Estaban Quintas is no longer South Melbourne’s head coach. After a string of poor results the club and the coach parted ways leaving fans wondering what’s next for South, and reflecting on a remarkable tenor at the State League’s biggest club.

The NPL Victoria Pod had an excellent 40 minute discussion breaking down the Quintas era, it collapse and implications which is well worth a listen, but in lieu of some headphone’s here’s our take on the episode.

Let’s start with the exit. Rumour first started swirling about Estaban’s potential exit at the end of last year after a third Grand Final loss in a row. An amazing Australia Cup run though seemed to keep the Argentinian at the club with South defeating Wellington Phoenix on their way to Semi-Finals. Perhaps the seeds of doubt were already planted before the start of this season, and with the loss of Harry Sawyer, a key player in the Quintas system it is possible that 2025 was always going to be an uphill climb.

The recruitment to replace Sawyer failed. The Danish forward Gustav Moller managed to score a couple of goals but lacked the dominance of Sawyer and left the club less than 10 games into the season. After a couple of early wins the fragile Quintas system, lacking a key striker began to fall apart, resulting in two winless months of football for South Melbourne. Decisions by Estaban were questioned by the fans, including resting key players in an embarrassing 3-0 loss to St Albans, but some bad luck also struck with the injury to goalkeeper Lopez and red card to back up keeper Pithoulas the following match.

Finally after a 3-0 loss to Heidelberg the news fans were anticipating was confirmed when the club announced Quintas would no longer be coach. He left the team near relegation zone and in a horrible run of form, however the near term situation does not reflect the entire Quintas story.

After being promoted from the Junior set up, and then from Assistant Manager, Quintas held the post of South Melbourne head coach since 2019, representing the longest continually serving coach in club history. His winning statistics are compelling, and after 158 games in charge he guided the club to 97 wins, 23 draws and 38 losses. Along the way he won 2 Premierships, 1 Dockerty Cup and 1 Community Shield. Quintas rebuilt South into a respectable club after a horrible 2018 season which saw the club nearly relegated.

However the story is a little more complex under the surface statistics. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were cut short due to COVID government restrictions, and of course Quintas failed to secure a Championship for the club despite qualifying for 3 grand finals. His Grand Final record in aggregate shows a 0-10 scoreline against South, and for many fans demonstrated the very worst in Quintas’ controversial style of play.

South under Quintas played direct football that relied heavily on an outperforming keeper and an imposing centre forward. The team rarely held the ball and was content to allow the opposition to have the lion’s share of possession. It was hard to watch, even more-so once the club leaned even more heavily on set pieces and long throws to create goal scoring chances. The 2025 pre-season recruiting may be blamed for the system’s eventual collapse however throughout Quintas’ tenor there was discomfort from fans about what they were seeing.

The South Melbourne ethos is attacking, confident and even a little arrogant however this expands beyond the attitude of a winner. The club is one of two that participated in every season of the NSL and it did so in spite of media bias, racist attitudes and though the height of anti-soccer sentiment. South was countercultural, an oasis for the Greek community but more broadly, and I think this gets lost, for soccer fans. A respect for the beautiful game is coded in the club’s fanbase and Quintas’ style of play, once the results had been stabilised, ran counter to that club ethos.

The NPL Victoria podcasts made the point that despite the winning this style potentially turned people away from games. As a fan throughout the period, I agree. Now, it should be said that COVID was the main driver, but post COVID, the recovery of crowds was significantly hindered by the football on display. At least in my experience, I went to less games, and so did my friends, to avoid watching anxiety producing low possession football. We chose to wait for the results on our phones at home rather than wait for a long throw for a 1-0 win.

Even with the worst of the criticism though and acknowledging he had to go, I was sad to see Quintas say goodbye to fans after the 3-0 loss to Heidelberg. He delivered trophies, wins, returned the club to a position of respect, and was deeply passionate about the blue and white. He was one of us in many ways and we were lucky to have him at our club. He joins Puskas, Postecoglou and Taylor (yeah I said it) as one of our most important coaches and there is no shame in that. Thank-you Estaban for your time at our club!

But now we look forward. What does South need? What do the fans want? In the short term, it’s safety. The team needs results, and quick. In the longer term it’s a more attractive style of football. South needs a top class coach that can help bring fans back to the games and set the club up for success, not just at State Level, but at National level with the new Australian Championship coming in October.

Who are the candidates? Well if the rumours are to be believed Mehemet Durakovic and Luca Trani have already turned down the club. Two former players remain in the mix though. Fausto De Amicis (currently coach of Malvern City) and Goran Lozanovski (currently coaching Altona Magic) are the front runners.

De Amici uniquely won four NSL titles in the 90s, two with the Knights and two with South. He played 174 games with South and 13 games for Australia. In his management career he spent most of his time at Brunswick Juventus and is currently managing Malvern who by all reports are playing good football. The main criticism against him is his lack of experience at the top levels of coaching. Considering South’s need for a quick results turn around, this may prove critical in the decision of his appointment.

Lozanovski played almost 100 games for South and also won two NSL titles for the club. His management career is quite distinguished at State Level. In 2007 he coached Preston to the VPL championship and in 2013 he coached Northcote to the VPL championship. In more recent years he helped Altona return to the top flight and coached briefly at Hume before returning to Altona in 2024.

Who will be South’s new coach? Certainly no one as controversial or as entertaining (off-field) as Estaban!