this is it, someone from overseas who knows nothing or little currently about the australian footbal landscape and players is potentially a disaster no matter how good a coach they are. It's why gombau would have been perfect.

One out of left field - Stajic?

Not sure what the benefit of going with a foreign mercenary is just for the cup. This isn't 2006. This team is settled and maturing nicely. The basic style needs to continue.

A short-term foreigner is likely to take no risks in order not to potentially damage their CV in front of the whole world. Thats not what we need.

I wouldn't expect that the problem was money with the Saudis. I reckon it must have been some other freedoms he wanted with the team ... I'd imagine politics determine team selections, where they play, who they play, etc. etc. In Australia that would largely be left to the coach's discretion.

It will really depend on who we draw but at this stage i'd give it to Gombau 

Please dont give it to Arnold or Muscat 

Marcelo Bielsa

Arnie will obviously be number 1. Id be happy enough with Popa. Muscat isnt close. Okons got the right playing style but not close yet. Milicic hasnt any first team coaching experience. Hed be an inside man promising continuity but would be ridiculously risky. 

If Arnie says no then yeah I think it'll be a journeyman international thats coached in Asia before. We will grow to love him for about a year and by the time he leaves the gig we will hate his guts. 

My shortlist, in order, of surprisingly actually gettable coaches:

Bert van Marwijk (obvious reasons as stated before)
Luis Enrique (less pressure than Barca, and he's an avid surfer who lived here for a while after he retired from playing, it might be a lifestyle choice for him and his family)
Ante Milicic (keep the current system going)
Tony Popovic (Now might be the time to give him a go)
Graham Arnold (Plays an ugly brand of football, but effective)

Popovic would be a disaster. The worst man-manager in Australian football.

You can't afford to completely change the playing squad once every twelve months at international level (which is what he relied on, over and over, at WSW).

He's much better suited to club football.

ernie merrick....why not?

Mugabe's available

He also Supports Lowy's philosophy

Luis Enrique would be good.

This guy. The man. The legend. The tyke. He even managed to put Latvia on the map. He will get the best out of every player:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYGostGh55Q


Neil Warnock!!!!! 

Carlos Queiroz

Overseas coach, most likely would be Bert van Marwijk. Much prefer someone with experience managing against Australia a few times in the past year, someone know who knows a lot about us and Asian football. Did a pretty good job with the Saudis.

Preference still is Carlos Queroz.

Bielsa would be great but this forum would have a melt down with him playing three at the back. Also cant see him wanting to come here

Don't see him jumping ship atm

Luis Enrique would be incredible could definitely keep our 3 at the back and just make minor changes to replicate that barca style.

anyone who can be open to a little criticism and open minded enough to accept where they have made a mistake

His posse of fans have to stop telling me "but we won the Asia Cup"

So what, that was then, this is now. We have not played good football.

Seriously, if it wasn't for a deflection and the first penalty (which i have seen given in favor of the defending team before) we would have drawn 1-1 and been out of the world cup.

But don't worry, Ange would be telling us right now how much his legacy would be worth, regardless of the result.

Sorry to rant, but i am relieved, sadden and pissed off by this move, all at once. but overall i think it was the best decision. The relationship between him and a lot of Australian football fans (some of whom are in the media) is like a bad girlfriend/boyfriend one. If neither one is humble enough to say they are sorry, its best to break up and move on.

Given we are going to the world cup, there will be a plethora of qualified, capable coaches (maybe not big names) wanting the chance to take a substandard team, with no expectation or real pressure from fans to perform. Its a win win. If we lose all three, he can blame the team (most international fans would), if we do win a game, he will take a lot of the credit and probably get a multi billion dollar deal in Asia (because even they know we font have a chance)

Cahill

Been to 3 World cups, knows the score.
Knows the Pressure
Knows the Team
Knows the Strengths,
Knows the Weaknesses
Not afraid to call the Ref a Fuckin Joke

Fitting Finalé

The world wide search will end with either Muscat or Arnold.

Known and cheap >>>> unknown and expensive

What about Ante Milicic?

Not Arnold or Popovic please...not any current Australian coach for that matter.
Arnold failed once already and is better suited for club management. Popovic just joined a club in Turkey and should see out his time there and try elsewhere in Europe, he has potential to make a career managing in Europe.

Bert van Marwijk is the best available option and I sincerely hope the FFA have been in contact with him. Posters on this forum (myself included) have been suggesting Bert as a potential successor ever since he left Saudi Arabia. If the FFA had any sense of competence or foresight he'd be on the radar and looking at an interview already.

As mentioned already Luis Enrique might be worth a shout in the short term. Presumably he won't be coaching anywhere this season and if he was offered a short-term contract for the world cup it would hard to turn down especially if he has fond memories of his time in Australia.

Guus is available if we want to try that option. He'll always be welcome here for what he's done for the national team. If he wants a second stint he's welcome.

On the subject of Dutch managers, would Louis Van Gaal be an option in the short-term? He seems to indicate he's retired but would a world cup change his mind? Let him take the helm until the end of the world cup and see what happens. He has already encountered us in the previous tournament and performed miracles with poor squads. Could even bring back some of his staff from 2014 like Patrick Kluivert who is also familiar with Australia.

We need an expert tournament manager. Squad quality aside, this WC is going to be one where many countries will see the opportunity to get out of their group, even make a quarter, including us. No disrespect to some names mentioned, regardless of if Aussie or not but the man must tick the boxes of tournament specialist. This must not be negotiable.

What about pulis? What he did with CP a couple of years ago was golden

Might keep us from relegation

edit:

if Asian introduced a Nation Leagues competition

Aitor Karanka would be a good choice, would know a lot of our boys already having worked in the championship and directly with Rhys Williams.

No, couldn't bare to watch his dire football for the national team.

If it's Muscat I'd almost find myself supporting the opposition. Why would we consider one of the biggest dickheads in Australian football as our national coach? He comes pre-hated by a huge number of fans already. Oh and he isn't even doing that well, let us not forget that.

My ideal choices would be Frank Rijkaard, Frank De Boer, Marcelo Bielsa, Carlos Queiroz, (extra ambitious) Thomas Tuchel, Carlo Ancelotti 

Realistic choices would be Slater's mate Arnold, Popa when he gets the sack in Turkey or Musky or Aloisi as scraps. 

so all this about its not if we qualify its how we perform when we're at the world cup was all a load of crap.

the last straw for me with ange was the syria matches. its then thati finally let myself see that he's plan and grand ideas for the team was all a load of crap. he wasn't building to anything and over the last year or so has just been consistently going backwards. 

but to leave now with so little time to the world cup is senseless. all this supposed planning all down the drain, all a waste of time. and we are back in the same terrible situation as we were in the last world cup. the time remaining is simply not fair on a new coach, its just not enough time. 

he's really fu--ked us.