Season 2023/24

[belaguttman]

24 minutes ago, neio said:

They do have Rukavytska, but he can't get on the park

Ah, yes, they do too. He's been injured all season and out for a while still

[citypool]

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/01/11/as-western-united-kick-on-with-their-2-billion-masterplan-its-time-to-turn-the-a-league-focus-onto-a-complacent-melbourne-city/

[jw1739]

Interesting to read the comments in response to the article. I agree with most of them. IMO moving City to Dandenong will gain a few supporters from that area, and kill off almost all the rest. Melbourne's radial PT arrangement will see to that.

The facts are that we had our own training base at Latrobe - CCM may have had their facility before us, I'm not too sure - we spent 12m on the first training pitch and more developing the women's facility - paid, as I understand it a peppercorn rent to Latrobe and then just walked away. No-one can far can satisfy me with a sensible reason. Whereas our young players could attend Latrobe - where do they go now? Sure Latrobe wasn't ideal from a transport point of view, but now other facilities are being developed there and we could have piggy-backed on to them. We grew to an average non-Derby attendance of over 9,000,signed quality international players, and then a series of factors has seen interest in the club fall away. We are clearly the bottom of the CFG pile. Do players, young players, staff really want to hike down to Cranbourne every day? 

As for expecting or hoping that government i.e. Australian taxpayers should jointly fund a stadium for a club owned by one of the wealthiest groups in the world - to me that is outrageous.

IMO the club is in the situation it is in solely because of decisions by its owners. Statistics show that it had and still has loyal fans and supporters. Go back to the values of Melbourne Heart and they will come back.

[NewConvert]

AAMI is central, close to eating/bars and PT. The club should not move away their games from there.

As to why the club has not grown any further, that I do not have an answer. However reading the article I seem to recall that MV lost members over a number of years. And certainly with the storming of the pitch, I have not heard too many people about wanting to become members. And further than that MV were running at a loss with no big pockets to come to the rescue.

Personally I feel that the A-League has not grown any further has been because of A-League decisions. Let's face it, until this season we had Tilio and Bos to watch (and I won't forget O'Neill and Metclafe). I felt that those four should have been utilised more in promoting the League. 

[jw1739]

9 minutes ago, NewConvert said:

AAMI is central, close to eating/bars and PT. The club should not move away their games from there.

...

Absolutely spot on.

The only promotion has been a series of stupid decisions by APL, and by MOPT putting the brakes on fans. And as a club we get nothing like we used to get about behind the scenes stuff.

[playmaker]

Makes sense that MCFC move away from AAMI. 

With new Melbourne clubs being added in the next few years which are strategically geographically located, it will change the future blueprint of Australian football going forward. It will definitely move members of Victory and City to the more local clubs where their is more connection to a grass roots identity. 

Having an attendance of 6k or less in a 35k stadium just doesn't seem viable and it sanitises the experience for onlooker.

My prediction is that MCFC and Victory will see a 20 to 30 percent reduction in crowd numbers (Victory more so), which,IMO is the cost of expanding the league to a more grassroots level.

It seems smart to me that City grab a foothold in Dandenong before the horse has bolted.

 

[jw1739]

8 minutes ago, playmaker said:

Makes sense that MCFC move away from AAMI. 

With new Melbourne clubs being added in the next few years which are strategically geographically located, it will change the future blueprint of Australian football going forward. It will definitely move members of Victory and City to the more local clubs where their is more connection to a grass roots identity. 

Having an attendance of 6k or less in a 35k stadium just doesn't seem viable and it sanitises the experience for onlooker.

My prediction is that MCFC and Victory will see a 20 to 30 percent reduction in crowd numbers (Victory more so), which,IMO is the cost of expanding the league to a more grassroots level.

It seems smart to me that City grab a foothold in Dandenong before the horse has bolted.

Completely disagree. It's pie in the sky stuff that Australia is going to develop multiple viable clubs playing at a national level. We can't even find 12 now. And even the most viable one - City - isn't prepared to have its own stadium.

Even the League itself seemingly can't survive without selling itself.

Edited January 13 by jw1739

[fensaddler]

9 hours ago, playmaker said:

Makes sense that MCFC move away from AAMI. 

With new Melbourne clubs being added in the next few years which are strategically geographically located, it will change the future blueprint of Australian football going forward. It will definitely move members of Victory and City to the more local clubs where their is more connection to a grass roots identity. 

Having an attendance of 6k or less in a 35k stadium just doesn't seem viable and it sanitises the experience for onlooker.

My prediction is that MCFC and Victory will see a 20 to 30 percent reduction in crowd numbers (Victory more so), which,IMO is the cost of expanding the league to a more grassroots level.

It seems smart to me that City grab a foothold in Dandenong before the horse has bolted.

 

I love it that my support, and that of my mates, all supporters since the Heart days, might be considered disposable. We live anywhere from Colac over to the Bellarine. We're not going to make it regularly, if at all, if the club moves.

[jw1739]

44 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

I love it that my support, and that of my mates, all supporters since the Heart days, might be considered disposable. We live anywhere from Colac over to the Bellarine. We're not going to make it regularly, if at all, if the club moves.

You're not alone. I live in the so-called south-eastern suburbs, 15km from the city centre, very close to 15km by train on both readily-accessible railway lines to Richmond Station. I have been to AAMI only once by car, that when both lines were closed. No way am I going make the trek to Dandenong or beyond to Casey Fields, particularly for KO times that are not even convenient now.

Major sports facilities in central Melbourne make good sense because of Melbourne's radial train system. Their location encourages family participation. If the club moves it will be a sad farewell from me.

[playmaker]

11 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Completely disagree. It's pie in the sky stuff that Australia is going to develop multiple viable clubs playing at a national level. We can't even find 12 now. And even the most viable one - City - isn't prepared to have its own stadium.

Even the League itself seemingly can't survive without selling itself.

It is not pie in the sky stuff jw, they are doing it.

2 divisions and promotion and relegation which will decentralise football and bring people back to the game.

 

 

[jw1739]

4 minutes ago, playmaker said:

It is not pie in the sky stuff jw, they are doing it.

2 divisions and promotion and relegation which will decentralise football and bring people back to the game.

What they are doing and what's viable do not necessarily coincide. The track record isn't exactly a glory story...

[playmaker]

10 hours ago, jw1739 said:

What they are doing and what's viable do not necessarily coincide. The track record isn't exactly a glory story...

I agree with the questionable viability of the change however I am pointing to the impact the change will have on us and victory.

[citypool]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/half-of-apl-s-workforce-to-be-made-redundant-amid-a-league-financial-concerns-20240116-p5exm5.html

[jw1739]

No surprise to me. There's precious little left to sell.

[belaguttman]

The product is good, better than it has been in the past. It seems impossible to sell, though: Eurosnobs won't consider the A-League until it's better than EPL, Traditional NSL club supporters still have their noses out of joint nearly 20 years later, promotion is terrible, and the product is too expensive to attend, at least let kids in for free. There's next to no MSM coverage; The Guardian has gone from a weekly review of the weekend's games to no coverage at all, and that is the most football friendly of the MSM media sites; there's no coverage whatsoever on SBS anymore.

Edited January 16 by belaguttman

[kingofhearts]

1 hour ago, belaguttman said:

The product is good, better than it has been in the past. It seems impossible to sell, though: Eurosnobs won't consider the A-League until it's better than EPL, Traditional NSL club supporters still have their noses out of joint nearly 20 years later, promotion is terrible, and the product is too expensive to attend, at least let kids in for free. There's next to no MSM coverage; The Guardian has gone from a weekly review of the weekend's games to no coverage at all, and that is the most football friendly of the MSM media sites; there's no coverage whatsoever on SBS anymore.

Pretty much this. 

We can't get any type of mainstream media coverage because the footy codes essential own all of the most important platforms.

It doesn't mean that we can't be a successful sport (the nbl for example is killing it) but the governing body needs to be way more active in promoting and getting people to games instead of sitting on their hands and expecting people to come to it.

[MHFC-FAN]

5 hours ago, belaguttman said:

The product is good, better than it has been in the past. It seems impossible to sell, though: Eurosnobs won't consider the A-League until it's better than EPL, Traditional NSL club supporters still have their noses out of joint nearly 20 years later, promotion is terrible, and the product is too expensive to attend, at least let kids in for free. There's next to no MSM coverage; The Guardian has gone from a weekly review of the weekend's games to no coverage at all, and that is the most football friendly of the MSM media sites; there's no coverage whatsoever on SBS anymore.

Also something small yet surely not too costly that was generating excitement was the keepup episodes. Not only did they cheap out and cut them down from 20ish minutes to 6 or so. But now they APL are shutting down keepup altogether according to that article above...😒

[Baka1]

If Optus ever gets the rights the game will explode. Trust me

[marn11]

I was a rusted on A-League fan (would watch 2 or 3 games a week), but now I only follow City from afar. My interest was already waning, but the move to Paramount has meant I only watch one or two games a season. My guess is there would be many like me, where Paramount has little to offer outside of the ALM, so it became a bridge too far to pay the subscription unless you're a diehard fan. 

Agree with the above - I'd probably re-engage if Optus had the rights. 

[neio]

The game has died on the back of paramount, I subscribe to paramount for the 6 months of aleague season and then delete it. The only other thing that gets watched on paramount in my house is Paw Patrol and Blues Clues, there is zero chance anyone is getting paramount for their entertainment shows and stumble across the aleague. It's simply less eyeballs watching and having less eyeballs with the ability to watch 

[MHFC-FAN]

13 minutes ago, neio said:

The game has died on the back of paramount, I subscribe to paramount for the 6 months of aleague season and then delete it. The only other thing that gets watched on paramount in my house is Paw Patrol and Blues Clues, there is zero chance anyone is getting paramount for their entertainment shows and stumble across the aleague. It's simply less eyeballs watching and having less eyeballs with the ability to watch 

The APL pretty much found the worst of all the streaming platforms to sign a deal with. It took them 2 years just to add pause and rewind feature. Just the TV app alone is crap and buggy/slow. Really poor move for all concerned...

[citypool]

39 minutes ago, MHFC-FAN said:

The APL pretty much found the worst of all the streaming platforms to sign a deal with. It took them 2 years just to add pause and rewind feature. Just the TV app alone is crap and buggy/slow. Really poor move for all concerned...

Yes if they went on Stan it would of been better 

[MHFC-FAN]

22 minutes ago, citypool said:

Yes if they went on Stan it would of been better 

I think anything other than Pileofshit + would have been an improvement!!

[citypool]

https://melbournecityfc.com.au/news/20240118-fixture-update

 

 It's good the club is happy with Double headers and pushing for it. That's the sort of ambition I want to see 

Edited January 18 by citypool

[moops]

The administration and fucking selfishness in our game has killed it and it goes back to the NSL years. To many vested interests, rather that in the interest of the game overall.

There was the Crawford report done before the HAL was formed and Lowy chose to apply some and ignore the rest for example, as soon as the game was beginning to get some traction the PFA dug in the leeches for as much blood as they could extract. Active support was put down and defence of the game was negligible.

NPL clubs were ignored and support for coaches and whatnot was terrible.

There was a time where we were in a really good space, crowds were growing, viewers and media exposure was growing.

[Baka1]

2 hours ago, moops said:

The administration and fucking selfishness in our game has killed it and it goes back to the NSL years. To many vested interests, rather that in the interest of the game overall.

There was the Crawford report done before the HAL was formed and Lowy chose to apply some and ignore the rest for example, as soon as the game was beginning to get some traction the PFA dug in the leeches for as much blood as they could extract. Active support was put down and defence of the game was negligible.

NPL clubs were ignored and support for coaches and whatnot was terrible.

There was a time where we were in a really good space, crowds were growing, viewers and media exposure was growing.

That 2012-2017ish era was peak aleague 

[mattyh001]

On 17/01/2024 at 8:10 AM, Baka1 said:

If Optus ever gets the rights the game will explode. Trust me

 

On 17/01/2024 at 9:30 AM, marn11 said:

I was a rusted on A-League fan (would watch 2 or 3 games a week), but now I only follow City from afar. My interest was already waning, but the move to Paramount has meant I only watch one or two games a season. My guess is there would be many like me, where Paramount has little to offer outside of the ALM, so it became a bridge too far to pay the subscription unless you're a diehard fan. 

Agree with the above - I'd probably re-engage if Optus had the rights. 

Always thought the league benefited from Foxtel the most when our broadcast was coupled with the EPL.

Unfortunately the current administration are more interested in making a short buck than solid long term business decisions 

The sooner we join Optus the better 

[jw1739]

2 hours ago, Baka1 said:

That 2012-2017ish era was peak aleague 

2016/17 the peak for City attendances. Average home attendance except Derby - 9,417. Christmas Derby 25,706. 18,751 when we won the FFA Cup.

Downhill from there.

 

Edited January 18 by jw1739

[NewConvert]

1 hour ago, mattyh001 said:

 

Always thought the league benefited from Foxtel the most when our broadcast was coupled with the EPL.

Unfortunately the current administration are more interested in making a short buck than solid long term business decisions 

The sooner we join Optus the better 

It was Foxtel that cut the A-League as the return on investment did not meet the higher returns Rupert demanded. The rice was out of SBS' budget, so there wasn't much on the table.

[mattyh001]

1 hour ago, NewConvert said:

It was Foxtel that cut the A-League as the return on investment did not meet the higher returns Rupert demanded. The rice was out of SBS' budget, so there wasn't much on the table.

remember, that was after Foxtel lost the rights to the EPL.  I'm sure that Rupert was happy investing locally as they were getting oodles of eyeballs for the EPL and it added nicely to its portfolio.

[cremorne]

We’re seven points off the top of the table, need to start winning.

[MHFC-FAN]

1 hour ago, cremorne said:

We’re seven points off the top of the table, need to start 

A win this weekend would be massive!!

[cremorne]

Yes, because we’re down to 8th!

[citypool]

https://x.com/scout_aussie/status/1748985917313106115?s=20

 

Canberra rumored to be close to joining next season 

[Mr MO]

I know I’ve said we are mid table team looking at the quality at season start, when comparing the team vs the rest of the league. However I would still be extremely disappointed if we don’t even make the finals.

Edited January 21 by Mr MO

[NewConvert]

I tend not to watch Sydney FC as I think that they are given too much of a free ride by the refs. Against my better judgement I watched last night's game. And the only thing I can say is that Adam Kersey has to be about the worst ref the league has ever had. He is so random that he makes radioactive decay look predictable.

[belaguttman]

1 minute ago, NewConvert said:

He is so random that he makes radioactive decay look predictable.

Radioactive decay is predictable; that's how we can carbon date objects by measuring the level of radioactive carbon14 isotope. Adam kersey is the opposite of radioactive decay!

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, belaguttman said:

Radioactive decay is predictable; that's how we can carbon date objects by measuring the level of radioactive carbon14 isotope. Adam kersey is the opposite of radioactive decay!

Radiocarbon dating is used mainly for organic materials up to 50,000 - 70,000 years old. 

There are other methods if you go further back. Useful table here:
https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/dating-rocks-and-fossils-using-geologic-methods-107924044/#:~:text=To establish the age of,clocks to date ancient events.

And plenty of other simple sources of information.

[jw1739]

We're likely going to finish this round 5th, seven points off the pace (Phoenix).

[NewConvert]

8 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Radioactive decay is predictable; that's how we can carbon date objects by measuring the level of radioactive carbon14 isotope. Adam kersey is the opposite of radioactive decay!

Radioactive decay is also useful to produce a true random number generator. I worked with such devices in the 90s to produce unbreakable keys for IT equipment. These days they tend to use quantum optics.