John Aloisi – Melbourne Heart. Slattery Images.
What a week it was for the A-League’s newest franchise, the Melbourne Heart, with the signing of former Sydney FC pair John Aloisi and Simon Colosimo, revealing their strip and announcing their training and administrative base.
And the manner in which they made those announcements was encouraging, also.
They resisted the temptation to make those announcements all at once, instead announcing them over consecutive days, making sure they forced themselves into the press over an extended period. (They could even have gone one step further by releasing their home strip in a separate launch as opposed to revealing it at the same time as they announced Aloisi’s arrival).
But clouding all the announcements and developments are still the doubts about how the Heart can differentiate themselves from the Melbourne Victory, particularly with no geographical, ethnic or cultural differences to tempt Victory supporters over to the new club and entice new fans to the game.
(The most common reason I have heard from Victory fans considering switching allegiance to Heart is a perceived arrogance from Ernie Merrick, which is hardly a worrying sign for the Victory).
The consensus among pundits is that the Heart will have to be aggressive in all facets of building a club.
They must, we are constantly told, build and develop an aggressive rivalry with the Victory (Aloisi did well to get the ball rolling at his announcement), be aggressive in social media platforms, be active in local communities, be aggressive in public relations to get the club into the press regularly, etc.
But this should be a basic requirement for any new club, let alone one facing the model A-League club in terms of membership, supporter base and on-field success.
The Heart needs more than just the basics to succeed.
One tactic it has discussed openly and could be key to building a supporter base is attracting former NSL club fans that were left disenfranchised by the creation of the A-League and the Victory.
Whether they can do so remains to be seen. Just because it has been five years since the A-League began doesn’t mean a gaggle of former NSL fans are going to be enticed back by the Heart.
But the Heart need to try and build a fanbase somehow, and working within the communities of these former NSL teams should be a priority, particularly if there is a large ambivalence to the Victory.
While Mark Viduka still refuses to rule out a playing return in the A-League, he is likely to have some coaching role at the Heart, in addition to being number one season ticket holder with the Melbourne Knights .
The Heart should exploit this connection, building some sort of link with the Knights to entice their community base to jump on the Heart bandwagon.
Having Josip Skoko, the Heart’s all but confirmed marquee signing, will also help in this regard.
While the Victory’s supporter base is pulled from all ethnic backgrounds, the Heart shouldn’t be afraid to go after specific ethnic groups and winning over former NSL supporters needs to be a priority.
They need points of difference, and they need to exploit Victory’s weaknesses, which, in reality, is only its inability at inception to entice NSL fans en masse to the A-League.
That first game against the Victory will be crucial (the most important in the A-League’s history?) to start building the rivalry. Every controversial moment will be the first building blocks of the rivalry.
If the FFA has any scheduling smarts (they didn’t show much of it this season), they will start the new season at Melbourne’s new rectangular stadium with the first Melbourne derby; the first in the A-League’s history.
Doing everything they can to build the Melbourne rivalry is imperative for the Heart’s sustainability.
faustus
Roar Rookie
Spot on.
damos_x
Guest
my apologies for the poor grammar, yes it is easier to read & that's the point after all so cheers
Dogz R Barkn
Roar Guru
lol at Adelaide being a provincial side. You forgot about the Roar!!
mahony
Guest
I rarely agree with you - but on this observation I do.
mahony
Guest
Spot on.
mahony
Guest
That 1st point you made is a subtle, but important one KT. But I would add that with the passage of time, many of these same fans do not feel so strongly anti A-League, and are awaiting an opportunity to become involved. Time heals all wounds - and a future FFA Cup will help also. I went to only my second ever AFL match the other day (my boss purchased me a ticket as a present) - and my overwhelming feeling (no exaggeration - I was truly staggered!) was how 'white' the place was compared to a Victory game - and in Melbourne of all places. This tells me something about the extent to which MVFC are already engaging with a tremendous number of southern, central and eastern European Australians. As stated above - I will attend MH games to support the code, and ironically a couple of English lads at work who went to the the GF recently for their first ever A-League game are going to join MH as they loved the experience. MH will do OK in my opinion. I wish them luck 'off the park'.
mahony
Guest
I will be disappointed if Musky does not have a yellow in the first 2 minutes! lol....
mahony
Guest
I (and wife and child) will attend as many MH gams as we can afford to support the code as well MVD. But I will reman a MVFC member and supporter. If I stayed loyal to the CIty/Cosmos after the shit they served up - I can stay loyal to the greatest football team in the country. Go the mighty Victory!
Gibbo
Guest
geographical differential is something everyone except people from melbourne keep banging on about... i'm not sure if you've ever looked at the map but basically melbourne's urban sprawl is more or less an expanding circle centred upon the grandiosity of the mcg and the neighbouring sporting district of Vodaphone/Tennis Centre/the new rectangular AAMI stadium. the closer you live to the mcg the more you paid for your house. IMO this discussion is not relevant to the melbourne experience and wont at all effect the ability of Heart FC to succeed or fail.
Westy
Guest
its gonna be called AAMI Park. not that great, hoped for something better. i heard somewhere that Metricon were gonna get naming rights. guess not...
Chris
Guest
I'm guessing in the beginning there won't be Heart supporters but Victory haters, who will quickly turn into Heart supporters. In any case at a time when the A-League has provincial sides like Adelaide/Fury/Jets/GC falling apart it will be good to see a big city rivalry. If there is one thing the A-Leauge needs it is a big presence in Sydney and Melbourne. Hopefully this (and the Rovers) do just that.
Dogz R Barkn
Roar Guru
Sydney played exciting football? I would have described it as stodgy, ultra-careful and typically counter-attacking - it's hardly the stuff of legends!!
Dogz R Barkn
Roar Guru
...and yet MV is the only team to have ever paid a hefty transfer fee for a player, who you could describe as a play maker/creative player - so where does that fit with this so-called "British style"?? Geez, some bloke gets some success from getting SFC to play stodgy, ultra careful, counter-attacking soccer, and he's some sort of genius!!
Rob
Guest
Heart will definitely draw a crowd, but will there be anyone sitting at the red end of the ground when they play MV?
Rellum
Guest
I will predict this will be the topic of at least 20 different blogs or articles by the time heart kick off. Hearts support will come from many different people, for many different reasons. Some may sign up because they like the manager, some because of the clubs philosophy, some because of the players, some because they hate the victory, some because of the colours, and so on and so on. There is nothing to suggest that the victory have captured all possible A-league support that exists in Melbourne. I am getting the feeling that people are really saying that it is un-patriotic to follow the Heart as that may hurt the Victory somehow. Bo ho I say
MoJo
Roar Rookie
Winning the Premiership and Grand Final in his first try with a team he inherited (except for Kisel, Keller and Byun) while playing exciting Football is an excellent accomplishment. I'm looking forward to seing what he can do next season and in the ACL after recruiting more players.
Rusty0256
Guest
"John Van’t Schip will spank Merrick on the pitch just like Lavicka does." That must have happenned after the GF presentation. I hope Viteslav wore his suspenders and high heels. "Bend over Ernie, you vil take it like a man" ...Damn; wish I'd stayed back to see that.
MoJo
Roar Rookie
I expect in a couple of years, Melbourne Heart will be the best team in Melbourne. John Van't Schip will spank Merrick on the pitch just like Lavicka does.
zizou
Roar Rookie
So a team who scores 47 goals in 27 games last season (which is seven more than the next best team in Perth and twelve more than champions, Sydney) does not play good football? Combined that with the fact that they scored 39 in 21 games the season before that also defeats your misguided argument. As for Muscat being a hack. Again you are wrong as he probably plays the ball out from the back better than any other defender in the A-League bar Simon Colosimo. So off you go to join your "many" friends on the good ship Melbourne Heart and let's see how good their style of play is. If Pim Verbeek's style is anything to go by, you'll be looking for a new team soon enough.
Rusty0256
Guest
Well for a start you can expect Heart NOT to have a club song as that will be an immediate point of differentiation from Victory. MV, thanks to Easter Island Ernie, do play a direct British style, but that and the re-imagined 'Scotland the Brave' aside, I have never experienced the feeling that Victory has a particular British-crowd feel at all. There has always been a real 'Heinz 47 varieties' in terms of crowd mix. Heart have certainly shown by their coaching and playing selections that a European brand of football is likely to be their prime direction. This, their style of play, appears to be a key element of difference to Victory. I am sure they are developing other areas where they see opportunities or where they percieve MV may have marketing and appeal weaknesses; trying to keep all of their fans under the one home roof is such an example. However in doing so, I can't see any particular ethnic group becoming overwhelmingly aligned with Heart. I really don't see how that could serve them in any way in the long run. There is no doubt Skoko and Viduka (well, we can dream) might bring in some Knights supporters but will they stay once the boys retire? Heart may also pull in a few more of the hard to please Euro-snobs with a promise of playing style and some of the other ex NSL fans, who refused to support Victory might be attracted over but I think largely, Heart will try and bring in brand new fans, hopefully riding off the back of the World Cup and the promise of a shiny new, fan-friendly stadium. And of course I know I am not alone among many MV supporters, salivating at the prospect of weekly games in Melbourne. I am guessing 3-5,000 MV supporters will be at most Heart matches. We may not wear their colours (a bridge too far), but we will be there.