Michael Valkanis has taken the top position at Adelaide United, if only temporarily. After the shock resignation of head coach John Kosmina on the weekend, the club has been left to pick up the pieces.
Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin was completely shocked by the resignation and denied there were any problems with management and the coaches.
“It came as a complete surprise to me,” Griffin told reporters. “The club, quite frankly, is amazed. We’ve already appointed Michael Valkanis as interim coach and we will review that as the weeks go on.”
Griffin admitted he struggled to understand the nature of Kosmina’s decision and with negotiations to extend the coach’s contract set to get underway, he said accusations of “a lack of trust” left the club’s hierarchy confused.
“I have no idea what he’s on about. On 18th December, he went to a board meeting and asked if he could have an extension to his contract on better money, we said we’d look at it. We’ve got a board meeting on 12th February, and between now and then, there would have been a series of discussions with him in regards to what his salary expectations were, what our views were, how he saw the whole thing going forward.
“As far as we were concerned we had a process in place which he agreed with and took no issue with. So to say that we are amazed by an alleged lack of trust is very, very significant.
“I would have thought that if john had an issue he could have come and seen me or (CEO) Ben Elliott. He’s chosen to resign so we move on. His letter of resignation gave no reason”.
Reports suggest that none of the football department knew of Kosmina’s decision, with many of the players and staff learning it through the internet and Twitter.
Griffin also denied suggestions the club had already discussed Valkanis taking over from Kosmina.
“Michael Valkanis has never been spoken to about being the head coach of Adelaide United.
“Whoever put that anonymously on a website has caused great discontent. We’d told Kossie it simply was not true and I thought that was a dead issue.
“I personally have views about assistant coaches taking over from the head coach. It’s a board decision and I’ve consulted with all of the board members this morning and we’ve agreed that Michael is the interim coach and we need to start training and getting ready for a big match on Sunday and then we’ll play it day by day.”
With Adelaide dropping to fourth on the ladder after losing to Central Coast last Friday night, Valkanis must now concentrate on keeping the playing squad focused on getting back their high position on the ladder.
