Alen Stajcic has taken a subtle dig at Perth Glory's owners, suggesting the decision to kick off contract talks midway through the A-League Men campaign destabilised his squad.
Perth finished the season with the wooden spoon and a 7-1 loss to Sydney FC on Sunday.
Stajcic’s side were nowhere near the Sky Blues, who booked an elimination final meeting with Macarthur.
Perth conceded three goals in the first half, and while an Adam Taggart strike offered them some respite, Sydney turned the screws and added four more in a ruthless second-half display at Allianz Stadium.
It could have been double digits were it not for goalkeeper Oli Sail.
The heavy loss followed an 8-0 hammering from Melbourne City a fortnight ago and extended Glory’s run to 10 matches without a win.
The barren run coincides with the club, which was previously in receivership and administration this season, being bought by developer Ross Pelligra.
“Since the new ownership has come in there’s been a lot of contract talks… that’s an unusual period for that to happen,” Stajcic said.
“That usually happens in the off-season or in January leading up to the transfer window, but we’ve been doing all that the last eight weeks.
“The players have had a lot on their plate. It’s an unusual period and something that probably no other club has had to deal with.
“We probably had 80 per cent of our squad in that boat, not knowing their future at the club or knowing they’re moving on.”
Despite his tumultuous first year in charge of the club, Stajcic insisted he had the drive to turn the Glory around.
“I know how hard it is, I’ve been in this situation in just about every job I’ve been in,” he said.
“I coached in women’s football when nobody knew who the Matildas were.”
A glanced header from Jordan Courtney-Perkins gave Sydney the lead after just five minutes, with Joe Lolley and Luke Brattan giving Ufuk Talay’s men a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Taggart’s goal - his 20th of the campaign - earned him the ALM golden boot and briefly stopped the bleeding for Perth.
But Sydney soon regained the ascendancy as Slovakian Robert Mak scored twice, with Lolley grabbing a second and Joel King completing the rout.
It was Sydney’s biggest win under Talay, but the Sky Blues boss was keen to show his side had room for improvement, given they will face a stiffer challenge next Saturday in the shape of Macarthur.
“We definitely need to improve on the defensive structure,” Talay said.
“The second half was probably a lot better, and the good side of it was that we created a lot of chances and probably should have scored a few more.
“I think performance wise and winning the way that we did will probably breed a lot of confidence for the players leading into the game against Macarthur.”
