Start planning for 2016-17 now

[Tesla]

Like good coaches, good football operations managers are very rare in Australia IMO. Didulica is actually one of the better Australian football operations managers around, at least on paper he's one of the best (it shouldn't be forgotten that he lured the likes of Gerhardt, Tadic and Garcia to Heart with effectively no money, and he helped Heart first sign Germano for around 45,000 dollars). I'd really like to know who had most influence with regards to this season's signings, Didulica or Aloisi. Either way they are both culpable and deserve some blame.

It should also be remembered by all that it's pretty much taken every A-League club 8 seasons to stop signing dud foreigners (and even now, a lot of clubs waste a lot of money on VISA players).

Maybe someone with experience as a football operations manager (or 'director of football') at a European club could come to Heart and oversee our recruitment, I don't know.

Whoever runs Heart for next season needs to give a lot of thought to who should scout and sign our players. One way to improve things is for Heart to stop paying it's staff some of the lowest wages in the A-League, so we can lure more skilled and capable staff. And if Heart spent more on players, that would probably help as well. There's no easy answers to bettering our player recruitment, though.

IIRC Aloisi and Foxe spent about 3 weeks in the UK/Europe during the off-season and spoke to seven players about coming to play for Heart.

I think it's been said before that it's the coach(es) who do the scouting and JD who deals with the contractual stuff of signings and transfers. He's credited with the transfer contract of our boomerang boy Eli Babalj.

IIRC he said at some stage that the club receives as many as 40 contacts a month from agents peddling players to the A-League.

I suppose my overwhelming feeling at this point is "how did we get it all so wrong?" We did make genuine offers to both Beckham and Grant Holt - albeit those offers were not good enough but they were made. It would seem that someone in the club, or perhaps outside it, was prepared to finance specific bums-on-seats overseas players, but not just any old hack wanting that final year's paypacket. Which is what we ended up with.

The other thing that is pissing me right off is that we are the only team in the league that is unable to lift our game to occasionally get over the line against the weaker teams above us. We play poorly against the top teams, and then even worse against the other strugglers. I can't help but feel that there's an attitude problem - do just enough to get by but no more. I cannot get that "If we win, we win; if we lose, we lose" statement out of my mind.

Agree there's been too much of an emphasis at Heart on signing a 'marquee player' like Beckham or Holt, with the hope that by doing so Heart would flourish on the pitch and off the pitch. Another instance of Heart having a 'saviour mentality' or approach to things.

I also agree about Heart probably having an attitude problem. I really think notions like 'attitude', 'mentality' and 'culture' are overused to explain things. But I do reckon attitude or culture is an issue at Heart, and David Williams phrase '"If we win, we win; if we lose, we lose" encapsulates it perfectly. Heart never winning a single pre-season game against A-League opposition further illustrates a poor attitude, as Heart players haven't shown enough motivation to win just 1 of these games across 4 pre-seasons.

Us not winning after falling behind in something like 23 matches I'd also call more evidence of an unimpressive attitude.

Too much of the time Heart players have an attitude where they just try to do the bare minimum, put in some effort in competitive season matches, and if we fall behind, oh well If we win, we win; if we lose, we lose".

Heart having so many players from, I'll just say it, loser teams, probably partly explains the attitude as well. Williams for NQ Fury, 2 players from Gold Coast United in Golgol and Macallister, Mifsud of the Maltese national team..

I'd also say that the attitude extends beyond the players. Organising pre-season matches against university teams and Goulburn and Peninsula 'all star' sides is a farce. Why should the players take pre-season seriously, when the administrators and/or coaches at Heart clearly don't? These wasteful pre-season games are another example of gimmickry and cheap promotion overriding the club's primary concern, football.

I've talked many times about our club's anxiety, if you remember it started in season 2 after we had won 5 games straight and were suddenly second on the ladder and being talked about as likely finalists. Suddenly we lost 5 games including our only final. Now we see it appear if we are ever in the lead in a game and every time we are able to shoot on goal. The club that is anxious about success. We talk about a new coach but really the team should make use of a group therapist.

our string of wins started when Madaschi started playing for us and ended when he left. AM is the most composed player we have ever had. Nothing to do with Anxiety it is to do with quality players. Not gambling on injured players and has beens.

It also seemed to coincide with the point in our history where Dugandzic was in form, walking through other teams defences, and basically looking like the Messi of the A-League.

Don't know why almost everyone in this thread seems to want to cut him. He's worth keeping just on the chance that he could return to such great form.

[jw1739]

 

It also seemed to coincide with the point in our history where Dugandzic was in form, walking through other teams defences, and basically looking like the Messi of the A-League.

Don't know why almost everyone in this thread seems to want to cut him. He's worth keeping just on the chance that he could return to such great form.

 

He has not made a significant contribution for a long time. So many times caught flat-footed and ball-watching. A mere shadow of the player we used to know.

 

If we kept players "just on the chance..." we'd need a list of 100, not 23. Sadly, a cap on the squad size means there's no room for sentiment.

[Peter]

 

It also seemed to coincide with the point in our history where Dugandzic was in form, walking through other teams defences, and basically looking like the Messi of the A-League.

Don't know why almost everyone in this thread seems to want to cut him. He's worth keeping just on the chance that he could return to such great form.

He has not made a significant contribution for a long time. So many times caught flat-footed and ball-watching. A mere shadow of the player we used to know.

 

If we kept players "just on the chance..." we'd need a list of 100, not 23. Sadly, a cap on the squad size means there's no room for sentiment.

Hopefully the "Aloisi Effect" will have worn off by the end of the season and players can be judged on their true confidence and ability.

[Peter]

 

 

First and foremost, the new owners need to make our club attractive to new signings.

Who in their right mind would want to come and play for arguably the worst performing club in Australian footballing history?

Once we know exactly what direction we are taking, then we target certain players to fit the mould.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves here

Why? Who wouldn't want to come and train in the dusty northern plains of Melbourne in 35 degrees plus, set up their own goals and pack up again so they can cool down in a wheelie bin?

 

My point exactly

I know. But you were much more diplomatic and so I just gave your post a bit of blue collar treatment.

[Torn Asunder]

There really is nothing to lose now ... mix it up, try some things and have fun with it

[Tesla]

It also seemed to coincide with the point in our history where Dugandzic was in form, walking through other teams defences, and basically looking like the Messi of the A-League.

Don't know why almost everyone in this thread seems to want to cut him. He's worth keeping just on the chance that he could return to such great form.

He has not made a significant contribution for a long time. So many times caught flat-footed and ball-watching. A mere shadow of the player we used to know.

 

If we kept players "just on the chance..." we'd need a list of 100, not 23. Sadly, a cap on the squad size means there's no room for sentiment.

I'd agree if he was one of our worst players currently, but he really isn't. There are many players in line to be cut before him: Golgol, Dmac, germano, mifsfurd, williams, etc.

At the end of the day we can't cut the whole squad.

[belaguttman]

Straight swap, today's FNYL team for the 'senior' team.

[Melburnian]

I think most including me have stated that we should have played these youth members a lot earlier. You can add Mauk and Vrankovic to today.

This club had principles. It went away and sadly today is more of a reminding of just how bad this has been stuffed.

[mus-28]

Mauk hit the crossbar and set up the only goal in the U22's 1-0 win against Kuwait. Get this kid tied down to a 3 year deal instead of continually rewarding journeymen with contracts.

[Cinnamon]

Mauk hit the crossbar and set up the only goal in the U22's 1-0 win against Kuwait. Get this kid tied down to a 3 year deal instead of continually rewarding journeymen with contracts.

If and when he gets injured he will get his new contract.

[zq2014]

How about we just wait and see who MVFC are delisting?

[NewConvert]

Reading some of the other posts it appears that at least two players want out: Gol Gol and Williams (these are of course rumours and not confirmed). We often talk about cutting players but the opposite question is what if no one wants to stay? Earlier on this thread people commented who would want to come to the Heart to be a player? I wonder if players like Mauk, Garrucio, Walker, etc have their managers put out feelers or other clubs may already be putting out feelers to their managers.

Those with an AFL background would do well to remember Fitzroy FC who had a promising list of young players that were swooped on by the other cubs (Roos was amongst these) which sent the club backwards on the field never to recover. Increasingly we are looking like Melbourne Demons and the only way that the club may be able to keep or recruit players of worth will be to have the support of the FFA and bring in someone like Bielsa (or equivalent) so that players can see value in staying or coming over. If I was Engelaar I would probably be doing my best to find a new home somewhere else at season's end.

[belaguttman]

Certainly who would want to play for Heart with a continuation of the current direction? There will always be players who do of course, Perth had a similar run a few years ago and didn't lose all they players, however we certainly won't attract or retain any good players.

[jw1739]

One of the differences I perceive between us and the other clubs is that the others (e.g. Sydney, Newcastle, Perth, MV - perhaps all of them) is that we take too long to make management decisions. The most recent example being Perth - they had a coaching issue - it was resolved within a week. Perhaps not resolved the right way, but they have been able to move on. Other clubs have an issue with a non-performing player or two - they pay them out and move on. They need a striker - they sign one.

 

In contrast, we seem to take forever to make a decision. We took months to appoint Aloisi, and then far too long to remove him, shooting ourselves in the foot for consecutive seasons. More of our players should have gone at the end of last season. IMO we can see the proof in the league table.

 

I would think that we can retain the best of our NYL players if we offer them a senior contract. I agree that it will be more difficult to attract quality into the club - but I think they will come if the offer is good enough. In other words there is a real cost in not making decisions quickly enough. As a club we may have looked too much at the cost of making a decision (e.g. on a player or a coach) rather than the cost of not making it.

 

One of those daily calendar quotes that I always remember comes from the late Aneurin Bevan - Welsh Labour politician and one-time Minister for Health in the U.K. government - a man whose politics I disagreed with but who I later admired immensely for his work and wit. Bevan once said "People who sit on the fence usually stay there", and that sums up my feelings about Heart at the moment. Ownership, headquarters, players, coaches - we are dithering whilst others are moving ahead. In the end this indecision will cost us further.

Edited January 14, 2014 by jw1739

[LR9]

Alright, so JvS says he wants to make us a team that "fans can be proud of", he says winning isn't everything "because the focus has to be on playing well". He's also said that he will consider playing youth players, "but they have to deserve to play."

So why not play the kids?

They have been staking their claim for the past few weeks now - at training, in the NYL, cameo roles with the seniors and even on international duty. JvS has no reason to think some of them wouldn't 'deserve to play'.

Now, I'm not saying he should field the whole NYL team, that would be stupid, we aren't going to achieve anything if their getting belted every week. However, a good balance can be struck, they need some experienced heads around them, with a slight tilt towards the 'more youthful' side of the scale.

With the season gone, it would be great to see us building to the future and there are certainly some 'senior' players who don't deserve their places at the moment, if at all! I think guys like Mauk, Garrucio, Schroen, Kaya, Retre, Vrankovic, O'Dea, Petreski, etc. should be in consideration most weeks, from now on.

 

If we can field a side which is stronger and more experienced defensively, it would provide a great platform for the younger guys. It will give them more confidence to attack the game and not be afraid to made mistakes knowing they are protected.

Going forward, I think someone like Harry Kewell, as controversial as he is, would be good for the guys in attack, maybe even as a target man/'false 9' - providing some creativity, good better finishing - whilst allowing a younger guy to play a more influential role in his AM position.

Eg.                Redmayne

   Kisnorbo      Weileart     Vrankovic 

Retre     Engelaar     Murdocca      Behich 

  Walker           Kewell             Garrucio 

B: Tando, Gerhardt, Kalmar, Mauk, Williams

 

                              Redmayne

      Germano  Vrankovic   Weileart    Behich

                 Engelaar       Murdocca

        Walker             Mauk                Garrucio 

                                 Kewell 

B: Tando, Kisnorbo, Kalmar, Retre, Williams

 

Now, I dunno about you guys, but I'd certainly be 'prouder' watching a team littered with kids developing their game and building our future, over a team filled with 30-somethings at the back-ends of their careers trying to 'learn' the game.

Edited January 14, 2014 by LR9

[NewConvert]

Agree with LR9 but aren't Vrankovic and Mauk on international duties? I would rather see at least three changes for this week's match, now that DMac and Mauk are not available, the forced changes, as well as at least one other. If Garrucio or Walker don't get a call up then they may as well put out feelers to see whether any other club will have them as they would be throwing their careers away if they stayed at Heart.

[LR9]

Dmac gone, Minchinson's going, Mebrahtu has 4 offers and is refusing to sign a new deal.

[MaliMate]

Still don't think Gerhardt, Mifsud or Hoffman should be in our future plans. Also still not convinced on Wielart, Ramsay & Williams.

[Jestr]

Still don't think Gerhardt, Mifsud or Hoffman should be in our future plans. Also still not convinced on Wielart, Ramsay & Williams.

Agree with all of them except for wielart, still 50/50 on him

[Embee]

Same Jestr.

 

I'm interested to see how Wielart and the other lads at the back look with Engelaar sitting in front of them, should make us a more solid unit

[mjake1234]

I'm not sure about only non visa defenders only murf. Many solid defenders have been visa players or are ex visa players. Cassio at Adelaide and Adama at the tards to name a few even Matt Smith at Brissy was originally a visa player so they are out there. Patty Z at central coast was also a pillar in that team. I do somewhat agree though that we have under utilised our visa signings and have two visa cb's and a dm is perhaps a little over the top.

I really think what the club needs to do is go out and sign the best Australian players it can who fulfil the following simple criteria (I'm sure the club can add to this):

a- Can pass, trap and shoot with both feet (eliminates half our list as technically inept)

b- Not a selfish player. They test employees these days to see if they mentally fit the mould why not players. (this culture of sacrifice for each other is further driven throughout the club by management and his team.)

c- Finally we use visa players to plug the gaps where we couldn't find a good young player or decent Australian player. with visa players the pool is so large that we can really recruit whatever we need.

The fact that we don't seem to have any criteria and such an ad-hoc recruiting history tells me someone isn't doing their job well enough (or isn't allowed to do their job properly due to others). Which ever one it is JD your next in the firing line irrespective of the boundaries set by owners and coaches. If shit doesn't improve you are as culpable as the rest of the muppets.

This, although selfishness in a striker I think is needed, unless you have a big target man who looks to bring others in, ala Hesky.

I wouldn't mind us aligning ourselves with someone like the Bulleen Lions, who have a history of youth development and make it their goal - I remember reading an article on it.

We should be setting up direct links to at least half the club s in Melbourne. That is what I call community engagement. Then you truly represent Melbourne.

[mjake1234]

How come the club don't see this as obvious? Would also like to see these clubs being showcased in the half time period probably along with some womens teams - after all the female Ballon d'or is Australian.

[sharpy]

How come the club don't see this as obvious? Would also like to see these clubs being showcased in the half time period probably along with some womens teams - after all the female Ballon d'or is Australian.

 Is she Australian? or just play's in the W-League?

 

I think we should look to keep Gerhardt, depending on wage demands. Gol Gol is definitely off to Wellington, where is Mitchinson going?

[Ando]

Gol gol is a pretty good park footballer.

[belaguttman]

 

How come the club don't see this as obvious? Would also like to see these clubs being showcased in the half time period probably along with some womens teams - after all the female Ballon d'or is Australian.

 Is she Australian? or just play's in the W-League?

 

I think we should look to keep Gerhardt, depending on wage demands. Gol Gol is definitely off to Wellington, where is Mitchinson going?

 

She's German but is the keeper for Roar in the W-League

[Tesla]

Like good coaches, good football operations managers are very rare in Australia IMO. Didulica is actually one of the better Australian football operations managers around, at least on paper he's one of the best (it shouldn't be forgotten that he lured the likes of Gerhardt, Tadic and Garcia to Heart with effectively no money, and he helped Heart first sign Germano for around 45,000 dollars). I'd really like to know who had most influence with regards to this season's signings, Didulica or Aloisi. Either way they are both culpable and deserve some blame.It should also be remembered by all that it's pretty much taken every A-League club 8 seasons to stop signing dud foreigners (and even now, a lot of clubs waste a lot of money on VISA players).Maybe someone with experience as a football operations manager (or 'director of football') at a European club could come to Heart and oversee our recruitment, I don't know.Whoever runs Heart for next season needs to give a lot of thought to who should scout and sign our players. One way to improve things is for Heart to stop paying it's staff some of the lowest wages in the A-League, so we can lure more skilled and capable staff. And if Heart spent more on players, that would probably help as well. There's no easy answers to bettering our player recruitment, though.

IIRC Aloisi and Foxe spent about 3 weeks in the UK/Europe during the off-season and spoke to seven players about coming to play for Heart.I think it's been said before that it's the coach(es) who do the scouting and JD who deals with the contractual stuff of signings and transfers. He's credited with the transfer contract of our boomerang boy Eli Babalj.IIRC he said at some stage that the club receives as many as 40 contacts a month from agents peddling players to the A-League.I suppose my overwhelming feeling at this point is "how did we get it all so wrong?" We did make genuine offers to both Beckham and Grant Holt - albeit those offers were not good enough but they were made. It would seem that someone in the club, or perhaps outside it, was prepared to finance specific bums-on-seats overseas players, but not just any old hack wanting that final year's paypacket. Which is what we ended up with.The other thing that is pissing me right off is that we are the only team in the league that is unable to lift our game to occasionally get over the line against the weaker teams above us. We play poorly against the top teams, and then even worse against the other strugglers. I can't help but feel that there's an attitude problem - do just enough to get by but no more. I cannot get that "If we win, we win; if we lose, we lose" statement out of my mind.Agree there's been too much of an emphasis at Heart on signing a 'marquee player' like Beckham or Holt, with the hope that by doing so Heart would flourish on the pitch and off the pitch. Another instance of Heart having a 'saviour mentality' or approach to things.I also agree about Heart probably having an attitude problem. I really think notions like 'attitude', 'mentality' and 'culture' are overused to explain things. But I do reckon attitude or culture is an issue at Heart, and David Williams phrase '"If we win, we win; if we lose, we lose" encapsulates it perfectly. Heart never winning a single pre-season game against A-League opposition further illustrates a poor attitude, as Heart players haven't shown enough motivation to win just 1 of these games across 4 pre-seasons.Us not winning after falling behind in something like 23 matches I'd also call more evidence of an unimpressive attitude.Too much of the time Heart players have an attitude where they just try to do the bare minimum, put in some effort in competitive season matches, and if we fall behind, oh well If we win, we win; if we lose, we lose".Heart having so many players from, I'll just say it, loser teams, probably partly explains the attitude as well. Williams for NQ Fury, 2 players from Gold Coast United in Golgol and Macallister, Mifsud of the Maltese national team..I'd also say that the attitude extends beyond the players. Organising pre-season matches against university teams and Goulburn and Peninsula 'all star' sides is a farce. Why should the players take pre-season seriously, when the administrators and/or coaches at Heart clearly don't? These wasteful pre-season games are another example of gimmickry and cheap promotion overriding the club's primary concern, football.I've talked many times about our club's anxiety, if you remember it started in season 2 after we had won 5 games straight and were suddenly second on the ladder and being talked about as likely finalists. Suddenly we lost 5 games including our only final. Now we see it appear if we are ever in the lead in a game and every time we are able to shoot on goal. The club that is anxious about success. We talk about a new coach but really the team should make use of a group therapist.our string of wins started when Madaschi started playing for us and ended when he left. AM is the most composed player we have ever had. Nothing to do with Anxiety it is to do with quality players. Not gambling on injured players and has beens.It also seemed to coincide with the point in our history where Dugandzic was in form, walking through other teams defences, and basically looking like the Messi of the A-League.Don't know why almost everyone in this thread seems to want to cut him. He's worth keeping just on the chance that he could return to such great form.

:clap:

[MaliMate]

Surely Hoffman isn't in our future plans now.

[malloy]

Surely Hoffman isn't in our future plans now.

 

 

Wrong. We can now afford a water boy. Hoffman is number 1 target.

[HEARTinator]

Planning looks pretty simple from now on. Sidwell OUT. Munn OUT. JVS ??? 99% of current list OUT. La Trobe OUT. Wheelie bins OUT. Mega rich sheik IN. Tards to Morwell or Geelong.

[ae7smith]

Which players would people like to see targeted from other A-League teams? Aaron Mooy has been mentioned on another thread. I'd go for the following hit list:

 

• Trent Sainsbury
• Mitch Duke
• Ivan Franjic
• Jeronimo

Then 5 visa players, one AUS Marquee and a new keeper and we'd be sitting pretty.

[Tommykins]

Jeronimo is far too hit and miss.

[Melburnian]

We need Redmayne to be third choice keeper.

[Rellum]

Carvella is one I would like to see looked at. He has the technique, vision and creativity to play pass and move possession football. He would be cheap and surrounded by the right players could be a good team fit to push for the title. If nothing he would be a good squadie.

 

But if they are serious they need to pick a manager first to go with a style of football and then work out which players can fit into the team to play that way. There are only so many options so I can only see 8-10 guys being replaced at the most. It will take some seasons to build up a quality squad, they have said so themselves.

[Rellum]

Carrusca would be another, no idea of his contract situation. 

[marn11]

Which players would people like to see targeted from other A-League teams? Aaron Mooy has been mentioned on another thread. I'd go for the following hit list:

 

• Trent Sainsbury
• Mitch Duke
• Ivan Franjic
• Jeronimo

Then 5 visa players, one AUS Marquee and a new keeper and we'd be sitting pretty.

 

I like Jeronimo, but we can find better internationals. Franjic is contracted until 2016. Does anyone know how long Sainsbury and Duke are contracted for?

 

I think we should target Brad Jones for the GK spot. 

[Melburnian]

Brad Jones is a good shout.

[ae7smith]

"Contracted"...we're rich just buy 'em out!

[marn11]

He's 2nd string, I'm sure we could work something out.

[moops]

ALeague clubs cannot buy players from the same competition.

[ae7smith]

Really I didn't know that, that makes any wish list a little harder to obtain.