Alen Stajcic’s sacking as Matildas coach a sordid mess: Robbie Slater

Just when you thought the Matildas coach sacking saga couldn’t get any worse, it rolls even further down the hill writes Robbie Slater.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — DECEMBER 04: Matildas coach Alen Stajcic speaks to the media during a media opportunity after the FFA announcement of the national team rebranding at the Overseas Passenger Terminal on December 04, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

What a debacle. What a stinking, sordid pile of mess.

Last weekend, when I wrote a column denouncing the sacking of Alen Stajcic as Matildas coach, I thought we’d reached the bottom. Turns out we were still on the way down.

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In the week since we have heard not one concrete reason for a respected and highly successful coach to be shown the door, at this or any other time.

Instead we have to endure a drip-feed of innuendo and “if you only knew” comments that have trashed a man’s reputation and brought the standing of Football Federation Australia to a new low under the leadership of its new board. Well played, folks.

The worst of that innuendo has come, unbelievably, from deputy chair Heather Reid, self-appointed “pioneer” of the game but who publicly rubbished Stajcic this week without any specifics at the first given opportunity.

Like Stajcic, Heather has worked tirelessly for years to promote women’s football — and then, moments after being entrusted with the leadership of the game, she can’t help herself but make these wild allegations.

Remember what Steven Lowy said — when he was forced out and the new board elected — that we should be careful what we wish for? I doubt this was what he had in mind, but what a dreadful start for that new board.

Talk to people on the street and they’ve heard that the Matildas coach was sacked for unspecified reasons, so it must have been bad, mustn’t it? That’s what this kind of smear campaign does.

Robbie Slater says former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic has had his reputation trashed but still no concrete reason why he has been shown the door.

It leaves the majority of people with a particularly unpleasant impression, when FFA told journalists that there was no smoking gun, no impropriety.

Among many other things, Alen coaches his own daughter’s team. Whether he will even have the stomach to do that remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, back at FFA, we have an administration so lacking in confidence in itself it has to ask the coach of the Australian women’s cricket team to help find one for the Matildas. I ask you this: when did cricket ever ask a football coach for similar advice?

Chris Nikou, the FFA chairman, would be well advised to forget trying to get elected to international bodies and take a grip back home.

David Gallop addresses the media to explain why Alen Stajcic was suddenly sacked as coach.

I see journalists sympathetic to David Gallop, the FFA CEO, are saying he was given a “hospital pass” by the new board, and that maybe he should leave the mess behind.

If that’s the case, what a perfect opportunity for Nikou to instigate root and branch reform of this ineffective administration.

Luke Casserly — head of national performance, and a one-time Socceroo — and the head of women’s football, Emma Highwood, were present at almost every Matildas camp and game. But apparently they needed external reviews to know something was up within the team.

These people are on massive salaries, but they are running our game into the ground.

Originally published as Alen Stajcic’s sacking as Matildas coach a sordid mess: Robbie Slater