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Melbourne Victory's Tomislav Pondeljak tackles Brisbane Roar's Charlie Miller, during round 2 of the A-League Season, played at the Ethihad stadium in Melbourne, Saturday, August 15, 2009. After full time, Victory drew with Brisbane Roar 3-3. AAP Image/Joe Castro
If I was a Brisbane Roar fan right now, I’d be mighty peeved. When former coach Frank Farina was jettisoned in controversial circumstances and replaced by Ange Postecoglou midway through last season, supporters were promised the squad would be rebuilt.
Instead, the club went backwards.
Even now, with the season well and truly gone, the wheels still seem to be coming off the Roar’s bandwagon.
While the sale of Tommy Oar, Michael Zullo and Adam Sarota is good news for the Roar’s bank balance it could very well have crippled Brisbane’s ambitions for next season.
These sales bring the total of players sacked, retired or sold since Postecoglou took over to nine. That figure includes the likes of Craig Moore, Danny Tiatto and Liam Reddy, hardly peripheral contributors.
According to The Australian the former Young Socceroos coach will need to sign, “a new striker, an entire midfield and a centre back” before the start of next season. Such wholesale change is like signing an entirely new squad.
Few will expect Melbourne Heart to reasonably challenge for the A-League title next season and you can probably put Brisbane into that basket as well.
Roar fans lost last season to rebuilding and now it looks like season six of the A-League will be going the same way.
Ignoring the debacle with Joel Griffiths, the Newcastle Jets, who went through a similar last minute coaching replacement last season, have shown a more positive way of handling managerial change.
Instead of alienating the Jets’ key players, the promotion from within of Branko Culina, united a fragmented and inconsistent squad.
Culina’s promotion also maintained some continuity at the club and the Jets have continued moving forward in the off-season with its first player signings. The only noise from Brisbane meanwhile has been from players going, not coming.
It was on that point that Jesse Fink ripped into Postecoglou this week in his The World Game blog.
“And where was the great Ange when all this frenetic transfer activity (with Oar and co moving to FC Utrecht) was taking place?” asked Fink.
“In Greece, of course, on a “scouting mission”.
“Not West Africa. Not Thailand. Not India. Anywhere there is a young inexpensive player bursting with ambition and talent who wants to come to Australia and sees the A-League as a stepping stone to fulfilling his dreams, but Greece!
“Gee, Ange – out of the box! It’s about as bad as Remo Nogarotto and his “scout at large” gig in Italy which has delivered to the Newcastle Jets the sum total of Fabio Vignaroli, a talented player but one that should have spent more time on the pitch for all the money spent on him as a “marquee”. Instead he saw out most of last season wincing on a physio’s table.
“The A-League doesn’t need any more horse trading in superannuated has-been Europeans.”
While I don’t entirely agree with Fink on Vingaroli who, when fit, offered a touch of class the A-League has mostly missed in its 5 seasons, he’s on the money about the paucity of creativity in A-League recruiting.
Almost two years ago Scott McIntyre wrote on The World Game about Indian superstar Sunil Chhetri and his national team-mates, suggesting they would make the perfect A-League signings. At the time Scott was routinely laughed at.
Now Chhetri has finally found a club outside of India and the early signs look promising.
At long last someone has woken up to the potential, both on and off the pitch, Chhetri offers. Unfortunately for Australian football fans it’s the new “most popular club in the world”, the Kansas City Wizards, who are reaping the benefits.
All this says to me that the A-League desperately needs some exciting and creative thinking in it’s recruitment.
Meanwhile, Brisbane Roar fans probably need a stiff drink.
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