Wanderers looked in great shape in pre-season and many thought this could be their year, but then exactly a week before the beginning of the campaign the much-loved legendary coach Tony Popovic decided to resign and pursue career in Europe, which immediately caused havoc.
Popovic’s assistants also left with him and the squad was left to the U23 managers to deal with in the opening 6 rounds. Red and Blacks actually went undefeated in these six first rounds, but they drew five of these games and struggled to make impression on the ladder.
Eventually Gombau, Australia’s U23 manager, was appointed in charge come mid-November, but this proved to be a very controversial decision. The Spaniard decided to reshape the squad and many of the regulars were left out for good, while some inexperienced young players were thrown into the deep.
This risky manoeuvre and the desire to dramatically change the playing style in the middle of the season backfired spectacularly and Wanderers not only lost 4 of their 5 matches between rounds 8 and 12, but they suffered some painful hammerings in these games. The most shameful result of the season was the 0:5 drumming at the hands of Sydney FC, with heavy defeats against Jets, Roar and Adelaide also recorded during this stretch.
Four players escaped Gombau’s squad in January, but at least he did decent job by signing Carrusca and Ikonomidis to the club, although the former looked past his best all season and his poor displays in spring were another reason why the angry fans wanted Gombau’s head even before March arrived.
Apart from the prolific Riera no other striker was scoring regularly and Wanderers continued to stumble on the edge of the play-offs right until the final round. Still Red and Blacks entered the last fixture just above Roar and Glory and with the simple task to beat Gombau’s ex-team Adelaide at home in order to make the play-offs. Unfortunately the fact that the majority of the fans boycotted the match, they didn’t even enter the stadium, and more confusing for the players tactics by Gombau saw Wanderers losing 2:3 and instead of challenging for the title as many expected two weeks before the start of the season they missed on the play-offs altogether.
