Victory chairman Anthony di Pietro announced Merrick and the club had agreed on a 'mutual parting of the ways' at Saturday's press conference.

Speculation has been rife that Merrick's removal from his post was part of Victory's plan to bring Brisbane boss Postecoglou back to his home town of Melbourne, where his family reside.

But di Pietro insisted the club hadn't spoken to Postecoglou, nor had they begun their search for a coach.

“We haven't commenced the search. It'll be national and international. We're sure there are a lot of coaches out there who have got good records,” di Pietro said.

"As far as Ange is concerned, we wish him well tomorrow, but we haven't commenced the search yet. So I wouldn't like to speculate on that.”

Postecoglou told FoxSports he was only focused on Sunday's A-League decider.

“We'll wait and see after the Grand Final but at the moment I'm really happy at Brisbane and I'd love to stay here for a while yet,” he said.

Di Pietro added whoever the new coach is at Victory, the expectations will be high.

“We will expect from the coach is that he delivers a highly competitive team on the field,” he said.

“We have an expectation to finish in the top four of the competition, in fact, we go out to win the championship every year.

“We want to qualify for Asia every year. That's what we expect to work towards with our new coach.”

When asked about the timing of the decision, di Pietro insisted it wouldn't mean the club's Asian Champions League campaign was written off.

Di Pietro added: “There's been a two month review of all the business units within the club. Obviously we get to a point where we sit down and talk to Ernie and Gary (Cole) and the football department. Once you've agreed on the way forward there's no need to wait.”