jw1739

One issue to deal with is that some people are members of both clubs. Hence Victory supporters sitting in Heart members seats at our home derbies. I know because they sit in front of and behind me. Some come to Heart home games, but some appear to come only for our home derbies. And they wear Victory gear. What ever way it is done for Victory home derbies, the key thing is that as far as possible the Heart supporters should be together, the active ones down the front and the rest of us sitting in the bays above and behind them. As you say, it's not rocket science. A bit of banter is fine, but no-one should be subjected to abuse or pelted with missiles just because they are wearing a different set of colours. Does nothing for either club nor for the growth of the game.

No brainer.....someone needs to get their head kicked in for contemplating using such a spot on the roster for a player who was squatting flies in the VPL. He is a CB but only played one game after impressing during a two bit tournament in Hawaii last year. I thought I read that he had impressed JA during that tournament and that is why he got signed. But then didn't JA say during the fan forum that it was not his decision to sign him and that he is not A-League standard? Hmm. Not quite what was reported at the time. http://www.goal.com/...ol-mebrahtu-and "I watched Steven up and close in Hawaii, where he played with our youth team in a tournament against some excellent opposition, and he played really well. He's a leader by nature and likes to coach on the pitch, which is really important to the the development of our young players and will be valuable to our squad mix this season." http://www.theage.com.au/sport/a-league/from-green-to-gray-20120929-26slr.html ''I got a phone call last February from my agent, he said 'are you fit'. I said yeah, and he then said 'pack your bags, you are going to Hawaii for a week with Melbourne Heart'. I said 'are you winding me up', and he started laughing down the phone and said he was serious. I met up with the then youth team coach John Aloisi, and we played against two teams over there, Busan and Colorado Rapids. It was mostly Heart youth team players and a few other lads from the VPL like myself. ''At the end John said I had done well and said if he had his choice, he would bring me to the club. I liked him, his coaching and his honesty and manner, but when I went back I wasn't getting my hopes up. After all, he wasn't the first-team coach. ''Lo and behold, a few months later my agent rang and said 'have you seen the papers'. I said no, and then he tells me that John Aloisi is after getting the coaching job at Heart. My heart skipped a beat for a second and I thought there might be a hope here. In fairness to him, 72 hours later he got in contact with my agent, and said he wanted to get me down to train with the first team.''

Don't forget that as well as the minimum wage per player there's actually a minimum total wages that must be paid to the senior squad -I think it's 85% of the salary cap. So a club can't have everyone on the basic wage. Also Munn tweeted yesterday he hoped that we would sign a couple of players to help our run to the finals and that he thought we would sneak 5th or 6th position. I support Peter's view. With wages up to the salary cap taken care of by FFA, and eight months to go until next season, there are no excuses for Heart not to have the right squad in place for next season and indeed the next few seasons. I don't think it's so much a matter of what we can afford, rather that we cannot afford another season of mediocrity.

1000% agree. Don't know how it can be done, but ideally perhaps we could get our tickets for away derbies through MHFC. Having silly codewords on-line is not secure enough. Something for the next Fan Forum?

But surely you have to have a little more flexibility than that? If you have such a rigid playing formation then the other teams quickly work out what that is and how to counter it. Which, looking at our results, is possibly what has happened?

With Eli back, with Williams, Mate and GolGol, is Tadic really that good that we want to fill a visa place with him? I'd be inclined to be putting the effort into keeping Garcia.

We lost 5-2. Not a good second half of the season. We're sliding down the table now.

Given that we were playing the form team of the competition we were on a hiding to nothing. I'd have said that with a back line containing Walker (19) Vrankovic (19) and Mitchinson (20) we did pretty well. We can argue about the referee until the cows come home, but at best it was carelessness from Germano that gave away the second goal, not the back four. As pointed out before the game by someone it was a hell of a risk playing high-pressing wingbacks against MV in any case, even more so when they're two lads from the youth squad. This is the sort of thing people are talking about when they call for a 'Plan B.'

As of the third derby we have had 7 penalties scored against us this season (out of the 27 goals we have conceded). Seems quite a high number and percentage.

Yes, they can, it was specifically designed that way. But I read somewhere some time ago now that it costs $1m(?) to actually move the lower tiers. There's some discussion about it here: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/docklands-stadium-etihad-stadium-discussion.903477/

Yes. Agree 1000%. We want more members, we want bigger attendances. We want the club to be respected. These sorts of threads do absolutely nothing to enhance the reputations of the club or its supporters and do nothing to generate a positive image.

That is the most disturbing post I have read. So we waited for two-thirds of a season for our 'saviour' to come to lead us? If true, that is just bad management.

If he used performance as a criterion I could name players who've played repeatedly this season and played very poorly indeed. He's being inconsistent. I said a while ago that I didn't think Aloisi has the same commitment to youth as JvS did.

Perhaps he didn't sign anyone. Perhaps there wasn't any intent that he would. Perhaps we're all putting two and two together and getting five. Just think that the most important thing for us right now is to make sure we have a PLAN for our playing squad. No point in plugging gaps for the remaining few matches of this season and ending up with an unbalanced squad. The last thing we want is more Grays, Macallisters, Hoffmans etc. hanging around and taking up senior squad places. We need the right balance of ages and preferred playing positions and some idea of succession planning so that we get consistency in our playing style and build team understanding, so that we can have a tilt at the Premiership next season and into the future. Have we put the same starting XI on the park for two successive matches this season? I doubt it. No wonder we stumble around in the lower half of the table.

Retre's inclusion is on the Heart web-site. It's official. Sometimes I can't make Aloisi out. One minute he's complaining about not having a settled match squad, the next is bringing in youngsters for their first game.

Suspect that there was also a last-ditch effort to get Beckham's signature.

I'm no expert but I've heard that with these patterns you can barely see them when your actually on the grass as it is simply grass being pressed in different directions. You are correct. The heavier the mower the more obvious the pattern.

Talking to the mrs about munn this European signing and she casually said "coukd be kewell you know?" As soon as the words left her mouth a chill shot up my spine. I had totally forgotten about him too. Its realistic too. Please god no. Dont let it be kewell Not really a DM or LB.

Isn't he a bit injury-prone?

Not sure the right thread, but I notice from his Twitter that JD now styles himself as 'Junior Vice-President of Football at Melbourne Heart FC.'

One thing's for sure. You don't send your CEO and a Director on a mission unless you mean to conclude a business deal. They may not succeed of course, but IMO it's sufficent evidence that we are at least serious about a signing or two.

Good outcome for us. The important thing for us is to have a PLAN for our squad for the seasons ahead, both in terms of the players we sign, how old they are, their preferred positions, and how long we sign them for. No use whatsoever just plugging perceived holes and ending up with players we can't move on (for whatever reason) and an unbalanced squad. Doesn't mean we're not going to make mistakes from time to time, but basically seems to me with a senior squad of 23 and a youth squad of about 15 we should have three players for each position. I know it's never quite that simple, but you get the basic idea. Just as examples, we've been caught out recently because we had no real back-ups for Marrone and Behich. I like both J. Walker and Mitchinson, but really there should have been senior squad players ready to step up before were straight away down in the youth squad. Likewise in seasons 1 and 2 we had no real back-up for Bolton. IMO going forward we need to better in terms of squad balance.

Hasn't had much game time recently. Probably the sort of player we should be targeting. At 28 he's not likely to be snaffled by another club, but of an age that he could give stability and good service to us. And we do need to get a stable midfield if we're going to get anywhere at all. I'd think he would be a sound pick-up.

No. Do not want. According to the news on the HAL website he's taking time out from football to sort out what he wants to do.

Interesting article here about potential new investors for CCM. http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/mariners-eye-off-new-investment/59547 The Federal Government put in $10m towards the development of their 'Centre of Excellence.' http://www.ausleisure.com.au/default.asp?PageID=2&ReleaseID=2713&Display=True