By AndyRoo -
October 28th 2009 @ 1:51am
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Week of shocks in never predictable A-League
In a week of twist and turns in the A league, the end result was a weekend of surprises. How can next week match it?
First Shock: Melbourne Victory trusting the kids
Ernie Merrick is often criticised for not bringing on a lot of young players considering his background in youth development, perhaps unfairly because Leijer and Ryall (now at SFC) look to be good footballers.
Friday night, he gave a start to 20 year old (just!) Mate Dugandzic, and 2 goals later, a star was born.
The end result of Melbourne Victory beating Adelaide wouldn’t have shocked anyone, so credit to those Adelaide fans that showed up thinking they could break the curse.
Second Shock: The upsets
Wellington, Newcastle and the Fury all went into their games as underdogs and all emerged with 3 points. The scenes in Townsville after they got their first win would have brought smiles to the FFA suits that have lately been copping a hammering about the expansion.
Third Shock: A team responds to fan pressure
It may have took them 10 rounds and a few record low attendances, but Brisbane Roar responded to supporters groups complaining about tickets and introduced the $15 (concession and kids cheaper) corner bay. Coupled with a new coach and only their second night game of the season (the first pulled 19k), this should be the turning point for their season.
Fourth Shock: 6 nil
Wellington went into the game as underdogs but emerged as 6 goal winners, equaling the record set by Melbourne victory over Adelaide in the Season 2 Grand Final. It hasn’t emerged what the repercussions of that result will be for the Gold Coast, other than a promise by Miren Bleiberg to change the line-up.
He has told the players to take 2 days of and not show up for training until Wednesday, so perhaps Miren isn’t sure himself how to turn this one around.
Fifth Shock: The Perth Glory defense
The cheeky Robbie Fowler free kick ensured a few extra set piece training sessions for the Glory boys, and along with Daal’s wonderful strike, 3 points for the Fury this week.
Sixth Shock: All the home teams won
Melbourne and Brisbane are two teams that have been more impressive interstate than at home at times and even the Fury had a win in Sydney before grabbing their maiden home victory. All up quite surprising for every home team to grab the 3 points but a nice reward for their fans.
Seventh Shock: Gold Coast United off the field
Covered by Con Stamocostas was Gold Coast’s plan to cap the crowds at 5,000. On the back of a 6 nil loss to Wellington, they are really following through with it.
I will leave the end of the column in the hands of big Clive, having received the following letter from the desk of the big man:
CHANGES TO MEMBER SEATING ARRANGEMENTS
Due to ongoing low attendances at Gold Coast United home games, the club has decided to open only the Western Stand at Skilled Park for our next home game against North Queensland Fury (8pm Saturday, October 31). This will have the effect of limiting the attendance to 5 000, and also requires the club to relocate members from other grandstands into the Western Stand.All members (except for those already located in the Western Stand) have been assigned new seats to accommodate this arrangement. All members affected by this change have today been sent a letter in the mail with their new seating allocation, while members who already have Western Stand seats will remain unchanged.
To gain entry to Skilled Park for this game, you will need to collect a temporary ticket from the Gate B Box Office from 6pm on Saturday night. Please make sure you bring your membership card to the stadium, as you will need to produce it in order to receive your temporary ticket/s. We will have an envelope with tickets for each primary account holder waiting for collection, and while we will process everyone as quickly as possible it would be advisable to arrive a little early to avoid the queues. Alternatively, you may also collect your temporary tickets from the Gold Coast United office (Ground Floor, 9 Ouyan St, Bundall) on Friday October 30 from 9am – 4pm.
Please note that as part of this new stadium arrangement, match tickets and memberships do not include free public transport to and from the game. There will be no special event bus or train services in operation however there is parking available near the stadium.
Make sure you retain your current membership card/s, as should this situation change your membership will automatically revert to your existing seats.
You will be sent further details to keep you updated with this situation for future home games.
Clive Palmer
Chairman & Owner
Gold Coast United
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Both the sydney clubs seem to be pitching for the more committed...
Art Sapphire said | October 28th 2009 @ 8:47am | Report comment
Andy – nice summary.
However, the first shock was not a shock.
I noted last week after the Melbourne’s game with Newcastle that the introduction of Mate in the second half helped change the course of the game and not only would he start against Adelaide but we are looking at a potential Socceroo.
Merrick’s has never been one to take risks. The way the kid has been tearing it up at training justified his selection and it was no surprise to see him do so well. Unlike other kids in the A-League, Mate possesses skill and composure. He is a natural footballer.
The pleasant surprise was the wonderful football Melbourne played last Saturday.
The mosquito fleet of guest player Suksomkit, Mate and Archie tormented the Adelaide defence.
Everyone left the ground on Saturday with big smiles on their faces. Its one thing to win but its quite another to see your team win and play the beautiful game as well.
dasilva said | October 28th 2009 @ 9:08am | Report comment
According to the article from SMH http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/football/ffa-considering-action-after-palmer-caps-gold-coasts-crowds-at5000/2009/10/27/1256405389241.html
COntrary to previous comments that the capping the 5000 crowds was to avoid extra tax.
It’s was actually part of the stadium agreement that Palmer signed with. That over 5000 crowds, he has to pay an extra $100,000. That he can only break even if the crowd is 10,000. Therefore unless he can make 10,000 like he previously expected he is capping it at 5000 to ensure he doesn’t lose that much money
Well, this is then entirely palmer’s fault then. He overestimated the crowds he was going to get (or he stuffed up the promotion so badly that the crowds didn’t come) and he’s the one that sign the agreement to pay more money if the crowd goes above 5000.
If this continues, the club will never grow to the 10,000 break even mark. This just seems to me as Palmer throwing in the towel as he’s no longer willing to work for increasing crowds to the game.
I guess this is a warning of getting someone running the club with no love for the game.
True Tah said | October 28th 2009 @ 9:19am | Report comment
dasilva
the way Palmer was going on about the Titans and the AFL, you would think he has a love for the game.
The FFA should be very careful about dealing with this, Palmer has a reputation for suing people at the drop of a hat.
I was disappointed by his comments about Frank Farina needing to go to AA, the bloke has given more of himself to Australian futbol than Clive ever has or ever will.
Pippinu said | October 28th 2009 @ 9:20am | Report comment
das
you’re right about that last point.
Two other points:
1. billionaires like Palmer are used to doing whatever the hell they want;
2. contrary to what many had hoped, he’s not going to just throw around money willy nilly – that’s not the way billionaires think – if they can save 2 cents on their tax they’ll move heaven and earth to do it.
dasilva said | October 28th 2009 @ 9:24am | Report comment
Well apparently this isn’t an extra tax
THis is part of the stadium agreement that Palmer signed off on as he was confident of getting an average crowds of 10,000
Now that the crowds didn’t come he is now capping it. Really this is just a serious financial misjudgement by Palmer rather then him being unfairly tax for his own success then billionaires generally like to complain about.
Well this doesn’t seem like a decision made by a person with long term vision for the club.
Pippinu said | October 28th 2009 @ 9:28am | Report comment
You’re right there – it does look like a misjudgement.
What I don’t understand is that 10,000 only produce a break even position – so it sounds like he knew he was going to make zero money in even a best case scenario?
I dunno – who knows why the hell he got involved.
Pippinu said | October 28th 2009 @ 9:29am | Report comment
Just a general comment – the AFL learned that private ownership of clubs was fraught with danger back in the 80s (with the likes of Edelsteen and Skase no less!!).
So – yes – the lesson is that private ownership is fraught with danger.
Gibbo said | October 28th 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
it really seems like this clive palmer is a bit of a jerk.
Redb said | October 28th 2009 @ 9:44am | Report comment
What a big dud Clive Palmer is.
At least AFL clubs Nth Melb and the Bullies copped their losses on low crowds to ensure all fans could still attend even if it meant they would lose big money.
Capping your home crowd has to be the worst PR decision in living memory.
The Titans and GC17 thank you for your stupidty.
Redb
M1tch said | October 28th 2009 @ 11:26am | Report comment
Michael Searle would have a smirk on his face today lol
Robbos said | October 28th 2009 @ 9:46am | Report comment
Great summary Andyroo, I think you covered it pretty well for last week.
Was also interested to hear from a MV supporter about the kid Mate, to see if he is the real thing. I hope he lives up to your prediction Art & becomes a top line socceroo, hopefully he will leave MV soon.
There are afew good kids coming along & getting good A-League exposure, Mate with MV, Leckie with AU, Oar & Nichols at BR, Danning & Grant at SFC, Kantaovski at NJ & I’m sure there is afew more, these players are our future, may they all prosper.
As for Palmer, the A-League is not in that strong a position to get rid of a billionaire from our game, he would need to alot more wrong for them to do that. Lets move on.
Art Sapphire said | October 28th 2009 @ 10:18am | Report comment
Robbos – Mate signed a 2 year deal with MV. So hopefully, he won’t be leaving until he finishes his contract. There is no rush. He needs to play weekly, put on some weight and achieve consistency over the next 2 seasons before even contemplating another move to Europe.
Robbos said | October 28th 2009 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
Good sound advice Art (see Nathan Burns). Are you his manager?
It would be good to see this kid develop, he has that natural skill, seems to have time, not many Australian players have it, Bridge at SFC has it, but only uses rarely, Nichols at BR has it, but has lost his way this year & I always thought Robbie Kruse had it too until his well publicised fall last year.
As long as he doesn’t score too many against SFC, I’m happy to see Mate hang around for a couple of years for the sake of the Socceroos.
AndyRoo said | October 28th 2009 @ 10:03am | Report comment
By moving it to the western stand it means that the cheapest Adult ticket is $42!
As to what the FFA should do, I think just ride it out. There is a savage rift between fans and the club now so there is little that can be done to salvage the club this year without spending a lot of money. Open a dialogue find out if Palmer has a plan and let things take their course.
It’s possible they just made a huge mistake in their estimate at how much support they would get and their pricing was really wrong (highest in the comp even before the change). It’s a new team less than half a season old so mistakes can happen. If they came out with a plan say alternative grounds for next year with Skilled only hosting the derbies and finals matches and communicated why they have to do that in the short term. Basically show the club is along term proposition he would at least get most of his supporters on his side.
Now I can’t imagine them selling a single membership next season and I imagine if they don’t qualify for the ACL Palmer will walk away.
I really feel for the fans, people like KB, Gaz, Realfootball…they just wanted a team.
And it is a really really bad look given the world cup bid.
whiskeymac said | October 28th 2009 @ 10:26am | Report comment
maybe the FFA’s moving of the Roar _GCU first up clash wasnt such a bad move after all.
if there are 8000 registered players on the GC, and they need 10000 to break “even” doesnt this mean GCU would have had to promote itself like crazy, be family friendly, have reasonable prices etc and engage the community a la CCM? by all accounts they havent done any of that – were they relying on “bling” to wow the masses? (bit of a gamble in a salary capped comp, even with smeltz, porter, culina and blieberg on board).
other interesting news being the rumoured mergers between Sydney Rovers and Neill’s GWS lot. why do they need to merge with others?what does this mean? that the bid maybe wasnt the strongest it cld be/ ready at the time the licence was awarded? am hoping that it just means they are open to ideas and looking to strengthen themselves without being arrogant enough to see themselves as not needing to use new ideas etc rather than another playing out of the NQ bids way back when… or maybe it’s just a quiet news day and the story was rolled out for people like me to waste 5 minutes on =)
AndyRoo said | October 28th 2009 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
Americans allready running with it
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2009-10-27-4208344187_x.htm
dasilva said | October 28th 2009 @ 3:53pm | Report comment
I have a feeling that next year, Melbourne Hearts will replace Gold Coast next year and the A-league will remain a 10 team competition
This capping seems like cutting your losses before pulling the plug.
The only thing that’s going to save the gold Coast is an ACL spot. Although saying that i’m not too sure it will be good for Australian football for a club in this much shambles to get that spot.
Art Sapphire said | October 28th 2009 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
I agree dasilva – a 10 team comp without GC looks very plausible unless the FFA steps in asap and take the license off Palmer. You can’t charge $42 adult,$25 fior juniors and limit the ground capacity.
Palmer is bringing the game into disrepute. The GC supporters and football supporters in Australia deserve better.
Pippinu said | October 28th 2009 @ 4:19pm | Report comment
Geez – that’s a big call – but I guess they can quickly get the Canberra bid back up and running before it’s too late to keep the teams at 12 when Rovers comes in.
Art Sapphire said | October 28th 2009 @ 4:24pm | Report comment
I can’t think of another club administration that has done so many thing wrong in such a short space of time. Its mind boggling! If the FFA want an 11 team comp next season hey have some serious work to do.
The wounds at GC are gaping and they will not heal quickly.
dasilva said | October 28th 2009 @ 4:37pm | Report comment
Well there has been few clubs in history involve in match fixing and bribing referees. There’s also a chinese club that pulled out of the C-League in protest of a decision to suspend one of their players.
So it’s not the worst piece of club management I have ever read about.
however capping crowds is pretty bad and it’s up there with the worst of them at least in Australian history.