A-League needs big spenders and bigger stars

Surely the first time Mile Sterjovski has been referred to as mouth-watering.

Ben of Phnom Penh One of the biggest disappoitments of the A-League has been poor take up of the marquee player. The marquee player is the credibility needed to pull in those Euro fans who watch the EPL on Fox. Many are savvy football fans & expect to see quality footballers on the park. If each club had an overseas marquee,a Socceroo marquee & a youth marquee the attraction of the A-League to the "educated" fan would be greater. It hasnt happened in general. What disappoints me is that many football fans whinge about the worth of such a player. Lets build up the squad,train up the youth,lets have uniform mediocrity. The fact is that we will never "train up" a player such as Larsson & see him in the A-League. This guy is the finished article after years of plying his trade at the highest level of football. Sure hes slower older but hes still quality. What we will see & only ever will see from players stepping up from the youth league is a potential Larsson. Because after no more than 2 years of A-League football, off he goes overseas & if we get things right to a big club not one in the Romanian truck drivers League. OK some clubs dont have the money & it seems that in the first 4 years of the A-League that is understandable,but then in comes big Clive whos got the dough & people still whinge about bringing in Larsson. Dont get it ,dont fans want to see quality footballers. If you have the money make the most of the system ,if you havent you cant. Black & white to me. After all football operates that way anywhere around the world. A salary cap wont change the fact that some clubs will always be bigger than others & in our system any club with the dough to finance a marquee player should be lauded. If they dont have such finance ,theres nothing to stop them being street smart in their football recruiting & getting decent exciting players from the right places or the right age within the salary cap(Hernandez,Miller etc). Something CCM failed to do prior to the ACL & it would seem Lawries clone at NQF is making the same mistake despite Fowler. Its all about balance & working with what you've got. Clubs shouldnt be frowned upon for making the most of the system.

Adrian, we realise that you are not being overcritical of United as they haven't indeed made any big name signings and the fact remains that known names will put a certain number of bums on seats that otherwise would not be there. The issue is more around how smart clubs have been with their marquees. It is good to see some younger marquees in the A-League, and some World Cup stars to boot as to date the marquees have been generally underwhelming.

Adrian, I don't think you are being harsh on AUFC, but maybe the comments you have chosen from Viddie give that impression. He was clearly fustrated by AUFC's inability to attract that 'big name' to the club, it may be affecting the clubs efforts to attract new owners. I personally found Bianco's insistence that new owners/investors be from South Australia very fustrating, especially given South Australia's lack of high net worth individuals. On another note, for all the song and dance around GCU's signings I think that PG have had the best recruitment drive.

The A-League really needs bigger crowds, more exposure, larger sponsorship deals and a bigger TV rights deal, so it can attract the big spenders to buy the big stars.

Too true, Ryan Steele. Throughout the rather successful history of the club the best performers for Adelaide have hardly constituted "big name signings" (Djite, Burns, Qu, Fernando, Cristiano, Reid, Jamieson, Cassio, Oganovski, Dodd etc). I'm sure that with it's signing of an AFC player and it's continued development of youth the club will continue to be successful. It won't be easy however it never was. Personally I'm pretty happy with the signings to date.

"But Adelaide have hardly added much to the team that last year couldn’t get on top of Melbourne." Bit harsh, and not to be offensive, but a little uneducated, too. A huge amount of the team has been changed, and added to, meaning the starting XI and formation will no doubt look different to last year's Adelaide United. The one thing that worries me about this year's signings, though, is that although the media should be happy that Adelaide United are focusing on developing their squad, and have even bought an Asian player that hasn't even proven himself in a professional league (straight from Kunkuk University, in Korea) - an idea that many pro-Asian media have been trying to promote - there will be a lot of criticism over the lack of big-name signings, causing United's off-season to be overshadowed by the likes of Gold Coast, North Queensland, and Perth. "Worry" is probably not the best word, really. It's something that frustrates me about "the media." Damned if you do, damned if you don't, really.

Aurelio is a moaner full stop, he must be difficult for the management to work with. He cried poor last year and is poor again with these comments. Toughen the heck up. If you have spent your money unwisely, tough mate. I like to see the big names come in, they add spice to the whole competition. The marquee status gives a team a chance to have someone special, and someone for all kids to see locally and to aspire to. They are only one of a team though, and the teams with overall strength will go well this year, as suspensions and injuries take their toll. Love all the speculation, but bring on the season, it's been a long off season

I agree that this year is shaping up to be a bun fight, there are lots of good signs across the whole competition - many strong signings or stable growth. I think that this will be another close year, no one is going to run away at the top of the table - predict that after 10 rounds that the gap in points from 1st to last is no more than 7 points.

But Adelaide have hardly added much to the team that last year couldn't get on top of Melbourne. With a rejuvenated Sydney, stable Melbourne, Gold Coast looking good, Brisbane with their exciting young prospects and even Perth getting their act together, I think Adelaide could be in for a fight in that tight pack.

Adelaide are looking solid this year, particularly with Mullen emerging as a decent defender. The main concern will be leadership in the back four which will fall primarily to Fyfe. The rest of the squad is looking very good, particularly on the left. I think as per usual Adelaide won't have anything dramatic in the artillery yet will continue to get results as they play together as a team. I'm hoping some of the young kids have a good season and provide the depth to the squad that will be sorely required for the ACL campaign.

Shin In Sup has been signed by AU on 2 year contract. Also forgot they have these imports:- "He will join fellow imports; Brazilian trio Cassio, Alemao and Cristiano plus fellow new Reds signing, English born Ghanaian international Lloyd Owusu." http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25706220-5000940,00.html Adelaide will be up there again. As long as its not at the Roars expense again. Van Dijk scored a hat trick over the weekend in a trial agains BPL side Brisbane Wolves & Charlie Miller had half a game on his comeback trail. Mitch Nicholls is also looking good & Kruse. Murdocca has broke his leg in training,but we can cover that.

some excellent posts on this blog. on the issue of money - is Adelaide likely to get a (signon) payment if Djite moves to Hajduk Split? i know some player contracts allow for old clubs to benefit from future player movements... might be a way for HAL clubs to continue to realise some money from their "investments"?

I agree with Ryan. I think Adelaide's team looks very strong this season. Apart from Ognenovski, who've they really lost?

Adelaide will no doubt be expected to come into the upcoming season as underdogs to three or four other clubs (being Gold Coast, Sydney FC, the Victory, and possibly Perth), merely due to the lack of "big name signings," but their pre-season has shown a lot of promise, and with a still-incomplete squad, they could keep going from strength to strength. They still have a few remaining spaces (though they are only likely to fill one or two), and a few of the players being trialled at the moment look like they could bring a lot of quality to the park (namely In-Sup Shin and Aron Wilford). I don't agree with the notion that a lack of name signings equates to lackluster (or non-significant) signings. It's easier for a team to gel, when they're equally-skilled, or more able to develop their talents further. Other players on the park are less likely to work as well with a higher-skilled player, if they can't understand the movements. It's more about finding the right mixture of players to compliment and build upon what's already there. Gold Coast have moved in leaps and bounds, obviously, with signings and squad development, over the last year, and I applaud them for what they've achieved in that time. They will be a great focal point for both national and global attention (as will the Fury, for having Robbie Fowler), and it's what the league needs. I'm yet to be able to take them seriously, though, and it will take some time for me to respect them as a club (not that it really matters to them, of course). A Gold Coast-based club, cashed-up, and using a home kit similar to that of Brazil, really does seem like nothing more than a novelty. I agree that what they're doing is excessive, in terms of throwing money around like nobody's business (more so than what we saw with Sydney in the first year), but at this stage, I believe it's beneficial to the league, and will be a great learning experience/centrepiece of entertainment for everyone involved. I would really like to see Henrik Larsson playing in our league, and the best of luck to the club in their attempt at getting his signature.

True Tah I'll let you know when he actually gets on the park. So far missing in action. But lets presume he eventually straps on his boots. Unlike Lardarse Charlie Miller who can create & score goals Robbie is an out & out goal scorer. So he needs good delivery from his teammates to do so no matter how fit. Can Fury do that. So far the signs arent great having lost 4 preseason matches on the trot with unfavourable reports. Time will tell on this score. However that leaves a proviso to my previous post. The Marquee/Guest business is a 2 way street. He will perform(provided fully fit) if surrounded by players who can read & anticipate his 'Higher professional football moves". Ie his runs into space to receive the ball,a turn,a goal etc. I have every confidence that The Gold Coast with the calibre of players recruited will be able to work well with Larsson as Dwight Yorke & Miura worked together for SFC in the first season of the A-League. The jury is out on Fury for me in this regard with Fowler.

Back to the substance of this article. We all know that sooner or later the current resctrictions of the salary cap will be loosened, might be a little, might be a lot, but it is going to happen. It's already clear to me that with or without a salary cap, some clubs would be spending about the same as they do now - they simply can't affort to spend any more - and won't be able to for a very long time, if ever. At least two clubs, maybe three, certainly no more than four (out of ten clubs) could afford to spend up to 50% more than what they spend now. For a club like Melbourne, that's the difference between having Arch, Carlos and Fred in the same starting XI, and not having them. In other words, even a 50% increase in your wages (from current levels), is going to give you only a marginal improvement across the board. So any thought that we can buy in quality is a bit misguided - we can't - it's as simple as that. But what we can do is seek out young talent - both clubs now under the control of the FFA have done it with success, the Jets played some terrific youngsters, even in a shocking year, as did SFC. All this brings me back to the blog I put up a few weeks ago about basing our restrictions around over age players rather than the salary cap. Let's become a nursery. Let's make it our primary goal. Let's have the very best 16 to 21 years olds playing in the A-League before they try their luck overseas. It's a legitimate objective, it's doable and the economics of it stack up. Clubs will never go broke developing youth and selling them on - but they will go broke outbidding each other in bringing into the country mediocre players (the good ones are not affordable, it's as simple as that).

Towser what do you think about Robbie Fowler playing for the Fury? I just got back from the UK, and asked a few of the locals what they thought of him, as he used to play for Blackburn, and informed them he was playing in Australia. They said he was good in his prime, but that prime was quite some time ago, and that a few kilos have been added to the frame of the man who was once called God around Merseyside way. Im sure the Townsville heat will melt those kilos off Fowlers physique over time.

Towser that's no way to talk about Millster!!