Melbourne Heart FC buy out - Man City, Melbourne City FC, etc.

[belaguttman]

Yeah, let's buy Zlatan from PSG. That's fill the stadium!

[jw1739]

I'm just wondering whether the perceived lack of communication originates at the Manchester end or locally? For weeks we have been relying on people such as Murf to scour the internet and other media outlets for any news whatsoever. We almost had to drag confirmation of the releases of Gerhardt, Vrankovic, Mitchinson and Walker out of the club - surely City don't have to give approval for that sort of information to be given to us? Now the club has resorted to giving us crappy recaps on last season. It's all very odd to me.

 

I was never impressed by the club's communication pre-City. Now it's even worse.

[MUTD/MLBHRT/ESSNDON]

Comn ppl they are about to win the EPL, just wait another couple of days FFS!

[M13]

With the league finishing tomorrow and the team just scheduled for an exhibition game a few days after and the constant negotiations with UEFA that involves four major auditors and surely some law firms as well in regards to FFPR that have taken place the last two weeks I expect things to calm down by the end of next week.

[Shahanga]

In regards to the re-branding it will be interesting to see how it goes and how it compares to "the beer wars" of the 1980s.

 

In the 1980s then seemingly bullet proof high flying businessman Alan Bond was on the corporate acquisition trail.  He decided beer was the go and started buying up the big brewers around Australia with a plan to take on Fosters/ Carlton & United.

 

Back then the beer market was quite different to today.  Everyone drank their state product and swore black and blue that it was the best.  It was quite simply a matter of state pride.  (In truth the beer was all mass produced swill of similar low quality, only drinkable just above the freezing point, but that was beside the point).

 

Bond bought the brewers but then couldn't resist putting his name all over the product.  So the brewer on the stubby became "Bond Brewing" and the address became their office in West Perth.  In Queensland, this meant that suddenly "our XXXX" wasn't ours anymore.  The quality and price of the product became a lot more important and thus sales of Fosters soared whilst Bond's tanked.

 

I do see some parallels with this and the A League.  The football standard is not that great, but we follow it because we have "our team".  You take the "our" away and suddenly people become more interested in the quality and pricing of the product.  It may not stack up that well.

 

Be interesting how Man City's marketing gamble works out.

Edited May 10, 2014 by Shahanga

[Alexxandro]

Luckily for them they have such a low base to start from... 

[Falastur]

I've got to go with M13 on this one. There might have been word on this by now if UEFA hadn't tried to derail our Premier League campaign by leaking their sanctions against us with a week to go. Consequently, I suspect that none of the senior management at City have had any time whatsoever in the last 7 days for anything but arguing the FFPR stuff. However, that stuff has to be wrapped up by the end of the weekend, which is conveniently also when the league ends.

 

After that, City are flying out to the UAE for a prestige friendly on Wednesday. It is...shall we say...convenient that the UAE is also the hub between which Etihad flights from Manchester to Melbourne would stopover. As the players then go off on their holidays or to the World Cup, I would imagine it's not a huge push to believe that the board members will instead head to Melbourne.

[Tbitm]

Luckily for them they have such a low base to start from...

I'm not too sure about that. Sure we have low attendances but out of our ~7500 members only 40% of them show up per game so about half of our crowds aren't members. And I believe there's a number floating around that we've had 13k different members in our existence.

Imo, these are gonna be the fans that man city will find are the easiest to convert to members than any non affiliated football fan in melbourne that wears a messi or ronaldo shirt.

Once the announcement comes out that we're changing to blue (I've accepted it) I don't think it will be hard to convince these fans over the offseason to wear the red and white to the games next season.

After that, I don't know how long city will try to impose sky blue on us, especially if they don't want to go down the cardiff city road.

[Alexxandro]

I meant low base in terms of on field success. 

[M13]

I agree on that it will be interesting to see how it pans out.. In NY for instance the target group have never really been fans of other local teams but rather people that tend to follow teams in Latin-America or Europe.

[BlueWolf]

I've got to go with M13 on this one. There might have been word on this by now if UEFA hadn't tried to derail our Premier League campaign by leaking their sanctions against us with a week to go. Consequently, I suspect that none of the senior management at City have had any time whatsoever in the last 7 days for anything but arguing the FFPR stuff. However, that stuff has to be wrapped up by the end of the weekend, which is conveniently also when the league ends.

 

After that, City are flying out to the UAE for a prestige friendly on Wednesday. It is...shall we say...convenient that the UAE is also the hub between which Etihad flights from Manchester to Melbourne would stopover. As the players then go off on their holidays or to the World Cup, I would imagine it's not a huge push to believe that the board members will instead head to Melbourne.

 

Almost spot on.

 

The FFP ruling was supposed to be on Friday, it is now on Monday, and the club, evidently, are fighting it very hard, leaving UEFA panicking. They do not want this to go to arbitration, because it could go on forever (the Bosman ruling still hurts them to this day).

 

Then we have the PL to finish, so that is up there at the top of the list if priorities, and of course, we know that many from Heart have been invited, alongside NYCFC.

 

The match in Abu Dhabi was supposed to have happened in February and it was for the opening of a new stadium, but due to replays in the Cup it had to be cancelled, and so is being played next week. That one match will earn City millions of US $s.

 

Then of course, yes, the World Cup, which starts in a little over a month, and many City players will be involved in it, so therefore so is the club to some degree.

 

Then we have the opening of the new Academy this summer, and everything that entails.

 

All of this (and more) is not good for Heart, as it is pushing things back further and further. City will need to hire more people to get things done, but also send someone (probably Marwood as many have suggested, but could be Soriano, or Begristain) of importance to Melbourne. The new season kicks off, fortunately, well after the PL does, but things do have to get moving very soon. Every day that goes by without a proper announcement is only going to compound fan's fears and hesitations. There is so much to be answered: players, marquee signing, staff, the Board, the ground, the name, the colours, ad finitum.

 

When City were taken over (on the final day of the transfer window), nobody had a clue what was going on; it came, excuse the pun, completely out of the blue. Everyone is following the final hours of the transfer window, and suddenly names are getting thrown up - City were after a big signing immediately. A statement of intent, if you will, irrespective of cost. After that, there was very little. All season in fact. They did refit Carrington (training ground) with all sorts of goodies, and pulled in a couple of new sponsors. But it's really only been since 2010 that things have really kicked off.

 

It'll happen, guys. But even I think something should have happened by now.

[xXJawsaXx]

Things will have to happen sooner this season because the FFA Cup starts around mid-August for A-League teams.

[Falastur]

The new season kicks off, fortunately, well after the PL does, but things do have to get moving very soon. Every day that goes by without a proper announcement is only going to compound fan's fears and hesitations. There is so much to be answered: players, marquee signing, staff, the Board, the ground, the name, the colours, ad finitum.

Actually, you're wrong on that one. The A-League season doesn't begin until 10 October, but the club will have an FFA Cup game to play somewhere between late July and mid-August, and then hopefully (although Heart's first opponent will be another A-League side, so who knows) a second one in mid-September. The season is going to begin really quite early.

[jw1739]

I see that Melbourne City Football Club are still referring to themselves by that name, so we don't seem to have made too much progress on that front...

 

https://es-es.facebook.com/pages/Melbourne-City-Football-club/355862536403

 

...and they have already competed in the 2014 FFA Cup under that name, although they were knocked out in the 3rd Round.

Edited May 10, 2014 by jw1739

[Peter]

I see that Melbourne City Football Club are still referring to themselves by that name, so we don't seem to have made too much progress on that front...

 

https://es-es.facebook.com/pages/Melbourne-City-Football-club/355862536403

 

...and they have already competed in the 2014 FFA Cup under that name, although they were knocked out in the 3rd Round.

That's because that's their name. We're Melbourne Heart.

 

[HEARTinator]

As a complete diversion and distraction from the inevitable outcome of becoming a pissy little outpost of MCFC, was wondering if the Sheikh would consider replacing out mascot Ticker with the Eurovision bearded drag queen from Austria? Would defn signal major change at the club and reach out to a hitherto neglected fan base.

[Pete Heartspur]

As a complete diversion and distraction from the inevitable outcome of becoming a pissy little outpost of MCFC, was wondering if the Sheikh would consider replacing out mascot Ticker with the Eurovision bearded drag queen from Austria? Would defn signal major change at the club and reach out to a hitherto neglected fan base.

Nope. Has to be the Polish maid!

[belaguttman]

 

As a complete diversion and distraction from the inevitable outcome of becoming a pissy little outpost of MCFC, was wondering if the Sheikh would consider replacing out mascot Ticker with the Eurovision bearded drag queen from Austria? Would defn signal major change at the club and reach out to a hitherto neglected fan base.

Nope. Has to be the Polish maid!

 

I'd go for the Polish maids unless we could get the lead singer from the Ukrainian group that won a few years ago.

[Alexxandro]

 

 

As a complete diversion and distraction from the inevitable outcome of becoming a pissy little outpost of MCFC, was wondering if the Sheikh would consider replacing out mascot Ticker with the Eurovision bearded drag queen from Austria? Would defn signal major change at the club and reach out to a hitherto neglected fan base.

Nope. Has to be the Polish maid!

 

I'd go for the Polish maids 

This led to a Google search for "polish maids eurovision". Was not disappointed. 

[Murfy1]

I'm just wondering whether the perceived lack of communication originates at the Manchester end or locally? For weeks we have been relying on people such as Murf to scour the internet and other media outlets for any news whatsoever. We almost had to drag confirmation of the releases of Gerhardt, Vrankovic, Mitchinson and Walker out of the club - surely City don't have to give approval for that sort of information to be given to us? Now the club has resorted to giving us crappy recaps on last season. It's all very odd to me.

 

I was never impressed by the club's communication pre-City. Now it's even worse.

 

 

I also find the big lack of information really surprising. They said a day after the takeover "I understand that many of you will have questions about the future of the Club. We are committed to sharing information with you as soon as we can" (and then said there'd be announcements post-season). Dare I say it , but the promise of prompt and timely communication is looking like a broken promise.

 

Not even telling us that players had left the club (and had even started playing for other clubs)? Seriously? Such a lack of information is not professional.

 

What's really surprised me as well is the difference between Jason Kreis' trip to Manchester and JVS' trip to Manchester. Kreis, the NYCFC coach, has had numerous newspaper and written features done about his trip to Manchester (e.g. here), and he had a lengthy interview posted on Man City's official Youtube account (here). Kreis has even had a mini documentary made of his trip to Manchester (here)!

Whereas what sort of media has been generated about JVS' trip to Manchester? Absolutely nothing.

 

That really puzzles me. I just can't figure out why JVS and our club is being treated in such a manner.

 

 

Our season finished nearly exactly a month ago (April 12), and the A-League fully finished a week ago now, and we don't even have a hazy timeline (that's reliable) of what will happen through till next season. The only thing we know for sure is that we'll play victory in the first round of next season...

 

One thought for why there's this deafening silence is that the club is being increasingly run from Manchester. Even though Heart is its own organisation, that was actually over the past 4 seasons pretty competent with communication (not great, as no A-League clubs are great with communication, but Heart was probably better than most), we're not hearing anything now. The club should have the staff, and the competency (ability, resources), to communicate a respectable amount. But instead communication has dropped off a cliff over the past few weeks, and I'd venture to guess that it's because a lot more decisions are being made about this club in Manchester, and a lot more things have to be "okay-ed" and written up in Manchester before they can be communicated here (which would explain why when things are busy in Manchester, like with the FFP and the final EPL round, things come to a standstill in Melbourne).

 

 

I just hope this isn't the status quo in the future. There's being low-key with communication, and then there's this (there's even been very little social media for long stretches. Such inactivity even lead to the club Twitter account being hacked some weeks ago...). I just hope this standard improves soon.

Edited May 10, 2014 by Murfy1

[belaguttman]

The way that it has been going I suppose that we'll just turn up to Etihad Stadium for the first derby and find out who is playing for whatever the visitor's opponents are called, and the team that isn't playing in dark blue with the white V must be the team we are supposed to support.

Edited May 10, 2014 by belaguttman

[Falastur]

I personally don't think this will be the case in future. I mean, I think the club will always continue to play its hands close to its chest, but I would guess that what is happening here is that the club are preparing for a series of announcements - whether they be club name, kit, website and social media, I don't know - and is playing quiet so that they can have a big glitzy PR campaign launch at some point in the future - or at least a "here we are, this is where we consider our time here to start". I don't even know about the consulting with fans any more, but we can hope. At any rate, I suspect you'll see a lot more in the way of interviews and videos and such once this has happened. I still think that they'll want to recreate City's YouTube content with both NYCFC and Heart.

[belaguttman]

I hope that you're right Falastur. You've been a source of optimism since the takeover, but the contrast between the open communication with the NYCFC fans and the lack of communication with the MHFC fans is concerning

[Falastur]

I will admit that as time has gone on I've become increasingly unsure. Of course, the simple fact is that I've never witnessed anything like this before. But everything I heard about Heart and NYCFC before the last couple of months made me think that City intended to hold themselves to the same standards - focusing on the fan engagement and so on - as they do in Manchester. It doesn't make sense to me that they buy a team like Heart and then try to keep it quiet. At the end of the day, though, I guess I can only wait and see.

[BlueWolf]

I personally don't think this will be the case in future. I mean, I think the club will always continue to play its hands close to its chest, but I would guess that what is happening here is that the club are preparing for a series of announcements - whether they be club name, kit, website and social media, I don't know - and is playing quiet so that they can have a big glitzy PR campaign launch at some point in the future - or at least a "here we are, this is where we consider our time here to start". I don't even know about the consulting with fans any more, but we can hope. At any rate, I suspect you'll see a lot more in the way of interviews and videos and such once this has happened. I still think that they'll want to recreate City's YouTube content with both NYCFC and Heart.

 

I also suspect that we will see a brand new website for Heart, which will look like City's and now NYCFCs. Falastur is correct in that there will be a hell of a lot more videos. At the beginning City were constantly pushing the NYCFC thing, and then they stepped back a bit, and let NYCFC take over socially. I believe we will see the same thing happen here.

 

Interestingly, should you go to melbournecity.com.au (and I imagine some here have) you'll stumble upon a quite awful website (they even have a tab that says "Melbuorne City Weather"), but there's a bar at the bottom, which reads "This domain name may be for sale". Clicking it asks you to enquire with a comment, presumable to suggest how much one would pay for it.

[xXJawsaXx]

The issue with a brand new website is that A-League clubs have to use the awful template website that the FFA provides. I am not sure if clubs are allowed to have two, one 'real' one and the FFA one, I am pretty sure someone said that clubs aren't allowed to do that anymore a few pages back.

[BlueWolf]

The issue with a brand new website is that A-League clubs have to use the awful template website that the FFA provides. I am not sure if clubs are allowed to have two, one 'real' one and the FFA one, I am pretty sure someone said that clubs aren't allowed to do that anymore a few pages back.

 

Curious but interesting. The FFA really have sort of power that they can dictate how a website should look? Staggering! Can't see ADUG liking that. At all.

[Dylan]

The issue with a brand new website is that A-League clubs have to use the awful template website that the FFA provides. I am not sure if clubs are allowed to have two, one 'real' one and the FFA one, I am pretty sure someone said that clubs aren't allowed to do that anymore a few pages back.

Curious but interesting. The FFA really have sort of power that they can dictate how a website should look? Staggering! Can't see ADUG liking that. At all. We suspected once we learnt of the take over that the cfg would force certain changes from the FFA since they seem to be smitten that the cfg would choose the a league. One change will probably be website autonomy. I see that Sage (Perth glory owner) blew up again the other day about the FFA control, so they might offer token concessions? Anyway I hope it changes soon as it's costing us ACL spots

Edited May 10, 2014 by Dylan

[HEARTinator]

The issue with a brand new website is that A-League clubs have to use the awful template website that the FFA provides. I am not sure if clubs are allowed to have two, one 'real' one and the FFA one, I am pretty sure someone said that clubs aren't allowed to do that anymore a few pages back.

 

Curious but interesting. The FFA really have sort of power that they can dictate how a website should look? Staggering! Can't see ADUG liking that. At all.

Simon Hill is a good local football commentator and writer and a ManCity fan to boot. Here he talks about the control that the FFA has over the A-league including websites, etc. The EPL was created when the clubs wanted to control their own destiny and revenue flows. Would recommend you search through other articles written by Simon.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/simon-says-despite-hugely-successful-grand-final-the-aleague-still-has-some-way-to-go/story-e6frf4gl-1226910859727

[Alexxandro]

I'm surprised at some of the impatience being shown. It's been said a dozen times but I'll say it again: the A-League finished a week ago and the EPL finishes this week. Announcements are likely to begin next week. For all anyone knows they are trying to work out who the marque is or when they can start using the Melbourne City FC name or whatever. 

 

The off season is literally a week old in Australia... 

[belaguttman]

 

The issue with a brand new website is that A-League clubs have to use the awful template website that the FFA provides. I am not sure if clubs are allowed to have two, one 'real' one and the FFA one, I am pretty sure someone said that clubs aren't allowed to do that anymore a few pages back.

 

Curious but interesting. The FFA really have sort of power that they can dictate how a website should look? Staggering! Can't see ADUG liking that. At all.

 

Don't forget that we don't have clubs here we have franchises. Our relationship is different too, we aren't club members, we are franchise customers. There's lip service to us being stakeholders, but its only when it suits FFA or the franchises. The tight control from FFA was deliberately chosen after years of instability in the old NSL - clubs going broke mid-season, ethnic tensions and fighting. The model is understandable, the skill will be in FFA recognising when its time for the model to change. It increasingly leads to a plastic competition

[jw1739]

 

I'm just wondering whether the perceived lack of communication originates at the Manchester end or locally? For weeks we have been relying on people such as Murf to scour the internet and other media outlets for any news whatsoever. We almost had to drag confirmation of the releases of Gerhardt, Vrankovic, Mitchinson and Walker out of the club - surely City don't have to give approval for that sort of information to be given to us? Now the club has resorted to giving us crappy recaps on last season. It's all very odd to me.

 

I was never impressed by the club's communication pre-City. Now it's even worse.

 

 

I also find the big lack of information really surprising. They said a day after the takeover "I understand that many of you will have questions about the future of the Club. We are committed to sharing information with you as soon as we can" (and then said there'd be announcements post-season). Dare I say it , but the promise of prompt and timely communication is looking like a broken promise.

 

Not even telling us that players had left the club (and had even started playing for other clubs)? Seriously? Such a lack of information is not professional.

 

What's really surprised me as well is the difference between Jason Kreis' trip to Manchester and JVS' trip to Manchester. Kreis, the NYCFC coach, has had numerous newspaper and written features done about his trip to Manchester (e.g. here), and he had a lengthy interview posted on Man City's official Youtube account (here). Kreis has even had a mini documentary made of his trip to Manchester (here)!

Whereas what sort of media has been generated about JVS' trip to Manchester? Absolutely nothing.

 

That really puzzles me. I just can't figure out why JVS and our club is being treated in such a manner.

 

 

Our season finished nearly exactly a month ago (April 12), and the A-League fully finished a week ago now, and we don't even have a hazy timeline (that's reliable) of what will happen through till next season. The only thing we know for sure is that we'll play victory in the first round of next season...

 

One thought for why there's this deafening silence is that the club is being increasingly run from Manchester. Even though Heart is its own organisation, that was actually over the past 4 seasons pretty competent with communication (not great, as no A-League clubs are great with communication, but Heart was probably better than most), we're not hearing anything now. The club should have the staff, and the competency (ability, resources), to communicate a respectable amount. But instead communication has dropped off a cliff over the past few weeks, and I'd venture to guess that it's because a lot more decisions are being made about this club in Manchester, and a lot more things have to be "okay-ed" and written up in Manchester before they can be communicated here (which would explain why when things are busy in Manchester, like with the FFP and the final EPL round, things come to a standstill in Melbourne).

 

 

I just hope this isn't the status quo in the future. There's being low-key with communication, and then there's this (there's even been very little social media for long stretches. Such inactivity even lead to the club Twitter account being hacked some weeks ago...). I just hope this standard improves soon.

 

Murf, I'm not sure about this either. I'm finding it hard to accept that the lack of communications from Heart HQ is an embargo/heavy hand in Manchester issue, because I cannot see how that helps anyone into the future - City or Heart. I am more inclined to think that the "problem" is a local one. Unlike you I have never been impressed with Heart's communication with its "members"; IMO most of it has been on a juvenile and banal level. I cannot see any point whatsoever in having to find out from Davutovic's Twitter that we have players and coaches in Manchester right now, that Heart HQ cannot announce the release of players, cannot announce the departure of Gerard Nus...all things we have to find out by ourselves...I just cannot see that anyone benefits from such lack of communication.

 

But if you look at what has happened in past off-seasons at Heart a similar thing has happened. Silence. I think we're more sensitive to it this time around because we are all expecting - and want - big things to happen. I think there's just a complete lack of planning at Heart HQ for any off-season and how to keep interest in the Heart alive.

 

Could it be that New York City get more coverage simply because New York is a lot closer to Manchester than Melbourne is and that US journalists are more prepared to cover NYC than our journos are to cover Heart? Maybe Kreis and Reyna & Co. are more media-savvy than JvS, JD and Munn - wouldn't be hard, would it? And I would say that the New York Yankees have a lot more sway than the Storm component of Heart.

 

Frustrating though it is IMO we must recognise that although Heart's season finished a month ago (arguably, it never even started), the A-League season did not finish until a week ago.

 

Nevertheless, it's all very disappointing.

[xXJawsaXx]

 

 

The issue with a brand new website is that A-League clubs have to use the awful template website that the FFA provides. I am not sure if clubs are allowed to have two, one 'real' one and the FFA one, I am pretty sure someone said that clubs aren't allowed to do that anymore a few pages back.

 

Curious but interesting. The FFA really have sort of power that they can dictate how a website should look? Staggering! Can't see ADUG liking that. At all.

 

Don't forget that we don't have clubs here we have franchises. Our relationship is different too, we aren't club members, we are franchise customers. There's lip service to us being stakeholders, but its only when it suits FFA or the franchises. The tight control from FFA was deliberately chosen after years of instability in the old NSL - clubs going broke mid-season, ethnic tensions and fighting. The model is understandable, the skill will be in FFA recognising when its time for the model to change. It increasingly leads to a plastic competition

 

Oh, don't get me wrong I understand why the FFA has control over the websites, it was necessary in the early days to guarantee a stable competition, however, I think that it is about time the FFA gives the 'franchises' some degree of autonomy. To be honest, I think the FFA would be willing to listen for the sole reason that they wouldn't want to annoy City who have taken an interest in the A League.

[mjake1234]

Yes Bela, people have short memories regarding the disaster that was the PSL. We have a lot to be grateful for with the FFA and how they have developed the game. Unfortunately, whilst it was needed, their tight control was the penalty we had to pay. However they must realise that this has eventually to change (like about now) and maybe the MCFC will be the catalyst for this. I also think JW is spot on when he calls the local Heart team juvenile in their communication skills (and maybe a few other things). They have never produced a good flow of information and have never generated excitement. What I don't understand is why MCFC is allowing the lack of dissemination of basic information to happen and not controlling it. Surely they have enough resources to devote a little to Heart despite their other commitments. This complete and utter silence is unsettling. We have got to start generating some hype soon for our next season.

[Jestr]

I disagree with your comments about lack of excitement.

That tool on the microphone at AAMI sounded like he had an erection every time he picked up his mike

[Dylan]

 

 

I'm just wondering whether the perceived lack of communication originates at the Manchester end or locally? For weeks we have been relying on people such as Murf to scour the internet and other media outlets for any news whatsoever. We almost had to drag confirmation of the releases of Gerhardt, Vrankovic, Mitchinson and Walker out of the club - surely City don't have to give approval for that sort of information to be given to us? Now the club has resorted to giving us crappy recaps on last season. It's all very odd to me.

 

I was never impressed by the club's communication pre-City. Now it's even worse.

 

 

I also find the big lack of information really surprising. They said a day after the takeover "I understand that many of you will have questions about the future of the Club. We are committed to sharing information with you as soon as we can" (and then said there'd be announcements post-season). Dare I say it , but the promise of prompt and timely communication is looking like a broken promise.

 

Not even telling us that players had left the club (and had even started playing for other clubs)? Seriously? Such a lack of information is not professional.

 

What's really surprised me as well is the difference between Jason Kreis' trip to Manchester and JVS' trip to Manchester. Kreis, the NYCFC coach, has had numerous newspaper and written features done about his trip to Manchester (e.g. here), and he had a lengthy interview posted on Man City's official Youtube account (here). Kreis has even had a mini documentary made of his trip to Manchester (here)!

Whereas what sort of media has been generated about JVS' trip to Manchester? Absolutely nothing.

 

That really puzzles me. I just can't figure out why JVS and our club is being treated in such a manner.

 

 

Our season finished nearly exactly a month ago (April 12), and the A-League fully finished a week ago now, and we don't even have a hazy timeline (that's reliable) of what will happen through till next season. The only thing we know for sure is that we'll play victory in the first round of next season...

 

One thought for why there's this deafening silence is that the club is being increasingly run from Manchester. Even though Heart is its own organisation, that was actually over the past 4 seasons pretty competent with communication (not great, as no A-League clubs are great with communication, but Heart was probably better than most), we're not hearing anything now. The club should have the staff, and the competency (ability, resources), to communicate a respectable amount. But instead communication has dropped off a cliff over the past few weeks, and I'd venture to guess that it's because a lot more decisions are being made about this club in Manchester, and a lot more things have to be "okay-ed" and written up in Manchester before they can be communicated here (which would explain why when things are busy in Manchester, like with the FFP and the final EPL round, things come to a standstill in Melbourne).

 

 

I just hope this isn't the status quo in the future. There's being low-key with communication, and then there's this (there's even been very little social media for long stretches. Such inactivity even lead to the club Twitter account being hacked some weeks ago...). I just hope this standard improves soon.

 

Murf, I'm not sure about this either. I'm finding it hard to accept that the lack of communications from Heart HQ is an embargo/heavy hand in Manchester issue, because I cannot see how that helps anyone into the future - City or Heart. I am more inclined to think that the "problem" is a local one. Unlike you I have never been impressed with Heart's communication with its "members"; IMO most of it has been on a juvenile and banal level. I cannot see any point whatsoever in having to find out from Davutovic's Twitter that we have players and coaches in Manchester right now, that Heart HQ cannot announce the release of players, cannot announce the departure of Gerard Nus...all things we have to find out by ourselves...I just cannot see that anyone benefits from such lack of communication.

 

But if you look at what has happened in past off-seasons at Heart a similar thing has happened. Silence. I think we're more sensitive to it this time around because we are all expecting - and want - big things to happen. I think there's just a complete lack of planning at Heart HQ for any off-season and how to keep interest in the Heart alive.

 

Could it be that New York City get more coverage simply because New York is a lot closer to Manchester than Melbourne is and that US journalists are more prepared to cover NYC than our journos are to cover Heart? Maybe Kreis and Reyna & Co. are more media-savvy than JvS, JD and Munn - wouldn't be hard, would it? And I would say that the New York Yankees have a lot more sway than the Storm component of Heart.

 

Frustrating though it is IMO we must recognise that although Heart's season finished a month ago (arguably, it never even started), the A-League season did not finish until a week ago.

 

Nevertheless, it's all very disappointing.

 

 

 

My guess would be is that New York is already New York City and we arnt 'Melbourne City' yet. 

 

Although, I also find the lack of news frustrating, but if that means its because they have been going through everything with a fine toothed comb and then working out new plans and staff, then I would argue thats no bad thing, no matter how frustrating.

 

The delay could be because of some small thing like the trademark of the name 'Melbourne City'? and they might be waiting until thats all settled and then announce things. Could you imagine the reaction from people who are critical of the clubs previous communication abilities if they announced something that issnt set in stone, like a trade mark, yet?  

Edited May 11, 2014 by Dylan

[belaguttman]

Dylan, I'd agree with that however even a brief comment acknowledging our frustrations but reassuring us that there are still issues being worked through would be helpful. At this stage we aren't even stakeholders.

[Dylan]

Dylan, I'd agree with that however even a brief comment acknowledging our frustrations but reassuring us that there are still issues being worked through would be helpful. At this stage we aren't even stakeholders.

Can't argue with that.

If I were going out on a limb I'd say late next week when everyone is back from Manchester. But that's probably more of a hope ahah

[belaguttman]

They can edit the website or even tweet from Manchester

[Tommykins]

I'm not hugely surprised by the lack of activity online as I imagine there hasn't been a decision made about who's keeping their current roles and who is being turfed in that aspect.