Melbourne Victory's 2011/12 A-League campaign was the worst since the club formed according to captain Adrian Leijer.
Season 7 of Australia's domestic competition saw two-time champions the Victory plummet to third bottom on the table with a meager six wins from 27 matches prompting plenty of criticism from all around.
Leijer admits the arrival of Socceroos star Harry Kewell had plenty of people believing the campaign would be a success but on the contrary, it was a disaster, with coach Mehmet Durakovic getting the axe and then caretaker Jim Magilton heading home at season's end.
Former Fulham and Norwich City defender Leijer is well aware it was a poor performance by the foundation club and is hoping to put that right by getting stuck into pre-season training as soon as a new coach is appointed.
"Harry coming on board, I suppose increased the expectations. Probably too much. The spotlight's always been big in Melbourne for Victory - but when Harry arrived that spotlight got even bigger.
"There is an expectation. The public in Victoria, they all know who Melbourne Victory is ..."
He added: "In May I think we'll have a fair indication of what's happening and the club's direction which will enable the boys to go away for three weeks knowing who the coach is, this is my position at the club and what we need to do for next season.
"Hopefully
but in football nothing's certain.""Now that I'm looking back, it's been a very difficult year for everyone. It's been the worst year in the club's history," he told au.fourfourtwo.com.