Our Marquee Man...

[belaguttman]

joey FUCKING barton for the thousandth time... he can hack archie in the derby and be a national hero... 

Barton is staying at Marseilles, obviously needs more time to work on his accent.

[Red or Dead]

You know, there is so much untapped talent around the world that we can probably find an awesome player who will light up the A-League. I know Maycon was a failure, but Germano has been somewhat of a success. If you look in to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay in South America or Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Nigeria in Africa there would have to be many fantastic players looking for a contract outside their country and a 'better life'.

 

I know the big European teams have scouts all over the world finding talented players and signing them up, why can't we beat them to the punch?

[cadete]

joey FUCKING barton for the thousandth time... he can hack archie in the derby and be a national hero... 

We could sign some douche from the VPL to did this... it would hardly be hard to make Archie fall over and cry.

[Tommykins]

In addition to that Joey Barton doesn't take adversity particularly well.

[jw1739]

IMO the essential quality that we are looking for in a marquee player - that is a player paid at least in part outside the salary cap - is 'Excitement.' Someone who every time he gets even near the ball lifts the crowd in anticipation of what he might do.

 

There's no point in paying outside the salary cap if the player does not have this quality. Take Brett Emerton at Sydney, for example. Australian marquee player in terms of wages, but has an excitement factor of zero. Likewise Mile Sterjovski, who was a marquee for somebody or other and ended up being so exciting that he was relegated to the NYL team. I would put Heskey in the unexciting category myself.

 

Don't just chuck money at someone because they've played at a high level in Europe or wherever and have a number of internationals to their name etc.; it's essential that they have the right excitement factor. That's the way a marquee can lift attendances and memberships.

 

Doesn't take away from my view that we need a marquee desperately, because we have become a very bland and unexciting team as well as a losing one. But most of the names mentioned so far in this thread wouldn't raise my pulse at all.

[Roz]

Lampard, Forlan, Totti or ronaldinho according to an article from the herlad sun few weeks ago, unrealistic, but exciting none the less

[Libero]

Arshavin. <-- could happen

 

apparently he will retire...

[Joel21]

[belaguttman]

He's not a 'big name' but neither is he too expensive, however someone like van Bommel would add a lot of what has been missing to our team.

[hakz7]

Not sure if mentioned here; probably has. But Luca Toni?

[heart_fan10]

Lampard, Forlan, Totti or ronaldinho according to an article from the herlad sun few weeks ago, unrealistic, but exciting none the less

which article?

 

ronaldinho tops it for me. He would be insane

[belaguttman]

Totti would only even play for Heart of the franchise was bought out by Roma.

[Defibrillator]

IMO the essential quality that we are looking for in a marquee player - that is a player paid at least in part outside the salary cap - is 'Excitement.' Someone who every time he gets even near the ball lifts the crowd in anticipation of what he might do.

 

There's no point in paying outside the salary cap if the player does not have this quality. Take Brett Emerton at Sydney, for example. Australian marquee player in terms of wages, but has an excitement factor of zero. Likewise Mile Sterjovski, who was a marquee for somebody or other and ended up being so exciting that he was relegated to the NYL team. I would put Heskey in the unexciting category myself.

 

Don't just chuck money at someone because they've played at a high level in Europe or wherever and have a number of internationals to their name etc.; it's essential that they have the right excitement factor. That's the way a marquee can lift attendances and memberships.

 

Doesn't take away from my view that we need a marquee desperately, because we have become a very bland and unexciting team as well as a losing one. But most of the names mentioned so far in this thread wouldn't raise my pulse at all.

I agree jw - the marquee we want needs to be exciting. Banging in goals, threading the needle for the killer through ball, carrying the team. But as I said in the re-signing thread, if we re-sign Tadic, Garcia and Hoffman, we won't have space in the squad for a killer player - we'll be so short of defenders all of our efforts will go into filling the back half of the squad. And I'm sorry (and prepared to be criticized heavily), but defenders don't usually equate to excitement machines that will put bums on seats. They provide solidity, control and leadership, but not the magic and creativity that people long for. I will agree that someone like van Bommel is what we need for the team, but he hardly gets the Heart racing (pun intended!!). DMac and Hoffman simply have to go, otherwise we've no room for an excitement machine unless we leave our squad desperately thin of defenders.

[mattyh001]

like a couple of others on here i think we want to get someone who will provide performances a cut above.

for Heart to grow in Melbourne, it will come down to being successful on the field.

look at Sydney FC this season - for all the hype of ADP at the start of the season, Sydney played that bad no-one really wanted to watch.

and before anyone starts that we are in Melbourne and not Sydney, we need to remember that OTHER Melbourne team has the market position right now.

if want to be taken seriously, we want to look serious.

overall, i wouldn't mind Neville. yes we could probably find some one better but looking at his record at Everton, Neville did extremely well to get the captaincy within 18 months. says a lot about a guy who, when he joined Everton, had nothing left to prove. says a lot about his character.

and for a guy who has played along the backline and as the defensive midfielder for two very good teams in the EPL for the last 20 years he can't be that bad. afterall, Everton have been a top 8 team for the last 5 or 6 seasons and Neville won a bucket load of trophies at ManU. this whole "don't sign a player because he is English" is a load of rubbish. if the guy is capable of playing at the top of competition that is ranked top two in Europe, who cares what his nationality is?

Edited April 11, 2013 by mattyh001

[sam.mich]

GET STEFAN BARICEVIC HE IS QUALTY

[Heart of Melbourne]

Neville as a marque? You kidding me. We will be the laughing stock of the Aleague.

[dazman]

Neville is a good player, but he is not a marquee.  If Heskey can't pull in thousands more fans, Neville definitely won't.

 

And ffs can people stop talking about Totti and Ronaldinho!  Totti is under contract and will never leave Roma, not matter how hard you dream.  Ronaldinho a few years ago tried to charge Sydney FC $2mil for one single game so is out of the A-league's price range.  Stop saying Totti and Ronaldinho!!!!

[Damiano]

Ono just proved that a marquee doesn't need to be a household name! Nakamura should be our target!

[Luke]

A Chinese or Indian player, Gouramangi Singh 

[United]

You know, there is so much untapped talent around the world that we can probably find an awesome player who will light up the A-League. I know Maycon was a failure, but Germano has been somewhat of a success. If you look in to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay in South America or Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Nigeria in Africa there would have to be many fantastic players looking for a contract outside their country and a 'better life'.

 

I know the big European teams have scouts all over the world finding talented players and signing them up, why can't we beat them to the punch?

Because they maybe poor and dumb, but even they know who your European giants are, and we're certainley a no name to them. I see your point though, but its not that easy to get even a half decent south american player, because youd have just about every club around the world trying to find the next diamond in the rough. Best bet is to have primary focus on young Australian talent, secure key prospects and establish good scouting procedures locally, and then next bet is to buy smart, identify potential big names approaching retirement, try reinvigour some flops career or just improve your youth facilities and start developing them yourselves, its boring and long term, but really has the most benefit/reward if done properly.

[Tony999]

Get Totti or Ronaldinho

[perthheart]

Diego Tristan

(Only West ham fans will get this one)

Tristan shout!

[perthheart]

He's not a 'big name' but neither is he too expensive, however someone like van Bommel would add a lot of what has been missing to our team.

Currently watching Psv v Ajax and van bommel has been by far the worst player on the park.

[belaguttman]

He's not a 'big name' but neither is he too expensive, however someone like van Bommel would add a lot of what has been missing to our team.

Currently watching Psv v Ajax and van bommel has been by far the worst player on the park.

I've seen him have some great games for PSV this season, haven't seen that game.

[Red or Dead]

Didier Drogba!

[Bobbobbobmarley]

Ricardo Quaresma

[Luke]

Neil Kilkenny 

[marteaux]

Callum Davenport

[DutchPride]

Frank Nouble

[marn11]

Well this thread has turned to shit, fast.

 

I have another genius signing in mind, however not as a marquee. Bradley Wright-Phillips, currently on loan at Brentford in League 1. Out of favour at Charlton, and is coming out of contract at seasons end. Has pace to burn, and a fair bit of class to go with it. (Just do a classic Youtube goals scout for evidence).

 

Assuming we lose Tadic, he would complement Eli, the target man, beautifully. We haven't really had a striker with proven scoring ability and the willingness to beat the defensive line since our inception into the league, and I think BWP is our man.

[Ando]

I still think Enoch Showunmi is worth a visa spot.

[Damiano]

+1 Well this thread has turned to shit, fast. I have another genius signing in mind, however not as a marquee. Bradley Wright-Phillips, currently on loan at Brentford in League 1. Out of favour at Charlton, and is coming out of contract at seasons end. Has pace to burn, and a fair bit of class to go with it. (Just do a classic Youtube goals scout for evidence). Assuming we lose Tadic, he would complement Eli, the target man, beautifully. We haven't really had a striker with proven scoring ability and the willingness to beat the defensive line since our inception into the league, and I think BWP is our man.

[Melburnian]

Well this thread has turned to shit, fast.

I have another genius signing in mind, however not as a marquee. Bradley Wright-Phillips, currently on loan at Brentford in League 1. Out of favour at Charlton, and is coming out of contract at seasons end. Has pace to burn, and a fair bit of class to go with it. (Just do a classic Youtube goals scout for evidence).

Assuming we lose Tadic, he would complement Eli, the target man, beautifully. We haven't really had a striker with proven scoring ability and the willingness to beat the defensive line since our inception into the league, and I think BWP is our man.

You are a very smart man.

He would be an amazing signing. Watched a bit of this kid whilst living in England and remember thinking he could be anything.

Would definitely love him coming to us.

Also yes, another thread turned to shit.

[MrAiDaN66]

They turn to shit when nothing eventuates at all or for a while, as is the case here. The club came out a fair while ago now saying they were getting a marquee soon. Either the thread was created too soon or the club announce things to early

[Heart of Melbourne]

GEKAS.  SMASHING IT IN TURKEY. 10 GAMES 8 GOALS.

NOT AS A MARQUE. CURRENT GREEK INTERNATIONAL. COMING OUT OF CONTRACT.

[Tbitm]

Probably that the club announced it too early. We wont be able to sign a proper marquee until the other leagues around the world end so it'll probably be a few more months. Remember, Del Piero didn't sign until September so i expect it'll be around then when (if) we get ours.

[perthheart]

 

He's not a 'big name' but neither is he too expensive, however someone like van Bommel would add a lot of what has been missing to our team.

Currently watching Psv v Ajax and van bommel has been by far the worst player on the park.

I've seen him have some great games for PSV this season, haven't seen that game.

Passed the ball straight to Sigthorsson for our opener and continually was made to look silly by the ajax midfield and lucky not to concede a stone cold penalty against Fischer. Obviously Ajax is at a slightly higher level than a-league though.

[jw1739]

Probably that the club announced it too early. We wont be able to sign a proper marquee until the other leagues around the world end so it'll probably be a few more months. Remember, Del Piero didn't sign until September so i expect it'll be around then when (if) we get ours.

We're too busy re-signing players who didn't perform last season.

[Peter]

 

 

He's not a 'big name' but neither is he too expensive, however someone like van Bommel would add a lot of what has been missing to our team.

Currently watching Psv v Ajax and van bommel has been by far the worst player on the park.

I've seen him have some great games for PSV this season, haven't seen that game.

Passed the ball straight to Sigthorsson for our opener and continually was made to look silly by the ajax midfield and lucky not to concede a stone cold penalty against Fischer. Obviously Ajax is at a slightly higher level than a-league though.

Not for long. Our club model is based on Ajax, you know.

[Melburnian]

He's not a 'big name' but neither is he too expensive, however someone like van Bommel would add a lot of what has been missing to our team.

Currently watching Psv v Ajax and van bommel has been by far the worst player on the park. I've seen him have some great games for PSV this season, haven't seen that game. Passed the ball straight to Sigthorsson for our opener and continually was made to look silly by the ajax midfield and lucky not to concede a stone cold penalty against Fischer. Obviously Ajax is at a slightly higher level than a-league though. Not for long. Our club model is based on Ajax, you know.

Was.