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City Football Group (CFG) [Owner of Melbourne City]


Torn Asunder
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I just can't get past the fact that we've been slapped with the moneybags tag by the media and rival fans alike, yet we've absolutely failed to embrace that tag in any genuine capacity since becoming Melbourne City. I understand that throwing away $ errantly isn't part of CFG's strategy, but surely there has to be some degree of squad investment if we're ever going to be a club worthy of competing for the title season after season as they promised. Every season, we seem to botch our foreign signings and our marquees and I just can't understand it - our financial capacity is literally our one point of difference over the rest of the league, and yet our stingy owners are completely reluctant to invest (which was the case long before Covid-19, so no excuses there).

The below is our list of marquees since becoming Melbourne City, with our two guest marquees italicised. 

 

14/15 - Josh Kennedy & Robi Koren & David Villa
15/16 - Aaron Mooy
16/17 - Bruno Fornaroli, Nicolas Colazo & Tim Cahill
17/18 - Bruno Fornaroli & Marcin Budzinski
18/19 - Bruno Fornaroli & Ritchie de Laet
19/20 - Jamie Maclaren
20/21 - Jamie Maclaren

 

I don't know if it's just my own warped perception speaking here, but half these marquee allocations just don't scream marquee. Mooy and Fornaroli justified their marquee status through sheer output as did Cahill at least on name alone, but otherwise it's hard not to feel cheated. The David Villa (10-game promise) fiasco was a complete botch, Kennedy was ok, Koren was garbage, Colazo was meh, Budzinski was garbage, de Laet was good but was played out of position half the time and while Maclaren has been mostly outstanding for us - why is he the only marquee when we're allowed two? Especially when you look at our squad and identify how thin and unbalanced it is, it just defies belief.

Why are we so reluctant to invest in the squad and yet, the club finds themselves regularly shocked to find we're underperforming. Our rivals have signed the likes of Diamanti, Diego Castro, Ninkovic, Benat among a wealth of overseas talent with serious pedigree in the past couple of years, and yet we can't or won't attract anyone of that same ilk.

We are a mediocre club and we sadly always have been.

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2 hours ago, jw1739 said:

You are right on the button - a contender for "Post of the Year."

I still don't understand why our marquee players are not both loanees from somewhere within the CFG stable. Even our youth imports - why bring them every year from Adelaide? Keeping it in the Group would mean no extra costs incurred by the CFG as a whole. Yes, it would affect the accounts of the subsidiary entity, but no extra cost for the Group as a whole.

I just don't understand our player management. Yes, every club will get it wrong sometimes, but how come players such as Genreau, Dukuly, Ianucci, Najjarine etc. can walk into another starting XI but can barely get any game time with City?

Dylan Pierias pains me. His raw talent was obvious at 16. We barely used him. Then he goes to WU because Rudan can both see and develop talent. They are in the process of turning him into one of the best young strikers in the country, a real supersub. But we never saw that in him? That just strikes me as remiss. And yes, Denis Genreau... And I know there's all sorts of issues and I've made excuses for the club before, but instinctively it's just obvious that a lot of players do better when they leave us, and do worse when they come to us. We shout about the quality of our coaching set up, but honestly it doesn't seem that flash to me. 

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54 minutes ago, Nate said:

I just can't get past the fact that we've been slapped with the moneybags tag by the media and rival fans alike, yet we've absolutely failed to embrace that tag in any genuine capacity since becoming Melbourne City. I understand that throwing away $ errantly isn't part of CFG's strategy, but surely there has to be some degree of squad investment if we're ever going to be a club worthy of competing for the title season after season as they promised. Every season, we seem to botch our foreign signings and our marquees and I just can't understand it - our financial capacity is literally our one point of difference over the rest of the league, and yet our stingy owners are completely reluctant to invest (which was the case long before Covid-19, so no excuses there).

The below is our list of marquees since becoming Melbourne City, with our two guest marquees italicised. 

 

14/15 - Josh Kennedy & Robi Koren & David Villa
15/16 - Aaron Mooy
16/17 - Bruno Fornaroli, Nicolas Colazo & Tim Cahill
17/18 - Bruno Fornaroli & Marcin Budzinski
18/19 - Bruno Fornaroli & Ritchie de Laet
19/20 - Jamie Maclaren
20/21 - Jamie Maclaren

 

I don't know if it's just my own warped perception speaking here, but half these marquee allocations just don't scream marquee. Mooy and Fornaroli justified their marquee status through sheer output as did Cahill at least on name alone, but otherwise it's hard not to feel cheated. The David Villa (10-game promise) fiasco was a complete botch, Kennedy was ok, Koren was garbage, Colazo was meh, Budzinski was garbage, de Laet was good but was played out of position half the time and while Maclaren has been mostly outstanding for us - why is he the only marquee when we're allowed two? Especially when you look at our squad and identify how thin and unbalanced it is, it just defies belief.

Why are we so reluctant to invest in the squad and yet, the club finds themselves regularly shocked to find we're underperforming. Our rivals have signed the likes of Diamanti, Diego Castro, Ninkovic, Benat among a wealth of overseas talent with serious pedigree in the past couple of years, and yet we can't or won't attract anyone of that same ilk.

We are a mediocre club and we sadly always have been.

FWIW Berenguer was the marquee in 19/20, and whilst unconfirmed, more than likely Nabbout is this season.

Doesn't necessarily change the point around adequate investment to be fair, but we've definitely been utilising the slot in some capacity.

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1 hour ago, bt50 said:

FWIW Berenguer was the marquee in 19/20, and whilst unconfirmed, more than likely Nabbout is this season.

Doesn't necessarily change the point around adequate investment to be fair, but we've definitely been utilising the slot in some capacity.

IMO that emphasises the point - we're paying players outside the cap who just don't warrant such payments, meaning that we're wasting the opportunity that marquee places offer and showing some pretty poor judgement.

I would have said that de Laet was a genuine marquee - ironically in the Warren Joyce period.

Clearly the best years for marquees were 15/16 and 16/17 and of course 2016 saw our only men's trophy.

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I still don't think that CCM has better marquees than we have. Del Piero and Diamanti are above all others. Mind you, Susaeta has got a better Spanish league and national team pedigree than Castro. Susaeta was our marquee or visa player of that caliber.  Whether wanted or not, that's another topic. We had a string of international coaches. 

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8 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

IMO that emphasises the point - we're paying players outside the cap who just don't warrant such payments, meaning that we're wasting the opportunity that marquee places offer and showing some pretty poor judgement.

I would have said that de Laet was a genuine marquee - ironically in the Warren Joyce period.

Clearly the best years for marquees were 15/16 and 16/17 and of course 2016 saw our only men's trophy.

Yes it says to me that our 'marquee budget' is mostly allocated to Maclaren with the second marquee only on circa 4-500k a season, and even then might be an accounting shift in terms of front or backloading a contract.
IMO we've never gotten both our marquees right, and that has continued to be to our detriment.

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1 hour ago, bt50 said:

Yes it says to me that our 'marquee budget' is mostly allocated to Maclaren with the second marquee only on circa 4-500k a season, and even then might be an accounting shift in terms of front or backloading a contract.
IMO we've never gotten both our marquees right, and that has continued to be to our detriment.

@bt50 Can you remember when it was that a CFG senior said to the effect that the investment climate in Australia hadn't turned out as had been expected and for the next three years the Group would focus on the financial aspects of Melbourne City? Or am I dreaming again?

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Just now, jw1739 said:

@bt50 Can you remember when it was that a CFG senior said to the effect that the investment climate in Australia hadn't turned out as had been expected and for the next three years the Group would focus on the financial aspects of Melbourne City? Or am I dreaming again?

Wasnt it Soriano, might have been in an end of season update, possibly the 2019 season one.

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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

@bt50 Can you remember when it was that a CFG senior said to the effect that the investment climate in Australia hadn't turned out as had been expected and for the next three years the Group would focus on the financial aspects of Melbourne City? Or am I dreaming again?

To paraphrase, we nicked your club under false pretences, and now we're going to let you swing in the wind for a few years... 

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25 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

To paraphrase, we nicked your club under false pretences, and now we're going to let you swing in the wind for a few years... 

Australia and Melbourne love sports but what we really love is winning, consistent winning - only then the fans will come in this country. I see this as a fundamental mistake we are making. How can you expect this so called return on investment if you aren’t fully committed?? Perhaps they don’t know the Australian sporting landscape well enough. This is not Europe.

We aren’t investing in the right players, we know this damn well but still expect a return on investment on the little outgoings and a magic turn around????

Don’t tell me we tried with an aging Cahill and Villa. 

Edited by Mr MO
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42 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

I’ve watched the girls a lot this season too, I can confirm we have problem across the board at the club.

Girls are currently 0-2 down at homewith a red card, poor start of the season and other clubs have just recruited better players this season. Very similar.

And one player ineligible for tonight's match because of accumulation of yellow cards.

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Ah, I found what I was looking for - I had actually deemed it "significant" at the time and saved it. Here it is:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/why-marquees-are-off-the-agenda-of-australia-s-richest-sporting-club-20180420-p4zatj.html

As I read it several times again it's fairly clear that our owners don't care (or didn't back in April 2018) about success on the pitch for Melbourne City and that the priority is/was going to be the Academy. Whether current actions match those words is a matter of opinion but I fear that that attitude still prevails. 

20th April 2018.

They may be the wealthiest club in Australian sport but the owners of Melbourne City aren't inclined to splash the cash on high-profile marquee players until the A-League undergoes a major overhaul of its ownership structure.

City Football Group, owners of Manchester City - parent club to New York City and its Melbourne namesake - reportedly raked in more than $860 million in revenue last year but not even they are shopping for big-name players to Australia due to the lack of return and limited commercial revenue options available in the competition.

And, until the Australian football solves its bitter political war, that's unlikely to change. While money is no object for the City Football Group, it appears the A-League governance is, according to their managing director Brian Marwood.

There has been a heavy weight of expectation placed on the shoulders of the group's business interests in Australia after their New York experiment began with the acquisition of the likes of Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Frank Lampard and Patrick Viera as coach. Their entrance into Australia attracted similar fanfare initially with the loan of Villa, however his time in Melbourne was limited to only four games. Since then, there has been little in the way of known stars among their ranks.

Their signing of Australia's all-time leading goal scorer Tim Cahill in 2016 was their one hefty player investment, to the tune of $4 million a year but it saw the end of their appetite for big signings. For the most part, that's due to a poor return on such a significant outlay compared to markets in America and England. Little financial reward for success in the A-League, if any, hampered by centralised merchandising revenue, restrictions on sponsorships and absence of prize money all before attendances and audiences are factored in.

"It’s our disappointment as well because we thought the league would be in a stronger and more robust position than when we first talked about maybe having a club in Australia. It’s not in the place we hoped for," Marwood said. "We haven’t walked away from it, we haven’t said 'this doesn’t work and lets sell the club and move somewhere else'. Crowds are down, there’s no real big commercial revenues here."

While that's the outlook of one club, it is an ominous sign for the A-League if its wealthiest team has little desire to invest in household names for the purpose of promotion, particularly as the game looks towards expansion.

CFG have been happy to promote their New York franchise -operating in the independent Major League Soccer - by spending on big names. Even though a single A-League high-profile marquee salary would account to little more than 1 per-cent of the reported $361 million annual wage bill of the Manchester City first team, CFG are unconvinced of any benefit in the current Australian market.

"Did the Villa experiment work? Nope, because he wasn’t here long enough. We’ve accepted the criticism, we’ve dealt with the criticism and moved on. Did the Timmy [Cahill] experiment work? Yes and no…. There were some very special Tim Cahill moments, but also people have to trust us that we kind have run clubs quite successfully." Marwood said. "We have to treat it as a business. We’ve done it in Manchester, we did it in New York and we’ll do it here."

It means CFG will adjust their spending to the market. Instead of exciting names, their investment will be directed towards areas within its own control. The academy, coaching development and training facility will be the priority of the club who've found its biggest triumphs in Australia through the pathway for player progression. Notably, that of Socceroo Aaron Mooy. His road from Melbourne City to English Premier League club Huddersfield has only grown CFG's appetite for young Australian talent. Highly-rated youngsters Daniel Arzani and Nathaniel Atkinson appear the next two on the production line directed towards the top European leagues and it won't be long before others are introduced to CFG's global network.

The group also part-owns La Liga club, Girona, Dutch Eredivisie side NAC Breda, newly promoted Uruguyan first division team Club Atletico Torque as well as J-League side Yokohoma Marinos, coached by former Socceroos' boss Ange Postecoglou.

"That’s the whole idea of the network," Marwood said. "I’d love some of these boys to have six months in Spain or in Holland or in Uruguay just for the experience."

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57 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Ah, I found what I was looking for - I had actually deemed it "significant" at the time and saved it. Here it is:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/why-marquees-are-off-the-agenda-of-australia-s-richest-sporting-club-20180420-p4zatj.html

As I read it several times again it's fairly clear that our owners don't care (or didn't back in April 2018) about success on the pitch for Melbourne City and that the priority is/was going to be the Academy. Whether current actions match those words is a matter of opinion but I fear that that attitude still prevails. 

20th April 2018.

They may be the wealthiest club in Australian sport but the owners of Melbourne City aren't inclined to splash the cash on high-profile marquee players until the A-League undergoes a major overhaul of its ownership structure.

City Football Group, owners of Manchester City - parent club to New York City and its Melbourne namesake - reportedly raked in more than $860 million in revenue last year but not even they are shopping for big-name players to Australia due to the lack of return and limited commercial revenue options available in the competition.

And, until the Australian football solves its bitter political war, that's unlikely to change. While money is no object for the City Football Group, it appears the A-League governance is, according to their managing director Brian Marwood.

There has been a heavy weight of expectation placed on the shoulders of the group's business interests in Australia after their New York experiment began with the acquisition of the likes of Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Frank Lampard and Patrick Viera as coach. Their entrance into Australia attracted similar fanfare initially with the loan of Villa, however his time in Melbourne was limited to only four games. Since then, there has been little in the way of known stars among their ranks.

Their signing of Australia's all-time leading goal scorer Tim Cahill in 2016 was their one hefty player investment, to the tune of $4 million a year but it saw the end of their appetite for big signings. For the most part, that's due to a poor return on such a significant outlay compared to markets in America and England. Little financial reward for success in the A-League, if any, hampered by centralised merchandising revenue, restrictions on sponsorships and absence of prize money all before attendances and audiences are factored in.

"It’s our disappointment as well because we thought the league would be in a stronger and more robust position than when we first talked about maybe having a club in Australia. It’s not in the place we hoped for," Marwood said. "We haven’t walked away from it, we haven’t said 'this doesn’t work and lets sell the club and move somewhere else'. Crowds are down, there’s no real big commercial revenues here."

While that's the outlook of one club, it is an ominous sign for the A-League if its wealthiest team has little desire to invest in household names for the purpose of promotion, particularly as the game looks towards expansion.

CFG have been happy to promote their New York franchise -operating in the independent Major League Soccer - by spending on big names. Even though a single A-League high-profile marquee salary would account to little more than 1 per-cent of the reported $361 million annual wage bill of the Manchester City first team, CFG are unconvinced of any benefit in the current Australian market.

"Did the Villa experiment work? Nope, because he wasn’t here long enough. We’ve accepted the criticism, we’ve dealt with the criticism and moved on. Did the Timmy [Cahill] experiment work? Yes and no…. There were some very special Tim Cahill moments, but also people have to trust us that we kind have run clubs quite successfully." Marwood said. "We have to treat it as a business. We’ve done it in Manchester, we did it in New York and we’ll do it here."

It means CFG will adjust their spending to the market. Instead of exciting names, their investment will be directed towards areas within its own control. The academy, coaching development and training facility will be the priority of the club who've found its biggest triumphs in Australia through the pathway for player progression. Notably, that of Socceroo Aaron Mooy. His road from Melbourne City to English Premier League club Huddersfield has only grown CFG's appetite for young Australian talent. Highly-rated youngsters Daniel Arzani and Nathaniel Atkinson appear the next two on the production line directed towards the top European leagues and it won't be long before others are introduced to CFG's global network.

The group also part-owns La Liga club, Girona, Dutch Eredivisie side NAC Breda, newly promoted Uruguyan first division team Club Atletico Torque as well as J-League side Yokohoma Marinos, coached by former Socceroos' boss Ange Postecoglou.

"That’s the whole idea of the network," Marwood said. "I’d love some of these boys to have six months in Spain or in Holland or in Uruguay just for the experience."

Says it all really.

My question would be what kind of return are you looking for then, selling on youth players I take it?

Because in this country we only care about winning only then the club will get the attention of the media and will grow significantly in fan base to notice a difference in your revenues.

Chicken and egg really.

Edited by Mr MO
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3 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Ah, I found what I was looking for - I had actually deemed it "significant" at the time and saved it. Here it is:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/why-marquees-are-off-the-agenda-of-australia-s-richest-sporting-club-20180420-p4zatj.html

As I read it several times again it's fairly clear that our owners don't care (or didn't back in April 2018) about success on the pitch for Melbourne City and that the priority is/was going to be the Academy. Whether current actions match those words is a matter of opinion but I fear that that attitude still prevails. 

20th April 2018.

They may be the wealthiest club in Australian sport but the owners of Melbourne City aren't inclined to splash the cash on high-profile marquee players until the A-League undergoes a major overhaul of its ownership structure.

City Football Group, owners of Manchester City - parent club to New York City and its Melbourne namesake - reportedly raked in more than $860 million in revenue last year but not even they are shopping for big-name players to Australia due to the lack of return and limited commercial revenue options available in the competition.

And, until the Australian football solves its bitter political war, that's unlikely to change. While money is no object for the City Football Group, it appears the A-League governance is, according to their managing director Brian Marwood.

There has been a heavy weight of expectation placed on the shoulders of the group's business interests in Australia after their New York experiment began with the acquisition of the likes of Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Frank Lampard and Patrick Viera as coach. Their entrance into Australia attracted similar fanfare initially with the loan of Villa, however his time in Melbourne was limited to only four games. Since then, there has been little in the way of known stars among their ranks.

Their signing of Australia's all-time leading goal scorer Tim Cahill in 2016 was their one hefty player investment, to the tune of $4 million a year but it saw the end of their appetite for big signings. For the most part, that's due to a poor return on such a significant outlay compared to markets in America and England. Little financial reward for success in the A-League, if any, hampered by centralised merchandising revenue, restrictions on sponsorships and absence of prize money all before attendances and audiences are factored in.

"It’s our disappointment as well because we thought the league would be in a stronger and more robust position than when we first talked about maybe having a club in Australia. It’s not in the place we hoped for," Marwood said. "We haven’t walked away from it, we haven’t said 'this doesn’t work and lets sell the club and move somewhere else'. Crowds are down, there’s no real big commercial revenues here."

While that's the outlook of one club, it is an ominous sign for the A-League if its wealthiest team has little desire to invest in household names for the purpose of promotion, particularly as the game looks towards expansion.

CFG have been happy to promote their New York franchise -operating in the independent Major League Soccer - by spending on big names. Even though a single A-League high-profile marquee salary would account to little more than 1 per-cent of the reported $361 million annual wage bill of the Manchester City first team, CFG are unconvinced of any benefit in the current Australian market.

"Did the Villa experiment work? Nope, because he wasn’t here long enough. We’ve accepted the criticism, we’ve dealt with the criticism and moved on. Did the Timmy [Cahill] experiment work? Yes and no…. There were some very special Tim Cahill moments, but also people have to trust us that we kind have run clubs quite successfully." Marwood said. "We have to treat it as a business. We’ve done it in Manchester, we did it in New York and we’ll do it here."

It means CFG will adjust their spending to the market. Instead of exciting names, their investment will be directed towards areas within its own control. The academy, coaching development and training facility will be the priority of the club who've found its biggest triumphs in Australia through the pathway for player progression. Notably, that of Socceroo Aaron Mooy. His road from Melbourne City to English Premier League club Huddersfield has only grown CFG's appetite for young Australian talent. Highly-rated youngsters Daniel Arzani and Nathaniel Atkinson appear the next two on the production line directed towards the top European leagues and it won't be long before others are introduced to CFG's global network.

The group also part-owns La Liga club, Girona, Dutch Eredivisie side NAC Breda, newly promoted Uruguyan first division team Club Atletico Torque as well as J-League side Yokohoma Marinos, coached by former Socceroos' boss Ange Postecoglou.

"That’s the whole idea of the network," Marwood said. "I’d love some of these boys to have six months in Spain or in Holland or in Uruguay just for the experience."

They got their way with the governance it’s now independent and they have more control now let’s see if it changes anything but not holding my breath 

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I never thought when CFG did their takeover, that lack of investment in quality players and coaches would be an ongoing problem.

One positive of recent is our ability to now loan out our players to other clubs.  But clearly, as was mentioned before, the best of these players, and others we discard, tend to come on once they leave with much greater promise ... and this is at arguably less well off clubs ... its because their coaches are better!!

Just on this pipedream that CFG has to nurture an unproven Aussie coach in the ways of CFG football, and turn them into a coach who can deliver championships ... well, in all honesty, its an absolute fallacy!

As a comparison, think of any club who signs a youngster as part of their youth academy setup.  Very rarely will one of these players make it to the senior 1st team ... and this is from a very large pool of kids with raw potential.

In developing a coach this way, we put all our eggs in one basket, when really the chances of success are less than a million to one.

Championship managers are not created in this type of environment.  They must have the right attributes inbuilt as part of their personality, they must develop themselves and find their own path to success.  They seek out mentors who will help them, they are obsessive in learning things for themselves and making their own decision. They are unique characters.

I argue that this cannot be fabricated through CFGs current model. 

Our club needs to find the best young manager who already has proven themselves at some significant level. This type of manager would be able to align their ideals with CFGs style of play, but still be smart enough to know what calls need to be made based on the squad, the opponent and whatever challenge is at hand.  They need to have supreme confidence in themselves and their own decisions.  

... we need to find someone that already has shown their potential.

 

Edited by Torn Asunder
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I've been thinking too about the club's move to Casey Fields. On reflection it seems a little curious that we are about to walk away from the much-heralded facility at Bundoora, launched with such hype  - remember the publicity about the circular dressing room and the pitch(es) being replicas of Manchester but on a smaller scale? - and the initial expenditure of some $12 and later the expansion to accommodate the women's squad? My feeling is that the move is in line with us focussing more on having a better-defined catchment area to snare young players rather than to focus on the senior teams. Of course I may be completely wrong, but it does seem odd that we are walking away from Bundoora.

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4 hours ago, jw1739 said:

I've been thinking too about the club's move to Casey Fields. On reflection it seems a little curious that we are about to walk away from the much-heralded facility at Bundoora, launched with such hype  - remember the publicity about the circular dressing room and the pitch(es) being replicas of Manchester but on a smaller scale? - and the initial expenditure of some $12 and later the expansion to accommodate the women's squad? My feeling is that the move is in line with us focussing more on having a better-defined catchment area to snare young players rather than to focus on the senior teams. Of course I may be completely wrong, but it does seem odd that we are walking away from Bundoora.

I’m going to wait and see on this one, I’m expecting that similar CFG style facilities will be build at Casey. But I agree that our focus is evidently a lot more on this type of thing than putting some millions in our squad.

People overrate the Bundoora slightly, no new buildings were build, all we’ve done is refurbish the unused class rooms and buildings, those were already there. Of course it all cost money but still. With the biggest buildout being the circular add on as the dressing room. Most money went into the training pitch. I can completely see why this is only a 5 to 10 year investment. The fact the full academy can’t all train or play games there tells me it might really be too small.

The plans for Casey are much more aligned with what Manchester already has in having everything under one roof, small stadium and the full academy with match pitches. Bundoora has one large training pitch only.

Edited by Mr MO
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1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

I’m going to wait and see on this one, I’m expecting that similar CFG style facilities will be build at Casey. But I agree that our focus is evidently a lot more on this type of thing than putting some millions in our squad.

People overrate the Bundoora slightly, no new buildings were build, all we’ve done is refurbish the unused class rooms and buildings, those were already there. Of course it all cost money but still. With the biggest buildout being the circular add on as the dressing room. Most money went into the training pitch. I can completely see why this is only a 5 to 10 year investment. The fact the full academy can’t all train or play games there tells me it might really be too small.

The plans for Casey are much more aligned with what Manchester already has in having everything under one roof, small stadium and the full academy with match pitches. Bundoora has one large training pitch only.

OK but it's still walking away from a $12m investment. I haven't been out there for a while but IIRC saying that we are limited for space doesn't really hold up. That corner of the Latrobe site is - or certainly was - mainly still paddock. 

Quite frankly I will believe a stadium of any size when I see it. I have never seen anything that makes me believe that the club is committed to such a development. Beginning with the David Villa fiasco this club has had trouble walking the talk.

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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

OK but it's still walking away from a $12m investment. I haven't been out there for a while but IIRC saying that we are limited for space doesn't really hold up. That corner of the Latrobe site is - or certainly was - mainly still paddock. 

Quite frankly I will believe a stadium of any size when I see it. I have never seen anything that makes me believe that the club is committed to such a development. Beginning with the David Villa fiasco this club has had trouble walking the talk.

A 4,000 capacity mini stadium (Suited for the women and reserves) was already planned within the Casey Fields Football Centre so I can see this certainly happening now.

Spacewise, are you referring to that field on east of the our CFG? For reference our current training pitch is the size of 2 full match pitches. Looking at the screenshot below, I can't see how we can fit 4 match size pitches, a small stadium, more parking and more training ground plus change rooms for the youth within those bounderies east and north of the offices. Saying that, who knows if the University allowed more development there. I guess if you really want you can make it work but there is merit in the Casey plans.

image.png.ab1e72160dc3cb1dad3cdba89f0ab52a.png

Edited by Mr MO
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I posit that if Manchester City FC started the EPL season as we've started the A-League season, their would be a very different response.

2ndly would they ever put a rookie coach in charge and lessen their current squad in terms of key positions?

This is what we've been treated to.  Simply put, if they invested in 2 key players, a proven manager and a good youth coach, we'd be top 3 in the league without question.  Instead we are racing the tards to the bottom ... they have a few key players to return (as we do), but i think their returning players are better than ours.

 

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22 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:

I posit that if Manchester City FC started the EPL season as we've started the A-League season, their would be a very different response.

2ndly would they ever put a rookie coach in charge and lessen their current squad in terms of key positions?

This is what we've been treated to.  Simply put, if they invested in 2 key players, a proven manager and a good youth coach, we'd be top 3 in the league without question.  Instead we are racing the tards to the bottom ... they have a few key players to return (as we do), but i think their returning players are better than ours.

I don't think that CFG care about us at all. We never hear of any interaction with the other clubs in the stable, and rarely from any of the executives. Does anyone from Melbourne go to Manchester any more? Now that they are in China, both in terms of owning part of CFG itself and a Chinese club, I don't know why they continue to bother with maintaining ownership of Melbourne City as an entry point into Asia. I can't see that it does anything for "the brand" (and never have). I wish that they would sell the club to an entity that has at least some connection to Melbourne.

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4 hours ago, jw1739 said:

I don't know why they continue to bother with maintaining ownership of Melbourne City as an entry point into Asia. I can't see that it does anything for "the brand" (and never have). I wish that they would sell the club to an entity that has at least some connection to Melbourne.

The way we are playing, a loss against a Burmese team in ACL qualification will hardly enhance CFGs reputation in Asia, or hear.

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9 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

The way we are playing, a loss against a Burmese team in ACL qualification will hardly enhance CFGs reputation in Asia, or hear.

I guess our expectations on getting into Asia that CFG would put their hands in their pockets and gets us a bonafide marquee, I certainly thought we would but shows their ambitions tbh. When victory went into the ACL they had Toivonen and Honda. 

Edited by CityBoyz
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11 hours ago, CityBoyz said:

I guess our expectations on getting into Asia that CFG would put their hands in their pockets and gets us a bonafide marquee, I certainly thought we would but shows their ambitions tbh. When victory went into the ACL they had Toivonen and Honda. 

With due respect, i think Covid was a bit more than a spanner in the works on that front.

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, belaguttman said:

Apparently, but far less so for other teams, it seems.

There were two clear schools of thought in September/October with Victoria slowly coming out of its 2nd lockdown;

1) you make the best of the COVID environment and lock in the best talent available in the country

2) you roll the dice and hope the situation around getting foreigners into the country improves.

Now clearly situation number 2 occurred and that was to the benefit of most of the other clubs. Sydney and Melbourne City both took the conservative view, which was probably fair enough given they were effectively the incumbents.

Clearly history will show we made the wrong decision but i was more than comfortable with that approach at the time and definitely hold no ill will to the club for taking that view.

FWIW i dont think any of the other sides have recruited 'genuine marquees' this season, but theyve definitely been able to capture a far better quality of visa player than i certainly anticipated possible.

Edited by bt50
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2 hours ago, bt50 said:

There were two clear schools of thought in September/October with Victoria slowly coming out of its 2nd lockdown;

1) you make the best of the COVID environment and lock in the best talent available in the country

2) you roll the dice and hope the situation around getting foreigners into the country improves.

Now clearly situation number 2 occurred and that was to the benefit of most of the other clubs. Sydney and Melbourne City both took the conservative view, which was probably fair enough given they were effectively the incumbents.

Clearly history will show we made the wrong decision but i was more than comfortable with that approach at the time and definitely hold no ill will to the club for taking that view.

FWIW i dont think any of the other sides have recruited 'genuine marquees' this season, but theyve definitely been able to capture a far better quality of visa player than i certainly anticipated possible.

Australia was always going to be a better place to be than Europe or Asia in respect to Covid, making it more attractive for visa players even with a pay cut in mind - so perhaps a bad judgement call.

However I don’t think we looked into it that deeply, we just considered ourselves in a good position in players stock based on last season results, got a bit complacent perhaps.

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2 hours ago, bt50 said:

There were two clear schools of thought in September/October with Victoria slowly coming out of its 2nd lockdown;

1) you make the best of the COVID environment and lock in the best talent available in the country

2) you roll the dice and hope the situation around getting foreigners into the country improves.

Now clearly situation number 2 occurred and that was to the benefit of most of the other clubs. Sydney and Melbourne City both took the conservative view, which was probably fair enough given they were effectively the incumbents.

Clearly history will show we made the wrong decision but i was more than comfortable with that approach at the time and definitely hold no ill will to the club for taking that view.

FWIW i dont think any of the other sides have recruited 'genuine marquees' this season, but theyve definitely been able to capture a far better quality of visa player than i certainly anticipated possible.

Australia was always going to be a better place to be than Europe or Asia in respect to Covid, making it more attractive for visa players even with a pay cut in mind - so perhaps a bad judgement call.

However I don’t think we looked into it that deeply, we just considered ourselves in a good position in players stock based on last season results, got a bit complacent perhaps.

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4 hours ago, bt50 said:

There were two clear schools of thought in September/October with Victoria slowly coming out of its 2nd lockdown;

1) you make the best of the COVID environment and lock in the best talent available in the country

2) you roll the dice and hope the situation around getting foreigners into the country improves.

Now clearly situation number 2 occurred and that was to the benefit of most of the other clubs. Sydney and Melbourne City both took the conservative view, which was probably fair enough given they were effectively the incumbents.

Clearly history will show we made the wrong decision but i was more than comfortable with that approach at the time and definitely hold no ill will to the club for taking that view.

FWIW i dont think any of the other sides have recruited 'genuine marquees' this season, but theyve definitely been able to capture a far better quality of visa player than i certainly anticipated possible.

Well, maybe. In fact, Noone and Luna were only one year into their contracts, so they had every right to be kept. Windbichler also looked to be staying until he was released in December. IMO re-signing Berenguer was a mistake COVID or no COVID. Tsubaki wasn't signed until December.

IMO we had as much chance as anyone in getting two decent players in in December. We appear to have done that with Reis but Tsubaki is a question mark.

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On 19/02/2021 at 2:35 PM, jw1739 said:

Well, maybe. In fact, Noone and Luna were only one year into their contracts, so they had every right to be kept. Windbichler also looked to be staying until he was released in December. IMO re-signing Berenguer was a mistake COVID or no COVID. Tsubaki wasn't signed until December.

IMO we had as much chance as anyone in getting two decent players in in December. We appear to have done that with Reis but Tsubaki is a question mark.

I think this reflects it well. As I said before, we become complacent in recruiting based on last season results, thinking we got this without looking at the fortunes of last season and some games with bad football played. Which of course is understandable.

I remember having this discussion with BT50 over the off season, that we can’t draw any conclusions on one season of success but many did.

We gambled and had it wrong but there is still time.

Edited by Mr MO
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1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

I think this reflects it well. As I said before, we become complacent in recruiting based on last season results, thinking we got this without looking at the fortunes of last season and some games with bad football played. Which of course is understandable.

I remember having this discussion with BT50 over the off season, that we can’t draw any conclusions on one season of success but many did.

We gambled and had it wrong but there is still time.

Unless we already have two players outside the cap it's not too late to splash some cash on a decent marquee to give us a lot more on the field and get some fans back to AAMI Park. There are still 20 matches to go in the regular season, and at least one ACL qualifier.

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On 19/02/2021 at 10:20 AM, bt50 said:

There were two clear schools of thought in September/October with Victoria slowly coming out of its 2nd lockdown;

1) you make the best of the COVID environment and lock in the best talent available in the country

2) you roll the dice and hope the situation around getting foreigners into the country improves.

Now clearly situation number 2 occurred and that was to the benefit of most of the other clubs. Sydney and Melbourne City both took the conservative view, which was probably fair enough given they were effectively the incumbents.

Clearly history will show we made the wrong decision but i was more than comfortable with that approach at the time and definitely hold no ill will to the club for taking that view.

FWIW i dont think any of the other sides have recruited 'genuine marquees' this season, but theyve definitely been able to capture a far better quality of visa player than i certainly anticipated possible.

I agree, we went with choice number one and that was clearly the wrong choice in retrospect, however it was pretty easy to anticipate a northern hemisphere second wave as Europe and US wasted the opportunity to crush the virus in their summer. In that case there was always going to be players keen to leave Europe

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  • 3 weeks later...
5 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Have we seen any more about the move to Casey Fields? I would have expected to see some pictures on the website and some sort of progress report. The club's address on the website is still the Bundoora one.

Interestingly, some of the City junior teams have been training on the brand new synthetic pitch inside Parade College. So new, I don't think even the school itself uses it yet.

Would have thought if they were moving to Casey, why start on a new pitch in Bundoora.

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3 hours ago, rass said:

Interestingly, some of the City junior teams have been training on the brand new synthetic pitch inside Parade College. So new, I don't think even the school itself uses it yet.

Would have thought if they were moving to Casey, why start on a new pitch in Bundoora.

The whole club doesnt move there until start of next season with the full development to be finished by end of next season 

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