After five years the A-League Marquee can be assessed. And with a couple of significant exceptions, in my view, the idea has failed.
It has failed mainly because those buying the marquees don’t seem to understand what football fans want of their marquee.
We football fans are hard to please but we know a marquee when we see one. Paul Agostino, John Aloisi and Joel Griffith ain’t such.
Now Melbourne Heart want a marquee and are said to be toying with Mark Viduka, more like he is toying with them.
The Duke would lift the profile of the Heart immediately, thereby fulfilling one of the criteria of a Marquee. But could Viduka really regain fitness after such a long break at 34, would he last beyond a few games, or even perform adequately in any game?
I doubt it.
I thought the same about Robbie Fowler but he passed, just, I guess. But will he bring in further crowds and interest next year, probably not.
Dwight Yorke, Archie Thompson and to a lesser extent Jason Culina have been marquees that worked. Anyone else?
Paul Ifill possibly, not Mile Sterjovski, Paul Agostino, Juninho, John Aloisi, Joel Griffiths, not even Craig Moore.
And it’s with interest, great interest we hear Nicky Carle is being chased by Sydney to be their marquee.
He’s still young, has flair to burn and he’ll be great, again, for the A-League. He fits the bill for a marquee, and he’s Australian!
But few other marquees come without risk. Most are too old, yes even Fowler.
Most strikers, who are most sought after marquees, have lost their pace; Paul Agostino and Dwight Yorke were in this category, although Yorke was a rare striker who could be equally effective in a new midfield role, but he was also young, so young he went back to play in the EPL!
Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill may be two genuine Aussie marquees, we don’t have many, but if and when they come home is a long way off. Like Ryan Giggs and Alessandro Del Piero most top players are good enough to play at the top … until they retire.
Will Harry ever come home? I doubt it.
Defenders in my view should never be marquees. Not even an ageing Lucas Neill. Fans really want exciting players; defenders in my view do not excite sufficiently to warrant marquee status in our league.
So here’s a six-point guide to what makes my marquee:
1. Skill and buckets of it. (Think Dwight Yorke, not John Aloisi.)
2. Significant pace. (Midfielders like Juninho, rather than a forward like Fowler.)
3. Media savvy. (Archie or Dwight over Mile Sterjovski.)
4. Must be under 32 years of age. (Jason Culina, not Craig Moore.)
5. Never a defender or defensive midfielder. (Paul Ifill over Craig Moore.)
6. The non-football fan must be aware of who they are … before they come. (Dwight Yorke or Robbie Fowler.)
Our best? I’d tip Archie over Dwight. Archie’s relatively cheap and has given fantastic value over time.
Our worst? Too many but Aloisi, Moore, Juninho, Sterjovski for various reasons are some who didn’t make the grade.
Which tells us clubs still aren’t getting it right.
If Nicky Carle or Mark Viduka are to be our next two marquee’s then one out of two success rate is still not good enough.
For a million dollars you’d want to know your player can run and perform wouldn’t you? Especially in a league with a salary cap of just $2.5 million, excluding young player and marquee wages.
DiCanio
Guest
I think we need marquee goalkeepers and maybe marquee water boys too. Claiming that Nicky Carle 'isn't the intention of the marquee player' is complete rubbish He is a skillfull player who would perform above aleague standard. Face facts. There are very very few international big names who will come and play here for the next few years. Of this few, there are very few who can adequately perform on the pitch or even have the determination. Instead of living in the glory days past performers, its time to look at those who can perform in the present. Sydney's pursuit of Nicky Carle acknowledges two things. a) that they are now a club with football intelligence. b) That their past marquee recruitment has been hit and miss when pursuing players for their 'name'
David V.
Guest
I see it as a problem that we in Australia tend to be slavishly obsessed with the cult of big names, and think they can do no wrong.
Realfootball
Guest
I'd like to hope so, but I don't believe it. He revealed himself as profoundly inept in his national team jobs. The fact he wouldn't face the press suggests that he lacks character. He won't be able to hide from the press this time.
David V.
Guest
Will he? Arnold is a proven failure, and it sends out a bad message.
Millster
Guest
Rusty - good thoughts and I agree on an international marquee, an Asian marquee, and an Aussie marquee (though for that one I would prefer the criterion to be a socceroo-eligible player under 25 years of age, so that we keep a touch more of our best young talent here). On your idea for the second type of IM - the onealready signed under the cap but who proves to be valuable - I wouldn't like such a player to take a marquee spot. There has to be a cleverer way... and there is. Look at the Larry Bird exception in the American NBA's salary cap structure which rewards loyalty in players. I wrote an article about it over 18 months back o nthis site - here is the link http://www.theroar.com.au/2008/02/05/the-nbas-soft-salary-cap-and-its-potential-for-the-a-league/
Realfootball
Guest
Agree. The Mariners desperately needed to go for something different. But Arnold may prove us wrong. The Olympics weren't enouraging, however, and his refusal to face the press was downright cowardly and does not say positive things about his character on any level. The fact that the FFA let him get away with it is also disgraceful.
Tom
Guest
Totally agree on Roberto Carlos.
albe
Guest
the marquee player system would be better if just reformed as a 'salary cap exempt' player. It'll free up clubs to recruit quality players for football reasons. Similar to the u/23 Australian cap exempt spot, just widened to include anyone. I can see the point of a marquee system for marketing or media reasons for the first few seasons, but it really does need to have a use by date. Whether its now or later who knows. But for me on football terms, whatever it takes to get a player like Carle back to the A-League then fine. If the marquee system is replaced by a simple cap exempt spot, it would make it less likely that so many players like Carle would head o/s in the first place. Some would still go, sure, but not as many.
David V.
Guest
Well CCM appointing Arnold is a huge backward step for our league in terms of coaches. So marquee coaches are definitely needed.
Realfootball
Guest
Definitely a sound strategy for staying sane.
Al
Guest
The answer is no.
Punter
Guest
Realfootball, no doubting some of the things you are saying is true. But here you have on the football field going into the last game of the season before finals 1 v 2 for the premiership, you can't ask for anymore. The fact that the masses are not aware or even caring, is an issue, but not to me, I well into this season choose to forget about the crowds, the media, the FFA & just concentrated on what I enjoy. Football as I know it, played by my team in my city.
Realfootball
Guest
I'm not sure what the FFA is doing to strengthen the A-League right now. Any business should be able to see that a key element - the marquee - isn't working and needs to be changed. But the FFA have gone missing in action. The A-League is rudderless, and invisible in the mass media landscape. To sell something, you have to promote it. In that regard this season has been a travesty.
Punter
Guest
I agree on the Marquee coaches, the more the better. Increasing the salary cap will allow clubs to overspend & hence go broke. Having marquee players allows the richer clubs to get better, but also allows the FFA to contol to understand which club can or cannot afford a marquee player or 3. It is a catch 22 situation, salary cap to allow smaller teams to grow v salary cap doesn't allow bigger teams to compete on a bigger stage.
Davstar
Guest
1st l'd like to say the concept of marquee is flawed its better to have 1 million more dollars in the salary cap then to spend it on just one player. I think the Salary cap needs to be raised there are teams that can afford better players MV and SFC but the salary cap is holding them back but i understand that the salary cap is giving time for smaller teams to grow. As for a 2nd marquee we already have a normal marquee and a youth Marquee dont think we need anymore defiantly i think the quality of the football is what needs to improve it has come a long way since season one however every now and then ill watch a game and think this is shocking. I personally think Marquee coaches is a good idea, look what Vítězslav Lavička has done for Sydney FC and Merrick has done for Melbourne Victory. The two best teams in the A-league (also play some of the best football) have good coaches, Alosi hasnt been the marquee to the stars ether for SFC. As for Carle no chance he's Marquee material but he's better then sterjovski so i dont know?
Punter
Guest
I'm all for the 2nd marquee player & even a 3rd marquee, we need to improve our teams. Some teams can't afford 1 marquee let alone 2 or 3... Well this is where hopefully the improved TV deal can help the smaller clubs, but we are in a global market & competition is strong. I can understand a salary cap in sports where they have no other competition, but with football Sydney FC are not only competing against Melbourne Victory but also Japanese & Korean clubs whose players expenditure are 10 times our A-League clubs. The Australian marquee, The Int'l marquee, The Asian marquee I like it, bring it on. Nicky Carle in the HAL running Sydney FC's midfield, sounds good to me.
Cpaaa 2018
Guest
A Marquee must be a proven goal scorer (the WOW factor) a resume of having played for great clubs and possibly even World Cups. Recognizable with Rock Star status. Marquees should have people talking about the league at home and abroad and across the globe they give the A-League credit and a competition worth playing and worth watching. Dwight York still ticks all the boxes and currently the HAL has only 1 genuine marquee out of 10 clubs... Robbie Fowler. Unfortunetly for Fowler he is playing for the wrong club.He would have scored more playing for SFC or MV with better support around him. Which brings me into agreement with Rusty above, a second Marquee is needed. The Australian Marquee- must have played for Australia, a favorite with fans and ability to score goals. Nicky Carle fits into this category but so does Harry Kewell, Archie Thompson and Jason Culina. This would leave a marquee spot open to an international such as York or Fowler. and Third- the Asian Marquee. We are a part of Asia and we need to tap into Asias best as they are picking of the A-Leaguers at will. Same applies as the Australian marquee, internationals needed, ability to score goals. No Defenders- because no one is impressed at great defense. Correction, i am impressed as long as it is Australias future doing the defending. Bums on seats they are not. Sorry defenders but true. The more player quality we can bring to HAL the better the football will be on the pitch. But who is to blame? The marquee is important to Australia but like the article suggests, its flawed. i just read "Australian Footballs" article..tArchie Fraser your time is up! , I'm thinking that this is another area where Fraser hasnt scored very well.
Rusty0256
Guest
I know this has been touched on before but we should be working towards the 2 marquee model; that is one a quality international (non-Australian) player. The 2nd an Australian marquee. The International Marquee could be one of two type of player. The first being a known name of international status (Yorke, Fowler, Juniniho), that the club forks out directly on. The second IM type would be a quality international player the A-League team has speculated on within the cap but has worked out to the point where the player, deserving greater reward might look to move on (think Fred and potentially Hernandez), could be offered the IM upgrade as an incentive to stay. Any club could only have one or the other IM. Under this method a club could even offer a player they might identify with great potential the carrot of future IM status if things work out. Generally the 2nd type of IM would also be younger and offer greater levels of speed, skills and longevity than the 1st type. Fred would have been an ideal 2nd type IM. The Australian Marquee would need to be an established Socceroo. I concede 'established' might leave Carle on the edge but perhaps FFA could keep a updated register of the potential Aussie marquees clubs can select from. Why not get a returning defensive AM such as Lucas Neill or Luke Wilkshire supplementing an attacking third IM like Carbone, Fowler or Fred? FFA has pretty much left it up to the clubs to decide what they consider to be a marquee and most of them have stuffed it up. By bringing some order to the method of selection we might just start to get the two things we want to see 1) the type of players we really want to watch and 2) the quality of the games continuing to improve.
jimbo
Guest
The marquee system is also giving clubs the chance to buy players that they couldn't get under a salary cap and in that respect it has succeeded, because they are free to spend whatever they want to get the best. But then it becomes a business decision and the clubs have to weigh up whether spending the extra money will get the extra fans and pay back the investment and even make a profit. In the majority of cases it hasn't and most marquee signings have probably lost the clubs money. Sunday's game SFC v MV goes to show you don't heed a big name marquee to get the bigger crowds, just an even competition with healthy rivalry and something to play for at the end of it. The standard of football is improving, lots of young Australians are getting a go and we need a fair and equitable media with FTA exposure to help the A-League continue to grow. If this is the worst it ever gets, then the A-League and football generally in this country aren't doing too badly imho. Would love to see Nicky Carle in an SFC shirt - I desperately hope the rumours are true.
Joe FC
Guest
Nicky Carle is definately NOT a marquee player.