“Performance and results.”
These were the words which filled the Melbourne Victory media conference hours after Marco Kurz’s sacking.
Despite winning two of its last three matches, this was not enough to save Kurz, with chairman Anthony di Pietro emphasising the decision was not “rash” but one “based on facts.”
“It’s based on performance and results, so it’s been a constant review as we’ve gone along through the season,” he said.
“It hasn’t been a rash decision by any means, it’s based on facts it’s looking at performance and results and they haven’t met expectations.
“I won’t talk about hypotheticals … we just dealt with the facts. We constantly reviewed performance and results and it was our belief a change needed to be made, once you get to that point you don’t start setting future dates based on current win or loss, once you’ve made that decision that a change is necessary then you do that out of respect for everybody.
“It’s a combination of performance and results- it’s not one more or less than the other. This is the elite level of competition in Australia, our club has high expectations, we believe in the squad that we have, we believe in the coaching staff and supporting staff we have here.
“It comes down to, can we make an improvement on where we were? And we’re certainly not happy with where we’re at and this decision was based on improving that.”
Kurz becomes Victory’s shortest serving manager, staying in charge for one week less than Mehmet Durakovic – who only picked up two wins in 14 matches.
The club has elevated assistant coach Carlos Salvachua to the role, who joined the club in 2018 after experience coaching in Spain and Mexico.
The Spaniard, who holds a UEFA Pro license, wants his side to take control of matches and intends to play an “attacking” and “entertaining” brand.
“I know this club is an important team in Australia, and always, always, always they try to get an attacking style, an entertaining style for the members,” he said.
“For me it’s clear that the results and performance are linked. It’s the same thing sometimes, and we need to start to train to prepare [for] every game, the next game. It’s difficult to say what we need.
“I know the players, I know my idea and the idea of the club, but for sure we have to be the protagonists during the games. For me, we have to think about that more in our team and try to perform well every week.”
Technical director Drew Sherman and Under 18’s coach Grant Brebner will join the club’s first team coaching staff until the end of the season.
The club also confirmed Corey Brown’s departure, as well as their intention to attack the current transfer window.
“Due to personal reasons, Corey Brown has departed the club by way of mutual termination,” Victory CEO Trent Jacobs told the media.
“We will be looking to improve our roster in the January transfer window, albeit at the moment we haven’t made any signings or any final decisions.”
