I didn’t see anyone complaining about the A-League format, just pointing out that you can’t rule out any team from winning the competition.

If you are going to compare qualifying for the A-League finals to qualifying for the UCL, 60% of the teams in the A-League qualify whereas 20% of EPL teams qualify for the UCL. That’s a huge difference.

To finish 4th in the EPL you need to win more than half of your games, whereas to finish sixth in the A-League you only need to win around a third of your games. My point is you can have a very average season – or beginning to a season, as we have been discussing in the case of the Wanderers – and still be champions.

Growing pains is a good way of describing the situation. I guess the question then is can they simply ‘grow out’ of the pains just by riding out the time, or will it require a shake up of the roster in this transfer window or prior to next season.

I can’t see Popovic losing the job under any circumstance. Surely he has achieved enough in the first two and a half years for a fallow period to be viewed in context. However, should an attractive offer come from Asia or Europe, that could be a different story.

It looks like those teams who are not so successful on the pitch this year are seeing a drop at the turnstiles – Wanderers and Mariners for example. The exception seems to be Brisbane, who have a slight increase despite only being on the edge of the finals positions.

Thanks JB, it certainly is of interest.

I had a feeling Victory would be top, and there a very few surprises as you go down the list. For me the most important figure is the last one – an overall increase, which is good to see. Individual clubs will have various reasons for their own figures, so you need to balance it across the whole league to get a true representation.

Ultimately you can finish in the bottom half of the table (sixth place) for the regular season and still win the competition. The unique structure of the A-League means that as bad as the start has been, there absolutely is still everything to play for in the second half of the season.

Certainly before the Wanderers came along you would have to say Victory were leading the way in terms of active support, and especially with attendances. Even now I would have thought that Victory’s averages are pretty much the best in the league.

What has been so different about the Wanderers has been the atmosphere at the games. it’s the closest I have seen to the European leagues, and something the other codes in Australia can only dream of.

It was very clear from the vision that the RBB were far from happy about it and let the guy know exactly that. It’s good to see that even in difficult times the majority of fans know there is still a line that there is no need to cross.

The look on Shannon Cole’s face immediately after that moment was telling, he looked absolutely shell shocked. Like you say, he thinks nothing of walking over to the fans and engaging with them because that’s how the relationship has been between players and fans up to now. As I said in the article, the actions of one who goes too far generates the headlines but should no be considered representative of a support group as a whole. However, i am sure the players close by were still not expecting that.

Thanks for clarifying regarding the Poznan and chants. I confess that my attention waned somewhat at various points during that match – I’m sure I was not alone!

The last point you make is a good one abut the new owners, maybe they need to do a bit more to fully understand what the club means to the fans. It could also explain to a certain degree the situation surrounding the Club World Cup. As you say, better communication is probably all it needed to avoid the fuss in the first place – another example of where the previous administration perhaps had a better understanding of the club as a whole.

Regarding Saba, scouting goes beyond just what they can with the ball, it’s what they bring to the team and club as a whole. If he is not going to adapt tactically as required, this should have been identified before he was recruited. Similarly, if there is an issue with a player’s attitude, this is an area that should have been researched.

There is also the salary cap to contend with, which in terms of football salaries worldwide is extremely modest. Recruiting in these circumstances means you have to be clever, ensuring you make as few mistakes as possible.

Injuries are unfortunate and almost always out of a club’s control. But scouting and profiling is completely under their control, and if you invest in players who ultimately fail to fit embrace the culture or team ethic you are trying to foster, then as a coach or scout you have to take a big chunk of the responsibility for not being thorough.

It sound as though Mike Mulvey paid the price for this at Brisbane by recruiting players purely on video evidence.

Western Sydney as a region also has a larger population than Perth so I guess it’s all relative. For the sake of the league I think we would all like to see teams playing well and attracting increased attendances.

Given Palace’s predicament an experienced EPL coach makes sense.

But taking away this A-League season – which hasn’t finished yet, and could still end on a high – Popovic’s record is a top two finish in each season, a Premier’s Plate, two Grand Final appearances and a Champions League title.

Then there is also his stint as the Assistant Manager at Palace, so I think his credentials for that job are quite strong.

Transfer windows are simply a period in which you can finalise a deal and lodge a player registration, the scouting and recruiting process should be happening 365 days a year.

The January window does at least give the opportunity to cover injuries, and also to improve problem areas that have become apparent as the season unfolds. To be fair the majority of clubs in world football use it in some way. However, it can never be as preferable as getting a player in for pre-season and working with him for a period of time before he is expected to perform at his best.

Isn’t supporting a team all about the hope that they can go on and win something? Surely you will be happy if the Wanderers scrape into the six and then win just the three games it takes to be Champions? In the end this has come about as a result of a success that most fans would probably have taken as a trade for a dip in domestic form.

Hopefully the crowd figures stay high whatever happens as we’ve all seen the potential for how big the Wanderers can be. Show me a club in Australia in any code that gets 2-3k at the airport! And let’s not read too much into the scenes at the end of the game last night, there are those that go a bit over the top in any supporters group.

I think he expected them to remain in the top 5/6 but to not have won a game so far will have shocked him. As I said in the article, their season was always going to be disrupted by winning the ACL, and I think it’s fair to put it out there as a reason/excuse for their poor form in the league.

Let’s not forget that an entire squad was recruited in 2012 and went straight to the Grand Final, so it can’t all be flawed! Along the way there are certainly question marks, even in that first season with the likes of Dino Kressinger.

The loss of Mooy looks to be me to be the most significant given the way is playing for City. Popovic obviously believed that Saba would be a better option in that role but at this stage it’s not the case.

And yet 18 months ago they were the benchmark, fighting it out in the Grand Final. As I said in a reply above, you can’t stand still in the A-League these days.

The A-League moves forward every year, you simply can’t stand still. Look at Perth and Wellington, didn’t even make the finals last year and yet by tonight they could be the top two on the ladder.

You are spot on about the recruitment for both sides. The Mariners have now released two high profile imports this season, and let’s wait and see what happens with the Wanderers in the window.

Fair points there, it certainly is a risk to make wholesale changes, but when you haven’t won a game all season maybe you do have to bold. Six months – or less – is not enough time to for an overseas player to be judged. Some settle immediately and deliver the goods (Thomas Broich, Beshart Berisha or Shinji Ono for example) but it’s not the case for everyone.

With Saba and Adeleke you do wonder if the issue is not necessarily just about what happens on the pitch. Again, it’s only speculation and not to be taken as fact, but the stories of Popovic not being happy with their attitude do carry some weight when the players are being left out of squads.

Whatever he decides Popovic will ultimately be accountable for how things work out. If he was trailing Saba for two years and then cuts him loose after a few months then ultimately that means the scouting and profiling of recruits will be called into question.

With the A-League format as it is where six out of the 10 teams qualify then it is certainly possible to still make the finals, and therefore still even win the competition! As I said in the article, I even think that Popovic planned for such a scenario, that as long as they make it into the top six he backed them to win anywhere there were drawn in the finals. But he would have expected more points on the board by this stage, and as much as anything it’s the performances that are a concern – there is little sign that they are about to explode into life.

With the likes of Melbourne City moving up the table, the points gap to sixth place is becoming too wide – it could be double figures by the time the break for the Asian Cup comes into effect. That leaves the Wanderers needing to win almost all of their games in the second half of the season, remembering that they again have to squeeze in six ACL matches in that time.

I actually think Popovic will stay, and until he wins an A-League Grand Final I think he will feel he has unfinished business at the Wanderers. However, if there is one job in the world that would test his loyalty it’s surely the Palace job. So when it became available this week, and with the Wanderers having a difficult season, I’m sure there were a few fans who though this could be the time when he takes up a new challenge.

As for the players, I think there is too much smoke for there to be no fire. To have two of your key recruits for this season not even in the squad for the Mariners game is strange to say the least, especially a player like Saba when anyone can see that the Wanderers need some creativity in the final third.

My personal opinion is that he has lost faith in those players, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are moved in the window. However, I actually think Wanderers fans should see this as a positive. As I said at the end of the article, it at least shows that Popovic is prepared to be ruthless and take whatever steps he sees as necessary to salvage the A-League season. Such actions are rarely displayed by coaches who are looking to move on in the near future.

All fair points there Mike, and your last paragraph basically sums up my point in a nutshell. As I said in the title, I welcome the investment and the positives it will bring, but I just want to see the league protect itself where necessary.

The reason I posed the question was that this is a new scenario for the A-League and FFA. My feeling is the EPL missed its opportunity around the turn of the century – or earlier – to put measures in place to maintain a fair and even competition.

I don’t think anybody would argue against the merits of world class players coming to the A-League, and if they came at an age closer to their prime because of the increased finances on offer then that can only be a positive as well.

You are right to say that it would become the responsibility of the other clubs to step up, but what happens when it is beyond their resources to do so? This is what has happened in the EPL where a group of 4-6 clubs have dominated the top positions for a long time. Where would that leave the A-League equivalents of say Stoke, Aston Villa or Newcastle? These are well established teams who sometimes flirt with relegation or maybe have a good charge up the table towards European places.

Remember, we don’t have cup competitions (yet) or a secondary Asian tournament equivalent to the Europa League for mid table teams to aspire to. Without that then each season for these kind of teams just becomes repetitive and uninteresting.

I just worry that if a split does occur and the bigger/richer clubs leave the rest behind, then the fans of those clubs will just walk away and the A-League is damaged.

Well they are certainly in the same category as City in terms of the EPL, but I didn’t mention them as they have not invested in the A-League.