A-League 2013/14

[whythelongface]

Re: A-League 2013/14

I'm one of those - been to a couple of A-league matches through corporate sponsors but never gone as a paid-up member. And I am a massive fan of the world game, you only need to see my blood-shot eyes right now

Definitely considering taking out a membership for City next season - at the expense of my Bulldogs AFL membership, such is my indifference to the wider AFL product right now. Will probably revert to a Bulldogs only membership so the club doesn't suffer.

I'm with you Sedat. I am a Eurosnob as well. Have been to a couple of A-League games a few years ago but have not really warmed to it (to the point of going to more games). I don't mind watching some games on TV (mainly Brisbane, Adelaide) but as a Sydney local I haven't really been interested in going to games (was planning on heading along to see Del Piero at one stage, but never made it).

There is a definite potential to increase the attendance/ membership base for the A-League. This world cup is a start and having the likes of Lampard and Villa come on board is also a very positive move. I will definitely head out to see the game between City and Sydney (think it is the first round here in Sydney).

[soupman]

Re: A-League 2013/14

City have come on board at the right time too.

-The World Cup is as good as most of us have ever seen
-Australia has performed well, including some players that either currently play in the A-League, or recently did
-The Asian cup is on the horizon
-The AFL, certainly the biggest competition in Melbourne for the publics heart and minds, has had a horror year where between the drug scandals, the ticket price rise, the equalisation issues and the constant media focus on the umpiring and style of the game has spent a year antagonising its supporters.

Couple these factors with a large population base that fancies itself as a sporting city and already has an interest in the world game through the EPL, Bundesliga etc and this is the best opportunity City could be given to grab this surge in interest and hold onto it long term.

Heart did have sufficient interest to be a strong A-League club off field, but through some very uninspiring seasons and atrocious coaching choices fluffed its chance.

City have a huge opportunity here and look like giving anyone and everyone every reason they can to come along and try it properly.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: A-League 2013/14

Every year I tell myself to get involved with A-League, but alas, it hasn't happened.

Definitely more interested this upcoming season than any other though.

[Remi Moses]

Re: A-League 2013/14

The irony of a certain Red side of Manchester being derided for a few decades on being a "franchise"instead of a football club hasn't been lost on some of us .
They do say imitation is the greatest form of flattery

[chef]

Re: A-League 2013/14

Few rumours Lampard will be the marquee for the whole season and not just a loan/guest.

[whythelongface]

Re: A-League 2013/14

Interesting rumour about Lampard. would be great if true.

Some other foreign players to be gracing our shores this year are:

Matthieu Delpierre - former French u18-U21 International has been playing for FC Utrecht (and before that Stuttgart) but has previously attracted interested from Bayern Munich and Arsenal
Edson Montano - apparently has played for the Ecqaudoran national team
Vitor Saba - 35 appearances with Brescia (Serie B)

Never heard of these guys to be honest. Always interesting to see what foreign players are picked up by A-league clubs. There are always the marquees that attract interest but then there are lesser lights that sometimes peform beyong expectations - players like Berisha and Broich for example.

[soupman]

Re: A-League 2013/14

Strong rumours that Melbourne City/Heart have signed Robert Koren, the Slovenian and former Hull City and West Brom EPL player, as our marquee. I know he was spotted at our practice match against Bolton overnight.

[soupman]

Re: A-League 2013/14

This is getting a little beyond a joke - whichever way all these players are funded - it's against why the league was formed.

So they have Damien Duff, Frank Lampard, David Villa and potentially now Robert Koren.

How are they working this - i know some of those are the laughable 'guest stint' - but that can be half the bloody season!

On face value I agree but I actually think this will be good for the league and hopefully country*.

There is a salary cap, of which you are allowed multiple exemptions. You are allowed one Australian marquee who is exempt, one marquee of any nationality who is exempt, a youth marquee who must be an Aussie under 23 where they have $250k I think exempt, and guest players who are exempt from the VISA player limits (5 in the squad) and also exempt from the salary cap.

ATM at City Villa is a guest player, so is limited to just 10 games (there are 27 games so more like 35% of the season, and won't play finals).
Koren would be signed as our international marquee, and is therefore exempt from the cap, as Del Piero, Heskey, Contreras, Fowler, Broich, Berisha etc are/were.
The rest of our squad has been signed on as small wages as possible, with a lot of fringe players/young players being retained where otherwise they probably would have been cut to free up the space in the cap to sign someone like Duff.

The cap does keep the league sustainable, and the results have very rarely been reflective of how much financial backing clubs have. Central Coast have consistently been an awesome side, despite rarely being able to afford a marquee, while Sydney, for all the money they spend have been largely underwhelming.

Lampard was rumours, and I would imagine is less than likely to come. This is the only potentially dodgy thing I can see happening, where he would be loaned to us with his salary being paid by NYC instead of Melbourne City. That would be the part where the salary cap gets exploited and I would not be in favour of.

Melbourne City's biggest strength at the moment is that it can offer stuff outside the salary cap that other clubs cannot. The squad just spent 3 weeks training in England including training at Manchester City's facilities, meeting their players, and the club does share staff and expertise with its bigger sisters. Also I imagine there will be no expense spared for the periphial stuff, like flights, or facilities so that is where the club will gain its advantage.

I don't think this augurs well for the long term sustainability of the league, especially if there's fire sales of a club every other season to follow, to be taken over by financially well endowed businessman with an keen and particular interest in the world game and its growth in some of the less supported nations. Where will the young Australian talent showcase their skills if this becomes even more of a retirement boost league than it has before?

I would be surprised if there are continual sales of clubs to overseas, although if they are prepared to invest money in the league then it could have some benefits.

The dangers at first look would be that:
-the run costs at an unsustainable level and then withdraw their funding leaving the club in the lurch
-the league become a retirement village for ex international stars wanting to live in the sun
-they won't help develop the youth in the country

I think we are pretty safe with most of these though.

-The salary cap keeps club wage costs down, meaning no club can go too nuts. The marquee contracts are typically one year deals anyway so if the financial backer leaves then the new owners can scale the marquee back if needed sooner rathe than later.

-The retirement village is stopped by the salary cap and VISA limits. Each club is only allowed 5 non Aussies (or Kiwi's in Wellingtons case) in the squad (this reduces to 4 as of next season). Further to this only one of those can be exempt from the salary cap, and Damien Duff is the first and only former star of a top league to be happy to take a contract within the cap, indicating it isn't something that would be easy to do. The guest stint players are only 10 games contracts and while they do seem to be disjointed signings, the purpose of them is to generate interest and boost attendance figures for the league and when used properly ie. Villa, I think the benefits to the league outweigh the costs.

-With the foreign player limits it means that you will start every match with at least 6 Aussies (or Kiwis) on the pitch, and 11 in the matchday squad. This should give enough opportunity for young talent to get some experience, in fact many clubs have relied on getting good matches out of their young talent as this leads to transfer fees which helps keep the clubs sustainable, so it is in their interests to develop talent. See Kruse, Amini, Rojas, Rogic, Bozanic, Leckie and more recently Brillante and De Silva. The bigger backed clubs like Melbourne City on the surface seem to not require that money, but youth is cheap wage wise. Further to this Melbourne City's owners are big believers in investing money into youth development, they see it as a way to help make the club money and we are expecting an announcement in the next year of a youth academy with state of the art facilities to be made in Melbourne. This, coupled with the experience of training and learning off some of guys like Duff and Koren will hopefully help the country develop better talent.

*possible bias being a Melbourne City member and all

[Remi Moses]

Re: A-League 2013/14

A quick dalliance is great for the league, but is it great for their club ?

[soupman]

Re: A-League 2013/14

Melbourne City just signed Erik Paartalu. Big signing.

Midfield looks impressive, with Paartalu, Koren and Mooy the starting trio. Unfortunately our defence is pretty weak (including GK's) so hopefully more signings to come.