his dad, but they were a package deal, so when Rado resigned he followed him out the door.
He is arguably a bigger loss for the club, given he is the second-top scorer for the club, although he did sustain a knee injury in the 1-0 loss to the Perth Glory last weekend.
He was at the Phoenix’s training facility in Wellington yesterday morning, but was sitting outside the changing rooms and in no mood to speak to media about the knee injury, replying with a solitary ‘‘OK’’ when asked how it was. Such abruptness was understandable given the news which broke later in the day.
Both of their departures were confirmed in a statement from the club yesterday afternoon, with general manager David Dome saying it was an outcome that enables the club to move forward and focus upon turning around a disappointing run of results.
‘‘We entered this season with tremendous optimism, based on the pedigree of both Darije Kalezic and Rado Vidosic – both title winners, both excellent football thinkers.
‘‘Over recent weeks it’s become apparent not everyone has been on the same page and the playing group has begun to be affected by this uncertainty.
‘‘We’ve put tremendous work this season into progressing the culture at this football club and the
"Over recent weeks it's become apparent not everyone has been on the same page and the playing group has begun to be affected by this uncertainty." David Dome, Phoenix general manager
players and staff have bought into this. We are confident this unity of vision and purpose hold us in good stead to improve performances.
‘‘We would like to thank Rado for his time at Wellington. His professionalism and experience has greatly benefited our football club and we wish him all the very best for future endeavours.’’
Dario Vidosic’s departure leaves two spaces available for the Phoenix to fill in the January transfer window after Brazilian midfielder Gui Finkler also had his contract terminated by mutual consent in December.
But with the club sitting bottom of the A-League after 10 games, six points adrift of the top six and with players and coaches departing, it is hard to know what top-level players they will be able to attract.