In what shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, the Western Sydney Wanderers have secured their first-ever wooden spoon following a disastrous 2025-26 A-League Men’s campaign.
Western Sydney’s wooden spoon fate was sealed last Saturday afternoon with a 2-1 loss to the Wellington Phoenix over in Christchurch.
It means for the first time since the club’s inception in 2012, the Red & Black will finish the season in last place, regardless of what happens when they take on Melbourne Victory this Saturday night at CommBank Stadium in their final match of the season.
Last weekend’s loss over in New Zealand was the Wanderers’ 14th defeat of the season – their most amount of losses since the 2018-19 season (15).
On top of their poor record this year, the Wanderers also parted ways with another coach in Alen Stajcic; dumped their captain in Lawrence Thomas last weekend, and – in the coming weeks – are expected to have a huge player cleanout.
To make matters worse, the Wanderers A-League Women’s team also finished with the dreaded wooden spoon earlier this month.
Speaking to Sky Sport NZ after the match, Western Sydney star Brandon Borrello – who captained the team last weekend and scored a goal – said every Wanderers player had to “hold the mirror up”.
“Everyone’s played a part in why we’re in this position,” he said.
“A bit of self-reflection is always good, whether it’s a hard chat with yourself or a bit of constructive criticism. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Wanderers coach Gary van Egmond, who will step aside at the end of the season to make way for former Sydney FC manager Ufuk Talay next year, said the club have some big decisions to make on the horizon.
“There’s a number of boys off contract and we’ve got some boys on contract, so the retention and recruitment will be paramount,” van Egmond said.
“For me, that’s your most important part of the season. If you don’t get that right in a salary cap competition, you can get yourself in trouble.
“You’ve got to have the balance of the squad from the perspective of positions, and I think that’s possibly an area which, if you look at this [current] squad, it’s not balanced.”
With just one game remaining before the A-League Finals begin, the Wanderers are slinging $5 tickets to this Saturday’s ANZAC Day clash with Melbourne Victory at CommBank Stadium, to encourage fans to get around their team one last time.
The $5 tickets – seated in the white and black and family zones – are available via Ticketmaster with no code required.
Nathan Taylor is Parra News' sports journalist. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked in western Sydney media for more than a decade.