Soccer
The shock sacking of Seaford United senior coach Paul Williams and five new signings for Mornington have grabbed the headlines this week.
Add to that confirmation from Chelsea that coaching legend Gus Macleod will continue as head coach and there’s been plenty to talk about in local football circles.
Last week’s bombshell announcement that Williams had fallen victim to his club’s end-of-season review was unexpected given that his last three seasons as senior coach have seen the club consistently in the top four.
Williams guided Seaford to a second-placed finish in 2023, fourth in 2024 and second this year.
“I’m not going to hide the fact that I was hurt at what happened but I’m not going to criticise the club that I’ve played for at various levels and I have many, many friends there,” Williams said.
There is a view that some in the administration had their sights set on Williams and didn’t miss.
He was shown the door last week after meeting with club president Karyn Pert and treasurer Chris Daly.
Pert has been asked a number of questions about the review and the decision to dump Williams but she has not addressed them, adding to the intrigue surrounding Williams’ departure.
The official line from the club is that the decision not to re-appoint Williams was based on player feedback and a need to bridge a perceived gap between the men’s and women’s senior programs.
There is no way of checking the authenticity of this claim of negative feedback and judging by the flood of text messages and voicemail messages Williams was inundated with after his dismissal, he had the support of the senior squad.
That’s likely due to Williams overseeing the men’s most successful season since Seaford won the State 4 South championship in 2013.
When Pert took over from long-serving president Willie Lyn in late 2023, she made it clear that she believed the club focussed too much on the men’s program to the detriment of the women’s program and she intended to redress that imbalance.
Williams was seen as a flag-bearer for the senior men’s program, which put him at odds with Pert, and this is believed to have been a crucial element in his sacking.
The committee is understood to be considering lowering the men’s playing budget in order to boost the budget for the successful women’s senior side, which now plays in State 1.
This decision already has caused unrest among the senior men’s playing group. It could trigger a player exodus from the senior men’s squad and the club’s recent history shows how damaging this can be.
Early favourites to take on the senior coaching role are reserves coaches Jason Alizzi and Paulo Pinheiro. The latter is a former Seaford senior coach.
There’s much more stability at Dallas Brooks Park where Seagulls gaffer Adam Jamieson has been busy adding to his squad for another tilt at the State 1 South-East title and a long-awaited promotion to Victoria’s elite club competition.
Ethan Goulding and Campbell Steedman have joined from Peninsula Strikers, Kostas Droutsas has switched from Bayside Argonauts, while his brother Chris joins from Bentleigh Greens, and Joe Hunt also joins from Bentleigh Greens.
Goulding, Steedman and Kostas Droutsas are former Mornington players. “The (Droutsas) twins are very good footballers who can play anywhere across the midfield,” Jamieson said. “Kostas is x-factor, a real talent. “He wants to take players on and create things which is something we didn’t have a lot of.
“Chris is a really good all-round footballer. “Technically he’s very good and he’s very sharp – he can do things going forward and do things going the other way as well.
“I was really disappointed to lose Campbell a couple of years back as he’s got something we don’t have – serious pace. “He’ll play up high in a two or wide in a three.
“Ethan is probably the best young talented footballer on the peninsula and we’ll use him as a central midfielder.
“Joe played every game for Bentleigh Greens this year in their promotion side so it’s been a big get to bring him down here.
“Unfortunately Ziggy (Razuki) has retired so Joe will slot right into the left-back role.”
Jamieson also has his sights set on an attacking midfielder from VPL2.
Kane Runge had an outstanding season, winning the club’s best and fairest award and will again be the number one goalkeeping choice, while his deputy, Jarrod Nardino, is yet to agree but Jamieson is keen to retain him and talks are ongoing.
Nathan Peel will again assist Jamieson, but there’s a “new” face on the scene in former player Marinos Panayi.
Mornington vacates Dallas Brooks Park next week as a $10 million facelift gets underway.
The end result will include four new pitches and Jamieson believes it will transform the club’s profile.
“I think it will change the club’s prospects significantly,” he said.
Mornington will be hoping that when it returns to its home ground it will be as a VPL2 club, but where it plays its home games next season is still to be decided.
In State 4 news, Chelsea re-appointed Macleod last week along with assistants Ronnie Whitton and Chris Porteous.
Sam Arcuri is reserves coach and his assistant is Marek Boccari.
Once more, ace goalscorer James Stinson is in the pre-season spotlight with the expectation that he will receive attractive offers from other clubs.
Stinson scored 36 goals in State 4 South this year, winning the league’s Golden Boot award in a canter as the runner-up was Mentone striker Marcus Spivey with 18 goals.
“I hope he’ll stay,” Macleod said. “He’s well treated here and he’s well liked.
“If he wants to go for the money, there’s nothing we can do about that but I think he’d enjoy being here next year if we can take the next step and try and win the thing.”
Macleod is likely to bring in three or four fresh faces to an already talented squad with a view to improving both in quality and depth.
At Chelsea’s recent presentation night, Stinson was the big winner collecting the senior player of year, players’ player and Golden Boot awards.
Adam Dunsford was player of the year runner-up.
In the reserves, Matteo Barba and Luca Fidanza were joint winners of the player of the year award and Chris Neumann was runner-up.
Andrew Jencik won the players’ player award and the Golden Boot.
