JOSEP GOMBAU

His knee slides were legendary, as were his Awer Mabil hugs, while press conferences and interviews were an absolute nightmare for journalists trying to decipher that distinctive Spanish brogue - all the words were correct and the English was good when you could make it out…but it was just so deeply hidden within that accent that it was almost impenetrable.

Yet Josep Gombau proved an inspiration at Adelaide United. A product of Barcelona’s coaching academy, he brought a touch of Messi to the A-League and the key signings of Sergio Cirio and Isaias Sanchez proved influential long after he left.

His first season was a fight against the naysayers as he introduced possession-based football to the Reds and an insistence to play it out from the back, despite a run of losses at the start of the season. He eventually turned things around though and scraped into the finals.

The following season though he had won over the fans, if not the local press, and his brand of coaching was hailed as the future of Australian football, earning him the coaching gig for the A-League All-Stars against Juventus in 2014.

After finishing third in the A-League, winning the FFA Cup and making it to the semis of the finals, Gombau’s star was shining bright…only for him to unexpectedly call a shock press conference in mid July 2015 to announce he was quitting.

He said he was headed for an academy coaching position in the US - with the suggestion it was with City Football Group in New York, although that never appeared to eventuate.

A year later he returned, much thinner, as coach of the Olyroos and Ange Postecoglou’s assistant with the Socceroos. The following year he joined Western Sydney Wanderers as head coach and no-one ever spoke kindly of him again….

 

MARK RUDAN

For some, the writing was on the wall from the middle of the season.

Mark Rudan’s debut season as an A-League coach in 2018/19 had been a rousing success, milking some incredible performances out of an apparently mediocre side including players that many other more experienced coaches had tried to get the best out of – and failed.

But Sydney FC’s former Big Blue Man Rudan had a Midas touch at Phoenix. He quickly had the side playing well both individually and as a unit. The future looked bright and the next year would only see them get better.

The expansion of the A-League with two new clubs didn’t seem to be a cause for concern – the arrival of Macarthur FC, the third Sydney side, had been delayed a year, while Rudan had no Melbourne connections to make Western United appear a threat.

From January though, the warning signs were there. Rudan began to talk about broken promises from Phoenix’s owners. About missing his family. About being too far from home when his kids were growing up.

To be fair, he made no secret of it. For some fans, it looked like a concern for the club to address. For others, it looked like an exit strategy.

It was.

Finally after months of speculation, Rudan confirmed he would not be returning next season, and a month later, after the Phoenix end of season awards night, he confirmed he would be the inaugural coach of A-League new boys Western United.

As the church signs say, Phoenix fans shouldn’t cry because it’s over, but be happy it happened. And maybe a little bit disappointed it had to end the way it did…because it really did feel it all ended too soon.