Illawarra Premier League grand final winning coach Jeff Allport has been sensationally dumped by Albion Park White Eagles.
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Park confirmed to the Illawarra Mercury on Tuesday, the club have ended Allport’s tenure in charge just nine months after he guided them to a memorable victory over Kemblawarra Fury in the decider.
The White Eagles cited the first grade team’s inconsistent performance this season as the reason behind the decision.
They confirmed George Antoniou would take charge for the remainder of the campaign. Despite retaining most of their grand final winning team, Park have struggled to gather momentum throughout 2017.
They are currently in seventh on the ladder, but sit just three points out of Illawarra Premier League’s top five after falling to a 4-1 defeat to ladder leaders Bulli last Saturday afternoon.
It is understood Park officials came to a decision to replace Allport 24 hours after the loss.
“There is no animosity in this, it is a performance matter,” Park president Frank Zammit said.
“We believe that we needed to go this way.
“We believe that we can salvage something out of the seven games to go. We believe we have the squad to do it and have invested in players of quality that we believe needs to get there.
“We have been underachieving so far, so the decision was made along those lines. Jeff has been excellent. He won us a grand final last year but unfortunately this is one of those things that does happen.
“We have nothing bad to say about him. We have the utmost respect for him.”
Allport, who was in his second season at the club, declined to comment on the dismissal, but wished Park the best for the remainder of the campaign.
“I enjoyed my time there and I looking forward to the next opportunity wherever it may be,” he said.
Antoniou’s first game in charge will be on Wednesday night when Park take on Wollongong Olympic in a quarter final clash of the Bert Bampton Cup.
Allport is the fourth Illawarra Premier League coach this season to be replaced.
John Fleming was removed as Corrimal Rangers boss less than two months into the campaign. He was replaced by Gavin O’Brien.
Last month, Woonona’s Geoff Foster and Wollongong United’s Oliver Vrtkovski both saw their tenures come to shock endings.
Youth grade coach Jason Michlmayr stepped in at the Sharks while Zivko Jovanovski replaced Vrtkovski, who won the Fraternity Cup with United earlier this season.
