‘There was no talk’: Stajcic on Wanderers axing in ALM

Joanna Guelas | January 22, 2026

Former A-League Men coach Alen Stajcic says he was blindsided by his axing at Western Sydney, admitting he’s hit “a low point in my personal life”.

Stajcic was sacked by the Wanderers earlier this week, paying the price for a poor patch of results which netted just three wins and a league-low 10 goals from 13 matches this season.

Gary van Egmond, the 2007/08 championship-winning coach of the Newcastle Jets, has been appointed as his interim replacement.

The move surprised Stajcic, who penned a two-season contract extension to the end of the 2026/27 season last June.

“Yeah, look, it’s a roller coaster,” Stajcic told AAP.

“That’s the job in professional football, but it’s a low point in my personal life.

“I know I’ll bounce back, and I’ve had highs and lows in my life before over 25 years of coaching.

“I’ve had 22 good years, and two or three not so good years.

“You’ve got to find a way to bounce back and, you know, it’s something that I always talk about with the players.”

Asked if he had an inkling his job was on the line, Stajcic said: “No, not really.”

Asked what conversations between Stajcic and the club were like, he said: “Yeah, no, there was no talk.

“They just said that, you know, it was a mutual termination between me and them, and that’s it – we all move our separate ways.”

Stajcic, after quitting embattled club Perth Glory, had arrived at the Wanderers in 2024 after then-head coach Marko Rudan vacated the role for family reasons.

In his first season at the helm, the Wanderers surged to a fourth-placed finish before suffering a 2-1 elimination-final defeat to Melbourne Victory.

This year’s struggles and goalscoring woes followed the loss of key players in the off-season, with winger Nicolas Milanovic – who won the club’s golden boot race last year – and forward Zac Sapsford among them.

In addition, former Chelsea and Manchester United star Juan Mata also left the Wanderers for Victory after being used sporadically by Stajcic in his first year in Australia.

It’s not the first time Stajcic has been axed as a head coach, enduring a messy exit from the Matildas after a bungled process with Football Australia (then Football Federation Australia) in 2019.

After the Matildas, Stajcic coached Central Coast from 2019 to 2021 and oversaw the Philippines’ women’s team from 2021-23.

He took the Philippines to their first World Cup in his final year at the helm.

Though it’s too early to make a call on what his next move might look like, the 52-year-old said he still has a desire to keep coaching.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s men’s football or women’s football,” Stajcic said.

“I just love the game, and I think everyone can see that and feel that.

“I’ll just see where I land.”

Born and bred in western Sydney, Stajcic said he was proud of what he accomplished in his short stint at the Wanderers.

Stajcic had struck a chord with fans after delivering a blunt appraisal of Australian football last December, in which he described the sport as “seagulls fighting over one chip”.

“If you ask any of the football coaches in any of the departments in there, there was a unity and purpose,” Stajcic said of his time at the Wanderers.

“I did try and change a lot, put in full-time programs and full-time coaches in the youth section.

“At the top end, you probably need results straight away, but I didn’t just want to fix the top end.

“I tried to fix the bottom end so that we have a cycle of players coming through and good professional setups, where they learn a lot and they’re cared for and connected to the club.

“The fruits of that labour will come out in the next five to ten years, I’m sure.”