Semper Cor

JA seems to be the coach of choice for clubs that want to cut costs and be media relevant, Bakrie’s priming for a sale of licence perhaps?

So three out of the four tenants at AAMI Park now have owners with City connections. Interesting

The salary cap is favourable for reasons previously mentioned (albeit an increased cap to allow those teams who can to attract and retain better quality players), but as long it is policed properly and enforced by the FFA with transparency and consistency. Integrity is a key part in running any organisation. If the FFA cannot guarantee that all clubs are salary cap equalled, and so far it hasn’t with the likes of Sydney, Perth, MV and the Jets (and these are the ones we know of), then at the very least a review of the cap and its’ auditing process is required (whistle blowers don’t count). If not, the integrity of the cap and the HAL can be called into question. FFP isn’t an equalising measure if anything it has ensured that the ‘big’ clubs stay top of the spending tree while putting up brick walls to other clubs who aspire to grow, therefore limiting the prospect of a breakaway super league which was touted by the now defunct G14 (something UEFA was vehemently against because of lost $). Yes it does force clubs to spend within their means, although a lot of clubs still operate in the red, but it does nothing to ensure competitiveness as the top clubs are still buying titles. At the end of the day, a good portion of success really comes down to good management, whether you’re in a salary capped league or not [insert QPR wage bill here].

Always thought the salary cap was a good thing, clubs don’t potentially put themselves in financial strife and for league competitive reasons. But what we’ve seen happen in Perth and now with MV and the FFA willing to overlook MV paying its’ players outside the cap, it is apparent that there is a strong case for removing the salary cap altogether. There is no point in having a cap if it’s not policed properly or if the organisation responsible for maintaining the cap and competition integrity, the FFA, is willing to cherry pick when and where to apply penalties to salary cap breaches and the type of penalties (Perth gets knocked out of the finals whereas Sydney retains its’ trophies). It makes the entire concept of having a cap meaningless.

Recall hearing an interview with Ange a few weeks ago. He said there were two things you really need in the HAL to give yourself the best opportunity for success: 1. Get yourself a good coaching staff 2. Make sure you get your foreign and marquee signings right How outrageous!

This scenario has probably existed for the last few months now. No excuses for on-field attitude, you would hope the players would be putting in, if for anything to further their careers at another club. Besides, JvS doesn't strike me as a good motivator at the best of times.

Hyperbole aside, he does make a point, a point that has been apparent on this forum for a while, but an important point nonetheless. The ability of a manager to have strong convictions in what they’re doing and to get the players to buy into their vision and bring out the best in them needs to be greater than the quality of players you have at your disposal. JvS doesn’t have this ability. As we are aware the A-League will not for a while at least, have the players, developed or recruited, to play the football we all want. Instead the ability for a manager to get his players to believe they’re world beaters can be an effective one, especially in the A-League. For example I don’t particularly rate Kosta Barbarouses as a good player, but in the last couple of games he’s been influencing the play significantly for MV. This is why I like Ange as coach. I don’t particularly rate him as a very good strategist or tactician, but what he can do is bring out the best in his players. As a result, his teams constantly look to take the game on instead of playing a risk-averse type of game City more often than not plays, hence the higher winning ratio. The next manager CFG will be looking at for Melbourne City will no doubt have to instil the CFG playing philosophy but will also need to understand the Australian sporting psyche and bring out the best in his players, combining the two to achieve the results everyone’s looking for. Is this maybe why Mulvey was over in Manchester?

Not sure what’s more potentially harmful to the kids, Archie’s anti-vaccination stance or JA’s coaching. And what is the “Victory Way” is that the football philosophy of pinching players and staff from Brisbane Roar?

From what I’ve read CFG preach an “effective” possession brand of football, that is you don’t always need to have the majority of possession, but rather make the most of it when you do have it. If you look at the stats throughout this season, more often than not City out-possess their opposition, not necessarily because they’re good at keeping the ball, but rather teams will allow them to have it as they are confident of keeping City out and attacking on the counter. City’s issue of being unable to break down well-structured defences and get behind the last line of defence while being vulnerable on the counter has been evident since the FFA Cup clash against Sydney and no more so again on Saturday night.

IMO, JvS has always lacked a degree of conviction and this is reflected in the team’s failure to consistently improve. As Tesla pointed out the ability to extract everything out of the playing group and instil a level of confidence, motivation and belief can be what separates the top teams from the rest in a salary capped player-restricted league, especially if you want to play in a particular style which is the CFG agenda. Don’t get me wrong I wanted JvS to succeed but he's taken this team as far as he can. Unlike Gombau at AU or Ange at BR and later at MV where you could see they were building something, there’s little evidence to suggest that the same thing is going to happen here. If CFG are worth their salt, they would be headhunting a new manager now. They would have acknowledged that the playing list is abominably bad and that any new players brought into the club would be best done by a new manager.

Not dismissing JvS’s derby record, as pointed out it’s quite good. Just highlighting the frustration that comes when the team can put in a shift that’s worthy of a football side in a derby, only to come out the following week(s) without the same level of intensity or will against another side. FWIW I’m not a JvS hater or fan, just pointing out that the teams City have beaten this season (aside from MV) have been below City on the table and all have been going through some degree of crises. Now the team is up against more stable sides playing good football. First is MV, then WP (away), PG (home), AU (home). Now doubt the derby will be intense as they usually are, but for me the next stage of this team’s development is carrying the same mentality from the derby into the following games against good opposition (or any opposition for that matter). In other words “lifting itself” for each and every match to the point where there will be no longer a need to lift itself as going into each match with the same mentality would become the norm. Interesting to note that after the home game against AU, City travel away to CCM, a side that may not be performing as well as other sides but will test complacency levels if City do not bring their killer instinct particularly when they’re creating so many chances, another test of mentality.

Results and good performances are a good way to increase attendances, but due to the change in ownership and the nature of it, this club will need to find other ways to engage current and potential fans on another level in order for fans to have an emotional attachment to the club. This will be key. FWIW, this doesn’t include wearing a 3rd away kit of another club.

Good result on the weekend but just thought it timely to mention that of the 14 matches played so far this season, only five games have been won: Two matches against Brisbane who have had internal issues and subsequently made a poor start to their season resulting in them sacking their coach One match against Newcastle where to say they are also having internal issues is a slight understatement One match against WSW who have had internal issues and looks like continuing to do so and is reflected in not having won a match all season One match against the evil empire where this club has a history of lifting itself and where it could be argued that City should have had one player sent off and a MV disallowed goal which should have been allowed As a few others have pointed out, the next couple of matches will be telling, against opposition who aren’t having internal issues and are sitting at the other end of the table. This will provide a much better test and indication of where JvS and this squad is at and how much they have progressed since the first half of the season.

Agree with the above, but JvS has never been one to handle pressure very well, you can tell this from his words and body language in the pressers. The reality is the only times JvS has achieved results was when there was no expectation or pressure to succeed for example when taking over an under-performing side last season. Then when there was some pressure to succeed, the brink of making an unlikely finals appearance, it reverts to normal programming. There was always going to be pressure with the new ownership and the manager in such a position needs to be of strong character. JvS hasn’t convinced me of this and you can see that his anxiety has rubbed off onto the players as they play with a lot of hesitation and fear.

Clive Palmer on the TV show 'Dating Naked'.

No, things weren't so good before, but in order to come to that conclusion you will be comparing it to a very low benchmark. The reality is that the CFG took over Melbourne's second licensed franchise in January earlier this year and it is now end of November, some 11 months later, and really we haven't seen any improvement in the team at all. If anything one can say we have gone backwards in some departments e.g. the team’s defence. This is particularly worrying as we all know the A-League is one where standing still is the same as going backwards as all other teams have shown improvement year upon year with this season being no exception. Taking into account issues over the club's identity, jersey, merchandising, the Villa debacle, and other issues, the team’s performance is an epitome of this club lacking any real leadership and direction. IMO I think the CFG have grossly underestimated football in Australia and the A-League in general and have relied far too heavily on their Man City reputation and the ability of star drawing power like Villa and Duff to do most of their heavy lifting. This isn’t the EPL you can’t buy trophies here you need attitude, culture, courage, footballing nous and other values that money typically cannot buy. The reality is that changes of substance need to be made and we have yet to witness any.

Yet another opportunity lost. After a good result last week, this match represented a chance to back it up in front of the home fans, but rather predictably failed to do so. This club has a fear of being successful.

What defines Williams is not the goals he scores, but rather the opportunities where he should be scoring (or at least get on target) he misses, sometimes quite dreadfully. The problem is he is not a reliable goal scorer. He can pop up with a goal every now and then, but when the pressure is on, when the game is there for the taking, when you need a goal to change the complexion of a game, he is not one to rely on. When he does score it’s more of an exception rather than an expectation. No team can afford to have a striker like this, particularly one that creates significantly more opportunities than their opposition like yesterday. The club knows this, hence the move for Kennedy.

Can’t disagree with anything that was said in the video, essentially questions the manager, the ability of the manager to get the best out of his players, the recruitment of the types of players and generally the overall culture of the club on and off the pitch since inception, which pretty much points the finger at those at senior level. Hopefully more journalists and media people begin to seriously question the club because lord knows these issues haven’t been addressed over the last few years, and hopefully CFG are paying attention to the massive scope of change required at this club.

Diabolical if true, then again, there is a "delay" in releasing the away kit for fan purchase. If this rumour turns out to be true, would Melbourne City be the first club ever in the history of football to have an away kit and not release it to the fans for purchase because the owners are worried that the colours may overwhelm those of another football club which few people really care about?

Correct decision by the FFA, even though it appears their decision was fuelled by Sydney's protests rather than Melbourne's or the interests of Australian football. TBH I never thought they would have the balls to do it. In situations like this however, you'd take the goal, even if it's an own goal. Interesting to see what the next steps are. If City decide to pursue this issue, it will just signal that their intentions are what they were from the start, to establish a mini-Man City. This no doubt will just add further angst to the situation and anger fans more-so. We should be focussing our energy on other club issues instead of this. Whatever good will Man City have had, they will definitely use more of it up if they decide to go down this path. IMO, the way City have handled not just this situation, but the club as a whole, has been pretty poor. This colour issue just seems to be another indication that they have grossly underestimated and misinterpreted the sporting and football landscape in Oz, in addition to their lack of communication and engaging fans. One way to reach a quick and effective conclusion of course is to simply ask the fans what colours we want, after all "We Power the Game". However, this would be too simple and effective a solution. We have “brand alignment” and “global synergies” to think about.

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/gallop--%E2%80%9Cthese-are-our-breakthrough-years%E2%80%9D/90063 IIRC, didn't the FFA come out and state that one of the conditions of the Wanderers' sale is that there will be no change to their colours, logo or name? If so, and I believe it's the case, could this be the reason why any discussions about Man. City taking them over never progressed as they couldn't impose their branding over them. Instead the FFA informed them of another club down south who may be more "open" to the idea. Sounds a bit like Animal Farm to me where some clubs are more equal than others. Nice to see where Melbourne Heart stands in the pecking order FFA

True, many teams around the world wear Red & White and have been doing so for a lot longer than us. However, the reasons why the Red & White colours are important to Melbourne are indeed unique to us, just like the reasons Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao or Sunderland wear Red & White are unique for them. We haven’t taken the Red & White colours from any other club, nor have we claimed them to be unique for us. The colours are not meant to distinguish us from other clubs around the globe, but rather to differentiate us from clubs within our league whilst establishing a relationship and identity with the place this club is supposed to represent – Melbourne, something that will not happen if we go sky blue as there is another team in this league that already wears this colour. The potential colour change is contentious as it represents a larger issue at play which is rooted in respect and autonomy that not only affects Heart but also the A-League in general. It provides initial commentary that decisions will be made in the interests of Manchester City (a foreign club), not Melbourne (an Australian A-League club). In this light, it can be argued that Melbourne City will not be a Melbourne club, but rather a Manchester club based in Melbourne servicing their needs, whether it be to attract new fans across Asia or to combat FFP. This narrative can be played out in the changing of the colours and can potentially set a precedent for other foreign clubs to follow suit to do the same in Australia (something the A-League will no doubt be across). Teams like Sunderland have not had their colours imposed onto them by a parent club in the interest of commercialism at the expense of their local relationship and identity. Here lies the difference between their Red & White and our Red & White.

Some very good points. Personally I like the Red & White Heart colours not only from an aesthetic appeal, but also because of the very strong tangible connection of these colours to the City of Melbourne flag. It won’t be news to people here, but historically and traditionally the term ‘City’ in a football club’s name refers to the actual city where the football club is located, Manchester City, Birmingham City etc. For a club that increasingly looks likely in acquiring the term ‘City’ within its’ name, what more appropriate way to marry and strengthen the ties of the club with Melbourne by adopting its’ flags’ colours like we already have. To do otherwise not only goes against the definition of the term ‘City’ from a footballing traditional sense, but also fails to build a relationship with the people of Melbourne. This failure is only enhanced if you wish to replace the colours with sky blue, a colour that already has a long history with another Australian city that is Melbourne’s number one competitor in almost every facet of life from sport to culture to business and everything in between. You not only need a valid reason to remove the Red & White, you need an even more valid reason to replace it with sky blue and as yet I see no valid reason.

If the colours do change, for who’s benefit do they change, Melbourne or Manchester? IMO this is the reason why the issue of potential colour change so contentious, because the motivation for doing so is very questionable. In my mind the benefit will be for Manchester. Meaning this decision will signify to the rest of the world that Melbourne Heart or City (should the name change go ahead) will only serve as a Manchester City outpost, a proxy if you will, existing only to further their brand awareness and market penetrability through sky blue at the expense of Melbourne football and its’ independence. A clear representation of everything that is wrong with modern football. We should be known in Australia, Asia and beyond as THE club from Melbourne, not that club Man. City own in Melbourne which we are in danger of becoming if we go sky blue. Any decisions regarding Melbourne Heart (City) needs to be done in the best interests of Melbourne Heart (City) not Manchester City, if not Melbourne will truly have a hollow identity. For me it comes down to what Manchester City value and respect. If they value and respect football for what it means and stands, like Heart fans and most football fans globally, then there will be NO change in colours. It will be through value and respect that will bind the clubs of Manchester, New York and Melbourne, not the colour of sky blue. However if they do change, it will purely be in the interests of Manchester City business at the expense of one of the few escapisms in life that has any real passion and substance. And football without passion is like a broken pencil – pointless. The truth is with the backing of Manchester City, I believe Melbourne Heart (City) does have the potential to become one of the more successful sporting organisations not only in the A-League but in Australian sport and also the wider Asia-Pacific region. But its’ roots need to be planted in Melbourne, not Manchester, and they need to be Red & White.