Ernie Merrick

Ernie Merrick

Personal information
Full name	Ernest Merrick
Date of birth	3 January 1953 (1953-01-03)
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Playing position	Manager (former Defender)
Youth career
	Shettleston
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1975–1978	Frankston City
1979–1984	Doveton
Teams managed
1979–1984	Doveton (Asst.)
1986	Frankston Pines (Asst.)
1987–1988	Preston Makedonia
1989–1991	Sunshine George Cross
1992–2004	VIS
2005–2011	Melbourne Victory
2011–	Hong Kong
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Ernest 'Ernie' Merrick (born 3 January 1953 in Edinburgh) is the Scottish-Australian head coach of the Hong Kong national football team. He was the former coach for the Australian A-League football (soccer) club Melbourne Victory.

Managerial career

Melbourne Victory

In his first season at Melbourne Victory in 2005/06, the club failed to live up to its championship aspirations. With Socceroos Archie Thompson and Kevin Muscat in the squad, and the experience of 2 European internationals in Geoffrey Claeys and Richard Kitzbichler, expectations from the Melbourne fans were high. But they were left disappointed when the club finished the season 7th out of the 8 teams. After a promising start which saw them 1st after round 8, when they beat eventual champions Sydney FC 5-0, the team then won only 3 of the last 13 games.

During the second season, The Victory won the 2006-07 A-League Premiership, 12 points clear of second placed Adelaide United. Melbourne faced Adelaide in the A-League Grand Final at the Telstra Dome on 18 February, winning the match 6-0 with Archie Thompson scoring an incredible five goals.

The 2007-2008 season was a return to the disappointment of Merrick's first year in charge however, with the team finishing outside the Top 4 spots and thus failing to progress to the Finals Series.

Melbourne Victory finished second in the group phase of the 2008 Asian Champions League. Gamba Osaka won the group and went on to win the Asian Champion's league.

In the 2008-2009 season, Melbourne Victory won the treble; the Pre-Season Cup, the Premiership and the Grand Final. In the Grand Final, Victory defeated Adelaide United 1-0 to secure their second championship under Ernie Merrick's coaching.

During the 2009-2010 season, The Victory, despite severe season-ending knee injuries to key players, Billy Celeski, Matthew Kemp and star striker Archie Thompson once again reached the Grand Final. Sydney took out the title after extra time on penalties. Kevin Muscat and Marvin Angulo missed their penalty kicks, allowing Sydney to take out the championship.

On March 12th of 2011, Ernie Merrick was sacked from his post at Melbourne Victory. The board of Melbourne Victory stated that they were unhappy with Victory's season and the 5-1 defeat by Gamba Osaka in Japan in the opening match of the Asian Champions League. The Chairman of Melbourne Victory, Anthony Di Pietro, said "Our club sets extremely high standards and we are disappointed with the results of the recent A-League season and also our start to the Champions League campaign" and that "Our intent is to continue to be the benchmark club in the A-League. We wish to be successful in Asia and believe this decision will assist in taking us to that level.

Ernie Merrick was awarded coach of the year in 2007 and again in 2010.

Hong Kong national football team

The Hong Kong Football Association, on 16 December 2011, confirmed the appointment of Ernie Merrick as the new National Head Coach.

Honours

Manager

With Melbourne Victory:

• A-League Championship: 2006-2007, 2008-2009
• A-League Premiership: 2006-2007, 2008-2009

Personal Honours:

• A-League Coach of the Year: 2006-2007, 2009-10

External links

• Melbourne Victory profile
• Oz Football profile

Awards
Preceded by Lawrie McKinna	Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year 2006/07	Succeeded by Gary van Egmond
Preceded by Aurelio Vidmar	Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year 2009/10	Succeeded by Ange Postecoglou