Melbourne City head coach John van 't Schip has resigned to return to The Netherlands to be with his terminally ill father.
Van 't Schip was coming off contract at the end of this season and had been expected to return to Amsterdam in any case, but his father's serious illness has brought that decision forward.
![Melbourne City coach John van 't Schip speaks to the media after Saturday's game.](/web/20170104031433im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/t/9/o/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtl20e.png/1483409356819.jpg)
Van 't Schip took charge of the first team for the disappointing 2-2 draw with Central Coast Mariners on New Year's Eve and it is understood that he had news that his father's condition was deteriorating on New Year's Day.
Rather than try to juggle the situation he opted to quit straight away, making his family his priority.
It is not a choice anyone at City, nor in the football world, will have any qualms about.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, City said their former boss was leaving to contribute to the palliative care of his father.
In the statement van 't Schip explained the reasons for his decision.
"I have been faced with a choice between my family in Holland and my work here in Australia and there was only one right decision.
"I did not want my personal circumstances to impact the club in any way. I am part of a strong coaching team that has been carefully nurtured over the last three years and that gives me great confidence that this situation will not adversely affect the club's progress.
"I would like to thank everyone at Melbourne City and the City Football Group for their support. The club's development since its creation will always be a source of great personal pride to me."
One of the club's two assistant coaches – Michael Valkanis – will take charge as interim first team coach until a replacement is hired.
Valkanis, a former Socceroo centre back, spent several seasons in the coaching team at Adelaide United before moving to City this season.
He worked closely alongside Adelaide's former coach, Spaniard Josep Gombau, and the rumour mill is already beating loudly that the ex-Barcelona development coach Gombau could be lined up as van 't Schip's replacement. Michael Petrillo, now City's director of football, is also an Adelaide United old boy who worked alongside Gombau in the South Australian capital.
There has been plenty of speculation in the past 12 months that Gombau would be van 't Schip's successor, although a club with City's cash could opt instead to pluck another well-credentialled big name to fill the gap.
Socceroos star Tim Cahill has a three-year deal with City, the first two of which are as a player and the final one in a coaching role.
There will also be speculation as to whether his involvement in a managerial or player-coaching capacity could be fast tracked, but that has to be seen as unlikely given he has clearly stated he wants to carry on playing to try to be part of Ange Postecoglou's squad for the World Cup in Russia, should the Socceroos qualify.
Gombau is currently part of the national team set-up working alongside Postecoglou and Ante Milicic with the Socceroos, as well as taking responsibility for the Olyroos, where he replaced Aurelio Vidmar as head coach.
In his favour is that he knows the A-League well and he is also familiar with many of the Barcelona staffers who now run so much of the City Football Group's key on and off field operations.
Amor, Gombau's successor at Adelaide, is another who is close to the Catalan connection at CFG and some might regard him as a left field contender should he part company with the Reds, who are currently struggling in their title defence.
When he left Adelaide, Gombau went to New York to work on a youth academy project: he was reportedly in contact with the City Football Group's New York franchise at the time, although he had no formal job with them.
Gombau had also been linked a couple of years ago with a position at Yokohama Marinos, a Japanese club in which the CFG has a stake, although he opted to stay in Adelaide.
Should City move for him and if he wished to return to club management in the A-League, the FFA would have to agree to him leaving a position he took up only six months ago.
Van 't Schip leaves with the club in fourth place on the A-League ladder, 13 points adrift of runaway leaders Sydney and six behind crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory, who lie in second position at the halfway mark of the season.
He has been a crucial presence in most of the club's seven year history, having been hired as the initial coach of Melbourne Heart, the entity that first held the second A League license in Melbourne before it was bought up by the CFG group in a $12 million takeover in January 2014.
The chairman of the City Football Group, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, thanked van 't Schip for his contribution: "John's reaction to his personal circumstances is testament to the man he is and why he has been such an important contributor to the club's development both on and off the field - culminating in guiding our men's first team to its maiden trophy. He has our ongoing gratitude and support as his focus rightly turns to his family."
Van 't Schip was hired by Heart's owners to bring a touch of European flair and a sprinkle of sophistication and stardust for its first campaign in the 2010-11 season.
He wasn't able to harness much of that in his first spell with Heart, although he did lead them to the finals in 2011-12.
He departed for Guadualajara in Mexico for a short spell before returning first as technical director and then to succeed John Aloisi when the latter was sacked at the end of 2013.
With City's financial muscle behind him van 't Schip has laid the ground for a period of success even if he couldn't lead them to a league title.
He will forever be in the record books as the first coach to have brought City silverware in the A-League, having guided the side to an FFA Cup final victory this season.
Under van 't Schip, City have shown tactical flexibility and he has placed an emphasis on attacking play, relying heavily this season players like Bruno Fornaroli, Fernando Brandan, Bruce Kamau, Nicolas Colazo and, of course, Cahill, signed as a marquee man in the off season.
It has paid dividends up to a point, but such has been the rate of turnover and change at Bundoora that van 't Schip has struggled to field a settled defensive line-up, which often means City are vulnerable at the back.
Whoever does succeed him, whether it is Gombau or a big name from overseas, will have the best facilities and platform in the A-League from which to build.