Robbie Slater: ‘Lack of support and ‘hatred’ behind unloved Graham Arnold’s shock Socceroo resignation despite World Cup success

Graham Arnold was handed an impossible task and exceeded expectations with the Socceroos, yet Football Australia and fans could never unite behind him writes ROBBIE SLATER.

Calls for Graham Arnold to be sacked have been a constant throughout his reign as Socceroos coach – but his decision to step down isn’t him giving up as the pressure mounts.

He has simply realised there is little more he can do.

Arnold has taken more than most would during his tenure, which has been the longest and arguably most successful of any other Socceroos coach.

But I reckon he’s finally had a gutful. Especially of the backstabbing, the nasty politics and the lack of support at so many levels.

Calls for him to be sacked and outright hatred was levelled at him when the Socceroos were relegated to the intercontinental playoff qualifiers for the last World Cup.

Football Australia would have axed him if they had been able to find a replacement.

I think Arnold has always suffered from a lack of support from the organisation.

Arnold took it all on and then did the impossible – guiding the Socceroos through to the World Cup.

We weren’t meant to do anything there. We were meant to be hopeless.

But Arnold got them their best ever performance at the tournament – a narrow loss to eventual winners Argentina ending their dreams in the Round of 16.

Arnold in happier times celebrates after Australia defeated Denmark at 2022 FIFA World Cup. Picture: Paul ELLIS / AFP

That is when Arnold should have bowed out.

I remember talking to him at the time – he had received lots of offers, he should have left them on top of the world after the most successful ever World Cup. But he stayed on and the Asian Cup was deemed a failure, exiting in the quarterfinal.

Now we have one point from what should have been six from our opening World Cup qualifiers.

I’m not completely surprised this has happened.

Arnold has been on an emotional rollercoaster ride. It has always been a battle for him. He has never been a loved coach – despite his successes.

But having spoken to him – this is a decision he made for the team.

Arnold said he spoke to other coaches from other sporting codes and told them he didn’t think he could take the team any further – they said “well you’re done then”.

Once you start thinking that you can’t take a group any further then it is time to leave.

He could have stayed on but he felt that would have been the selfish thing to do.

His abrupt ending with the Socceroos isn’t dissimilar to the way Tony Gustavsson departed the Matildas after their poor Olympic performance.

Both Gustavsson and Arnold have flagged with Football Australia the need for better pathways and player development.

A loss to Bahrain was the final straw for Arnold. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

The coach can only work with the players they have. Australian fans have very high expectations of their coaches.

No disrespect to the players, they are good players, they are playing in good leagues, they have strong professional careers, but the reality is we don’t have the quality of players that we used to have.

We don’t have the group that we used to have. This is what Arnold talked about constantly.

He has said for the past decade the future will be a problem if we continue down the same development path – and we’re at our worst place in history.

Take the last four Olympics, the men’s team has made one Olympics in that time.

It leaves Football Australia in a predicament – I can’t recall there ever being a time when both the men’s and women’s teams were without a coach.

It will be an exciting challenge for whoever does take over – in spite of the ordinary start to the qualifiers. With more teams in the World Cup, qualifying is easier – you only have to finish third or fourth.

We’ve still got a massive chance of making the next World Cup.

But whoever takes the offer will have very big boots to fill.

Originally published as Robbie Slater: ‘Lack of support and ‘hatred’ behind unloved Graham Arnold’s shock Socceroo resignation despite World Cup success