The contrast in fortunes could hardly have been more distinct. On one side of the stage was Ange Postecoglou, basking in the adoration of 60,000 Celtic fans after an Old Firm triumph, and Alen Stajčić, brow furrowed in concentration, as his underdog Philippines advanced to the semi-finals of the Asian Cup. On the other was Graham Arnold, glumly musing on belief, hard work and goal differences as the Socceroos’ chances of automatic qualification for Qatar 2022 were all but ended, and Tony Gustavsson putting a brave face on the Matildas’ disastrous elimination from the Asian Cup and speaking of effort, learning and his belief that he could bounce back.
The dichotomy was obvious enough that it quickly became a key part of the fallout of a calamitous week; the inference being that had the former pair remained in charge of the national teams, or if Gustavsson and Arnold had not been put there, things would have been vastly different. This just might be accurate, but it could also be widely off the mark. The handy thing about hypotheticals is that they never need to be proven right or wrong. But there has certainly been some level of revisionism surrounding both national teams’ history as of late.
Yet judging how Australian football continuously confronts times of crisis, it is likely that most of those making the comparison would not actually care much for diving into the details of how their thought experiment would play out. The fun is more about revelling in the contrast, and Australian football is good at finding those.
Beyond more obvious binary talking points, seemingly every few years there are reforms, initiatives or principles that are primarily sold as what needs to be done to put an end to an old era and begin a new one, or a review or inquiry that stands apart from all the others with its ability to “get things done”.
This means a focus on outcomes. If a side consistently plays flawed football but keeps winning – perhaps a world-record 11 times in a row – things are good. If that team plays the same way but results suddenly dry up, that’s bad. The underlying condition is largely the same, but that was obscured by the contrasting outcomes being delivered. A major review is needed, but only now that World Cup qualification looks unlikely.
For the Matildas, if one of their numerous chances against South Korea were not squandered and they progressed to the semi-finals, the conversation surrounding Gustavsson would very likely be significantly different – despite his principles of play remaining unchanged.
This discourse largely ignores the long, slow and often unseen processes that actually go into delivering these outcomes. These steps are instead the domain of what Sigmund Freud described as the “ego”, a regulator of the short-term desires of the “id” that doesn’t tend to attract media coverage, likes, shares or backslaps.
With this in mind, should Arnold and Gustavsson remain in their positions? There are cases that could be made by Football Australia that they should not. The former has always been one of the most polarising figures in Australian football and given how long he has been around, there is scant reason to believe a rabbit is going to be pulled from a hat. Defendants of the latter, meanwhile, have not exactly put forward many football-based reasons for his retention. While there has been significant discussion on the challenges he is juggling heading into 2023, there has been much less on whether he has demonstrated a skill-set that will be needed to overcome them.
But what does the ego say? Would these dismissals be a sound decision born of an in-depth analysis by technical staff that recognise how Australia are playing and what they need to do to play the way they want? Would there be a meticulous, dispassionate search for a replacement that would tangibly improve Australia’s style and approach?
Given that FA arrived at Arnold and Gustavsson in the first place and has had an interim technical director for years – one that juggles the role with coaching two different junior national teams – those signs are not promising. And maybe, that’s the real issue at play here: there is not enough ego in Australian football.
