Is it higher to have liked and misplaced, than to have by no means liked in any respect? It’s a query the lads of Western Sydney Wanderers could also be mulling on Monday after their season got here to an finish on the conclusion of a rollercoaster weekend.
Having moved into the finals locations after coming from behind, twice, to defeat Melbourne Victory in a manic 4-3 win on the penultimate day of the season, Marko Rudan’s aspect have been then pressured to observe on helpless as they slipped again out of rivalry with Melbourne Metropolis scraping to a 1-0 win over Western United the next afternoon.
Metropolis will play finals soccer for the tenth straight season due to Jamie Maclaren’s Nineteenth-minute winner, whereas the Wanderers will likely be pressured to observe as bystanders for a sixth time in seven seasons. Solely Newcastle Jets have a worse finals attendance file over this era and even within the one yr Western Sydney did qualify, Sydney FC marched into Parramatta final season and despatched them packing with a 2-1 defeat. A minimum of there was a T-shirt.
Recollections of a pink and black behemoth standing astride Australian soccer really feel more and more distant in these moments; recollections of premierships, grand remaining appearances, and a 2014 Asian Champions League crown – most likely the best achievement of any Australian membership – fade amidst a close to decade of mundanity. Every new season, the legacy of those accomplishments helps to drive narratives that this season would be the one by which fortunes are circled. However then the precise soccer begins and Wanderers followers are left annoyed as soon as once more. 2023-24 is however the newest instance.
It shouldn’t be this tough to be the Western Sydney Wanderers.
It is a membership that, as Rudan famous on Saturday, need for nothing due to the benevolence of chairman Paul Lederer. Their amenities are amongst among the finest within the nation, as is their residence stadium in Parramatta. There isn’t any better hotbed for footballing expertise than Sydney’s west, a area overflowing with a footballing historical past and tradition, with a group keen to rally across the membership. The Wanderers persistently signal well-credentialled (if not at all times high-performing) expertise. And but for all the benefits inherent and materials, what needs to be Australian soccer’s large lies sleeping.
With one other finals absence confirmed, the warmth on Rudan inevitably rises – even accounting for his mid-season contract extension and the deluge of accidents he has needed to cope with this season. However towards the backdrop of such a poor seven-year run, the query must be: how and why will a choice be reached? What aim does his sacking or retention obtain? How will it permit the Wanderers to keep away from being again right here subsequent season, the season after that, or in seven years time?
Since Tony Popovic departed on the eve of the 2017-18 season, the membership has lurched from Josep Gombau to Markus Babbel and from Jean-Paul de Marigny to Carl Robinson earlier than Rudan arrived. The 48-year-old was appointed full-time boss with “direct management of the soccer division”, however there was little constant philosophy inside the membership’s teaching hires. And whereas Popovic’s sudden exit was destabilising, sufficient time has handed for it to not function a fig leaf for fixed squad overhauls and sharp shifts in philosophy.
Nonetheless, Rudan’s work stands out as the means ahead. He indicated on Saturday evening he was enthusiastic about what was forward. Equally, it may very well be time for an additional rebuild. However what do the Wanderers wish to be? Not simply relating to (superb) promotional movies, however really on the pitch, the place inherent character and goal can’t assist however shine by. Bravery, dedication, vigour and struggle are steadily deployed in rhetoric however how does that manifest on a grassy canvas?
In the intervening time, the Wanderers exist as one thing of a fable for the remainder of Australian soccer; not a novel one however a related one. Contrasted to the impecunious Central Coast Mariners – who’re on observe to comply with up final season’s championship with a premiership and an look in an AFC Cup remaining – they’re a reminder that there stays a definite hole between the sources the sport wants and people it has.
However additionally they show that filling this shortfall doesn’t signify some form of panacea. The Wanderers have every part they want however not the factor they need essentially the most.