Popa’s big leap of faith

As the shockwaves from Popovic’s dramatic exit from the Wanderers continued to reverberate, the scale of the challenge he faces at Turkish Super Lig side Karabukspor became apparent.

Popovic will relocate immediately to the club on Turkey’s northern coast after resigning on Sunday morning, though the international break this coming weekend gives him a few days’ grace.

TOM SMITHIES: Timing of Popa’s exit won’t tarnish his Wanderers legacy

The club, to which Popovic hopes to bring his entire coaching staff from Western Sydney, lies third from bottom of the Turkish top division.

But its record of hiring and firing is extraordinary, with the last seven incumbents lasting for just three months on average.

Since Tolunay Kafkas was fired in February 2015 after 19 months in charge, a succession of local and foreign coaches have been appointed – including three in 2015/16 when the club managed to secure promotion back to the Super Lig a year after being relegated to the second division.

The coach to last the longest was former Croatia defender Igor Tudor, who produced winning results against some of the country’s most powerful sides and was promptly headhunted to join one of the best known, Galatasaray, after eight months at Karabukspor.

Whether coincidentally or not, that exit came less than three weeks after the Court of Arbitration in Sport upheld UEFA’s decision to ban Karabukspor for two seasons from the Europa League and Champions League had they qualified – a suspension that expires at the end of this season.

Karabukspor were ruled to have run too big a deficit under European rules designed to prevent rich owners allowing their clubs to run at a significant loss.

According to sources familiar with the deal, Tudor was consulted about Popovic by his old club, and provided a positive recommendation.

Meanwhile Western Sydney are expected to name an interim coach on Tuesday and begin the process of transitioning the club to the post-Popovic era.

With the players already scheduled to have Sunday and Monday off, Tuesday will bring the first training session without their former head coach – one that is likely to be overseen by academy boss Ian Crook.

Popovic is believed to have agreed with Karabukspor to bring assistant Andres Carrasco and goalkeeping coach Zeljko Kalac with him.

His other assistant at Wanderers, Hayden Foxe, is also wanted by Popovic but is likely to work with Crook in the immediate term while Western Sydney work through the various contractual situations.

The fact that the season opens with three games in Sydney – two at Spotless Stadium, against Perth and the Mariners, and a derby away to Sydney FC – makes the logistics of the next few weeks easier to manage.

The club has made clear it won’t rush into an appointment, despite numerous resumes already having landed on Wanderers CEO John Tsatsimas’s desk.