Newcastle boss Ernie Merrick and Victory coach Kevin Muscat trade barbs over the handshake that wasn’t
ONCE a dual A-League title-winning pairing, the feud between Newcastle Jets coach Ernie Merrick and Melbourne Victory mentor Kevin Muscat has become so potent the pair can’t even bring themselves to shake hands.
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IT remains one of the most potent feuds in Australian football, and seemingly neither Ernie Merrick nor Kevin Muscat can even bring themselves to shake hands.
Six months after Muscat’s Melbourne Victory won the grand final in Newcastle, he and Jets boss Merrick accused each other of executing a snub before and after Victory beat the Jets by a single Terry Antonis goal on Saturday night.
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A partnership that delivered two A-League titles to Victory when Muscat was captain and Merrick his coach has permanently soured, and time has done little to cool the antipathy.
Merrick claimed that Muscat had gone out of his way to avoid a post-match handshake, while the Victory boss declared the suggestion that he had declined such a gesture as a “lie” and “character assassination”.
The row overshadowed a second loss in three games for the Jets, who sit bottom of the table on just a single point.
But while Merrick professed himself unperturbed by his team’s start to the season, he was less sanguine about his encounter with Muscat — or rather, non-encounter.
“I walked over to the bench to shake hands as I did with the assistant coach, the goalkeeping coach, the fitness coach but Kevin sprinted in the opposite direction over to his fans and I wasn’t going to chase him,” Merrick said.
“But that’s just the way he is.
“I was looking forward to a handshake. He’s the one that disappeared, I mean I don’t make a big thing of it but it’s just disappointing, really. He won the game, should be happy.”
Merrick emphasised that he had given Muscat a handshake of congratulations after the grand final, but Muscat himself insisted that the same courtesy was missing on arrival at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
“I didn’t see Ernie, that’s a lie,” Muscat said of suggestions he had “brushed” Merrick.
“One of you are lying.
“I was also waiting for a handshake prior to the game and there was none, which normally happens when you’re the home team.
“If you watch the footage (at the end of the game) I shook all the (match) officials’ hands, and all their players’ hands. So, it is what it is.
“I don’t mean to jump down your throat but if you’re going to assassinate someone’s character, I know you’re only passing the message, but it’s a lie.”
The match itself was rather less heated, Newcastle able to create myriad chances but failing to score. Merrick, though, predicted more bountiful times ahead, starting with the visit of Sydney FC this coming Saturday.
“I think we’ve got good enough players,” he said.
“At training we’re really good at scoring goals. Under pressure, maybe there’s a bit more panic, I’m not sure. Maybe the accuracy wasn’t there.
“But if we play like that in the next few weeks we’ll get three points every time. Sydney FC will be another terrific opportunity.”