Justin George and Reservoir have parted ways just two weeks into pre-season training

Justin George accuses Reservoir of not paying him for the 2023 season amid a bitter end to his two-season tenure as coach of the Mustangs.

Justin George has walked away from Reservoir.

Justin George’s two years at Reservoir has ended acrimoniously.

George and the Mustangs confirmed on Wednesday they had parted ways following a dispute over club operations.

The departing coach has accused the NFNL Division 3 club of not paying him for the 2023 season.

Senior assistant Tom Service and reserves coach Brett Walker have been installed as interim co-coaches until a new coach can be found.

George labelled Reservoir a “s--tshow”.

Reservoir players celebrate a goal. Picture: Nathan McNeil

“There’s three reasons, I haven’t been paid for 2023 and despite repeated assurances from the club, it’s almost December and I haven’t been,” he said.

“I negotiated a two-year extension but in October they reneged on that deal and offered me a one-year deal because, in their words, they thought they could find a better coach.

“The third reason was when Adam Smith stepped away as football operations manager, the executive put a new person in without consulting me with zero experience and he thought it was his job to tell me how to coach.

“I had a meeting with the executive on Monday and they said ‘you’re not working well with other people at the club’.

“If they think they can do better, go for it guys, you’re an absolute s--tshow of a club, Adam and I rebuilt it over the last two years and now you decide you’re going to take it over.”

“It’s really disappointing it’s ended up like this, recruiting had gone well and we had some good numbers on the training track.”

Under George, Reservoir broke a 1715-day drought, winning the club’s first game since 2017 in 2022 with victory over Lalor and have beaten the Bloods four more times since.

However, the club hasn’t been able to come close to the competition’s other teams.

The club has announced three new recruits for 2024, Murphy Del Rosario, Chris Hill and Jake Lynch.

The search will now begin for a new coach with applications closing on December 12.

Reservoir president Ben O’Brien said it was unfortunate but issues at the club had become untenable.

“It’s not ideal but, to be honest, if something like this is going to be sorted out it’s better now than in April,” he said.

“We caught up with Justin on Monday at training, myself and the club vice-president, just to run through a couple of issues that had cropped up during the pre-season.

“In the course of those discussions it became apparent to all three of us that our view of things and Justin’s view of things were not longer in alignment.

“We agreed it would be best for us to part ways. I’m not going to go into what the specifics were.”

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Asked whether the club had paid George, O’Brien had no comment.

“We don’t discuss financial settlements or arrangements, players or staff, in a public forum,” he said.

“Justin is welcome to say what he thinks but we won’t be making any comment.”

Reservoir’s coaching change will mean five of the now 11 Division 3 clubs will have new leadership in 2024 with Old Paradians, Epping, Heidelberg West and Kinglake already locking in new coaches.