Potential A-league signings

[Baresi]

Valeri would instantly be the best DM ever to play in the league. Would take A LOT to get him out here though considering he's still fairly young and Sussuolo just got promoted to the Serie A for the first time ever.

 

He's slowly been losing popularity over there.

Bad ratings from newspapers, lots of injuries, et al.

He hasn't had much game time recently.

 

However, from memory he was captain at one point or another... Not sure if he still is.

Also, yes, he is still young, and they are in Serie A now.

[Tbitm]

according to socstoppagetime we've got tando 

[mus-28]

[heart_fan10]

as a backup keeper, he's more than capable tbh

[Tbitm]

as a backup keeper, he's more than capable tbh

if we got him from any other club i'd be happy to have him as a backup. But with this signing we're just asking to be laughed at.

[Luke]

As a back up couldn't give two fucks although it's still embarrassing to be constantly signing victory rejects 

[jw1739]

I agree. Not the right image for the club and IMO shows a complete lack of initiative. TBH pretty pissed off with this if it's true.

[belaguttman]

Of more concern. he lost favour with Ange as he was very poor with his ball distribution. Given that playing out from the back is meant to be a cornerstone of our game why would we sign him over Bray?

[Murfy1]

I hope that's not true. The counterargument can be made that the backup GK position isn't important. But if the position isn't important, why bother to sign another ex-victory player when there are other options available (4 other options have been reported)?

 

If we do sign him, I think I'll be calling for John Didulica out, unless the remaining 4 signing include quality. I haven't called for a single administrator or coach to go, but if he can't rebuild a decent squad, especially with all the pledges of more money for the football department, then he should go.

 

We've signed: 

 

- Iain Ramsay. A solid wide midfielder/winger, but it's really uncertain how he'll go as a fullback

- Massimo Murdocca. A good player. Not bad or great, just a good solid player. Ideally, he'd be the average player in a respectable A-League team

- Harry Kewell. Hasn't played regularly for about a year and a half. I reckon he'll be real good, but he's a gamble, like Grella last year, and a team shouldn't rely on gambles as they don't always come off

- Rob Wielaert - a real good signing. He's the kind of player, like Gerhardt, who should be taking up VISA spots. However, he's in the final stage of his career, and we're unlikely to get a lot of seasons out of him

- Tando

 

2 former Victory players, a player that a club was happy to release (Murdocca), and a decent A-League player who we're going to play in a new position (Ramsay) and Wielaert, who's pretty much our only quality signing.

 

If things get much better, and this is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, then things are ok. However, if these signings include some of the best signings we'll make this off-season, and there's little more to come, then the person responsible for signing players isn't doing his job well enough. And that person is JD, who's meant to decide what kinds of players Heart should sign, and then he's meant to be the main individual who handles the signings and completes the deals. Aloisi provides a little input, but the football operations manager, JD, is responsible for our recruitment policy and signings overall. 

 

We've been good at signing young Australian players and selling them overseas, but so far we haven't done a good enough job of building a strong and balanced team. There's still time and opportunity, and I hope things change this off-season/pre-season, but as others have said there's no real signs so far that Heart have spent more money or improved the club's football department this off-season/pre-season. I hope things change, but I can't interpret the signing of Tando as a good omen.

 

A little bit of useful and accurate information wouldn't hurt either (e.g. "the club intends to fill all it's VISA spots before the season starts"), but instead we've heard inaccurate statements about lower priority signings, our backup GK and Garcia, that should have been sorted out by now. Maybe if I knew what Heart was trying to achieve with its signings I wouldn't be so annoyed. But with news that we might sign Tando, and no other real news, I am not pleased with what I'm hearing.

Edited July 22, 2013 by Murfy1

[belaguttman]

according to Twitter we've just signed this dude.

[Jimmy]

10/10 signing. Better than Holt in a lot of ways.

[kingofhearts]

according to Twitter we've just signed this dude.

Didn't he sign for a vpl club or something? I remember we had a thread on here about it. How reliable is this website?

[belaguttman]

He looks a pretty average player from his highlights video, there's more footage of him taking off his shirt and hugging his team mates. It's better to sign nobody than more Maycons 

[morphine]

Check out his YouTube highlights. He actually looks alright. Looks like the type of striker we need.

[morphine]

He looks a pretty average player from his highlights video, there's more footage of him taking off his shirt and hugging his team mates. It's better to sign nobody than more Maycons

Didn't see this before I posted. Really? Thought he looked alright.

[AntiScum]

1999–2001 Corvinul Hunedoara 27 (4)

2001–2004 Oţelul Galaţi 5 (0)

2004–2005 UTA Arad 24 (10)

2005–2006 Farul Constanţa 20 (3)

2006–2007 UTA Arad 28 (2)

2007 Nyíregyháza 2 (2)

2008 Bnei Sakhnin 6 (0)

2008–2009 Nyíregyháza 26 (11)

2009 Bnei Sakhnin 5 (4)

2009–2010 Diósgyőri 5 (0)

2010 Internaţional 15 (5)

2010–2011 Pandurii Târgu Jiu 20 (4)

2011 Petrolul Ploieşti 5 (0)

2012 FCM Târgu Mureș 13 (2)

2013 Universitatea Cluj 13 (3)

2013– Melbourne Heart 0 (0)

these are his stats I have no idea who saw the potential in this guy but if JD was behind it hope his first one out the door ......

As a striker to score 14 goals in a non league in the past 4 years (3.25 goals a year) I`m genuinely worried to what this season will have to offer in a make or break year ...... his also had more clubs then a ammatures golf bag

Edited July 22, 2013 by AntiScum

[hakz7]

Pretty sure JD has stated that he's had nothing to do with Apostu.

[Dylan]

yeah there seems to be confusion in the romanian press thinking MH is in the second division in australia and that he has signed with a second division side. He is 31 aswell,surely not someone that unknown at that age. 

Edited July 22, 2013 by Dylan

[LR9]

Woo, caint wait for more of this...

[Nate]

Woo, caint wait for more of this...

[kingofhearts]

Woo, caint wait for more of this...

Don't know why we're worrying, the guys going to be a reserve keeper, only if redders gets injured he'll come in,he has a good injury record from what i recall.

 

All we will be doing is paying this bloke minimum wage to sit on the bench.

[Dylan]

 

Woo, caint wait for more of this...

Don't know why we're worrying, the guys going to be a reserve keeper, only if redders gets injured he'll come in,he has a good injury record from what i recall.

 

All we will be doing is paying this bloke minimum wage to sit on the bench.

 

 and kicking a ball at redders for pre-match warm up

[yelawolf]

reserve keeper with a-league experience, yes pls

 

even if he is a bit of a retard im ok with this

[belaguttman]

 

Woo, caint wait for more of this...

Don't know why we're worrying, the guys going to be a reserve keeper, only if redders gets injured he'll come in,he has a good injury record from what i recall.

 

All we will be doing is paying this bloke minimum wage to sit on the bench.

 

we are better signing someone like Bray who has a history with the club and has potential to develop further into the sort of keeper that will be able to step up into s senior position as redmayne has done, I can't see that progression in Velaphi.

[Melburnian]

Farce.

[Ando]

To expand on Melburnian's eloquent statement, should these two chaps be signed by the club, then we should change out marketing strategy to:

Melbourne Heart - first as tradegy, then as farce.

[jw1739]

according to Twitter we've just signed this dude.

BG, see this thread http://mhfcsupporters.com/topic/1972-bogdan-apostu/

[Jimmy]

Would rather Tando play week in week out if required than Bray at this point in their careers. I rate him a lot more than most people on here. Just sucks he's a Victory reject.

Willing to give the club the benefit of the doubt with this Romanian bloke until I see him play.

Two potentially questionable signings but I wouldn't say it's a farce.

Also no guarantee we've signed them. All rumours.

Edited July 23, 2013 by Jimmy

[Braveheart]

Please tell me we didn't actually sign Chevapi?

[jw1739]

Would rather Tando play week in week out if required than Bray at this point in their careers. I rate him a lot more than most people on here. Just sucks he's a Victory reject.

Willing to give the club the benefit of the doubt with this Romanian bloke until I see him play.

Two potentially questionable signings but I wouldn't say it's a farce.

Also no guarantee we've signed them. All rumours.

IMO on the balance of the evidence there's nothing other than transfermarket.co.uk to substantiate that we have signed Apostu. The Romanian media articles were clearly confused between Southern Stars and MHFC, and Donald Sutherland on MFootball has stated that neither have signed the player - I assume that he would have contacted both clubs before making such a definitive statement. If it turns out that Apostu has joined MHFC then JD is guilty of a disingenuous tweet on the subject.

[mattyh001]

What I find rather concerning in all this is that people cast by the first or recent stone thrown.  It’s almost like people don’t judge on the football or what actually happens on the field, just what looks pretty.

 

Part 1:

Of the four former tards players Heart has signed AND who have taken the field, there has been some considerable success:

 

1) Aziz Behich.

Gone onto play for the Socceroos thanks to what Heart did for him, now plying his trade overseas.  Enough said.

 

2) Mate Dugandzic

Prior to his injury, showed that he was more than good enough to play in the A League.  Showed quality going forward and looked like progression well career wise.

 

3) Fred

Was a tale of two halfs.  Second season was shit, but his first was quite good.  The whole problem came from Fred being injury prone.  Certainly off his first season (something that was the direct point of signing him) Fred showed to be a good signing.  Just couldn’t make it last.

 

4) Kristian Sarkies

Was by far the worst signing and just didn’t live up to expectation.

 

Overall – for me this says we actually have a generally good record of getting good performance and high quality outta former tards.  What it also says to me is that people see this as a lose-lose; either

 

1) the player is shit or

 

2) that the player is alright and thus people “think” they have to then admit that the tards have shown good judgment in signing him before we did.

 

This is something I just don’t get; yes I understand that some players have played for the tards and that when we sign them we sign a player from a crosstown rival.  Yes I get that it doesn’t give a great impression when the team has a number of former tards in the line-up.

 

However, what gives the greater perspective; the way the team plays or the prior A League clubs of a particular player? 

 

If the player is good enough, I don’t care where he played in the past.  A winning and high quality / well playing Heart side is ALL I care about.  It is the biggest factor in growing the club.  Otherwise I don’t give two shits.

 

Given the general success Heart has shown with the players it has brought in from the “other” club, it seems quite foolish to cast out purely on being a former tard.  To be frank on it, I love that we have taken players like Behich and Dugandzic and turned them into better players.  It’s like a big fuck you to the tards.  We shouldn’t be casting by the first stone.

 

As a side comment on here, I don’t think we should be going for Velaphi.  Simply, I think there are better, younger options available.  Even with the memory of Velaphi’s quality debut where kept for Brisbane in a 2-1 win over the tards. 

 

Part 2:

If we are going to be critical of the tards and who we sign from them, then why don’t we do it with other A League clubs?  Over our first three seasons we have signed from Adelaide;

 

1) Michael Marrone

Was quite good, played for Socceroos.  Enough said.

 

2) Kristian Sarkies (yes he went there first from the tards).

Has the same review from above.

 

3) Paul Reid

Was shit, should never have been at the club.

 

Ultimately, we don’t see people being anywhere near as critical of Adelaide as the tards yet the players from Adelaide have been nowhere near as good.  And the basis of casting players aside from other clubs because they have tended to be shit once at Heart, then why aren’t people more critical of Ramsey?

 

Largely because he doesn’t come from the tards!!!! 

 

Would love to see some more consistency on these boards.

[theresonlyonebzamora]

tldr velaphi is shit sack the board etc etc

[HEARTinator]

What I find rather concerning in all this is that people cast by the first or recent stone thrown.  It’s almost like people don’t judge on the football or what actually happens on the field, just what looks pretty.

 

 

Part 2:

If we are going to be critical of the tards and who we sign from them, then why don’t we do it with other A League clubs? 

4) Eli Babalj --

Edited July 23, 2013 by HEARTinator

[belaguttman]

What I find rather concerning in all this is that people cast by the first or recent stone thrown.  It’s almost like people don’t judge on the football or what actually happens on the field, just what looks pretty.

 

Part 1:

Of the four former tards players Heart has signed AND who have taken the field, there has been some considerable success:

 

1) Aziz Behich.

Gone onto play for the Socceroos thanks to what Heart did for him, now plying his trade overseas.  Enough said.

 

2) Mate Dugandzic

Prior to his injury, showed that he was more than good enough to play in the A League.  Showed quality going forward and looked like progression well career wise.

 

3) Fred

Was a tale of two halfs.  Second season was shit, but his first was quite good.  The whole problem came from Fred being injury prone.  Certainly off his first season (something that was the direct point of signing him) Fred showed to be a good signing.  Just couldn’t make it last.

 

4) Kristian Sarkies

Was by far the worst signing and just didn’t live up to expectation.

 

Overall – for me this says we actually have a generally good record of getting good performance and high quality outta former tards.  What it also says to me is that people see this as a lose-lose; either

 

1) the player is shit or

 

2) that the player is alright and thus people “think” they have to then admit that the tards have shown good judgment in signing him before we did.

 

This is something I just don’t get; yes I understand that some players have played for the tards and that when we sign them we sign a player from a crosstown rival.  Yes I get that it doesn’t give a great impression when the team has a number of former tards in the line-up.

 

However, what gives the greater perspective; the way the team plays or the prior A League clubs of a particular player? 

 

If the player is good enough, I don’t care where he played in the past.  A winning and high quality / well playing Heart side is ALL I care about.  It is the biggest factor in growing the club.  Otherwise I don’t give two shits.

 

Given the general success Heart has shown with the players it has brought in from the “other” club, it seems quite foolish to cast out purely on being a former tard.  To be frank on it, I love that we have taken players like Behich and Dugandzic and turned them into better players.  It’s like a big fuck you to the tards.  We shouldn’t be casting by the first stone.

 

As a side comment on here, I don’t think we should be going for Velaphi.  Simply, I think there are better, younger options available.  Even with the memory of Velaphi’s quality debut where kept for Brisbane in a 2-1 win over the tards. 

 

Part 2:

If we are going to be critical of the tards and who we sign from them, then why don’t we do it with other A League clubs?  Over our first three seasons we have signed from Adelaide;

 

1) Michael Marrone

Was quite good, played for Socceroos.  Enough said.

 

2) Kristian Sarkies (yes he went there first from the tards).

Has the same review from above.

 

3) Paul Reid

Was shit, should never have been at the club.

 

Ultimately, we don’t see people being anywhere near as critical of Adelaide as the tards yet the players from Adelaide have been nowhere near as good.  And the basis of casting players aside from other clubs because they have tended to be shit once at Heart, then why aren’t people more critical of Ramsey?

 

Largely because he doesn’t come from the tards!!!! 

 

Would love to see some more consistency on these boards.

Whilst I agree with what you say I think that the difference is that we are a small club in a competitive market that includes a much larger rival with a history of success. The image of our club is an important contributor to our growth. I don't think that being seen as a 'second-best option for 'the fish that John West rejects' is a helpful image for us UNLESS it comes with major on-field success.

[jw1739]

 

This is something I just don’t get; yes I understand that some players have played for the tards and that when we sign them we sign a player from a crosstown rival.  Yes I get that it doesn’t give a great impression when the team has a number of former tards in the line-up.

 

However, what gives the greater perspective; the way the team plays or the prior A League clubs of a particular player? 

 

If the player is good enough, I don’t care where he played in the past.  A winning and high quality / well playing Heart side is ALL I care about.  It is the biggest factor in growing the club.  Otherwise I don’t give two shits.

 

You may have overlooked that we finished 8th, 6th and 9th in our three seasons so far.

[cadete]

A lot of posters on here dont have a proper grasp of the Australian Player Market within which Heart operate.

Many enter the debate with preconceived notions from the European Market or other sports.

This is reflected in same old themes  on how we sould be recruiting which are posted again and again on here.

 

Theme One: We should not sign MVFC Players:

Do people realise that if the club refused to sign Ex MVFC players then we would be drawing a line through 10% of the total pool of professional footballers in Australia?

And that this pool at its highest is only 230 players deep?

(It should be also noted that the league is financed by the FFA so that the bottom 50/60 of the players are professionals where as if it was normal Free Market league then guys like Hoff would never be professionals.)

 

Theme Two: We should play our NYL players (Instead of former MVFC Players or A League Rejects):

Another thing PPL need to realise is that NYL are NYL players for a reason, if a NYL player proves himself good enough for the seniors he will become a senior player at MH or another club will sign him if we dont. There is no more valuable commodity to a A League club like MHFC than a young player who could earn the club some transfer money.

No coach is going to ever play an ageing veteran if a young player can do the job.

 

Theme Three: We should sign VPL players (Instead of MVFC Players or A League Rejects):

It is clear most who say this on here dont actually watch the VPL as like the VFL it is a league full of A League rejects, in fact it is the A League rejects that are the highest paid and often the most dominate players in the league. This is the reason why the League’s Model is being overhauled as the FFA sees the VPL as a hindrance to Youth Development (A debate for another time). So therefore finding players up to A League standard that are not A League Rejects from the State Leagues is a very hard task.

 

Also has anyone thought about how hard it is to get some to relocate for their job?

All MVFC players have a least lived in Melbourne (Some even come from here) so obv its sometimes easier to convience a guy like Mate to cross town than a similar player from Perth to move across the nation.

Edited July 23, 2013 by cadete

[AlexDaGroza]

A lot of posters on here dont have a proper grasp of the Australian Player Market within which Heart operate.

Many enter the debate with preconceived notions from the European Market or other sports.

This is reflected in same old themes on how we sould be recruiting which are posted again and again on here.

Theme One: We should not sign MVFC Players:

Do people realise that if the club refused to sign Ex MVFC players then we would be drawing a line through 10% of the total pool of professional footballers in Australia?

And that this pool at its highest is only 230 players deep?

(It should be also noted that the league is financed by the FFA so that the bottom 50/60 of the players are professionals where as if it was normal Free Market league then guys like Hoff would never be professionals.)

Theme Two: We should play our NYL players (Instead of former MVFC Players or A League Rejects):

Another thing PPL need to realise is that NYL are NYL players for a reason, if a NYL player proves himself good enough for the seniors he will become a senior player at MH or another club will sign him if we dont. There is no more valuable commodity to a A League club like MHFC than a young player who could earn the club some transfer money.

No coach is going to ever play an ageing veteran if a young player can do the job.

Theme Three: We should sign VPL players (Instead of MVFC Players or A League Rejects):

It is clear most who say this on here dont actually watch the VPL as like the VFL it is a league full of A League rejects, in fact it is the A League rejects that are the highest paid and often the most dominate players in the league. This is the reason why the League’s Model is being overhauled as the FFA sees the VPL as a hindrance to Youth Development (A debate for another time). So therefore finding players up to A League standard that are not A League Rejects from the State Leagues is a very hard task.

Also has anyone thought about how hard it is to get some to relocate for their job?

All MVFC players have a least lived in Melbourne (Some even come from here) so obv its sometimes easier to convience a guy like Mate to cross town than a similar player from Perth to move across the nation.

Onemof the best things ive read on this forun for a long time.

[jw1739]

They're good points Cadete, but I suggest they are a little over-simplified. For starters, the market is not only confined to Australia. Even if we're talking about players of Australian nationality there is a pool of more than 230. Granted, some are beyond our reach, but when it comes down to specific players - and I think this issue of ex-MVFC players is raised again because of our need to sign a reserve goalkeeper and not for any other reason such as Dugandzic or Kewell - I for one would prefer not to sign an ex-MVFC player if there is a reasonable alternative. And I believe that there are several in the case of the reserve goalkeeper position.

 

I threw in my lot with Melbourne Heart. I want to see us have our own identity and not be seen as Melbourne Victory Seconds.

[cadete]

They're good points Cadete, but I suggest they are a little over-simplified. For starters, the market is not only confined to Australia. Even if we're talking about players of Australian nationality there is a pool of more than 230. Granted, some are beyond our reach, but when it comes down to specific players - and I think this issue of ex-MVFC players is raised again because of our need to sign a reserve goalkeeper and not for any other reason such as Dugandzic or Kewell - I for one would prefer not to sign an ex-MVFC player if there is a reasonable alternative. And I believe that there are several in the case of the reserve goalkeeper position.

 

I threw in my lot with Melbourne Heart. I want to see us have our own identity and not be seen as Melbourne Victory Seconds.

I agree there are Australian players applying their trade overseas we can target.

However the general experience over the past two years has been that such players is will prefer to place in even play in places like China, Korea  and the Middle East over coming home. You could probably label this the National Team Theory.

 

We only scored Garcia because of how injury ridden he was and he was wanting to be noticed so he could move on to Asia so he could be noticed for the NT. And whilst I am pretty optimistic about Kewell next season, we all know he had no options but to head home to play some kind of football to be looked at fot the NT.

Edited July 23, 2013 by cadete

[mattyh001]

 

What I find rather concerning in all this is that people cast by the first or recent stone thrown.  It’s almost like people don’t judge on the football or what actually happens on the field, just what looks pretty.

 

Part 1:

Of the four former tards players Heart has signed AND who have taken the field, there has been some considerable success:

 

1) Aziz Behich.

Gone onto play for the Socceroos thanks to what Heart did for him, now plying his trade overseas.  Enough said.

 

2) Mate Dugandzic

Prior to his injury, showed that he was more than good enough to play in the A League.  Showed quality going forward and looked like progression well career wise.

 

3) Fred

Was a tale of two halfs.  Second season was shit, but his first was quite good.  The whole problem came from Fred being injury prone.  Certainly off his first season (something that was the direct point of signing him) Fred showed to be a good signing.  Just couldn’t make it last.

 

4) Kristian Sarkies

Was by far the worst signing and just didn’t live up to expectation.

 

Overall – for me this says we actually have a generally good record of getting good performance and high quality outta former tards.  What it also says to me is that people see this as a lose-lose; either

 

1) the player is shit or

 

2) that the player is alright and thus people “think” they have to then admit that the tards have shown good judgment in signing him before we did.

 

This is something I just don’t get; yes I understand that some players have played for the tards and that when we sign them we sign a player from a crosstown rival.  Yes I get that it doesn’t give a great impression when the team has a number of former tards in the line-up.

 

However, what gives the greater perspective; the way the team plays or the prior A League clubs of a particular player? 

 

If the player is good enough, I don’t care where he played in the past.  A winning and high quality / well playing Heart side is ALL I care about.  It is the biggest factor in growing the club.  Otherwise I don’t give two shits.

 

Given the general success Heart has shown with the players it has brought in from the “other” club, it seems quite foolish to cast out purely on being a former tard.  To be frank on it, I love that we have taken players like Behich and Dugandzic and turned them into better players.  It’s like a big fuck you to the tards.  We shouldn’t be casting by the first stone.

 

As a side comment on here, I don’t think we should be going for Velaphi.  Simply, I think there are better, younger options available.  Even with the memory of Velaphi’s quality debut where kept for Brisbane in a 2-1 win over the tards. 

 

Part 2:

If we are going to be critical of the tards and who we sign from them, then why don’t we do it with other A League clubs?  Over our first three seasons we have signed from Adelaide;

 

1) Michael Marrone

Was quite good, played for Socceroos.  Enough said.

 

2) Kristian Sarkies (yes he went there first from the tards).

Has the same review from above.

 

3) Paul Reid

Was shit, should never have been at the club.

 

Ultimately, we don’t see people being anywhere near as critical of Adelaide as the tards yet the players from Adelaide have been nowhere near as good.  And the basis of casting players aside from other clubs because they have tended to be shit once at Heart, then why aren’t people more critical of Ramsey?

 

Largely because he doesn’t come from the tards!!!! 

 

Would love to see some more consistency on these boards.

Whilst I agree with what you say I think that the difference is that we are a small club in a competitive market that includes a much larger rival with a history of success. The image of our club is an important contributor to our growth. I don't think that being seen as a 'second-best option for 'the fish that John West rejects' is a helpful image for us UNLESS it comes with major on-field success.

 

 

For the most part, i think that we are actually reading from the same hymn sheet.

 

Ultimately, i see Heart's best way to make growth here in Victoria is to actually have success.  Until then (with former tards playing for us or not, regardless of how much we put in to trying to make ourselves distinguishable from the tards) people will only see us as also rans. 

Edited July 23, 2013 by mattyh001