Robbie Slater relates his experiences in the English Premier League to the current woes of the Western Sydney Wanderers
10 days of woe. The Wanderers have seen some low ebbs, but the past week and a half has reached new levels. ROBBIE SLATER explains how he’s been there during his distinguished career and what the future looks like for Western Sydney.
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The Wanderers couldn’t have had a worse ten days.
They lost the derby 4-1 at home.
They got beaten by the bottom club, Western United, the following week.
And then they recorded their worst ever loss, 7-0, to Melbourne City.
It all looks very bleak and the pressure, justifiably, is firmly on Marko Rudan as the Wanderers look to salvage a season that promised so much early on.
As a player, I’ve been in this position before.
And, speaking from experience, there is only way out.
Southampton and Souness
It was the 1996-97 English Premier League season and things were not good with my club, Southampton. Back-to-back defeats to Arsenal and Chelsea had us last on the ladder with eight games to play.
The whole country expected us to get relegated.
We had given them plenty of reason to believe that.
The mood in the camp wasn’t great. There was lots of anger and finger pointing and plenty of people were unhappy with our manager, Graeme Souness, who was a notoriously tough campaigner. He was prone to ripping the absolute shit out of us at halftime and he had dropped our best player, Matt Le Tissier, for the run home to the bemusement of many.
It’s usually around this time at a poorly performing club that the manager gets the sack. You see it all the time. Clubs try a last-ditch Hail Mary in the hope of a late season rebound and, if I’m being honest, I would say a fair chunk of our club was in that kind of headspace; waiting for someone to take action, for something to happen.
All of this was swirling around the day after the Chelsea defeat when a large group of us got together at a local pub in Southampton. It wasn’t planned to be a meeting where we huddled up and hatched a plan to save ourselves, but that’s exactly what it became.
Over a few pints, we realised that blaming others for our plight wasn’t the answer.
The only group who could save our season was us.
No matter what we thought of Souness, or the club, or those around us, it was up to the playing group to find the solutions on the pitch and save Southampton from indignation.
Something clicked that day at the pub.
Everything changed after that.
We drew with Leicester City, beat Nottingham Forrest, drew with Derby County and beat West Ham.
A promising turnaround, to be sure, but the shadow of relegation still hung over us.
Then came a draw with Coventry and back-to-back wins over Sunderland and Blackburn, the last of which featured goals from Le Tissier and myself to take us out of danger and all but ensure another season in the top flight (we lost the last game of the season to Bozza and Aston Villa, but still finished two places clear of relegation).
No one around the country expected us to turn the season around in that manner and, if I’m honest, I think a few of us were surprised, too.
And this is where I reckon the Wanderers are now.
All the drama and poor performance of the last few months can be quickly forgotten if they take responsibility, come home strongly and claim a spot in the top six.
The Rudan Factor
It was only a few months ago that I interviewed Rudan about his three-year contract extension and the Wanderers’ buoyant finals prospects.
It feels like a lifetime ago.
From second on the ladder to falling outside the top six, it has been a steep decline. And when the wheels fall off a club like that, the rumours inevitably start about the manager losing the dressing room or, in this case, that they’re looking at bringing back Tony Popovic.
I am not inside the Wanderers front office or dressing room and can’t say for sure what is transpiring. I do think mistakes have been made and, if Rudan had his time again, he would do some things differently. Not showing up to the post-match press conference after the 7-0 loss to Melbourne City wasn’t a great look and says to me that his frustration levels are at the point where he didn’t trust himself.
But all that is behind them now.
The only way they get out of this mess is to be accountable and look forward.
The Wanderers have six games to save themselves.
Recent form suggests they aren’t much chance of doing that.
But they said the same thing about Southampton in 1997.
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