MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Melbourne City manager Rado Vidosic has been sacked two games into the A-League season and replaced by Aurelio Vidmar.
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Vidosic, who took over from Patrick Kisnorbo a year ago, led the United Arab Emirates-controlled club into their fourth successive A-League championship match in June but they suffered a 6-1 humiliation by Central Coast Mariners.
City, the sister club of Premier League giants Manchester City, were thrashed 6-0 by Adelaide United on Sunday following a 2-1 defeat in their season-opener against cross-town rivals Western United.
Former Australia captain Vidmar takes over as head coach for the rest of the season, City said.
“During his five years at the Club, Vidosic has been an integral part of on-field success, winning silverware with the Youth, Women’s and most recently Men’s teams,” City said in a statement.
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Vidmar, who coached the national Socceroos team for one match in 2013 as a caretaker, returns to his first head coaching role in the domestic league since a stormy stint with Adelaide in 2007-2010.
The 56-year-old is renowned in Australian soccer for an infamous tirade in the wake of a 4-0 defeat to Melbourne Victory in 2008/09 semi-finals in which he blamed the result on club politics and lashed out at the entire city of Adelaide.
Vidmar held onto his job and managed to take Adelaide into the 2009 Grand Final against Victory where they lost the title-decider 1-0.
– TheStar
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)