Clemente Sacked

(I’m Martha. I’m new.)

As has been expected since the failure to qualify for Euro 2008, the Serbian FA (AKA the FSS) parted ways with the country’s first-ever coach, Javier Clemente, today. (Or, rather, they will when his contract runs out on December 31.)

Clemente has said all along that he wanted to stay, but the odds of that happening were ludicrously slim, given the nation’s and the FSS’s collective desperation to make an immediate mark on international football, despite the youth of the team. When qualifying ended, FSS head Zvezdan Terzić had vowed to back Clemente, saying the nation’s expectations had been unreasonable, but the media and supporters (who didn’t manage to turn up for the Poland match) quickly changed his mind, and Terzić kept his mouth shut at the meeting. As a result, he’s still got his job.

No replacement has yet been named, but all the media think Radomir Antić is at the top of the list, along with possibly Miroslav Đukić and Ilija Petković. I’ve also heard Siniša Mihajlović’s name mentioned, but he’s awfully young, and has said in the past that he doesn’t want the gig if it means he has to leave the Inter bench (which it would).

I don’t know anywhere near enough about any of these guys (apart from Mihajlović), but it would obviously be a huge coup to have Antić running such a young team. I have no idea if his style would be appropriate, but he’s certainly got the pedigree and, in fact, Wikipedia already says the job is his. (Do you think he’s wishfully updating his own page?) Petković would know the older players and perhaps some of the FA because of his history with Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro, but he’s not had much success as a coach, apart from in the Swiss League, has he? Đukić, meanwhile, is young and inexperienced, but he ran the U-21s for a while and would be familiar with some of the team, and settled in quickly and successfully on the Partizan bench.

In other words, I know nothing. The obvious choice is Antić, but he would cost a ton and may not be right for the team. Me, my heart says Mihajlović, because I love Inter, which is an awful reason. Thoughts? Inside info? Terzić says someone will be appointed by the end of January, so we can speculate to our hearts’ content until then.