It seemed the best acquisition in the A-League at the time, and as Ljubo Milicevic arrived in Melbourne, it appeared the Victory were destined to go back-to-back. Things changed rather quickly, however.
It all started on 20 February, 2007, when media outlets around the country reported the signing of former Socceroos representative Ljubo Milicevic from BSC Young Boys to Melbourne Victory.
Days out from the 6-0 trouncing of Adelaide United in the 2007 A-League grand final, it seemed to be the perfect match, almost heavenly, as a successful, strong leader both on and off the pitch joined the ‘team of champions’.
The relationship broke down almost instantly. In Ljubo’s first game for the club, he injured his knee and missed out large chunks of the season. However, the boiling point came when Ljubo and Archie Thompson failed to show up at the team’s breakfast the morning after a 4-1 loss to Adelaide United. Archie quickly made up with his teammates and coaching staff by apologising, whilst Ljubo’s future with the club fell into deeper uncertainty. Milicevic was gone by February.
Nothing was heard of Ljubo for a while until he signed a contract with the Newcastle Jets for their maiden Asian Champions League campaign in 2009.
Soon after the real Ljubo came out in an interview for SBS show ‘The World Game’ – and the first signs of frustration came out.
“I didn’t enjoy myself at my last club. It became a chore. I basically hated – and I don’t use that word lightly – I hated going there,” he said.
“It was tough. I considered quitting the game. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I sat at home for a good six months and ate heaps of chocolate and watched heaps of DVDs and slept on the couch all day.
“I’m going back to uni to study Eastern philosophies and work for my friends the Diacos, who own a nursery called Diaco’s Nursery where I’m collecting trolleys and lifting pots. And play for Dandenong City. I’m super-happy.”
Ljubo’s honest comments brought him a lot of abuse from football fans, especially from the Victory faithful.
The interactive abuse transferred to the pitch when Ljubo and his Newcastle Jets teammates took to the field at Etihad Stadium last season. Loud choruses of boos rang from both ends of the ground to the one-time Socceroo. This time, however, Ljubo had the last laugh as Labinot Haliti struck late to take home a point for the Hunter Valley outfit.
The smoke settled until a couple of days before last weekend’s clash between the sides, when Ljubo took a cheap shot at his former employers claiming they were “tactically inept” and saying their previous two championship wins were lucky.
“They’ve got a few boys who I’ve got respect for, but in general tactically they are inept. That comes from their coaching,” he said.
“They’ve been lucky over the years because they’ve been so good in an attacking sense. But anyone will tell you defences win championships. Defensively as a unit, they’re pretty poor.”
Ljubo then preceded to say something that would haunt him dearly.
“I don’t think he (Robbie Kruse) has ever done anything against against us in the past and I don’t think it will be any different tonight,” he said.
As we came to find out, Kruse won the game for Melbourne in the dying seconds of the encounter, as he weaved his way around two Jets defenders and squared the ball for Brazilian import Ricardinho to tap it home.
However, it was Ljubo’s unprofessional behaviour that ultimately marred the Jets’ impressive performance, as Ljubo constantly provoked the Victory fans.
When Iraqi midfielder Ali Abbas went down, Ljubo ran to the touchline, bent down to grab a drink and proceeded to provoke the set of Victory fans on the east side of the stadium. This went on all game.
Ljubo always maintained his dignity; claiming he didn’t have anything against anyone at the club and that he had forgiven everyone.
Judging by his actions on Monday night, they show that his comments were not only hypocritical but also false.
This is not the behaviour that a club captain should model, and it’s not the behaviour that a current international player in hope of representing his country should adapt.
There is a big difference in having a go at a crowd by doing the ‘shhh’ celebration, made famous by Russian superstar Andrey Arshavin, than by making crude remarks.
After the game big Ljubo said, “Victory fans need to get over themselves… at the end of the day they know my name and I don’t know theirs.”
But guess what Ljubo, at the end of the day those fans took home three points whilst you went home empty handed. Grow up!
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