'They've lost their soul': club legend laments Wanderers A-League decline

Western Sydney Wanderers A-League great Ante Covic has warned only a quantum shift in the pervading culture on Wanderland will prevent Sunday’s sacking of Welshman Carl Robinson from being in vain.

Facing a fifth successive year without A-League finals football, Wanderers - in the eyes of disconnected fans and ex-players alike - have become a poster child of decline, dysfunction and disillusionment.

Western Sydney Wanderers decline

Western Sydney Wanderers legend Ante Covic claims the fallen A-League Men giants have “lost their soul”.
Covic fears Sunday’s sacking of coach Carl Robinson will only herald more failure unless there’s a culture change.
Wanderers assistant Gary van Egmond will seek to half the slide against Perth on Wednesday

More A-League news can be found on FTBL.

Robinson’s forgettable 15-month 33-game rein is the latest manifestation of a club long adrift since the era of Tony Popovic, the high water mark of which was winning the 2014 Asian Champions League.

Esteemed gloveman Covic was voted MVP the night the Red and Black held off Al-Hilal to create history, and after three years as a player returned briefly in 2020 to work as goalkeeping coach of the Wanderers’ women’s side.

By then the malaise had metastasized, with Saturday’s spiritless 3-0 loss to Brisbane Roar claiming Robinson as the fifth coaching casualty in four years, the team anchored second last on the ladder.

“This year has been all over the pace with what’s been happening internally and with the results,” Covic told FTBL.

“But it goes a lot deeper - it doesn’t just start with issues with the coach. Make of that what you will.

“You’ve seen coach after coach come and go with the same results - things have to change there.

“If some hard truths aren’t aired, then you’re masking things and almost putting the next coach (currently assistant Gary Van Egmond) in a position of failure.

“There’s something fundamentally wrong - it seems like the club has lost its soul. It’s not the club I remember. The identity and culture I recall aren't there any more.

“When I was working with the women’s team it didn’t feel like everybody was pulling in the same direction across the cub.”

Covic’s views dovetail with those of former A-League Women coach Dean Heffernan, who spoke of a "toxic environment" fostered under the regime of chief executive John Tsatsimas and general manager Gavin Costello.

“The right people, in my mind, haven’t been brought in. There have always been off-the-cuff appointments," continued Covic.

“There's no influence within the club of the players that once bled for the badge.There’s no feel-good factor any more.

“Why is this happening to what used to be a big club, and a club that boasts the best facilities in the country? You need more, though, than just having great infrastructure.

“It’s sad to read the comments of supporters (on social media) after each performance - they’re not happy and feel disconnected.

“The club meant so much to a lot of people and they need to heard, rather than shunned.

“There’s no point in turning a blind eye and saying, ‘people are just having a whinge’. Those voices are getting louder and more frequent.”

Whilst Covic has a measure of empathy for Robinson, it’s tempered by the fact he was given carte blanche to make a raft of high profile signings, without there ever being the merest hint of a discernible plan or structure emanating from all the tinkering.

“You have to have some sympathy because you know the toll it takes on a coach when things aren’t going well,” he said.

“But at the same time I saw no clear direction there, everything looked a bit lost. I couldn’t work out how they were playing and where the cohesion or imagination was.

“I just couldn’t see any improvement under Carl. He brought in big names but couldn’t bring out the best in them.”

Having won an A-League championship under van Egmond at Newcastle Jets, Covic hopes he can at least steady the ship, starting at home to Perth Glory on Wednesday night.

“Dutchy is very experienced and maybe he’s a good guy to have in there right now to ruffle a few feathers, I don’t know," he said.

"He can be quite head strong and we’ll see what he might do.”