Outspoken Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar has apologised for making an offensive comment about beheading his players for not performing this season.
Vidmar was asked by a journalist on Thursday whether he was too soft on his players and in turn he gave the following response: "What would you like me to do, chop their heads off?"
"I can do that, we'll go to Saudi Arabia and we can do that."
After reflecting on his comment, Vidmar made an apology on Thursday afternoon.
"This morning I was asked a question about my coaching style and I rather flippantly responded to the journalist," he said.
"My answer was meant to be irreverent but I realise now that those comments could be misconstrued to be a genuine view."
"I apologise, and regret my comments. I understand the impact my words might have, and I apologise to anyone who has been offended."
"I did mention something about Saudi Arabia, it was not meant to be offensive, it was just something I said off the cuff, which is no excuse."
"I have been to and played in Saudi Arabia, it is a great country and I enjoyed the time I was there, and I certainly was not trying to disrespect them in any shape or form."
Vidmar's comment was particularly inflammatory considering the Reds will take part in the upcoming Asian Champions League.
It's not the first time Vidmar has offended people with his responses at a media conference.
In February he described Adelaide as a 'pissant' town after his team lost to Melbourne Victory.
Vidmar will be hoping his team can help put the incident behind him with a win on Friday.
But he admitted Gold Coast wouldn't be doing them any favours when it confronts the Reds at Hindmarsh Stadium.
"(Against Sydney FC) you could see they were starting to get back into their groove. Certainly in the first few rounds of the season they were in awesome touch and they probably lost their way a little bit," he said.
"But I still think they've got a lot of quality and a lot of depth right across that team - are they unbeatable? Absolutely not."