Melbourne Heart fires Aloisi as head coach

By foxsports
Published

John Aloisi has been fired halfway through his three-year contract as Melbourne Heart coach after a winless start to the 2013-14 A-League season.

Aloisi, who scored 27 goals for Australia, including the decisive penalty in the playoff win over Uruguay to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, became a foundation player at Melbourne's second A-League club in 2010-11 after stints in Belgium, Italy, England and Spain.

Heart chairman Peter Sidwell on Sunday said Aloisi made a significant contribution to the club and ''we have the greatest respect for the commitment he made and the dignified manner in which he has carried himself through a difficult period.''

But, ''Ultimately, success on the park is the major measure of a club and its success and very clearly we're not having that at the moment.''

Heart, in last place with four points from 12 matches, appointed John van't Schip as interim manager ahead of next week's trip to Central Coast Mariners.

Van't Schip, who guided Heart to the A-League finals in 2011-12 when he was in charge, has been working as a part-time technical director and mentor for Aloisi.