7 Aug 2003(Thu)

I was shocked, and not a little angry, when I heard that Nagoya Grampus Eight had fired manager Zdenko Verdenik after the last round of first-stage games Saturday.

This is because I thought he was doing a good, steady job at Nagoya, and that he was very aware of what needed to be done to make Grampus a J.League power.

With two games of the first stage remaining, Grampus still had a chance, admittedly a small one, of winning the title.

They were also the only unbeaten team in the top flight, with five wins and eight draws from those 13 games.

But defeats in their final two games, at home to Tokyo Verdy and away to Cerezo Osaka, resulted in a disappointing mid-table finish, and Verdenik was shown the door.

The last time I spoke to him was after the Grampus-Vegalta Sendai match at Toyota Stadium on May 18.

It was the "sayonara" match of Austrian international Ivica Vastic, and he scored a great goal in the closing seconds to end his Grampus career on a high note.

After the game, Verdenik said he had wanted to keep Vastic, but the decision to release the player had been taken high up in the Toyota corridors of power.

Verdenik explained that Vastic had settled into the team, the team was playing well, and that no replacement had been fixed up. So all the time spent integrating Vastic would be wasted, and he would have to start all over again with an unknown overseas player.

He also explained that he had cleared out several players who were not prepared to fight, and replaced them with youngsters who were hungry to succeed.

He felt that the first stage would be about laying the foundations for a push for the second-stage title.

This is how the season was taking shape, as Grampus had become a difficult team to beat with the influential Panadic, supported by Omori and Koga, providing a strong wall in front of Narazaki in goal.

If Grampus had turned just a couple of those draws into wins, they could have been right at the top in the last couple of weeks, challenging F Marinos, Jubilo and JEF United.

I feel the Grampus front office acted too quickly in firing Verdenik, who had done such a fine job at Ichihara before that.

To build a championship-winning team takes time as well as money, and Grampus were on the right road.

Last season I heard that Grampus were interested in hiring another former Slovenia national coach, Srecko Katanec, after the World Cup, but he went to Greece.

With the second stage kicking off Aug. 16, it looks like yet another "new start" for Grampus rather than a championship push.

Grampus fans deserve better.

ends