Adelaide United chairman Piet van der Pol has made a call not to renew coach Marco Kurz’s contract beyond June
Adelaide United chairman Piet van der Pol has made a call not to renew German coach Marco Kurz’s contract beyond June.
Adelaide United
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Marco Kurz’s two-year tenure at Adelaide United will end in June when his contract expires.
The revered German was told by Reds chairman Piet van der Pol his contract would not be extended during a meeting a secret location in Adelaide on Monday afternoon.
“During my meeting with Piet I realised quickly that we do not have a common vision for the future of Adelaide United,’’ Kurz said via an Adelaide United statement.
“Our goals are very different and therefore a renewal of my contract does not make sense.
“Regardless of this decision, it is important now to focus on reaching our aims for the season and to secure a spot in the finals.”
Kurz and his five-star team assistant coach former Croatian international Filip Tapalovic also look set to join the German on the way out of the club once the A-League season is done.
Van der Pol, in the Reds statement issued this afternoon, said: “After meeting with Marco earlier this week, I informed him of our decision not to extend his contact beyond this season.
“As a club, we are grateful for Marco’s hard work and for helping to guide us to our second FFA Cup trophy.
“Marco has our full support for the remaining games this season, as we push to secure a home final and look to go as far as we can in the finals.
“In the coming weeks we will be identifying potential candidates and will not be making further comment on this matter until an appropriate time.”
The German last week said he had left a message with van Der Pol on February 21 requesting a meeting about his future. Just hours after the public revelation the Reds chairman issued a statement saying the pair would meet.
It’s understood one of the reasons why the 49-year-old wasn’t going to get an extension was that he “is results driven and wasn’t promoting young players into the Reds A-League squad.”
Kurz relayed the news of his pending exit to the Reds A-League squad at the club’s Hindmarsh Stadium office on Tuesday afternoon.
An afternoon training session was then cancelled due to a broken water pump at Adelaide City Park, Oakden after the Reds had a recovery session at a city gym in the morning.
Kurz has led Adelaide to a memorable FFA Cup final win last October and runner-up in the knockout cup after losing to Sydney in the 2017 final.
The club finished in fifth position last season and was knocked out in the finals series to eventual A-League champion Melbourne Victory 2-1 after a heartbreaking last minute strike from goal machine Besart Berisha.
Under Kurz Adelaide has never dropped out of the top six this season.
With five games remaining the German is destined to keep the Reds in the running to win the championship despite having what is deemed the poorest players’ budget among the top six contenders.
Kurz has also blooded a number of debutants during his 56 matches in charge of Adelaide.
His youngest debutant was Lachlan Brook who was 16 when he faced Sydney FC in January last year.
His oldest was Ryan Strain who was 20 in 2017 when he first made an appearance before becoming a regular.
Kurz also blooded Louis D’Arrigo, 17, Pacifique Niyongabire, 17, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, 18, Kristin Konstandopoulos, 19, and Carlo Armiento, 19.
Kurz winning 1.62 points per game average for Adelaide is also the best among all seven Reds coaches since the club was born in 2003.
His points average also ranks Kurz in the top seven coaches in the A-League among the 54 coaches that have had jobs since 2005.
Fellow German Pierre Littbarski leads the points average of 2.03 points per game when he led Sydney FC to a debut A-League championship in 2006.
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