It’s as simple as that.

Josep Gombau’s departure on Wednesday is a clear sign that change is on the horizon in the off-season.

You never want to see it happen this way and we wish nothing but the best for him in the future. However, we now have to focus on coming back bigger and better next season to help the club get back to what makes it the best in the A-League.

We need to get back to being the team opposing sides fear to play. That just didn’t happen this year. We were disappointing. To miss out on finals with the team we had was unacceptable.

There is no doubt in my mind that we had a team which could have been contending for silverware had things gone to plan throughout the season.

On paper it was one of the best rosters in the competition. We underachieved. 

Of course the departure Tony Popovic made things difficult at the beginning of the campaign. 

However, we still had 16 weeks to get it all together under Josep and his philosophy. Unfortunately, we never really grew during that period. It was a rollercoaster, which failed to get going when we needed it to.

So instead of playing finals this season, we will spend the next three weeks training after missing our chance on the last day of the campaign against Adelaide United.

It’s bitterly disappointing, but we have to focus on the future now and making things right for next season.

We can’t allow the same thing to happen again in 2018-19. 

We must figure out what went wrong.  We owe it to ourselves and our fans. 

As a club we still have a lot to be positive about.

We still have the best fans in the league and the completion of Parramatta Stadium’s upgrade is only getting closer. I hope to remain with the club throughout this process.

At the moment that’s out of my hands as I am yet to be signed for next season.  I have no intention of retiring. 

I still believe that I have plenty to offer this football club and there is nowhere else I’d like to finish my A-League career.

I love this team and I am determined to help the club get back to the place it deserves to be at the top of the A-League.