Blindsided by Patrick Kisnorbo's move to quit the club, a "disappointed" Melbourne Victory leadership has told ESPN they quickly moved to cut ties, insisting they are well-placed to move on and succeed despite the coach's exit.
A-League observers were left stunned on Tuesday, when Victory announced that Kisnorbo was departing just eight weeks into a three-year deal, leaving to pursue an "overseas opportunity" just days before Saturday's traditional Christmas Derby against rivals Melbourne City.
Speaking to ESPN, managing director Caroline Carnegie and director of football John Didulica said the club was informed of Kisnorbo's intentions on Sunday evening, leading to a quick resolution to part ways and place assistant coach Arthur Diles in charge before players returned to training on Tuesday.
"We found out on Sunday evening, and we then looked at that picture and dealt with it," Didulica told ESPN.
"We decided that we needed to move forward this weekend with clarity. We had training on Tuesday and didn't want to miss a moment of preparation."
Carnegie said: "There's no maliciousness or anything between us. I consider it a privilege to have my position here. [Didulica] is the same.
"Whether it's [Kisnorbo] or anybody else, if they no longer want to be at Victory... it's just time for us to move on and make sure we've got somebody who does."
Both Didulica and Carnegie said they were unaware of how long Kisnorbo, who was only appointed to the role in June, had been seeking to depart; they denied any kind of rift had preceded his exit.
The pair rejected suggestions that Kisnorbo's exit had come in the wake of the club revealing an AU$9.87 million loss for the 2023-24 fiscal year in financial results released last month, or over any kind of impending fire sale of the club's squad in the January transfer window.
"There's no connection between Patrick's departure and anything [in the finances]," Didulica said.
"If the club's presented with a great deal for a player, we'll look at it like every other club in the world. We're no different to anyone else. We're here to win. We're building a team that's going to win, but we're building a team that's common sense, and that's what hopefully leads to sustainability in the long term."
Diles, 42, arrived at Victory ahead of the 2023-24 season to work as an assistant to Tony Popovic; he previously worked under new Cerezo Osaka coach Arthur Papas at Newcastle Jets.
He was part of a staff that Kisnorbo inherited upon his arrival in Melbourne, a policy of retention that Didulica said had been validated by this week's events.
"One of the reasons Patrick came in without an entourage, without his own coaches, without his own staff, was because we're very confident in the program that we're running and the direction that we're heading," Didulica said.
"This is football. If you don't think these things happen in football, you haven't been studying it closely enough. If anything, it's probably a validation of the approach that we took six months ago when we appointed Patrick -- making sure we were just appointing Patrick, not his entire team.
"We still have employed running the first team, running our academy, trusted people who we know can still see the club in the right direction."
Kisnorbo has been reported be on the brink of joining City Football Group-owned Yokohama F. Marinos as an assistant coach, rather than moving to another head coaching role. Didulica and Carnegie rubbished suggestions this damaged Victory's standing, the former declaring "I don't see how anybody can form that view logically."
"I don't think it has any bearing on our reputation," Carnegie said. "We can't speak to the personal motivators of Patrick Kisnorbo in any way; there was no there was no acrimony, there was no unrest. It came out of the blue from our perspective. But I don't think it damages our brand in any way.
"I know [supporters] are frustrated. We know people are frustrated. We're frustrated. This isn't what we wanted, and we didn't foresee it before late Sunday, that this is the position we'd be in for Derby week."