Golden Soft Sombrero Moment with Ian Knop
Achievements:
Chairman of Soccer Australia.
Let’s check Ian Knop’s record…
- One failed World Cup campaign
- Former politician and former ‘Big Knob’ or should we say ‘Big Knop’ at the defunct Canberra Cosmos.
- Led Australia’s ruling soccer body to the brink of insolvency.
Diegos Verdict:
Things didn’t go so well for ‘Knoppy’. Uncanny resemblance to John Candy (may he RIP). Cuddly and giggled a lot. As a matter of fact, in the old Soccer Australia days, ideal credentials to lead the game.
Some Golden Soft Sombrero Moments with Ian Knop
Knop on Australia’s failure to qualify for the 2002 World Cup…
Diegos: “ No doubt you and your team have had time to reflect on Australia’s failure to get the 2002 World Cup.
What the Diegos want to know is whether Soccer Australia has come up with an official reason.
Was it the spit? Was it the surprise chef? Was it Frankie’s tactics? Were we not good enough? What’s your view?”
Knop: “I think we didn’t have enough chili in the spaghetti. We didn’t have enough spunk in the food to give us the extra edge.
Seriously I think before we rip the whole thing apart let’s wait for the dust to settle and then we’ll sit down with Frank and Graham to analyze the whole thing.
I’m actually pretty happy with the way the whole thing went.
The only thing that I’m unhappy about is that we didn’t score. My view is that some of the boys just didn’t handle the crowd well. If you thought the noise in Melbourne was loud multiply it by four and you get some idea of what they were up against. I think it was intimidating.
We basically weren’t good enough on the day. We need to win those types of games in that kind of theatre. Maybe we aren’t quite ready for the world cup.
One lesson we need to take out of this is that Oceania needs direct qualification to the finals.
If Oceania and FIFA are serious about us being competitive we must make sure that we are in a much more competitive environment week in week out.
We’ve been out-politicked for years on this and it’s about time the board of Oceania presents our case and ourselves appropriately.
We need tribal games that matter and quite obviously the friendlies that we play don’t.”
Soft Sombrero Moment December 2001
Knop on ‘Plan B’…
Diegos: “It’s well documented that not qualifying has cost us $ 12 million from FIFA and up to double this amount in potential sponsors and investors.
This week you’ve talked about implementing Plan B.
With no money available, the Diegos are calling Plan B – the ‘we’re buggered’ plan.
Is your Plan B merely a cost –cutting plan or will it allow for growth in the game?”
Knop: “I’ll give you a scoop Plan B doesn’t stand for ‘buggered’.
Plan A and B actually have similar things in both areas.
Whether we qualify or not we always needed to assess our finances and work out how we move forward in the next four years.
We have a responsibility to develop the game in this country. Plan B is about doing that but doing it without having as much money.
If anyone knows me they know that I’m one for growth and change.”
Soft Sombrero Moment December 2001
Knop on Frank Farina…
Diegos: “Throughout the campaign Socecroo coach, Frank Farina was applauded for his man management and media skills in quite difficult circumstances but he was criticized in some circles for his tactical moves when it really counted.
Does Soccer Australia want to reappointed Frank and if so will you be able to afford him given the reported interest from overseas clubs? Given we failed on this occasion, what are the areas of improvement that you would be expecting from Frank and his coaching team to get us over the line come 2006?”
Knop: “ I and Greg Woods have seen enough to believe that Frank and his team should lead the team for the next four years but we’ve got to take the proposal to the board because ultimately it’s the board’s decision.
I think Frank is a good young coach. Every young coach makes mistakes but the good thing is that he is not a European has been. He is a young Australian trained on our shores and that’s something we should be proud of.”
Soft Sombrero Moment December 2001
Knop on Socceroo World Cup preparation…
Diegos: “There’s talk of preparing the Socceroos solely in Europe in the future.
What are the logistics of such a move? Is it cost effective? Does it provide new income flows? Do the Diegos get to go over and check out the players on behalf of their mothers just to make sure they’re looking after themselves?
Knop: “We do need to play more games in Europe.
There were a number of firsts on the weekend. I think it was the first time we have fielded a completely Australian born team in a World Cup qualifier. So we are doing a few things right.
What we are not doing is making the last hurdle.
What we’ve got to do is review every aspect of how we’ve got to develop the Socecroos. How can we improve so that we can get across the line?
I’m not offering excuses. We didn’t do it this time and next time we must ensure that we do it.’
Soft Sombrero Moment December 2001
Knop on Channel Seven…
Diegos: “How have our TV partners, Channel Seven reacted to the Socceroos non-qualification? Will the NSL maintain at least the same coverage that it had prior to the qualifiers?
Knop: “Anyone who is a stakeholder in our game at the moment is absolutely in a state of mourning.
I’m having a meeting with Channel Seven next week. We’ve got a number of things we want to talk to them about. They are as disappointed as we are but they’ve been extremely supportive.
The station went out on a limb to put those games on ‘live’ throughout the country and the ratings justified its decision.”
Soft Sombrero Moment December 2001
Diegos welcome to Knoppy…
Diegos: “The Diegos have been impressed with your honesty and candor since your appointment.
This week you referred to Soccer Australia as 'Fawlty Towers' - like in operation and structure.
You released details from an Independent audit that revealed a culture where executives lived a ‘champagne and caviar’ existence without accountability and you recently had to negotiate a militant Socceroos MUA type picket line.
Firstly, welcome to the wonderful world of Aussie soccer and secondly, is getting a bit of credibility and integrity back into the ruling body your first priority?”
Knop: “There’s three priorities and they’ve all got the same importance.
The first one is that we need to know exactly where we stand so that we have some chance for good governance.
The second is that we need to qualify for the World Cup.
The third is to make sure that the NSL is running appropriately and is exciting us all so the local fans have something to support on a week to week basis.”
Soft Sombrero Moment September 2001
Knop on Socceroo preparation…
Diegos: “Soccer Australia is $ 4 million in debt and has $ 1 million in the bank. The Diegos' resident accountant tells us that this is not a good situation to be in.
We all know what a Socceroos qualification to the next World Cup will do to the sport in this country.
Will the Socceroos preparation suffer because of our poor financial position?”
Knop: “No not at all. To be quite truthful it’s not accurate that we are four million in the red.
In all these situations it’s all about cash flow and timing and how you account to it.
The situation is not as bad as it looks but it is important that we know the complete picture and that there are no charades.
This is the thing that has frustrated all us wonderful supporters of the game. We don’t know what’s been going on in the past and that’s been frustrating.”
Soft Sombrero Moment September 2001
Knop against an independent commission…
Diegos: “Soccer politics in this country has been ruled by the 'favours for votes' type culture.
It’s a culture that breeds 'self interest' and cronyism.
Jeff Kennett felt that the only way to eliminate this forever was to introduce an AFL style independent commission. You were opposed to this and after a short mud wrestle Jeff walked away.
Why were you against such an idea and could it be something that could be looked at in the future?”
Knop: “No it won’t be looked at in the future.
We’ve never had a board that has acted as a board should. In the past we’ve operated in a disjointed autocratic way.
If we have a board that works together and we smash all the politics there’s no reason if we run the game appropriately why we wouldn’t be fine.
We’ve had senate inquiries and all other sorts of inquiries and it’s never got us anywhere. We’ve just got to use the available structure but just use it properly.
By the way I didn’t have a ‘mud wrestle’ with Jeff.
I think the great thing that happened after August 4th was that I had people coming out of the woodwork wanting to be president and Jeff is a really able person but you’ve got make a choice in something and I chose Nick Greiner.
But I’m looking for a role for Jeff because I want good people engaged in the game. ”
Soft Sombrero Moment September 2001
Knop on the NSL commission…
Diegos: “One of the first things you did was introduce an NSL club's commission designed to allow the clubs to have a greater say in how the competition will be run.
Have the 14 clubs had their first round table discussion yet and if they have how did they behave? Were there any food fights? Did anyone spike the punch? Did anyone bully Canberra?”
Knop: “No not at all. In fact I’ve been absolutely impressed with how the clubs have behaved.
At the end of the day I represent the clubs on the board and I’m excited by what I see. They have been crying for a chance to flex their muscles and have direct dialogue with Soccer Australia.
They’ve now got it. I‘ve been trying to unleash the potential that’s there, delegate out and see what happens.”
Soft Sombrero Moment September 2001
Knop on the fans…
Diegos: “The administrators of the sport over the years have shown little or no regard for the fans.
Previous chairman, Tony Labbozzetta actually was quoted saying that it didn't matter what the fans thought because they weren't stakeholders and ultimately they had no say in who and how the game was going to be run.
How are you going to convince disaffected fans, and there are plenty of them out there, to come back to the game?”
Knop: “The first thing to emphasis in your question is ‘ex-chairman’ and that is important.
Second issue is that we don’t have a game unless we have fans. Anyone who says anything different is really running Fawlty Towers.
To be truthful we need to get credibility at every level of the game.
We dominate sport on a week-to-week basis at a junior level. What we need to do is embrace our television opportunities and work with our TV partners proactively in an honest transparent manner.
We need to communicate when we’ve made a mistake and got it wrong because I believe people will respond in a positive way. The game in the public’s eye has been run behind a cloak of secrecy and in a climate of jobs for the boys.
This game is bigger than that in this country.”
Soft Sombrero Moment September 2001
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