The Grand Final. Western Sydney away.

[jw1739]

41 minutes ago, MHFC-FAN said:

This is absolutely infuriating to read!! Completely out of touch with the fans!!!

 

https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/a-leagues-still-rebuilding-fan-relationship-596530

Jeez, that guy couldn't lie straight in bed. In the last sentence he says they had 9 months to wait for the GF and the Festival of Football? If so, APL sat on the decision for 3 months after making it, because it wasn't announced until 12th December 2022. So the deceitful bastards knew for the whole season.

I wouldn't trust a single thing that APL says. And as for that rat Pearce  who sold out his own club's fans...there are no words for him that I can write on a Forum such as this.

[MHFC-FAN]

7 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Jeez, that guy couldn't lie straight in bed. In the last sentence he says they had 9 months to wait for the GF and the Festival of Football? If so, APL sat on the decision for 3 months after making it, because it wasn't announced until 12th December 2022. So the deceitful bastards knew for the whole season.

I wouldn't trust a single thing that APL says. And as for that rat Pearce  who sold out his own club's fans...there are no words for him that I can write on a Forum such as this.

Yep nailed it. I really regret not boycotting the final series 

[Mr MO]

The referee was quoted saying that he didn’t think the ball hit the supporting arm. 

Secondly, that area armpit, shoulder and upper arm above the sleeve in this instance doesn’t count for a handball.

Edited June 4, 2023 by Mr MO

[MHFC-FAN]

3 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

The referee was quoted saying that he didn’t think the ball hit the supporting arm. 

Secondly, that area armpit, shoulder and upper arm above the sleeve in this instance doesn’t count for a handball.

So what you're saying is Chris Beath fu#ked us?

[haz]

10 minutes ago, MHFC-FAN said:

So what you're saying is Chris Beath fu#ked us?

Nah, that would be Nabbout. 

[fensaddler]

9 hours ago, MHFC-FAN said:

So what you're saying is Chris Beath fu#ked us?

I think we did that quite effectively for ourselves. The game was lost by the time the second penalty was awarded and all this did was precipitate a full on collapse. But yes, it was clearly an utterly crap decision which should have been reversed by VAR.

[Cityamatic]

12 hours ago, MHFC-FAN said:

This is absolutely infuriating to read!! Completely out of touch with the fans!!!

 

https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/a-leagues-still-rebuilding-fan-relationship-596530

This bloke....

In the same article-

'...we're trying to work through with engagement and the things we're putting in place with our fans to rebuild that relationship.'

Then, when asked about the fairness of the 'neutral' venue change'-

'People need to get beyond that, right.'

 

[belaguttman]

11 hours ago, Mr MO said:

The referee was quoted saying that he didn’t think the ball hit the supporting arm. 

Secondly, that area armpit, shoulder and upper arm above the sleeve in this instance doesn’t count for a handball.

There wasn't a single VAR review the whole game; it would have picked this up. It wouldn't have changed the outcome, but I bet if there had been a similar incident involving a Mariners player and it had been 1-1, there would have been a VAR.

[johnno cpfc]

57 minutes ago, Cityamatic said:

This bloke....

In the same article-

'...we're trying to work through with engagement and the things we're putting in place with our fans to rebuild that relationship.'

Then, when asked about the fairness of the 'neutral' venue change'-

'People need to get beyond that, right.'

 

Our Fans??? surely he means NSW fans because the vast majority of the rest of Auatralia do NOT want this stupid plan!!

 

[jw1739]

Fellas, for me it just gets worse by the day, and could kill off my interest in football if it continues.

There cannot be a "neutral venue" in Australia because of our geography and population distribution, and because football is a minority interest sport. Unless you play somewhere in the outback, which clearly does not make sense financially. In countries where such big matches are played at neutral venues there is a much larger fan base, and IIRC from my England days the competing clubs receive equal ticket allocations. Of course playing in Sydney we could have received an equal ticket allocation to that of the Mariners, but again that would not have made sense financially because most of City's allocation would not be taken up because of cost and inconvenience.

The GF in Sydney decision blatantly favours the five New South Wales clubs.

As for "repairing the relationship" - a bit late for that I'd say. Bit like hitting a guy and then while he's still lying on the floor saying "Can we talk about our relationship?"

[CityBoyz]

Highest GF ratings since 2019. 267k on Network 10 which doesn’t include P+

Ratings up 51% on 2022 GF 

[citypool]

16 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Fellas, for me it just gets worse by the day, and could kill off my interest in football if it continues.

There cannot be a "neutral venue" in Australia because of our geography and population distribution, and because football is a minority interest sport. Unless you play somewhere in the outback, which clearly does not make sense financially. In countries where such big matches are played at neutral venues there is a much larger fan base, and IIRC from my England days the competing clubs receive equal ticket allocations. Of course playing in Sydney we could have received an equal ticket allocation to that of the Mariners, but again that would not have made sense financially because most of City's allocation would not be taken up because of cost and inconvenience.

The GF in Sydney decision blatantly favours the five New South Wales clubs.

As for "repairing the relationship" - a bit late for that I'd say. Bit like hitting a guy and then while he's still lying on the floor saying "Can we talk about our relationship?"

The simple solution for me is not to worry about the grand final.

 

We still have the league, Australian cup and Asian champions league. 

[belaguttman]

14 hours ago, MHFC-FAN said:

This is absolutely infuriating to read!! Completely out of touch with the fans!!!

 

https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/a-leagues-still-rebuilding-fan-relationship-596530

Quote

"Everyone needs to come to terms with that."

..."Everyone", obviously doesn't include the APL coming to terms with the Grand Final being attended almost exclusively by NSW-based fans. No amount of 'marketing' will make the decision equitable, or affordable for out of State supporters

[jw1739]

34 minutes ago, citypool said:

The simple solution for me is not to worry about the grand final.

 

We still have the league, Australian cup and Asian champions league. 

Fortunately APL doesn't administer the Australian Cup, or the AFC competitions. But I'm sure that Townsend and the rest of them are in the ear of Football Australia whenever they get the chance. It just makes me uneasy.

[Cityamatic]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Fellas, for me it just gets worse by the day, and could kill off my interest in football if it continues.

There cannot be a "neutral venue" in Australia because of our geography and population distribution, and because football is a minority interest sport. Unless you play somewhere in the outback, which clearly does not make sense financially. In countries where such big matches are played at neutral venues there is a much larger fan base, and IIRC from my England days the competing clubs receive equal ticket allocations. Of course playing in Sydney we could have received an equal ticket allocation to that of the Mariners, but again that would not have made sense financially because most of City's allocation would not be taken up because of cost and inconvenience.

The GF in Sydney decision blatantly favours the five New South Wales clubs.

As for "repairing the relationship" - a bit late for that I'd say. Bit like hitting a guy and then while he's still lying on the floor saying "Can we talk about our relationship?"

It is getting harder and harder to maintain an interest; after enduring the pre-match pro-Mariners gabfest and about 15 mins of the 'home crowd' sending out the Bronx cheers every time City got mentioned on the PA I actually wondered what the point of watching was, it was so lopsided to be completely unenjoyable (even before the result). Given it will be like this from here on in (FW Townsend has basically said as much in that article) I can't see how this will ever be fair to a team from outside NSW given those points you have made jw.

In a way, I was glad Jamo didn't come on at the end of the match as it would have been no way to send him out - a 6-1 loss and more than likely a hostile reception from the crowd, what with the 'Kill Bambi' narrative the media concocted to raise interest.

[moops]

20 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Mariners really restricted our crossing opportunities. They let us have the ball but forced us into a crowded central area. We moved the ball too slowly and our movement off the ball was too slow to open up space

If there was a case for inside fullbacks, the first half showed it, VDV and Leckie could have created overloads in those wide areas, or created the interplay that we saw earlier with Rado that has kind of disappeared.

[Mr MO]

1 hour ago, moops said:

If there was a case for inside fullbacks, the first half showed it, VDV and Leckie could have created overloads in those wide areas, or created the interplay that we saw earlier with Rado that has kind of disappeared.

It disappeared as soon as he started playing a CB as RB.

[CityWildcat]

I have to confess......despite attending Heart matches as regularly as work would allow from the start, and being an Active member for 11 years.... I didn't even watch it on TV.

I have lost a LOT of passion this season for all the usual reasons everyone here knows, and am determined to never bother with finals again. It's not a football format, it is absolute nonsense.  I feel embarrassed, actually, that I was excited by GFs in previous seasons.

Auto-renewal has me tossing coins weekly.....

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by CityWildcat

[heart1011]

My honest take on the GF and a few other things.

Firstly. I want to start off by saying how I hate the finals series. Everyone seems to forget who was the best team all season and yet bases the "Champion" on a few games that any team within the 6 can win. You can be par average all season, scrape into the 6, play a handful of great games and go on to win the GF and people remember you for that and that is all..

The sooner they fuck off the finals series and bring in this new Division 2 or whatever it is called it will bring Promotion and Relegation with it. That in itself I feel will get more fans into the game. Especially the Euro snobs who don't give a shit about finals.. 

Sure. If you want a final as such at the end of the season have the FFA Cup final and perhaps a play-off series in Divison 2 just like in Engalnd.

Now.. in regards to the game on Saturday. It all started with the line-up. Why on earth you would start Nuno at Right back when he is a natural CB and was going to have to mark the likes of Silvera and Tulio beats me. That should have been either Talbot or Galloway.

Nabbout has been much more clinical off the bench than he has been a starter. Leckie should have taken his spot and I would have started VDV where Leckie was playing.

As for the result. It was fucking horrid. Absolutely shambolic but it's done now. 

We seem to always struggle with the big time games. It doesn't matter if it's a final, a cup game or a regular season game, mentally we seem to struggle and you see it time and time again. Just look at the regular season games that they were running that McDonald's free ticket promo. We attracted a few extra neutral fans who came to see what the A League and City were like and yet I don't think we ever won one of those games. We got done each time at home in front of a a half decent crowd. We then travel up to Sydney and beat Macarthur Away from home with a half decent squad missing some of our key players but were able to win and go on to win the GF that year.

Last year we come up against the Generics at home with a half decent crowd and got done. Then the same thing happens this year. Yeah granted it was in Sydney at an apparently "neutral venue" but again it was with a good crowd.

I don't know if the club needs to look at a Sports Scientist or something but it honestly seems like the boys struggle when they have a crowd behind them whether it be cheering for them or against them. 

The boys looked flat on Saturday with no hunger or drive. Even Rado was slumped back in his chair at 2-0 looking like he had no idea what to do and was resigned to the fact we were going to lose.

Anywho. I could go on and on but I'll leave it at that for now! Onto ACL, Aus Cup and next Season!

[Jovan]

I think you need to look at the "big final" games that we've won.

FFA final 1 from 2, loss was pretty bad.

Grand final 1 from 4.

So the 2 games we won both against Sydney both at home, 1 of them was against 10 men the other was pretty much a different era (JVS). 

Anyway what I'm getting at is that we are now in the bottlers category. Can't win it when it counts. Pretty much like English national team and Collingwood. 

We shall now be referred to as having the Citywobbles.

 

[jw1739]

16 minutes ago, Jovan said:

I think you need to look at the "big final" games that we've won.

FFA final 1 from 2, loss was pretty bad.

Grand final 1 from 4.

So the 2 games we won both against Sydney both at home, 1 of them was against 10 men the other was pretty much a different era (JVS). 

Anyway what I'm getting at is that we are now in the bottlers category. Can't win it when it counts. Pretty much like English national team and Collingwood. 

We shall now be referred to as having the Citywobbles.

Nothing new really. We were already well-known for our ability to turn a win into a draw, and a draw into a loss. This is just a refinement.

[citypool]

Not sure where to post this but if you're football starved the Maurice Revello tournament is on tonight Australia playing at 10 pm on ESPN