Murfy1

Decent signing. Not great, not bad, but decent. Also what Aloisi said makes me judge Macallister to be a decent signing: Aloisi quote from: http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/melbourneheart/news-display/Heart-bolsters-attack-with-Macallister-signing/48222 The first line of Aloisi's says it all, Macallister is there to "add depth". If Tadic and maybe Williams couldn't play, then Macallister should be a serviceable striker for a couple of games. I don't expect the young Tadic to miss too many games either, so we shouldn't be too dependent on Macallister. It isn't that important whether a team has great depth or decent depth either. What's the point of having a great striker that's on the bench for nearly the whole season? Macallister is a decent enough striker. Also, frankly, he is an Australian who will play for minimum wage (or very little money), and we need a player or two to fill up the squad.

Solid signing. I'm hoping like Good last season he can step up and provide a number of useful appearances.

Some rather messy thoughts of mine: Average age On the pitch: = 28, left side of slash = 25.36 right side of slash Average age including the bench: = 26.73 ---------David Williams 24/Golgol Mebrahtu 22-----=-Josip Tadic 25---------Mate Dugandzic 22--------- -----------------------------Matt Thompson 30/Nick Kalmar 24----------Fred 33----------------------------------- ------------------------------------Patrick Gerhardt 27/Jonathan Germano 24---------------------------------- Aziz Behich 21------Steven Gray 31/Patrick Gerhardt 27------Simon Colosimo 33----Michael Marrone 25 ---------------------------------------------Clint Bolton 37/Andrew Redmayne 23----------------------------------- BENCH (assuming team left of the slash is fielded) Andrew Redmayne 23 Golgol Mebrahtu 22 Nick Kalmar 24 Jonathan Germano 24 RESERVES Dylan Macallister 30 Jason Hoffman 23 NOT INCLUDING David Vrankovic 18, who it appears we have signed and the possible signings of: Jacob Poscoliero 22 Vince Grella 33 I'm not worried about the age of the squad at all. The forwards are rather young, which is the most important thing IMO. The midfield is young enough, with Gerhardt, Kalmar and Germano balancing Thompson and Fred. The central defensive pairing is old, but I honestly don't see us playing Gray and Colosimo often. It appears we'll play Gerhardt and Colosimo more. Also, like Good from last season, I can easily imagine Vrankovic playing many games paired with Colosimo, Gray or Gerhardt. Bolton's age skewers the average age significantly. But a goalkeeper's age isn't important at all IMO. I also agree that we'll promote/sign young players after making all other signings. And the fact that we managed to sign Vrankovic, by all reports a real promising young player, gives me the belief that we'll sign or promote a few players aged 18 to 21 who can do a job. I am a believer in Heart's youth policy, and while we are currently lacking quality youth after selling Babalj, Good and Hamill I believe the club will rectify that very soon.

Most of the club football I've seen him play in youtube clips he was a DM. Heart signed him after stating a "midfield enforcer" was their number one priority (http://www.footballa...-Priority/47261). Also, upon signing him the article on Heart's website wrote: While primarily a defensive midfielder, Head Coach John Aloisi was impressed by Swiss-born Gerhardt’s versatility, with his ability to also play anywhere across the back four likely to make him a key asset for Heart during the upcoming season. “Patrick will bring a lot to the Club. Defensive midfield is the position we see him most suited to, but he’s versatile. He can win the ball, but he can also play the ball out of the back,” Aloisi said. http://www.footballa...ins-Heart/47881 Maybe I'm just a little bit weary after the mixed results Matt Thompson achieved at CB. Anyway, like I said, If we sign David Vrankovic there will be 4 CBs in Gerhardt, Colosimo, Gray and Vrankovic. I would prefer having those 4 (or another proper CB in place of Vrankovic). IMO that would make a very good squad into an excellent squad.

Gerhardt has played twice for Liberia. Also, I'm not sure you could say he has excelled as a CB for Liberia, with him committing a costly error in the qualifier against Senegal: (at 4:00 into the video). Maybe that error was an exception, I don't know. But he doesn't have a lot of experience as a CB.

If we sign David Vrankovic as well I'll fully be on board with signing Grella. I'll admit I haven't seen much of Grella at all. If he can provide some 'on-field coaching' in midfield and distribute the ball well, then he'll be a top signing.

Grella is like Jason Culina to me. A pretty good player if he's not injured.... The concern I have about signing Grella is that he'll miss more games than Fred did last season. The merit of signing Grella also depends upon how good a CB Gerhardt makes. He could be a really good CB for all I know, but the club definitely signed him as a midfielder, and it doesn't show impressive planning if Heart are converting a DM who has only been around for a few weeks into a CB. I'm weary as well that Aloisi is bringing in an old Socceroos buddy, rather than more objectively building a top squad. We already have impressive DMs in Gerhardt and Germano, so signing Grella over a CB seems questionable. Always good to have a seasoned Socceroo. If we sign him hopefully the price is reasonable (I recall Grella asking for a lot to play in the A-League) and he stays injury free.

Looks like Babalj will be able to play for Red Star soon enough. I can sort of understand why Heart have been slow to make all the signings for next season, with all these complications surrounding Babalj and seemingly Curtis Good too.

Update on Babalj from a Serbian article published a few hours ago today (the text has been translated by google): Translated: http://www.smedia.rs/sport/vest/64575/eli-babalj-fk-crvena-zvezda-Zvezda-resila-goruci-problem.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.smedia.rs/sport/vest/64575/eli-babalj-fk-crvena-zvezda-Zvezda-resila-goruci-problem.html%2523%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26tbo%3Dd&sa=X&ei=r8ULUKvCHo-uiQeolrS0DQ&ved=0CDsQ7gEwAA'>http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=sr&u=http://www.smedia.rs/sport/vest/64575/eli-babalj-fk-crvena-zvezda-Zvezda-resila-goruci-problem.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.smedia.rs/sport/vest/64575/eli-babalj-fk-crvena-zvezda-Zvezda-resila-goruci-problem.html%2523%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26tbo%3Dd&sa=X&ei=r8ULUKvCHo-uiQeolrS0DQ&ved=0CDsQ7gEwAA Original: http://www.smedia.rs/sport/vest/64575/eli-babalj-fk-crvena-zvezda-Zvezda-resila-goruci-problem.html

Some updates on Good: - On twitter NUFCfans.co.uk @nufcfans wrote "Move hit a snag - I'm chasing an update on it. Think talks are ongoing. Will get more" in response to "Have #nufc dwcudwd to sign young aussie defender curtis good,i haven' t seen anything about it lately" @luketansley52 Move hit a snag - I'm chasing an update on it. Think talks are ongoing. Will get more. @AussieMags — NUFCfans.co.uk (@nufcfans) July 20, 2012 Although two fan websites believe the transfer will eventuate: - "We also expect Newcastle to sign Melbourne Heart defender Curtis Good shortly, and the 19 year-old Australian will initially be part of the Development squad" Date : July 20th 2012 http://www.nufcblog....tional-striker/ - "Graham Carr has said to have been watching 19-year-old Koura for some time now, along with Australian Curtis Good who is expected to sign for the club in the near future. Both players would join Newcastle's ever improving Development squad." Date : July 20th 2012 http://nufcnewsnow.blogspot.com.au/

Probably nothing but seemed worth a mention. An hour ago there was this tweet from a "Serie A correspondent for Vavel.com" Patrick Gullaci @pg2216 : "Big news. Michael Owen has held talks with Melbourne Heart and says he's close to signing with a club. Could also remain in the EPL though." Big news. Michael Owen has held talks with Melbourne Heart and says he's close to signing with a club. Could also remain in the EPL though. — Patrick Gullaci (@pgullaci) July 21, 2012

Very good article. Also, Didulica makes some excellent points. Whether people like it or not football is a global game, and all the leagues are interconnected. Meaning the A-League and A-League clubs need to adapt to being lower in quality and wealth than other leagues and clubs. Selling players will inevitably happen (think not just Babalj and Hamill, but also Amini, Oar, Langerak, Leckie etc etc). Therefore, clubs need to make the most out of the situation. Importantly for Heart the article also reveals: The complete lack of faith in some people regarding Heart's recruiting I find ridiculous. It was Heart who in the first place scouted and signed the quality players that some people are so anxious about losing. There was always going to be a point in the offseason where we needed to sign some players and thats no reason to freak out. We're still going through that period now, but we'll commence the season with a full squad that once again should easily make the finals (even if all the players linked to moves leave we'll still have 7 of last season's starting XI by my count). I'm looking forward to discovering the signings we make, and not spending every second of each day lamenting the Heart players who are leaving to further their football careers.

http://www.smh.com.a...l#ixzz218qO67QJ

http://www.turkish-football.com/news_read.php?id=3221

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/soccer/player-losses-give-us-heart/story-fndcvh7n-1226430443791

I think it's just beginning to dawn on some people what it Actually means to sell players. You don't sell your Jason Hoffmans, you sell your Eli Babaljs. I can only think of Heart's approach as intelligent and positive. We have sold two players onto respectable clubs and we MIGHT sell two more (Good and Behich) onto big clubs. We haven't sold any players for peanuts, with other A-League clubs selling players for considerably less. So, we've made a good amount of money and might make even more money with a sale or two. After only two seasons of football Heart have shown to all talented and young footballers that if you want to attract interest and maybe get signed by a respectable Asian or European club you should play for Heart. That reputation is a dividend that will pay off very well into the long term. The only 'problem' now is that Heart have to replace Babalj and Hamill. Also, that Heart MIGHT have to replace Good and Behich. Including the youth team Heart have signed around 40 players over the past two seasons. The many quality signings our new club has made over its short history were not a fluke IMO, and quality replacements will be found for the 3 remaining spots. If we sell Good and Behich I'm sure the club would have had other players lined up before they let them go. This 'name X players' thing is a joke. No one has the knowledge of all the players Heart could sign. Even taking away Visa signings there are lots of Australians out there, and we are currently only 3 signings away from a full squad. We only have one pressing spot to fill, and thats one central defender. A backup striker for Tadic (besides Williams, and maybe Hoffman) would come in handy, but isn't urgent. Maybe a winger and/or an AM, but our midfield and our forward line are strong already. The fact is as things stand we just need one defender. That is NOT a crisis.That's a standard offseason situation, with all teams needing to sign at least one or two players who'll be regular starters. The situation now at Heart is they have some money and they now have to spend to get a full squad. That's not a dilemma or a bad situation at all. The alternative is Hamill, Good, Babalj and maybe some more all play another season and then most of them leave for nothing. We've already found a solid replacement for Babalj in Tadic, so we only need one central defender for Hamill. We'll sign someone soon enough. Some people need to realise things don't last forever, players come and go, and good players get sold.

It's remarkable that last offseason we couldn't even sell Marrone, now we've sold to big clubs in Serbia and Korea and have attracted interest from other big clubs in England and Turkey. If the club want to sell it'll become more important that Heart know how to scout and negotiate replacements. I think there is a little bit of transfer fatigue, but that is the price of developing footballers successfully. We haven't sold players before, as Heart had only cut loose players like Heffernan and Beauchamp. I don't think it was a fluke that Heart signed up so many good players like Behich, Babalj, Hamill, Zahra, Good, Kalmar, Dugandzic, Marrone etc etc etc. We also scouted and established a very good youth team last season from scratch. If they sell Behich, who I reckon would really want to play in Turkey for Besiktas, I have faith that the club know what they are doing. Heart still have 5-6 weeks to sign players to allow for the full squad to have 3-4 weeks of preseason. I think there is a fair chance he'll stay for next season, but we'll see what happens.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/behich-looks-overseas-20120718-22alh.html#ixzz20z3Fdb20

Guest players don't take up a Visa spot. Interesting that Lynchy is reporting this, and is reporting this now, after discussions seemed to fade away. He's a pretty savvy journalist, so there must be a little life left in discussions with Owen. Heart have appeared at times like a club distracted. They might well have been working hard unnoticed, and maybe their efforts will payoff... It looks like Heart will have interesting times for the remainder of the offseason.

The club finally gets us in the headlines with the signing of Tadic and it's not enough. I don't think Tadic is even in Australia yet, so they couldn't do a video or photoshoot. Heart don't control the media either. Look where the article in today's Age was regarding the signing of Tadic. Buried in the back, in small font and bunched together with other 'soccer' articles. Heart are not an AFL club so don't compare them. I'm sure more coverage of Tadic will trickle out over the next few days, keeping Heart in the media for more than a single day. Maybe they'll release contract details along with a photoshoot, to make sure most media outlets report it. Keep calm and carry on.

Pretty much agree with this. I think it's what JA will use, and it looks like a very impressive team to me. I'm tipping Hamill to go. I also think Williams will be useful this season. So my slightly differing XI would be: --------------------Bolton-------------- Marrone--Colosimo---Gray---Behich ----------------Gerhardt--------------- -----------Fred--------Thompson----- Dugandzic-----Tadic------Williams Bench: Redmayne, Germano, Mebrahtu, Kalmar Mebrahtu could be subbed on for Williams (I reckon Mebrahtu could be a really effective impact player), Kalmar could cover Fred/Williams and Germano could replace Gerhardt (Gerhardt could also cover Colosimo/Gray). We'd need 4 more players (assuming both Good and Hamill are sold) to reach the minimum amount of players that can form an A-League team. We'd also have no Visa spots left, so all 4 signings would have to be Aussies. IMO we should sign: - a striker (I think promoting Zac Walker could be a very good move. I reckon Walker and maybe Williams should provide enough cover for the the striker role) - an AM - a winger - a CB Assuming nearly all players are fit for most of the season, I think the squad is shaping up to have a very strong season.

Josip Tadic looks solid. Impressive first two seasons scoring goals at Dynamo Zagreb, then went off the boil in his third season, giving him a deceptive but decent goal tally of 20 goals over 62 appearances. Sounds very good technically, as many players are who play at top Balkans clubs. Plus, Tadic was sought after and signed by respectable clubs such as Grenoble in France and Arminia Bielefeld in Germany. I think he'll do the job. I reckon Didulica knows everything about Tadic as well, and believes he can prosper at Heart. Sign him up. P.S. on Owen, it is good for Heart just to have talks with Owen, which reportedly involved serious and drawn out discussions. Tadic and other European strikers would have thought more seriously about coming to Heart because we had talks with a high profile player like Owen.

Post put into Tadic thread.

People need to realise Heart is not strictly either a youth team or a 'big name'/veteran team. No team is strictly one or the other, because teams are inevitably a mix of both. In season 1 we had Sibon, Skoko, Aloisi AND youth like Hamill, Behich, Babalj, Kalmar, Zahra etc. Overall, Heart's team to my judgement mostly depends on our many top young players and a few veteran/'big name' players. So if we ended up signing Michael Owen our team would be the same it has always been (season 2 was more youth heavy, but we still importantly had Fred, Colosimo, Madaschi). I think Owen would help Heart with crowds, would help our young players develop and would help us on the pitch in general with his quality (and hopefully score a bag full of goals). I also think the off the pitch benefits of a marquee player are overrated, but I believe Owen would significantly help us on the pitch, and that on the pitch success would fuel membership/attendance growth a lot more than would result simply from Owen becoming a Heart player. It would be a coup signing, I think it could happen but it's probably unlikely, but IMO it would be a coup signing that we should all welcome.

Christian is just a guy who claims to know who Heart have thought about signing and who they are currently planning on signing. Lately he has predicted: Quote from the Transfers thread. He also said the CF/striker could possibly be "the best striker to ever grace this league". It's always good to get information about Heart's intentions, but Christian's previous claims didn't come to fruition. We'll have to wait and see what comes of these claims.