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“The NSL was a better standard than the A-League.” That’s the verdict from Ljubo Milicevic, who started his professional career with NSL club the Melbourne Knights before racking up almost a half-century of appearances in the A-League with Melbourne Victory and the Newcastle Jets.
Ljubo lobbed up on The Roar last Friday and was typically forthright with his opinions, which included claims the old National Soccer League was of a higher standard than the A-League.
Eyeing off a move to Europe or possibly Asia at the end of his current stint with former NSL giants South Melbourne, Milicevic also lamented the dearth of personalities currently involved in the Australian game.
“Do not think I really want to play in Oz, it bores me to be honest, all the characters are gone,” he said.
Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that one of the most colourful NSL characters of all, ex-South Melbourne star Con Boutsianis, has just joined Gold Coast United as a specialist technique coach.
However, the crux of the argument is now a familiar refrain – standards in the A-League are lower than they were in the semi-professional NSL.
Milicevic is not the first high-profile personality to suggest as much, with SBS broadcaster Les Murray raising eyebrows with his assessment of the A-League three years ago.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the old NSL had a higher playing level,” Murray told SBS blogger Philip Micallef in early 2008.
“When you consider the level of marketing and promotion surrounding today’s game the technical standard of our teams is abysmally low,” he said.
But with Ange Postecoglou’s superb Brisbane Roar side wowing the critics last season, is it still the case that A-League standards are well below the level expected?
Many consider last season to be a watershed in terms of technical standards, with the likes of Thomas Broich and Marcos Flores helping the A-League reach new heights.
And with home-grown talent such as Matt McKay and German-bound duo Robbie Kruse and Matthew Leckie starting to shine, how do A-League players compare to the NSL stars of yesteryear?
According to Les Murray, teams like Marconi and Sydney United in the 1990s were “far more entertaining,” and it’s a comparison I’m familiar with having watched both sides go around on several occasions.
I’m not sure I’d call the Marconi sides of the 1990s all that entertaining – with apologies to Andy Harper and Kimon Taliadoros – but I certainly recall Branko Culina’s wonderful Sydney United of 1996-97, steered around the park by temperamental playmaker Kresimir Marusic.
I wonder how Marusic would have fared in the fully professional environment of the A-League, with its strong emphasis on fitness and physique and an overall faster pace of game.
Would have had time to put his foot on the ball, or would the much-travelled midfielder simply be out-hustled and out-muscled by the A-League’s powerful brand of defenders?
At the end of the day, there’s still plenty of overlap between the NSL and the A-League anyway – see both Postecoglou and Milicevic as examples – and the argument itself is largely academic.
The NSL has been consigned to the history books, its clubs now mostly plying their trades in various state leagues across the country.
But it’s still an interesting discussion, even if a percentage of A-League fans aren’t overly familiar with the domestic football played in this country before 2005.
Was the NSL technically better than the A-League? Or does the fully professional environment offered today give the fledgling A-League an advantage?
It’s an interesting question, so I’ll throw the floor open to comments from those who feel strongly one way or another.