When Harry Kewell left Celtic to join Yokohama F Marinos at the end of December last year, there were hopes that the Australian coach could continue the club’s successful spell in Japan.
The Japanese club hired Kewell with the expectation that he implement an attacking style of football similar to what Ange Postecoglou and Kevin Muscat did before him.
Yokohama have won the J League five times in their history but prior to Postecoglou’s arrival in 2018, it had been 15 years since they won a title and five years since any silverware rested in their trophy cabinet.
So when Kewell took over, it was clear that the remit was to continue to build for success and after a bright start, the Australian’s time at the club took a turn for the worst.
After just four wins in their last 16 J League matches, eight from 23 in total, Kewell was dismissed from his role today by the club.
Akihiro Nakayama tells Kewell what he ‘was thinking’
President of Yokohama F. Marinos, Akihiro Nakayama, is the person who decided Kewell had to leave and telling the assembled Japanese media, he detailed the conversation he had with the former Celtic coach before he was relieved of his duties.
Nakayama said [Soccer Digest], “I met and spoke with director Harry Kewell yesterday. We talked for about 30 minutes, telling him what I was thinking, and finally decided to cancel the contract.
“We first played the ACL together, and for the first time in the club’s history, we made it through to the last 16, and although we didn’t reach the second leg of the final, we finished runners-up, which was a brilliant achievement, for which I am grateful, and I told him.
Looking back at the results, Harry Kewell tried very hard to understand attacking football and put his own essence into it.
“However, looking at each of the three perspectives [understanding and passing on attacking football, evolving attacking football, and aiming high to becoming a team that always wins], I am aware that the current situation is that we are a little short of where the club expected us to be.
“Conversely, I believe that if we can make up for these missing bits, our attacking football can come back very quickly.”
Yokohama’s poor form came to a head when the fans turned on Kewell after another home defeat to Tokyo Verdy just a couple of weeks ago.
Since that game, the J League side lost a further two league games and narrowly scraped through to the next round of the Emperor’s Cup 7-6 to J2 side Mito HollyHock.
A 4-1 win over Kashima Antlers wasn’t enough to convince the board to continue with Kewell as the former Celtic now finds himself out of work.
