Serbian football star Milos Ninkovic was guest of Indirekt podcast by MeridianSportBH.
For the first time after he left Sydney FC he explained in front of cameras what actually happened behind curtains.
“This is the first time I’m talking about it. I’ve been receiving many invitations from the Australian media lately to discuss the whole situation. My personal and professional principle is to always be honest and speak truthfully. However, to be honest, when I posted my statement on Instagram, which somehow reflected my emotional reaction and resulted with some unexpected and unwonted reactions from supporters, so it was not really good for the Club. That is the only reason why I decided to delete the post. We didn’t reach the agreement on continuation of our cooperation. Simply said, I was not able to accept what was offered.
The Club came out few days ago with the story that I was offered with the new Contract, which included me staying in the Club after the expiration of the Contract. This is partially correct. The Contract in question that I would have signed for the next season as a player was conditioned with me getting the passport (Australian citizenship). I am permanent resident of Australia, therefore still have no Australian passport (citizenship), meaning I am formally a foreigner in the League. The Club virtually set this prerequisite that if I get the passport before the season commencement, I will get the Contract, and if not, I will get some position in the Club.
I do respect their decision, but I also couldn’t sign up for something that I cannot influence. The citizenship is not something that depends on my will, so I thought that such approach to the whole situation was not appropriate. Accepting their conditions might have resulted in me going through the whole process of preparations and training for the season, which take approximately about three months, and if I don’t get the passport, I have to finish my career” – Ninkovic said.
“The Club would have helped me to get the citizenship as soon as possible. However, it was somehow strange to me, or better to say flippant, because, if someone wants you to play, as in previous years, no one ever raised the question of whether you were a foreigner or not. We were always able to discuss the conditions of the Contract. I simple couldn’t accept this condition related to the citizenship. On the other hand, the Agent that was engaged in the process of collecting necessary documentation and me granting the permanent residence told me that practically it is not possible to get the passport in three months’ time. He also explained that it can take up to six-seven months. In this story of mine, getting the passport is irrelevant to me, since the possibility to get it within three months is not likely to happen. What I’m trying to say here is that my emotional reaction was influenced by my opinion, if someone wants you – they simply want you. Regardless of whether you are foreigner or not. Especially because I have been in the Club for seven years not and I do think that I was pretty good playing for that Club. I never caused any problems. There you go, this is the whole and only truth.
I’ll tell you how things stand as far as I’m concerned. I will never say one bad word about the Club in which I spent seven incredible years. I do respect their offer, but I simple couldn’t accept it. I could never accept something that doesn’t depend on me, and to come and practice for three months and to pray to God to get the passport (citizenship). This is something that has direct impact on whether I will finish my career or not, while I imagined the last game of mine and farewell totally differently” – he said.
Day after agreement wasn’t reached Ninkovic posted a video on his Instagram profile, but he deleted it soon after that.
“This is exactly the reason why I’m sorry. If I only knew that this might have happened, I would have never posted it. It was an emotional reaction and I could have never anticipated such reactions. I had no intentions to do anything against the Club nor to cause any bad image of the Club in the eyes of supporters. I am aware of the fact that there will always be those ones that are on your side, and those ones that are against you. My obligation is to tell the truth only. They would be the ones that will judge if I acted appropriately or not. I do think that my act/decision was appropriate. I could have not imagined ever that my career because of not getting the passport. I also think that I’ve deserved a bit better farewell. I’ve played for seven years, we won all those trophies, so I envisioned all totally differently. Maybe my reaction at that moment was emotional, and I posted it on my Instagram profile, which resulted with having those unwanted reactions, but I also think that all will calm down as the days pass by”.
After that information that WSW is interested in Ninkovic showed up in Australian media.
There is some truth there. I did receive an offer and since my family is in Sydney and my kids go to school, and Sydney is very close to my heart, yes, we would love to stay there. I have never considered leaving Sydney. I do have the offer from WSW and also from another club from NSW. The offer from WSW is a very good offer and I’ll see. I’ll be considering it for the next couple of days and the final decision will have to be made, I’ll have to decide what to do next, and how. I’m conscious of how this might impact the supporters of Sydney FC, but I also have to think about my family and my children. Unfortunately, the love coming from supporters cannot provide for living. Some will understand what I’m trying to say here, and others will not. Whatever decision I make, whichever club I choose, it might not be the WSW, or it might be some other club, there will always be those ones that are in favour and those ones that are against the decision”.
Ninkovic said that A-League is offensive and dynamic competition.
“Yes, that is exactly like that. Since I did play for the Red Star one year, and I was in Dinamo from Kiew, and yes, I do know that the teams from the bottom of the Table are truly in defence for 90 minutes, which is not easy to play nor to watch. Here we have a different system in place where there is no dropping out and everybody if trying to reach the play off. So, everybody plays open and wants to win. Such system has it’s pros and cons. We also have the NPL1. When clubs win this league, they cannot go into the higher level of competition. They don’t get such an award. It depends on where you play, in the NPL1 or A-League. I think that this is something that will develop. I also heard that there has been some considering to have an unique second league. I’ve been talking for years that they need to give more chance to young players, and at the end of the day, the consequences will be suffered by the Australian National team. Remember the national team from 2006 and 2010, when we (Serbia) played against them. I don’t want to denigrate the quality of the current generation, but I think highly of previous generations when it comes to quality of play. We can feel that there are not enough good players that are playing the A-League. They are somehow forced to go to play in Europe at the very young age, yet it is very hard to play in Europe as a young player without a sound player’s name and surname. And then you have to make a turning point by playing in countries such as Holland or Portugal”.
About potential of A-League he said:
“I came after Del Piera who is a big name, and since there is a lot of Italians and/or of Italian decent that live in Australia, at the time stadiums were full for every game. It depends very much on how many games one plays. Sturridge came and played only three or four games, while he was announced by everyone as a big reinforcement and expectations from him were very high. Anyhow, he got injured. I think that foreigners often have misleading feelings when coming to Australia, just like I had. Everybody were saying that I can easily play in Australia, that the League is light to play. I was playing in France, and of course, the tactic and technical aspect of the game in Australia is not at the same level, but physically, the Australian league is not behind the League in France. I remember when I first came to Australia how surprised I was with how dynamic the game was. You have to be physically prepared to play that league. Many foreigners that come make a wrong assumption about that”.
