Alex McKenzie signs with Canberra United as Ivan Slavich's future set to be finalised

The board was scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss Slavich's threats to quit and public criticism in the wake of the move to disband the Canberra United Academy.

It's understood Slavich told staff last week he was leaving the organisation, but the process has been delayed until the board could meet to discuss his actions.

It's expected the end of Slavich's reign will be made official as early as Friday, leaving Capital Football to start the search for its fourth chief executive in less than two years.

Slavich and the board have refused to comment after Slavich used his speech at an annual awards night to call on directors to reverse their academy decision.

The looming Slavich news comes as Canberra United unveiled Alex McKenzie as the team's new recruit on Thursday. McKenzie, ironically, spent two years in the Canberra United Academy before deciding to test herself in the boys' competition and then moving to Wollongong to play in the Sydney NPL.

The 21-year-old was playing for the Illawarra Stingrays when Canberra United coach Njegosh Popovich turned up to watch another player in the same game.

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But it was McKenzie who caught his eye, and her performance set in motion a plan to lure her back to Canberra to prepare for her A-League Women's debut in the coming weeks.

"If it's the game I'm thinking of, I didn't know [Popovich] was there. I think that was probably a good thing I didn't know, I would have been nervous had I known," McKenzie said.

"I'm excited to be back in Canberra being in a professional environment and it's reassuring to be back home. I've got such vivid memories of growing up at McKellar Park watching Canberra United play, it's a little bit surreal to be standing here now."

Popovich added: "I went to watch another player and Alex caught my eye. She did extraordinarily well in that game the way she was marking an elite player. It was great to give her an opportunity to come back home."

The demise of the academy and Slavich's expected departure have overshadowed the build up to the start of the A-League Women's competition next week, with Canberra to play against Adelaide in round one.

Popovich has been forced to make some key changes to his roster for the pursuit of a return to the finals.

"It doesn't matter if you have an old group or a young group ... nothing's easy," Popovich said.

"Every single game you play this year will be difficult. For us, it's great we do have youth on our side, so we sprinkled in a little bit of experience and hopefully we'll be in a good space for the season."

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