It is, of course, quite strange that just an hour after another poor performance of Śląsk and a defeat with Piast Gliwice (0: 1), which brings the team dangerously closer to the relegation zone, there is a message about resignation. No, not a coach, but a sports director, very meritorious for the club, a former captain of the team, who was with Śląsk for better and for worse – when he won the Polish championship, but also when he played in the third league. It may seem all the more strange that it was enough to look at the table after the Friday match of Śląsk (which has been waiting for a win since February) to conclude that among the teams from the 11th to 18th place, only the inhabitants of Wrocław did not replace the coach during the current games . It’s not even about whether Ivan Djurdjević is bad or good, which we won’t be able to decide now, but that replacing the coach in a team that is sinking into stagnation can be a positive stimulus and sometimes the only way to avoid the worst. In the case of replacing the sports director for such an immediate positive impulse, there is nothing to count on, because it is not Sztylka who is responsible for preparing the team, he does not train it, he does not determine the composition and tactics, he does not speak to the players at briefings and at halftime. His area of responsibility is different, at least as important, but does not require a drastic move right after the game.
Emotions from the city hall
Therefore, given the unusual nature of the situation, I would venture to say that it was not the president of the club, Piotr Waśniewski, who initiated the dismissal of Sztylka, the emotional impulse came from the town hall, where the president of Wrocław, Jacek Sutryk, represents the owner of the club. The president in the spring of last year publicly gave evidence of dissatisfaction, when Silesia also struggled quite dramatically for survival. At that time, the coaches were replaced (Piotr Tworek for Jacek Magiera), but the fear of being in the league accompanied the team until the penultimate round. Back then, Sztylka’s future also hung in the balance, but the director was able to defend himself. You could say he got his last chance. Due to his limited financial resources, he was given room for action. For example, he could hire a new coach, and he just hired Djurdjevic, he could bring in a few players (the most successful were the contracts for Rafał Leszczynski and John Yeboah), but he had to get rid of other players at the same time, save on the salary budget. Some expenses were a serious problem and offended the Wrocław taxpayer – such as the de facto maintenance of three training staffs (because Magiera and Tworek left, but did not take up a new job, so they have to be paid until June 2023), and long negotiations on ending cooperation with Krzysztof Mączyński, because he had no chance to play in the first team for various reasons, and yet he was still in a high position on the payroll. Sztylka had to take it all into account and hope that Djurdjević, charged with optimism, would slowly put everything in order and the team would finally start to play better.
Wrong numbers
In the winter window, there were practically no funds for new players, all moves depended on whether Erik Exposito could be sold, which, however, did not happen. The lack of any reinforcements combined with the team’s increasingly mediocre attitude finally began to tire Djurdjevic. It was becoming easier and easier to raise the argument that the club was wasting city money and even few people wanted to watch this team anymore – the attendance at home matches was falling, and the team was sinking into hopelessness accentuated by the 0:3 defeat in the quarter-finals of the Polish Cup against KKS Kalisz. When we learned from the financial statements that in 2022, the loss of football Śląsk Śląsk amounted to over PLN 20 million and is more than PLN 6 million more than a year earlier, that the salary costs increased by PLN 4 million, it was difficult to find anyone who would like to defend the club functioning in such a way . Few people were interested in detailed explanations of the Silesian authorities, where such a large negative balance came from and assurances that, despite the difficult situation, the club is not in danger of collapse or insolvency. Everything could be presented in brighter colors and assume an increase in revenues again, if Silesia could manage sports. But it doesn’t.
So far, Dariusz Sztylka has paid the head, but if the decision to resign now is not mainly an emotional reflex, it can be expected that this is only the beginning of radical reactions. It is difficult to suddenly turn everything upside down, because although such a formula is observed in Górnik Zabrze and Lechia Gdańsk, there is absolutely no certainty whether these were the right moves and will bring results quickly. That is why the owner of Śląsk is still holding back by pressing the red button, but by releasing one of the club’s legends, he has shown that he will not hesitate to use it.