David Harding
Chris Leahy
Cain LynchWho Now For Fury?
Fresh news coming out of North Queensland is that Ian Ferguson has signed a new 1-year deal with Perth Glory to become the new assistant manager to David Mitchell. 'Fergie' has finally ended months of speculation about the future of himself, North Queensland as a club and Robbie Fowler.
Before we get into the impact this has had on Fury, i just want to touch on the impact this has on Perth for a second. Perth have an established coaching team, David Mitchell is the manager and has been there since the back end of the 07/08 season where he almost immediately signed on Robbie Dunne as an assistant manager, alongside Kenny Lowe who is also an assistant manager. With the addition of Ian Ferguson, this now makes 1 manager and 3 assistant managers for a squad of 18 players (not counting Goalkeepers or NYL team) which just seems like a lot of overkill.
The only logical explanation is that Ferguson has been brought in by the board as a warning to Dave Mitchell. The board is now effectively saying "here's a person who has experience as a manager in the A-League. If you stuff up, we've already lined up your replacement". This is almost a carbon copy of Branko Culina being appointed Football Director of Newcastle Jets while Gary Van Egmond was still manager. The only difference is that Gary managed to escape before the season started. Mitchell already has the fans off-side, failure to make the finals in 08/09 as well as his release of cult hero Eugene Dadi has rolled around the "Sack Mitchell" campaign and I for one, sense that the board has now made their intentions clear to Dave Mitchell by saying that if he doesn't get things right, and right from the start then he best be looking for a new job
Moving back to North Queensland though, this does leave them in a bit of a precarious place. There's a lot to be said about Ferguson and his short stint at North Queensland, and a lot of it isn't nice. Having watched Fury first hand during pre-season get demolished and looking at the names on their roster i was convinced that Fury would get the wooden spoon, with ease. However, a few late signings and few miracles from God himself ensured i was wrong. Bastards. But now they find themselves in a much better position to shake themselves off from their first year jitters and get on with a solid second season. The FFA is now in charge of their administration there is at least some financial security. For Now. And with this, the 16 remaining players at North Queensland are currently re-negotiating their contracts. This means that for the new manager, he has a relatively clean slate to start from. All reports suggest that Fury have a sizeable wedge of their salary cap to spend, as well as 7 spots to spend it on, the most of any club not counting Melbourne Heart
Now all this is well and good, but who will take over the reigns as manager of North Queensland Fury?
So far, most people seem to have Robbie Fowler as the front runner in some kind of captain-coach style role. He's offered a few weeks ago to take over the coaching of the club after a very public falling out with now ex-manager Ian Ferguson where at one point, Fowler flat out refused to play. Fowler is currently in Europe on his holidays and is reported to be completing his UEFA 'A' Level license, the minimum requirement for a head coach in the AFC. However, throwing a bit wet blanket on all of Robbies grand plans is head of the FFA, Archie Fraser who has said that while they're taking all applications for the job, and Robbie will be treated the same as all other applicants, their ideal situation is to not have a any sort of player/manager situation happening. Keeping in mind however, that their ideal situation with club ownership is to not have a sole owner, like Don Mathesson, the former owner of North Queensland who recently pulled the plug forcing FFA to take over or Clive Palmer, the current sole owner of Gold Coast United who has already caused his share of headaches for the FFA is the short time he's been on the scene
So if the FFA has effectively ruled out Robbie Fowler from being the Fury's knight in shining armour, who else is left? Frank Farina has reportedly been linked to the position. In my opinion, Fowler, as an inexperienced player/manager would be infinitely better than having Frank Farina back on the managerial stage in Queensland. Farina made his fall from grace complete mid-way through last season where he was arrested for a second drink driving offence within 12 months with Ange Postecoglu replacing him. It took Ange the rest of the season to fully expunge the remnants of Farina's influence which was an apparent 'drinking culture' which was also amplified by Craig Moore. Fury are already struggling with poor crowds and not a lot of money, they really don't need a boozing Farina on the scene to worsen things all around
So with the two realistic options already thrown out the window there isn't much else to chose from. John Kosmina may get his third crack at coaching an A-League club. Former Central Coast Mariners and Brisbane Roar Striker Damian Mori is also a name that was thrown around as a possible replacement for Frank Farina who is currently earning a crust as a player/manager for South Australian Super League club and former NSL club Adelaide City. Another former Brisbane Roar player, Stuart McLaren who is currently manager at Brisbane Strikers is a more realistic, yet also outside chance of taking over the reigns at Fury and was another name mentioned in relation to taking over from Frank Farina at Roar. Both those last two names are pure speculation but when you cut right down to it, there isn't a lot to choose from. Lawrie McKinna was apparantely nailed on as Ian's replacement after himself being replaced at Central Coast by Graham Arnold but having taken a job 'upstairs' that's now out of the question
So having had a look through, i can't see any realistic options other than Frank Farina or John Kosmina which is a very worrying sign for Australian football
Before we get into the impact this has had on Fury, i just want to touch on the impact this has on Perth for a second. Perth have an established coaching team, David Mitchell is the manager and has been there since the back end of the 07/08 season where he almost immediately signed on Robbie Dunne as an assistant manager, alongside Kenny Lowe who is also an assistant manager. With the addition of Ian Ferguson, this now makes 1 manager and 3 assistant managers for a squad of 18 players (not counting Goalkeepers or NYL team) which just seems like a lot of overkill.
The only logical explanation is that Ferguson has been brought in by the board as a warning to Dave Mitchell. The board is now effectively saying "here's a person who has experience as a manager in the A-League. If you stuff up, we've already lined up your replacement". This is almost a carbon copy of Branko Culina being appointed Football Director of Newcastle Jets while Gary Van Egmond was still manager. The only difference is that Gary managed to escape before the season started. Mitchell already has the fans off-side, failure to make the finals in 08/09 as well as his release of cult hero Eugene Dadi has rolled around the "Sack Mitchell" campaign and I for one, sense that the board has now made their intentions clear to Dave Mitchell by saying that if he doesn't get things right, and right from the start then he best be looking for a new job
Moving back to North Queensland though, this does leave them in a bit of a precarious place. There's a lot to be said about Ferguson and his short stint at North Queensland, and a lot of it isn't nice. Having watched Fury first hand during pre-season get demolished and looking at the names on their roster i was convinced that Fury would get the wooden spoon, with ease. However, a few late signings and few miracles from God himself ensured i was wrong. Bastards. But now they find themselves in a much better position to shake themselves off from their first year jitters and get on with a solid second season. The FFA is now in charge of their administration there is at least some financial security. For Now. And with this, the 16 remaining players at North Queensland are currently re-negotiating their contracts. This means that for the new manager, he has a relatively clean slate to start from. All reports suggest that Fury have a sizeable wedge of their salary cap to spend, as well as 7 spots to spend it on, the most of any club not counting Melbourne Heart
Now all this is well and good, but who will take over the reigns as manager of North Queensland Fury?
So far, most people seem to have Robbie Fowler as the front runner in some kind of captain-coach style role. He's offered a few weeks ago to take over the coaching of the club after a very public falling out with now ex-manager Ian Ferguson where at one point, Fowler flat out refused to play. Fowler is currently in Europe on his holidays and is reported to be completing his UEFA 'A' Level license, the minimum requirement for a head coach in the AFC. However, throwing a bit wet blanket on all of Robbies grand plans is head of the FFA, Archie Fraser who has said that while they're taking all applications for the job, and Robbie will be treated the same as all other applicants, their ideal situation is to not have a any sort of player/manager situation happening. Keeping in mind however, that their ideal situation with club ownership is to not have a sole owner, like Don Mathesson, the former owner of North Queensland who recently pulled the plug forcing FFA to take over or Clive Palmer, the current sole owner of Gold Coast United who has already caused his share of headaches for the FFA is the short time he's been on the scene
So if the FFA has effectively ruled out Robbie Fowler from being the Fury's knight in shining armour, who else is left? Frank Farina has reportedly been linked to the position. In my opinion, Fowler, as an inexperienced player/manager would be infinitely better than having Frank Farina back on the managerial stage in Queensland. Farina made his fall from grace complete mid-way through last season where he was arrested for a second drink driving offence within 12 months with Ange Postecoglu replacing him. It took Ange the rest of the season to fully expunge the remnants of Farina's influence which was an apparent 'drinking culture' which was also amplified by Craig Moore. Fury are already struggling with poor crowds and not a lot of money, they really don't need a boozing Farina on the scene to worsen things all around
So with the two realistic options already thrown out the window there isn't much else to chose from. John Kosmina may get his third crack at coaching an A-League club. Former Central Coast Mariners and Brisbane Roar Striker Damian Mori is also a name that was thrown around as a possible replacement for Frank Farina who is currently earning a crust as a player/manager for South Australian Super League club and former NSL club Adelaide City. Another former Brisbane Roar player, Stuart McLaren who is currently manager at Brisbane Strikers is a more realistic, yet also outside chance of taking over the reigns at Fury and was another name mentioned in relation to taking over from Frank Farina at Roar. Both those last two names are pure speculation but when you cut right down to it, there isn't a lot to choose from. Lawrie McKinna was apparantely nailed on as Ian's replacement after himself being replaced at Central Coast by Graham Arnold but having taken a job 'upstairs' that's now out of the question
So having had a look through, i can't see any realistic options other than Frank Farina or John Kosmina which is a very worrying sign for Australian football
