Buckley's Chance

The FFA have appointed a new CEO, and Phill Chadwick says that while he's a good choice, he has several challenges ahead.

Recent news that AFL Chief Operating Officer, Ben Buckley is to be John O'Neill's replacement as CEO of the Football Federation is good news.

The ability of Football to poach someone of Buckley's quality from its main rival speaks volumes for the new respect that Football has achieved in the Australian sporting community.

Buckley seems to be one of the new breed of sports administrators, educated, young and energetic. But he has no Football background.

While experience from other sports can be useful and Sports Administration as a profession should translate well between different sports, there is a culture and tradition in our sport that should be respected. It is not a clean slate.

Go to a Melbourne Victory game and listen to that crowd sing and chant. That spine-tingling noise is but one expression of the worldwide culture of our sport. Ben Buckley must rapidly become educated in these traditions. Any administrator that doesn't respect these aspects of the game is at risk of turning off the true supporters and damaging the sport's new beginning.

The step up from the tiny insular puddle of AFL Football to the vast, turbulent ocean of the "World Game" is enormous. The dimension of AFL's worldwide impact can be judged from their desperate bid for international relevance in creating that ludicrous hybrid game "International Rules" in association with the Irish.

I hope he is up to the challenge.

And I hope he is not going to be just Frank Lowy's puppet.

It was an Englishman, Lord Acton, who said "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely". Lowy, in terms of Australian Football, now has almost absolute power. And there are virtually no checks or balances on his influence. What Lowy wants, Lowy gets.

O'Neill had "creative differences" with Lowy. O'Neill is gone.

Lowy will soon be rubber stamped into a further four years at the helm. That is probably a good thing: who else is there? But there is a danger in investing all wisdom in one man, no matter how able that man may be.

In times of crisis, a strong, autocratic leader is often the only way forward. For Football in Australia, Lowy was that leader. But that crisis period is over and we need to move on into a period of consolidation.

Power now needs to be shared, with other ideas and influences considered. Will Lowy be able to delegate power effectively? Time will tell.

Buckley will, I fear, find it very difficult to be his own man.

In his period of AFL tenure he was apparently deeply involved in the negotiation of the very, very lucrative television deal. Something similar from him in his new position would be nice.

He was also involved when the AFL took its place as the number one football code in this country, with its successful transition from a suburban Melbourne competition to a fully national competition, challenging the power of the ARL in its heartlands. There is no doubt that he knows the Australian sporting market.

He comes with a big reputation and will need to produce some results quickly to stamp his authority on this organisation.

The A-League is poised nicely to capitalize on the good work John O'Neill has done with Frank Lowy. All strength to Ben Buckley. He will need it.

In any professional sport, the position of Head Coach, or Manager, is precarious at best. In A-League football it is now almost a revolving door.

Theodorokopoulos was given only a short tenure at Newcastle. Now Blieberg has "resigned" from Queensland, despite his team holding a position in the top four.

And Adelaide United's coach, John Kosmina has this week denied rumours of an approach from Sydney FC. Even if they had approached him, he would have been wise to say no!

What person in his right mind would want to coach Sydney?

Littbarski, after a spectacularly successful first season, failed to come to terms. What more could Sydney have wanted from him?

And this season, Butcher, toiling manfully with a seriously depleted squad, also holding a top four position, is looking over his shoulder as the knives are out.

These panic reactions are symptoms of clubs that are so impatient for success that they can't see far enough ahead to build a successful culture. It is deeply self-destructive for this kind of instability to be tolerated.

Melbourne, by contrast, has persisted with Ernie Merrick, even after finishing seventh last season. Many fans were calling stridently for his sacking after last season's less than satisfactory performance. Their current position is the reward for that patience and support.

If A-League Football is to be taken seriously in this country, the clubs need to take a step back from knee-jerk reactions to a few poor results. Club owners and administrators have to realise that a 20-man squad and a very short season leave no room for error or injury.

It is very difficult for any club to recover from period of bad results, or a series of injuries to key players, simply because there are not enough games. A mature club culture would assess their coaching group's performance over at least two seasons before wielding the axe.

Sadly, given the pressures on modern sporting clubs, that is not likely to happen often.

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