Rudan refuses to commit
It was Valentine’s Day yesterday, but Wellington Phoenix coach Mark Rudan wasn’t ready for commitment.
He wouldn’t say he will be at the club next season, to see out the second year of his contract, nor would he say he won’t be at Western United, the new franchise he has been linked with.
What he did say was that he needs to send a valentine to his wife, Sylvia, who lives in Sydney with their teenage sons, Luke and Adam, and therein lies the rub.
Rudan told Stuff last month that the distance between him and his family had taken a toll on them all.
He said he wouldn’t have taken the Phoenix job in the first place, if he’d known how hard that was going to be, and if he wants out because of that, he will attract a lot of sympathy – even if his exit would threaten to undo a lot of the positive change he has inspired at the club.
Rudan’s bosses, chairman Rob Morrison and general manager David Dome, have both invoked the coach’s integrity, when asked about his future.
‘‘Anybody that knows me will you tell you the same thing,’’ Rudan said yesterday when asked what he made of those comments.
‘‘First and foremost, I’m most honourable to my family. It’s as simple as that. You can take it however you want, but that’s the start of it and the end of it.’’
If being close to his family is clearly the biggest factor in his refusal to commit to seeing out his contract in Wellington, a return to Sydney would make sense, if his wife and kids feel unable to uproot themselves, rather than a move to new club in Melbourne, if that is indeed on the cards.
Morrison told the Sydney Morning Herald last month that Rudan ‘‘won’t be at Western Melbourne’’ next season, and it was notable that his certainty wasn’t echoed by the coach himself.
Asked whether he would rule out being the coach of Western United, who are joining the A-League from next season, Rudan first avoided answering the question then said: ‘‘I respect the question and I hope you’ll respect my side of things too as well’’.
Asked before that whether he would commit to being at the Phoenix next season, Rudan said: ‘‘I think I have spoken enough about it. There’s enough dialogue going on between myself and the football club and at the right time we’ll speak about that’’.
A coach having issues he needs taken care of before he can make a commitment is not unusual, but them coming to the fore when that coach has more than half the length of his contract left to run is.
As those talks between the club and Rudan take place, his family situation will be front and centre, but it is only one of two factors that will influence whatever decision he makes.
‘‘I’ve got two teenage kids who need their dad around, and dad needs them around as well, but I bought into this and we made a decision. I’ve also said before if I thought it was going to be this hard, then I probably wouldn’t have taken it on. That’s reality.
‘‘At the same time the club also understands that I want a proper project and I want to build on this, I’m not going to sit back and rest on my laurels. If things that have been done in the past continue on that way, then I won’t be here. They need to improve, everything needs to improve.’’
The sixth-placed Phoenix play the second-placed Melbourne Victory tonight at Eden Park, where a crowd well in excess of 15,000 is expected.