Adelaide United midfielder Paul Reid has dramatically walked out on the club on the eve of the Reds' sudden-death elimination final against Wellington Phoenix on Friday night at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Reid, whose early goal set up Adelaide's 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory six days ago, requested a clearance to Sydney FC to participate in the reigning A-League premiers' AFC Champions League campaign which starts in March.
United coach Rini Coolen knocked back the request, describing it as 'unprofessional', which resulted in a disappointed Reid making himself unavailable for Friday's clash.
The 31-year-old, who had been in contract negotiations with Adelaide recently, has almost certainly played his last game for the Reds.
"Everybody saw that Paul Reid was not here (at training) today," Coolen said.
"The explanation for that is a couple of weeks ago and in the last (couple of) days, there has been a chance for him to move to Sydney and join their squad to qualify for the Champions League."
"We have to qualify ourselves for the (A-League) final, it (Friday) is a really important game, so we told him that we won't allow him to go."
"He was really disappointed about that. Yesterday he asked me not to pick him in the squad - he couldn't focus for the game."
"I think it's not professional, but at least (we) have to accept if you're not focused for a game like that (elimination final), you can't be in the team and that's what we explained this morning to the players."
Adelaide defender Cassio confirmed the playing group first heard of Reid's decision on Thursday morning when they were addressed by Coolen.
"To be honest I just knew this morning before training that Reidy wasn't here," said the Brazilian, who declared himself '100 percent' fit after being sidelined with a thigh strain since United's 1-0 loss to the Phoenix a fortnight ago.
"I don't know what's going on, I haven't spoken to Reidy or to the boys about what's going on."
"Everybody knows Reidy's a good player, but now we have to concentrate on the game … it's a final, an important game."
Coolen said the club intends to sit down and talk with Reid about the situation on Saturday, however a reconciliation for the rest of the finals appears highly unlikely should United prevail against Wellington.
Just how disruptive and distracting the untimely Reid issue proves remains to be seen, but the slick, cohesive way the Reds trained on Thursday augurs well, a fact noted by Coolen.
"We had to focus on the training and that's what they did really well today," said the first-year mentor.
"It does (make us gel) - it's always a disappointing moment when you lose a person, doesn't matter who it is."
"Anyway it's happened and as you saw today the team is focused. They trained well and they can handle it - they have to handle it."
"Of course, we are professionals and we have to be ready tomorrow. We don't want to use it as an excuse."