How do you solve a problem like Frank Farina?
This was the question that plagued Sydney FC almost every day for the past year, ever since that unconvincing news conference at Allianz Stadium that announced he was taking the job full-time.
But the truth is that Farina was only ever the temporary option; a permanent interim. Only if he could manufacture the spectacular would he be afforded full control of a club where many hands still fight for the driver's wheel.
He was never accepted by the club's fans, who counted down the days until his spell was over.
In a strange way, Farina arguably exceeded expectations. The doomsayers suggested he was so inept that Sydney would spiral down the table again. While it is accurate they never challenged for honours, they finished three points off second, a point Farina made repeatedly whenever his job security was mentioned.
He was popular among the players and managed to extract enough from a schism-laden dressing room to make them competitive.
The sacking of Farina further adds weight to the idea that the book is closing on the generation of those coaches perceived as "old school".
Curiously, 51-year old Mike Mulvey, who had never coached as a full-time professional until this year, is older than Farina. But perceptions are hard to shake. The league's evolution is eating careers alive.
Seduced by the notion that winning was all that mattered in the Sydney market, Farina also made a gross miscalculation in believing results would be enough.
Privately, he has cast more than a bewildered glance at Adelaide coach Josep Gombau. Sydney won two more games than the Reds this season yet the press, public and all in between cannot praise the Spaniard enough.
Gombau's ability to sell the message of progress and a slow burn has seen off some early dark days to become the league’s most anticipated development. The flashes of brilliance this season are expected to culminate in title contention next season.
When I pressed Farina repeatedly for his football philosophy, he never really answered the question. At first, he said it was irrelevant because of the need for points and points alone but, when made full-time, explanations lacked detail and clarity.
He hinted his preference for a possession-based style but the match-day reality – letting the opponent have the ball and counter-attacking – defied this. The Sydney fans, tired of seeing teams come to Moore Park and elegantly stroke the ball around reactive sky blue shirts, hooted Farina until hoarse.
Eventually, just before the finals, he acknowledged his true feelings, that he felt possession was "just a stat". In other words, overrated. With possession the bedrock of the league’s development in recent years, the sentiment, although admirably honest, went down like a lead balloon.
Tactics never were Farina's strong point. That Rado Vidosic was roped in from Brisbane before the start of the season reinforced the point. But Vidosic's influence remains difficult to quantify.
In fairness, only the re-emergence of Terry Antonis made the system sing. More than Alessandro Del Piero, who continued to run his own race. Farina extracted plenty from the Italian by giving him carte blanche – but at what cost to the rest of the side?
Perhaps the telling point is that the club spent an entire preseason working on a style they believed would allow them to compete, with Nicky Carle dropping deeper to collect possession and distributing accordingly.
When the real season came, they couldn't dump it quickly enough. And Carle, too, would be personally outcast by Farina for defying tactical orders. He still has not played for Sydney FC since that 3-0 hammering at the hands of Gombau’s Adelaide.
And that infamous night will live to be the defining 90 minutes of Farina's tenure. While there were glorious moments – the 5-0 win over Melbourne Victory, the 7-1 against Wellington – when we look back, it will be an evening impossible to disassociate with his time.
The banners. The beer on the head. The bust-up. The beating they received.
In the end, the mob got their man. Deep down they always knew they would. Perhaps the only surprise is that he defied them for so long.
