Western Sydney Wanderers chief executive John Tsatsimas has addressed speculation regarding the coaching at the club, adamantly denying there is a rift between head coach Markus Babbel and assistant Jean-Paul de Marigny.
Western Sydney Wanderers chief executive John Tsatsimas has addressed speculation regarding the coaching at the club, adamantly denying there is a rift between head coach Markus Babbel and assistant Jean-Paul de Marigny.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Tsatsimas came out in strong defence of the Wanderers coaching staff.
“There have been suggestions in the last few days about a rift between our head and assistant coaches but, I can say categorically, that they are as close as two coaches can be,” said Tsatasimas.
“There is certainly a great relationship between the two, there’s a mutual respect and we are very happy they have that relationship.”
In supporting de Marigny, who has been a particular target of criticism from outside the club, Tsatsimas cited the former Socceroo’s contribution to the club and Australian football in general.
“In terms of there’s been an issue in the media regarding JP’s coaching style … he is an animated coach, he is a passionate coach, he is a coach that has coached the Joeys, been with the NSWIS program, the juniors and played for his country,” said Tsatsimas.
“So we just need to be careful not to muddy the waters between an animated, passionate coach and moving into another direction.”
Given the Wanderers are a massive club with huge ambitions, Tsatsimas said it was understandable that the club would come under scrutiny following a five-match winless streak.
However, he pointed out that the critics were nowhere to be seen when the club went unbeaten in the opening four rounds of the season.
“It astounds me that these complaints are coming out now. These conversations, no doubt in this game, take place when you don’t win,” said Tsatsimas.
“We expect that we are under scrutiny and we expect to be a big club under scrutiny.
“The team has been unfortunate in terms of some calls haven’t gone our way the last three weeks.
“But, these whispers were not there a month ago, they were not there in pre-season and now they come out when things are tough.”
Tsatsimas said he has no doubts the club can, and will, ride the storm and pointed to the extraordinary resilience of the players, club and general community as a whole.
“This is a club that is from a tough community and the players represent the club in that way and they’ll be there battling it out on Friday night (against Western United) and giving their best as we expect all the time when you wear the Wanderers shirt,” added Tsatsimas.
“The coaching staff are right behind them as are the staff and administration and everyone at this club. Hopefully, everyone is smiling on Saturday morning, but it is certainly tough at the moment.”
Despite the results not going the right way, Tsatsimas remains confident the club is on track to achieve the goals set by chairman Paul Lederer at the start of the season.
“We still strongly believe in those goals,” noted Tsatsimas.
“Anyone who knows Paul Lederer, anyone who knows this club, the expectations are high and they will always be high and we expect them to be high and so do our fans.
“We don’t resile from that. We believe we will be there at the business end of the season and everything will be promoted in that regard to make sure we will be in that conversation.”
