David Williams

[kingofhearts]

 

 

Depending on the wage, it's probably a worthwhile signing.  Can be a very dangerous player in this league.  Putting the pronunciation of his name in the article seems a bit bizarre..

 

This is the problem i have with Williams.

 

We see glimpses of what he can do, his hatrick against Wellington, and even that goal against Perth and we say to our selves 'Wow, what an amazing player, imagine if he could do that consistently!'

 

But he never is consistent and never will be. His whole game is just a flash in the pan. Add to that he can't shoot from further than 5 yards out, has terrible touch on the ball and can't cross a ball to save his life and you are looking at a guy we are going to regret signing coming down the track. He's what, 26/27? he's not getting any younger, how much more improvement do people honestly think he has?

 

Would've rather let him go to another club to try and unlock his 'true potential'. Lets just hope he starts on the bench for most games. 

 

Really no player is perfect and if Williams was more consistent he'd probably be overseas or demanding Berisha like wages to stay. 

 

I don't disagree with you, but we know what we are going to get with Williams. Would rather give someone else a go.

[carlings]

Not sure yet about this.

[Torn Asunder]

People, this is the A-League we are talking about, not the EPL.  

 

At his current level, Willo is a good signing and a good option in going forward.  He is a crowd favourite, especially amognst the kids and he brings an x-factor.  Plus, he still has potential which will hopefully flourish during an off season spent at Manchester City.

 

I have said it before, the club needs to tinker around the edges with the playing list and only release players who are not capable of playing in the first team.  There is no reason why (with the new owners and the scouting options at the club's disposal), we cant have a list that is strong enough to field two competitive A-League teams.  This will give us an edge in the comps such as the FFA cup and ultimately the Asian cup, where player rotation should be practiced.

[Jovan]

If he scores 10 goals or more next season he's worth it, hopefully and most probably he hasn't used up our aussie marquee spot. Interested in hearing next few re signings/releases.  

[NewConvert]

"Why would we care about selling him? We have one of the richest club owners in the world! I like to think were not a selling club anymore considering this."

My comment:

That would be the case if there was no pathetically low salary cap in place.

But with a pathetically low salary cap in place it becomes impossible to keep the players you want to keep, especially if they improve and want a world market football salary based on their talent and not $50k or $75k or $100k or $125k a year because of our low salary cap.

 

Unfortunately too many Administrators are used to Aussie Rules football where there is no professional competition from anywhere else in the world, unlike our international game of football.

 

We can see this in the latest decree that will weaken the quality of our competition - out of nowhere comes the surprise decree telling clubs they will just be allowed 4 overseas players from 2015-2016.

 

 

The problem with paying ever higher salaries (assuming that the players justify their salaries)  is that it means higher fees for spectators. And multimedia rights will only go so far before the advertising that supports the rights becomes too expensive and then everyone goes bust. I seem to remember that about 15 years ago an enterprising British company paid astronomical fees for the rights to the Championship, League 1 and 2. The clubs were ecstatic and paid their players a corresponding sum of money. But the advertising was so horrendously expensive and the football so poor that advertisers stayed away and the public did not watch. End result was that the company went bust, clubs went bust and sanity was restored through a severe adjustment.

As for the AFL, well the reason they introduced the caps (salary and player) was that clubs such as Carlton continually poached the better players that the smaller clubs had developed. This meant that far too many games were lopsided and the top clubs remained perched at the top. This was leading to a drop in crowds and a drop in TV audiences. Hence the AFL came into existence along with the caps.

BTW the Europeans are moving in the same direction with the introduction of tighter financial scrutiny.

 

Right now I don't have access to all the financial details but it is well known that most clubs are not making a profit. So I think that the salary cap is probably about right since it enables a player to sustain a family (although not in luxury) and is not sending the clubs into receivership.

As for the PFA, my understanding was that they did not ask for a substantial increase in salary after the latest media rights but instead got a guaranteed salary from the FFA in case a club went bust (GCU did not pay their players) or were having financial issues (CCM last season).

 

People who want to remove all caps need to explain how they will sustain a competition that can grow and maintain interest without going bust.

[Kiro Kompiro]

People, this is the A-League we are talking about, not the EPL.  

 

At his current level, Willo is a good signing and a good option in going forward.  He is a crowd favourite, especially amognst the kids and he brings an x-factor.  Plus, he still has potential which will hopefully flourish during an off season spent at Manchester City.

 

I have said it before, the club needs to tinker around the edges with the playing list and only release players who are not capable of playing in the first team.  There is no reason why (with the new owners and the scouting options at the club's disposal), we cant have a list that is strong enough to field two competitive A-League teams.  This will give us an edge in the comps such as the FFA cup and ultimately the Asian cup, where player rotation should be practiced.

 

 

Maybe I'm not reading this right, but one reason is if a player is that good to be in a competitive A-League side, he will go to a club that will pay him first team wages?

 

Williams probably did enough for a 1 year extension with his 10 goals, but thats about it.

[mulhollanddrive]

Breaking down salaries, this would be the structure of our 23 man squad:

 

7 youth players, 3 exempt from salary, 4 on 40k = 160k

4 minimum wage squad players = 200k

3 marquees = 0

1 loan = 0

 

That leaves 8 players (4 locals and 4 internationals) for 2.14 million at an average of about 260k. 

 

Williams would probably be around that average, may be a bit more.

[Kiro Kompiro]

 

"Why would we care about selling him? We have one of the richest club owners in the world! I like to think were not a selling club anymore considering this."

My comment:

That would be the case if there was no pathetically low salary cap in place.

But with a pathetically low salary cap in place it becomes impossible to keep the players you want to keep, especially if they improve and want a world market football salary based on their talent and not $50k or $75k or $100k or $125k a year because of our low salary cap.

 

Unfortunately too many Administrators are used to Aussie Rules football where there is no professional competition from anywhere else in the world, unlike our international game of football.

 

We can see this in the latest decree that will weaken the quality of our competition - out of nowhere comes the surprise decree telling clubs they will just be allowed 4 overseas players from 2015-2016.

 

 

The problem with paying ever higher salaries (assuming that the players justify their salaries)  is that it means higher fees for spectators. And multimedia rights will only go so far before the advertising that supports the rights becomes too expensive and then everyone goes bust. I seem to remember that about 15 years ago an enterprising British company paid astronomical fees for the rights to the Championship, League 1 and 2. The clubs were ecstatic and paid their players a corresponding sum of money. But the advertising was so horrendously expensive and the football so poor that advertisers stayed away and the public did not watch. End result was that the company went bust, clubs went bust and sanity was restored through a severe adjustment.

As for the AFL, well the reason they introduced the caps (salary and player) was that clubs such as Carlton continually poached the better players that the smaller clubs had developed. This meant that far too many games were lopsided and the top clubs remained perched at the top. This was leading to a drop in crowds and a drop in TV audiences. Hence the AFL came into existence along with the caps.

BTW the Europeans are moving in the same direction with the introduction of tighter financial scrutiny.

 

Right now I don't have access to all the financial details but it is well known that most clubs are not making a profit. So I think that the salary cap is probably about right since it enables a player to sustain a family (although not in luxury) and is not sending the clubs into receivership.

As for the PFA, my understanding was that they did not ask for a substantial increase in salary after the latest media rights but instead got a guaranteed salary from the FFA in case a club went bust (GCU did not pay their players) or were having financial issues (CCM last season).

 

People who want to remove all caps need to explain how they will sustain a competition that can grow and maintain interest without going bust.

 

 

 

Its not about removing the cap-I actually agree with a cap, its about how that money is distributed.

 

What I would like is a TOTAL player wages cap that is inclusive of marquee players wages.

 

Say each club gets a valuable players allowance, say $2.5 million maximum, with no requirement that they be Australian.  Then $500k maximum for local youth marquee.Then add the squad cap eg $2.2 million

 

So all up you have a maximum player wages cap of about $5.2 million, indexed each season.

 

How the club spends this is up to them.  If you want to spend $2 million on a ADP-type, sure.  If they want to spend that $2,5 million across 5  quality imports topping up their wages by another $500k each, then thats fine too.

 

The requirement to have an Australian marquee doesn't take into account that right now, other than Cahill, there is no-one worthy of an Australian marquee wage.  Sorry but Bresciano and Kennedy whilst good footballers are not marquees.

 

And paying a guaranteed minimum wage means because of the limits on overseas players there are players in the league who simply are not even worth the minimum wage.

[Peter]

I'm glad that article clarified the pronunciation of his name.

Now that is all sorted, hopefully a solid pre-season working on finishing and playing with his back to goal will see DW excel next season. I like Williams but have been frustrated by those deficiencies in his play.

[belaguttman]

I think that it's good for us that he's re-signed, however what we don't know is:

how much he's being paid (hopefully less although I can't imagine that as league top scorer (and in essentially half a season) he'd settle for less

how he fits into the team structure. I'd leek to see him play more as a striker, even as a false 9 but playing him on the wing exposes too many of his limitations. I wouldn't want him as a main striker though unless we sign a good goal scoring midfielder (more goals than Mooy, more like Ono or Broich)

[marteaux]

Fantastic signing if he's agreed to sign on for lesser wages.

he's always been deadliest off the bench, and that's where we can expect to see him next year.

[belaguttman]

I'm glad that article clarified the pronunciation of his name.

 

Yes, that's been helpful, up until now I'd always thought that 'David' was pronounced 'Fuk-yoo.'

[GreenSeater]

Melbourne Heart fans, the only fans in the world that get disappointed when their club re-signs the equal top goalscorer in the league...

[Murfy1]

Williams signed for the next 2 seasons inside the cap (source: http://www.goal.com/en-au/news/4021/a-league/2014/03/21/4698586/melbourne-heart-re-sign-david-williams).

 

I haven't always been Williams biggest fan, but you can't argue with his output. He's scored 11 goals and is joint top goal scorer.

 

The fact is, even though he is frustratingly inconsistent, a player in the A-League can get away with being badly inconsistent and can still be one of the best/most effective players in the competition.

 

My biggest criticism of Williams is that his technique is poor, namely his first touch, his passing (although that's slowly, and i stress slowly, improving) and his ability to hold the ball up with his back to goal.

 

IMO he's not best suited to be an 'out-and-out striker', so if Williams was our 1st choice striker for next season, then I would be concerned. But I'm certain that won't be the case, so I reckon he'll either be our 2nd choice striker (who maybe even starts on the bench), or he'll play in a front 2, or he'll be a winger (probably a left winger). And I'm happy to have Williams fit in the team that way.

 

I also think this is a very smart first signing (with our most expensive Australian player being signed inside the cap), as it sends a message to the rest of the players that they'll have to settle for modest wages if they want to play at Heart next season.

 

 

So all up I'm happy with this signing, and I reckon Williams will benefit from the stability of remaining at the same club, and I reckon he'll match or surpass the impact he's made this season next season.

[wombegongal]

I think that it's good for us that he's re-signed, however what we don't know is:

how much he's being paid (hopefully less although I can't imagine that as league top scorer (and in essentially half a season) he'd settle for less

how he fits into the team structure. I'd leek to see him play more as a striker, even as a false 9 but playing him on the wing exposes too many of his limitations. I wouldn't want him as a main striker though unless we sign a good goal scoring midfielder (more goals than Mooy, more like Ono or Broich)

 

Inside the cap no doubt on less money I'd say. We have that type of bargaining power now. In other news speaking to a guy who knows a bloke who knows a dog that belongs to someone that knows stuff about things the blueprint for the club is to have 5-6 experienced players and recruit the best under 23 Australian players they can get. ie the best talent coming into heart every year. But I guess most of us knew this anyways.

[HeartMillsy29]

Glad that he is no longer the Australian marquee. Still has loads of potential, I think a solid pre-season under JVS and hopefully after spending some time over at City (like the whole squad will do at some stage) we can see him reach that. To sign one of the league's top scorers under the cap is fantastic and to think that he can still improve, things are really looking up . 

[Embee]

From the article Murfy1 posted:

 

"Williams though is one player certain to be around under the new regime. The Queensland-native joined Heart in June 2011 and is the team's current Australian marquee player, paid outside the salary cap. 

However, the club has confirmed he is no longer the domestic marquee under the terms of the new contract.

The 26-year-old forward has been in good form this season, netting 11 goals to lead the golden boot standings jointly with Besart Berisha of Brisbane Roar and the Newcastle Jets' Adam Taggart."

 

If that's the case then I'm actually quite pleased with this. They guy is a limited footballer but he's joint top scorer in the league and has proven to be a decent player at this level and someone that can notch up goals for the side.

 

I'd be seeking a more established striker to be our main man but Williams will be very useful.

 

Furthermore, the fact that he's no longer the Australian Marquee (and that Aaron Mooy apparently won't be either) would suggest to me that the club will be looking for someone to fill that spot.

Edited March 21, 2014 by King Malta

[Libero]

Im happy, but it all depends which Williams shows up.

[johnno cpfc]

Im happy, but it all depends which Williams shows up.

Totally agree, it has been a bone of contention every week as to which Williams will turn up. If he can become MORE concistent we may have a very good striker, yes that small word with a big meaning "IF"

[Libero]

 

Im happy, but it all depends which Williams shows up.

Totally agree, it has been a bone of contention every week as to which Williams will turn up. If he can become MORE concistent we may have a very good striker, yes that small word with a big meaning "IF"

 

 

to me, it seems the best of Williams shows up when the rest of the team plays well, but if we hit a bad patch he really loses confidence and goes missing. 

 

hopefully bad patches wont be a problem next year 

[Shahanga]

Am pleased we managed to (apparently) come to acceptable terms with the enigmatic David Williams.

 

He has lots of critics on here who fault him because he's not rounded and makes mistakes every week.  The thing is he's a striker, not a defender.  A defender makes regular mistakes you lose games.  A striker makes a mistake or 2 its not great, but if during the same game he does something brilliant, he'll score.  This wins you games.  

 

Willo has scored 11 goals this year so far.  I know some have said "all tap ins" (hardly! - vs Sydney?  vs Wellington? to name a couple of games) but even if they were who cares?  Anyone who's played up front knows tap ins are hard!  The tap in is easy, but the hard bit is being in the right place at the right time - otherwise the ball rolls harmlessly across the goals...  You need a strikers instinct and Willo has it.

 

On balance, considering the standard of the league, i am pleased to have him.

[LR9]

Melbourne Heart fans, the only fans in the world that get disappointed when their club re-signs the equal top goalscorer in the league...

He's taken 60 shots for those 11 goals (inc. pens), and that's just the shots hear gotten away. He's wasted so many great chances the team's created and it's cost us games.

Compare that to Berisha 47 For 11, and he hasn't been as clinical as last season.

At least he isn't as bad as Ramsay, 37 shots, 1 goal...

Edited March 21, 2014 by LR9

[xXJawsaXx]

Yeah, and the goal that Ramsay got was pretty much in because of a deflection

Anyway, I am happy with this, especially if he isn't our Australian marquee any more. Williams seems to do a lot better as an impact sub off the bench, so I am thinking that will be his role next season.

[Alexxandro]

 

Melbourne Heart fans, the only fans in the world that get disappointed when their club re-signs the equal top goalscorer in the league...

He's taken 60 shots for those 11 goals (inc. pens), and that's just the shots hear gotten away. He's wasted so many great chances the team's created and it's cost us games.

Compare that to Berisha 47 For 11, and he hasn't been as clinical as last season.

And compare the wages they are each going to be on next year. 750K for Berisha wasn't it? And probably 300k for Williams? 

[Miffy]

so now everyone is happy!! looolllll.....like i always say......you farken amazing fans!!! love your dreamers views!!! NOW WILLIAMS IS GREAT....ahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahha......sorry can't stop laughing

[hedaik]

Hes about 11 times better than you Miffy

[bt50]

Hes about 11 times better than you Miffy

Good call, I'd say 11 times is about spot on

[n i k o]

so now everyone is happy!! looolllll.....like i always say......you farken amazing fans!!! love your dreamers views!!! NOW WILLIAMS IS GREAT....ahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahha......sorry can't stop laughing

Actually I don't think he's great overall. He's great when he's banging in goals. He's quite average the rest of the time.

[jw1739]

IMO pretty much everyone has reservations about Willo. I am one of those. But it's pretty hard to go past re-signing one of the joint leading scorers in the league.

 

In the end JvS is making these calls. Apart from those very few players who are already contracted for next season he's making the final call on who goes, who stays, and who comes, and he'll be held to account for the results.

 

The more I think about it the more I think how much we need some continuity at the club.

[n i k o]

if hes played as anything but an impact striker next season ill be a bit dissapointed. 

[K-aram92]

if hes played as anything but an impact striker next season ill be a bit dissapointed. 

Exactly right IMO. I was initially annoyed at this decision as I've been pretty fed up with Williams this season. But since he's been signed under the salary cap I'm starting to like the decision more and more, as it's very likely we will sign a striker in the off season to be our first choice striker and I've always thought Williams would be a great player as long as he isn't the main man that we rely on to score. He's shown that he can be a great impact player for us in the last month or so

[Tbitm]

so now everyone is happy!! looolllll.....like i always say......you farken amazing fans!!! love your dreamers views!!! NOW WILLIAMS IS GREAT....ahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahha......sorry can't stop laughing

enjoy Malta mate (y)

[carlings]

Miffy can jog

[Deviant]

Williams vs Berisha in the battle of the Victorian clubs strikers.

Please sign another striker, City group + JD

[kingofhearts]

so now everyone is happy!! looolllll.....like i always say......you farken amazing fans!!! love your dreamers views!!! NOW WILLIAMS IS GREAT....ahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahha......sorry can't stop laughing

Miffy: 1

 

Society: 0

[moops]

Similar to what I said about Ramsey, with his flaws and inconsistanty, why is he better than a youth who has more in the tank to develop?

If he is going to come on as a sub, then personaly I would rather a youth who may be making mistakes and be inconsistant, but has a better chance of improving.

Garuccio has showen how beneficial it can be, even Mauk who is a lot better than Murdocca imho.

I can only surmise that Kewell might not be staying on, or he will be starting most games.

[marn11]

http://m.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/david-williams-says-heart-will-win-silverware-within-his-new-twoyear-contract-extension/story-e6frf4gl-1226862072003?from=public_rss&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Onya Dave.

Edited March 22, 2014 by marn11

[Murfy1]

Good on Williams for talking about lifting trophies.

 

[Bannon]

shocking game again hopefully his consistency lifts next season because if he is on fire i dont see why we cant win games like tonight.

[hakz7]

Barely any movement from him while playing as striker... No runs behind defenders, not trying to get in the box to meet crosses.