ABU DHABI // Mile Jedinak sits in the plush lobby of the Yas Viceroy Hotel, within sight of the yachts bobbing in the nearby marina, a month out from the glamour of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix set to take place on the track below him.
He is captain of his country's national team, an honour bestowed upon him ahead of the 2014 World Cup, a tournament in which he helped an emergent Australia side exceed expectations. In Brazil, Jedinak underlined his status by scoring a penalty in a riveting 3-2 loss to the Netherlands.
He sits in Abu Dhabi as captain, too, of his club, Crystal Palace, a team playing a second successive season in the English Premier League for the first time. With Jedinak ever-present last season, Palace executed one of football’s greatest escapes, climbing from the basement of England’s top division to finish 11th. Mid-table mediocrity or not, it represents their highest finish in the Premier League era.
So as Jedinak sits in extravagant surrounds in the UAE capital, on international duty with Australia, the tongue-in-cheek question begs asking: where did it all go wrong?
“Yeah, it’s been a crazy 2014, that’s for sure,” he says, puffing out his cheeks.
Hasn’t it just? It began with a draw at home to Norwich City on New Year’s Day, a result that pulled Palace back into the relegation zone. They already had spent most of the season there, although performances had begun to turn under Tony Pulis, the former Stoke City manager appointed in late November as the replacement for Ian Holloway.
But the outlook remained bleak. When Pulis arrived, Palace were bottom, having accumulated four points from 11 matches. What came next was barely believable. Under the straight-talking Welshman, the London side embarked on a run that yielded 39 points from 24 fixtures, bettered by only six clubs.
By April 19, safety was secured. Victory at West Ham – Palace’s fifth in succession – sealed another season in the Premier League. Jedinak scored the game’s only goal from the penalty spot. Against all logic, Palace had done it.
“That was an incredible run towards the end of the season; defied all odds,” Jedinak says. “And we did it in a way where we were very comfortable at the end, where we really felt a place of belonging within the Premier League.
“Even before that, at the back end of 2013 when everyone was writing us off, we always had that quiet confidence that we’d be all right. Knowing what we had in the changing room, knowing the characters, how strong individuals they were.
“And I tell you what, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in any other team than my own. There was obviously some luck there – you need that – but it was mostly achieved through hard work and honesty, sticking together and pulling in the same direction. And a lot of that came from the manager.”
Pulis was pivotal. He would soon collect the league’s top-manager award and the plotting for another campaign began. But on August 14, less than 48 hours before the beginning of the 2014/15 season, he left the club.
Tensions between Pulis and club chairman Steve Parish, reportedly regarding a failure to land a number of summer transfer targets, had come to a head and the parties parted.
Reeling, Palace travelled to Arsenal, and much like they had done throughout the second half of the previous season, put in a performance of grit and determination. Only Aaron Ramsey’s injury-time winner prevented Palace from another surprise result.
Given the circumstances, Pulis's departure had been handled as well as it could.
”First and foremost, it was a massive shock, the timing of it more than anything,” Jedinak says. “Naturally, people are going to ask themselves questions. They want to know answers.
“But it was more about simply focusing on the task at hand. I know it sounds cliched, but everything we’d done last season put us in the right frame of mind. Maybe if we’d not achieved what we did, maybe we might have got tanked. But the performance and the response were tremendous considering the circumstances. I couldn’t ask for much more from my fellow teammates.”
Those colleagues have continued to excel. If the following match was an uncharacteristic surrender to West Ham, Palace have responded with performances of typical tenacity. Neil Warnock, the plain-spoken Yorkshireman, was installed as manager, when Malky MacKay, Glenn Hoddle and Tim Sherwood seemed more obvious options.
Warnock appears to have settled into his second stint with the club: Palace have lost one of five league matches, an unusually flat 2-0 defeat to Hull City last time out.
The secret to his relative success has, in fact, not been a secret at all. Warnock has taken the Pulis blueprint and simply added a few ingredients of his own.
“It’s obviously a different manager, different personality, different opinions on things, but it’s been a pretty smooth transition,” Jedinak says. “A lot of day-to-day things, particularly on the pitch, we’re doing as normal.
“On the technical side, the gaffer will put his own stamp on things where he thinks necessary. He’s come in, steadied the ship, and we’ve got a few results to put us in a healthy position going forward.”
As captain, Jedinak’s relationship with his manager is invariably more crucial. The dialogue has been constant, the exchange of opinions, including a desire to push Jedinak further forward, fluent.
“It’s been a good working relationship, good to have that trust,” he says. “It’s about having that faith in each other early on and you can see that. The boys see that. There hasn’t been cataclysmic change, he hasn’t swept the board. It’s been slow and steady and, by doing that, it’s made everyone feel at ease. We’ve all wanted just to get on with the job.”
The job becomes slightly more arduous on Saurday night. Palace resume their Premier League programme at home against Chelsea, a team perched at the division’s summit, five points clear of Manchester City in second.
Palace can draw heart, though, from having defeated Chelsea in March, a 1-0 victory the team website labelled their “performance of the season”. However, that was before the west London club’s typically lavish summer spend.
It included the signings of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas, arguably the two players of the season, thus far. Costa has nine goals in seven matches, thanks in large part to Fabregas’s ingenuity. The Spaniard has seven assists in as many games.
“The biggest test so far,” says Jedinak. “It’s a huge challenge, just massive, with where they’re sitting – top of the table – and for good reason.
“But it was the same last year. We took the game to them and made them do things they weren’t so comfortable with. It’ll be no different this time. You just look at how you can stand and do a job on your direct opponent and then hope everyone else follows suit.
“Do we take a backwards step? I don’t think so. These are the games everyone wants, that everyone fought so hard last season to keep being involved in. For us as a football club and myself, it’s up there with the greatest challenges. Everyone will be up for it.”
The rallying cry betrays why Jedinak wears the armband. He embodies his team’s greatest attributes: application, industry, a never-say-die attitude. The quotable Holloway once said of his captain: “If a bomb dropped right next to him he wouldn’t panic. He could see it was ticking, he’d make sure he got everyone else out. He would lead the situation and get it sorted. End of story.”
Pulis, meanwhile, refers to Jedinak as a “throwback, a real leader”. Warnock, in his blue-collar way, describes the Australian as a “bit of a bread-and-pudding player … the first name on the team sheet”.
Not surprisingly, the burden of responsibility sits comfortably.
“It’s about embracing it, not changing as a person, who you are in your make-up,” Jedinak says. “I haven’t done anything extraordinary, or gone out of my way to become that sort of figure people are talking about.
“I’ve found that at my football club, it’s worked with who I have around me. That’s not by coincidence. It’s been strategically done in the past with managers bringing in certain characters. And for some reason, I was at the forefront in terms of being the captain, the leader on the pitch.
“But it’s definitely a team effort. There’s a load of other guys in the changing room who are just as vocal as me, if not more, who can get a response when the chips are down. It’s a real collective thing. That’s full credit to everyone in there.”
Jedinak’s rise has been almost as striking as his club’s. Late to the professional game, he was plying his trade in his homeland with Central Coast Mariners as recently as 2009, then spent a couple of seasons in the Turkish Super Lig.
A transfer to Palace, competing at the time in the Championship, in July 2011 sparked the finest period of his career, wherein Jedinak scored a last-minute winner to secure a 2012/13 play-off place, eventually leading to promotion to the Premier League. He was voted the club’s best player. Last term, he played every minute but the final 30 of the closing match against Fulham.
Success and celebrity have therefore charted the same trajectory. As a consequence, the spotlight has intensified. Taking in the sights of London with wife Natalie and young son Andre, while still enjoyable, has required Jedinak to take a few preventive measures.
“The beard has come along,” he says. “You do get recognised, it’s just natural. When you make that jump from the Championship to the Premier League, it’s more in your face. There are more times you’re on TV and then might be seen out.
“Some like it, some shy away from it. I’m one to live in the moment, so I try to accept it. It comes with the territory – you’ve just got to enjoy it, understand it and embrace it, because it’s not going to last forever.”
Jedinak hopes to maintain Palace’s recent run, though. No question, 2014 has altered ambitions. Remember, it was only four years ago that Palace were close to financial extinction. So, consolidation this season is the priority, although Jedinak allows his mind to wander.
“We’d be sitting here all day if I listed off everything I wanted,” he says. “Obviously, it was not so long ago that we were in administration so, first and foremost, keeping Premier League status is the objective.
“What happens beyond that, it’s up to us. I’d like the club to do well in the cup competitions and push for the Europa League, absolutely. I’d be silly to say not. Whether that happens now or in a season or two, let’s see.
“You just want the club to become bigger, better, stronger all the time. It’s getting there gradually and, as long as we see that improvement, it’s a good thing. It keeps us motivated and focused. The club is steadily taking strides forward. We’re all committed to it.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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