At the time, it certainly didn’t strike anyone as the statement of a caretaker. If anything, the response Mark Rudan gave following Western Sydney Wanderers 1-0 defeat to Newcastle Jets on February 23 was more a campaign speech. Perhaps, given it was delivered to three journalists on a Zoom call at almost eleven o’clock at night, it was even a statement of intent.
“It’s a big club. It’s a proud club. And I know exactly what needs to be done moving forward,” Rudan said emphatically. “I’ve said it before: I don’t care about names. You either shape up or ship out. It’s as simple as that.”
Flash forward a fortnight, to news Rudan has had the ‘interim coach’ label removed from his title and been awarded a contract until the end of the 2023/24 season, and his words take on a new level of prescience. Whatever masterplan the 46-year-old was concocting was apparently compelling enough to induce Wanderers owner Paul Lederer into entrusting him to helm of their men’s team.
Rudan may have won just two games from six before the announcement but from a tactical and technical perspective, it’s a good appointment. After earning a shot at the top through his work at NSW NPL level with Rockdale Ilinden and Sydney United, Rudan oversaw rises at Wellington Phoenix (2018-19) and Western United (2019-21). His knowledge of the game and ability to adapt his style separates him from a number of ALM coaches. His willingness to give once-overlooked players a shot - Max Burgess at Wellington and Tomislav Uskok at Western, for example - is another.
Based on what he has previously shown, Rudan is the most capable coach Wanderers have had since their inaugural boss, his friend Tony Popovic (the pair came up together through the ranks of Sydney United’s Socceroo factory under Vedran Rožić in the 1980s). It was fitting, then, that his first win as full-time gaffer - a 2-0 win over bitter rivals Sydney FC in the Derby on Saturday - was described as possessing “hallmarks of the club’s best years.”
Rudan was also born and bred in Sydney’s west (ignore the fact he was Sydney FC’s inaugural captain) and it all looks great in a press release. But it’s the details surrounding Rudan’s appointment where the devil lies.
In handing Rudan the keys to the ALM castle, Lederer announced that his new coach had been given “direct control of the football department”, . thereby wholly buying into an ‘only I can fix it’ pitch… or proving he was spooked by the interest in Rudan from Macarthur FC.
Seemingly little, therefore, looks to have been learned from previous disastrous attempts to cultivate a saviour figure in the Wanderland dugout. Rudan’s predecessor Carl Robinson was the latest in a string of appointments handed near carte blanche to shape the squad as they see fit only to subsequently leave a gaping hole when it all fell apart.
Wanderers’ new coach may taste significant success à la Popovic, but what happens when he leaves? The void the latter left when he departed just days out from the start of 2017–18 put the club into a tailspin they still haven’t recovered from. Yet their long-term strategy to return to the promised land and stay there, apparently, is to just borrow Rudan’s vision and hope for the best.
There are similar telling examples of a lack of foresight elsewhere at Wanderers Football Park. Examine this year’s ALW finalists - Sydney FC, Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory, and Adelaide United - and it’s notable that all four are the clubs that consistently dedicate not just material resources but also time, care, and intellectual rigour to their women’s programs. The Wanderers, meanwhile, languish at the foot of the ALW league table yet again.
Catherine Cannuli’s coaching tenure at Wanderers is similar to Grant Brebner’s at Victory’s men’s side last season: a club legend expected to be a good soldier and take the heat for a task made Sisyphean by a lack of support or direction. “Things need to change here at Wanderers,” defender Caitlin Cooper said after Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Melbourne City. “Each year we’re finishing at the bottom of the table and it’s just not good enough.”
The club can point to their facilities - the best in Australia - as an example of their commitment, but until there’s a resilient overarching philosophy Western Sydney Wanderers simply stand as the A-Leagues’ version of a McMansion: superficially luxurious but lacking in individuality or soul.
At their birth, the Wanderers quickly became the envy of the league. They sat on the most fertile ground for talent in the country and were embraced by a community that quickly made them the most supported club in the land and the envy of all other ALM clubs. Popovic’s early premierships and shock 1-0 win over Japanese club Kawasaki Frontale in the Asian Champions League then established a winning start. The “big club” title was quickly claimed.
But given what’s happened in the past five years, it increasingly appears Wanderers were born on third base and think they’ve hit a triple. The reality is they’re back at the plate trying not to strike out again.
