Revolution is simple in club football. Results not going to plan – sack the coach. Striker not finding the back of the net – buy a replacement. By contrast, evolution is uncommonly difficult.
Examples are rare of clubs making smart consistent decisions over a long period of time, of establishing strategies that transcend and outlast individuals, of preparing incrementally for future success.
Saturday’s Sydney derby pitted evolution against revolution, with a predictable outcome.
Since 2016 Sydney FC have won four of the six pieces of domestic silverware on offer, a haul that could increase to five in seven after Tuesday’s FFA Cup final. Along the way there has been a maturation, an updating of the identity of the football club, a bedding down of culture and expectation; an evolution.
During this period the CEO has changed, key players have come and gone, and now points continue to rack up without the project’s chief architect, Graham Arnold.
The derby illustrated the deftness of Sydney’s decision making. The opening goal was scored by a man playing just his 94th minute of A-League football, the second by the club’s appearance record-holder. On the touchline was a rookie coach but one who contributed to the triumphs of his predecessor and earned his stripes as a player and coach elsewhere in the organisation. There’s a throughline of consistency but enough points of difference to keep everything vital and moving forward.
When Arnold left the Sky Blues for the national team there must have been a temptation for Sydney to capitalise on their status and appoint a high-profile figure who would afford them some international clout. But to what end?
The previous two seasons proved that Arnold and his administrators had established the perfect recipe for A-League success. There was no need to fix something that wasn’t broken. Steve Corica was evolution by natural selection.
A consequence of Corica’s appointment was a familiarity with, and confidence in, the existing group. Nine of the starting XI for Saturday’s victory were members of last year’s premiership-winning squad. The exceptions were two visa players, themselves a reflection of Sydney’s ability to transition with the minimum of disruption.
The derby performance was far from faultless but the DNA of recent success remained on show. Alex Wilkinson’s leadership, Rhyan Grant and Michael Zullo’s industry, and Josh Brillante and Brandon O’Neill’s control in midfield continue to stand out. It’s a testament to the environment Sydney have developed that all these men remain at the club when other more lucrative or exotic employment opportunities could have been accepted.
With such a reliable core Corica has the liberty of tinkering with his attacking structure. The departures of Bobô and Adrian Mierzejewski forced his hand but on the evidence of Saturday night the relationship between Alex Brosque, Adam Le Fondre and the exceptional Miloš Ninković promises some thrilling highlights over the coming weeks. Ninkovic in particular appears the primary beneficiary of the offseason changes in personnel with the former Johnny Warren Medalist restored to his role as chief playmaker.
The contrast with Western Sydney Wanderers was stark. Markus Babbel is the club’s fourth coach in just over a year and he’s inherited a hotchpotch squad, one containing just four players who were with the Wanderers at the start of the 2016-17 season. A newcomer to Australia, faced for the first time with the managerial limitations of a salary cap, Babbel is in an unenviable situation.
The instability the German has to remedy came from his club failing to handle the loss of Tony Popovic. Contingency planning for the departure of the Wanderers’ foundation coach must have occupied many hours of management time but when the moment arrived to execute the strategy everything fell apart. Josep Gombau represented a revolution from, not an evolution of, the Popovic project. The outcome is a decline in results, significant player churn, a confused squad with late recruits plugging holes, and a new coach unfamiliar to the environment effectively starting from scratch.
This is by no means an A-League specific issue (although domestic constraints arguably place greater value on an efficient back office compared to leagues where deep pockets can paper over cracks). The highest profile example globally is Manchester United where the absence of a football director with influence over first-team affairs has led to the club’s administration bouncing from coach to coach without a long-term agenda or scant regard for cultural fit.
Reaching the top in football is difficult, staying there is even harder. To prolong success clubs have to plan smartly and evolve. Sydney FC have done that for the past two years and despite a change of coach show no sign of slipping back into the pack just yet.
And if you came here for VAR-related outrage from the Sydney derby, see last week’s column from Richard Parkin which remains once again depressingly relevant.
