There must be something about this time of year that gets me talking about Ernie Merrick and this time it's all about the Scotsman of few words taking out this year's Coach of the Year at the A-League's night of nights that caught many by surprise. But for this blogger it's justification for a season the man in charge of the Melbourne Victory has really earned his money. And no I'm not referring to Kevin Muscat.
Many have argued (including one SBS pundit who's Europhilia is starting to scare me) that Lavicka, Herbert and even Bleiberg would have much worthier winners due to the efforts in turning around the fortunes of their clubs or in Bleiberg's case starting with a completely new club. But for making his squad one of the most consistent in the A-League, Merrick beats all of them hands down.
At the start of the season many pundits would have tipped Melbourne, who had pretty much an unchanged squad from last season, to finish in the top two but few would have expected them to do so with many of the issues that have had to be dealt with throughout the season.
The season started off with a bang of sorts as not only did the Mariners catch us on the hop but Kevin Muscat's hamstring also gave way. This bit of bad news was quickly followed in rapid succession by Celeski's knee giving way and the departure of Allsopp in search of some oil money.
How many coaches would have had the excuses at the ready especially with the many pundits and keyboard warriors out there ready to write off Victory and were already talking about hangovers of a Premiership kind. Allusions were cast that Merrick could only get the best out of his team when it was an even numbered year and that this was going to be Season Three all over again. Even the Broxham/Brebner early season combination had me wondering whether it was going to be the case.
And then in the run into the end of season in a competition with two other teams for the Premiership, he loses his most influential striker through injury, his captain through stupidity and his makeshift striker to a series of attacks by opposition players.
One would have to wonder if Merrick had the squad that he started the season with for the majority of the season, would the Premiership been as close as it ended up being. I don't think so. Would Lavicka and his Sydney team performed so well if a number of key players had been missing for large chunks of the season? I think not. And that is why Merrick is fully deserving of the title of Coach of the Year.
All that aside, it is now time for Merrick to really earn his money in what is going to be a hectic month of football. On Thursday night he went part way to gaining some revenge for the loss of the premiership in what was a great team performance totally outplaying their counterparts for large parts of the first half and then defending stoutly when Sydney came out swinging after the break. The only person who couldn't hold his head high was Nik Mrdja, who spoilt an otherwise good performance by reacting to some Shannon Cole niggle with an errant elbow.
The second leg in two weeks will again be an enthralling affair as Merrick takes on apparently the only coach in Australia with a system whilst having to manage a new ACL campaign and international players making unnecessary trips across the Pacific - but that's a completely different story.
