Somehow things went all wrong for Jonas Salley. He was in excellent form in the beginning of the season and had a stranglehold on the defensive midfielder position.
He then took the Australian citizenship test and passed it with flying colours and was free to represent Adelaide United as a local player for the Asian Champions League.
Or so he thought.
Adelaide United and FFA, whom Adelaide United took their advice from were unaware of a recent FIFA rule change where Jonas Salley had to be living in Australia for five years to be eligible as a local player for any continental or international competition despite the fact that he is an Australian citizen.
He had to sit and watch as Adelaide made their historic run to the ACL Grand Final. Even worse, he had to sit and watch Adelaide United in the A-League matches as well.
It’s one of the greatest mysteries of Adelaide supporters why Jonas Salley suddenly found himself on the outer.
This mystery intensified as the team started tiring and struggling to keep up with the tough schedule of playing both the ACL and the A-League at the same time. That could be partly explained in that Vidmar was trying to keep team cohesion during the ACL period by playing the first team regularly.
However, when the ACL finished and Adelaide had to play a few catch-up matches – and with Vidmar publicly explaining that fatigue was the reason for poor performance – the fresh Jonas Salley was still on the outer and then later it was announced that the club would release him when his contract expired.
His omission was starting to make some sense when Vidmar started lashing out about club politics during that infamous press conference. After clearing the air with the board, Costanzo, Diego and Salley returned to training with the first team.
Surprisingly, only Salley out of that trio made a return to the first XI and what a return it was.
In my opinion he was the man of the match, playing inspirational football. He worked tirelessly, dominated the midfield, won many tackles, grab many interceptions, showed good distribution, good technique and even surprised with some flair as he attempted a bit of dribbling and a back-heel pass. He was primarily responsible, with the help of Paul Reid, in controlling the first half and you could almost divide the match into two periods; the period with Salley and the period without him.
He was then inexplicably subbed off (oh, not politics again) in the 78th minute to a well-deserved standing ovation for his performance. It was no surprise that Queensland Roar had their best chances of the match after Salley was gone.
After a performance like that I hope Adelaide reconsider their decision to let him go. Whether it was Vidmar’s fault for not picking him, the club’s fault in interfering with football matters or Salley’s fault for handling the ACL omission poorly and not behaving as professional as he should, surely with a performance like this he earn the right to stay at the club. However, if he does still leave after the Grand Final, I and other fans will remember him fondly for this match.
Thanks for the memory Jonas.
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