John Kosmina pays price for failure as Sydney FC go in different direction
January 31, 2009

SYDNEY FC have sacked John Kosmina after the club's worst ever A-League season in which they failed to make the finals for the first time.

The former Adelaide and Queensland coach still had a year to go on his contract but his future had come under much speculation with the club about to come under the control of new owners.

The club released a brief statement on Saturday afternoon saying it and Kosmina had “mutually agreed to a termination, effective immediately''

‘Sydney FC would like to thank John for his contribution to the club over the last 15 months, said Sydney FC CEO Stefan Kamasz.

“We would like to wish John all the best in his future endeavours.''

Kosmina and club officials were not available for comment while players were told via text message not to talk to media.

Sydney FC will now be searching for their fifth manager in as many years after Kosmina joined former coaches Terry Butcher and Branko Culina on the scrap heap.

The club said it would make an announcement on a new coach in the coming days.

The club finished fifth this season, two points outside the top four, after posting seven wins, five draws and nine losses.

It was a highly-disappointing finish for a team that was favourite for the title pre-season and had been bolstered with new recruits including John Aloisi, Mark Bridge, Simon Colosimo and Stuart Musialik.

Kosmina was tipped to be sacked after the sale of a majority holding in the club to Russian businessman David Trakovenko and his son-in-law Scott Barlow.

But Barlow recently insisted Kosmina's future was safe, saying he wanted keep him at the club to ensure stability.

Just last week, Kosmina admitted he had made mistakes in his first season and vowed to improve next season.

“It has been a long, hard season and probably nerves have been a little bit raw and people say things they might think twice about later on,'' said Kosmina.

“I look at lots of different reasons why things happened .. from a personal point of view I look at how I could do things differently, could I manage players differently?

“Sometimes with selections .. I took a couple of risks that I shouldn't have at particular times.''

It is believed a reported rift between Kosmina and $1.4 million marquee striker Aloisi, who had a dismal season, may also have been a factor in his sacking.

Kosmina was unveiled as Sydney coach after Culina was sacked in October, 2007, and enjoyed a positive start to his tenure, leading the side to the 2007/08 finals, where they were knocked out by Queensland Roar.

The former Adelaide boss finished his stint at Sydney with an A-League win-draw-loss record of 13-11-11.

Kosmina was the inaugural manager of Adelaide United, leading them to the A-League grand final in 2006/07 season before being beaten by Melbourne 6-0.

A colourful figure, Kosmina has been involved in several controversies including a memorable sideline scuffle with Victory captain Kevin Muscat in the grand final loss and a similar incident involving Danny Allsopp this season.

SYDNEY FC COACHING HISTORY

Coach Season(s) A-League Record (w-d-l) Win pct
Pierre Littbarski 2005-06 12-7-5 50
Terry Butcher 2006-07 9-8-6 39
Branko Culina 2007-08* 2-3-4 22
John Kosmina 2007-08, 08-09 13-11-11 37
*sacked after round nine

I could see this happening, Sydney didnt have a good season even with the players they had. They need a totaly new coach from outside of the A-league and to get rid of Aloisi he was simply a burden for the team the whole season.

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February 02, 2009

VITEZSLAV Lavicka has been Coach of the Year twice in the Czech Republic and now he's coming to Australia to turn Sydney FC into a super force again in the A-League.

The 45-year-old former Sparta Prague coach and Czech national under-21 manager has been hand- picked by new Sydney owner, Russian businessman David Traktovenko, to replace John Kosmina and has already signed a contract.

Former Socceroos captain Kosmina was sacked by the club's new regime on Saturday.

He receives a $225,000 payout as he still had another year of a two-year contract to serve.

Lavicka, a former player in the Czech Republic for 16 years, was in Sydney nine days ago to watch the Sky Blues' match against Newcastle and has been sent DVDs of the team's performances over the season.

Traktovenko was never interested in former Manchester United midfield star Roy Keane to replace Kosmina as some reports suggested.

As former Zenit St Petersburg chairman, Traktovenko is said to have a passion for football and has never liked Sydney's playing style.

He believes that Lavicka will bring a different approach to Sydney's playing style and will help entice the missing fans back.

The Czech becomes Sydney's fifth coach in five seasons.

First there was German Pierre Littbarski, then Englishman Terry Butcher, Branko Culina had the shortest reign (nine games) before Kosmina was brought in by the Lowy family, then major shareholders of the club.

At least there was stability in the inaugural season when Littbarski and marquee player Dwight Yorke mastermined a championship.

Sydney players turned on Butcher and on Culina and a big part of Kosmina's undoing was in the dressing room.

His war with marquee striker John Aloisi has been well documented but even captain Steve Corica didn't react too kindly when Kosmina started to see the former Socceroo being more of an impact player and had him coming off the bench.

In defence of Kosmina, long-term injuries to Simon Colosimo, Mitchell Prentice, Terry McFlynn, Adam Casey, Brendan Santalab, Jacob Timpano and the retirement of Tony Popovic made life very difficult.