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!
mahony
Guest
He has been trolling himself around all the football forums for the last week. He fairdinkum needs some help. I sat next to his brother/agent and lovely parents in Oakleigh at a friendly when he first arrived back in Oz. I had a great long chat with all of them, and at the time I thought there was so much to like about his football and the potential for leadership in the man. It is sad to see his daemons get the better of him. They can get the better of us all at times. It is important to have compassion for people. Lubjo needs our compassion more than ever.
Aka
Guest
I think the booing started with his first touch of the ball if not sooner - but who did what first is neither here nor there for me. I'm only saying that overall I enjoyed the interaction between Ljubo and the crowd. Perhaps both 'sides' overcooked it a bit. But I thought the some the chanting at Ljubo was the most offensive thing that occurred and shouldn't be overlooked. If Ljubo made offensive gestures to the crowd then he's likely to cop some sort of penalty - it's not like players have some sort of immunity in that regard. And he should cop the penaly regardless of the provocation just as fans should if they throw objects onto the pitch.
Rusty0256
Guest
Looks like Ljubo is out at the Jets. Effective immediately is the loss of Captaincy to Kesey Wehrman with Branko simply saying "a change of leadership would have a positive impact on the team in the run to the finals". Of course this may not imply the opposite of 'not having a change of leadership would have a negative impact on the team in the run to the finals', but that wouldn't be a very smart thing to say given that Ljubo remains on the team sheet to season's end. I reckon he might be sitting on his final warning though. But you never know; a re-launched career in Europe could be just the thing to see LM blossom into the player we all expected so much of back in the days of Perth Glory. Well away from the 'Evil Death Star' (Melbourne Victory) he may finally cast off his baggage, shoulder-chips and self-centredness. Just don't count on it.
Username
Roar Rookie
The booing and chants came off Ljubo's actions. If Ljubo flips off the crowd and does everything else he did and some guy jumps throws something on the pitch. HE gets arrested not Ljubo who was the one that started everything. Dont get me wrong im not condoning throwing missiles onto the pitch but at the same time the player needs to know how to behave.
Rusty0256
Guest
It's interesting to read different people's opinions of what constitutes being 'a character'. In my opinion, a true character on the Football field adds dimension, emotion and colour to a game. He will generally have skill to burn and can dominate a game with his sheer presence. Crowds will love him or hate him (depending on which side he is on) but at the end, even those who publicly hate him will begrudgingly agree he brings something special that they will pay money to see. Archie Thompson at his best is a character, former Perth talisman Bobby Despetovski was another and of course Dwight Yorke remains perhaps the greatest 'character' to have graced the A-League. Ljubo certainly has the skill and presence to be a great character, but he'll never truly be one whilst he has that whacking great chip on his shoulder. If you want to watch perhaps the greatest pair of true characters to do their stuff, then how about George Best and Rodney Marsh playing for Fulham back in the day - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0KLrwmUDg0 Apart from the game itself, even the short interview at the start is pure Gold.
Aka
Guest
I too enjoyed Ljubo's contribution to the game. He gave as good as he got for the 90 minutes. He copped booing the entire game and some pretty offensive chanting (something not mentioned in the article). Also following the game he showed good sportsmanship - no punches to the midriff of support staff- just congratulating the victory players. And some 'love you' gestures to the crowd to bring them back next time. Made me realise how much I've been missing kossie.
Mahony
Guest
Putting Lubjo to one side - the game was a cracker. I added the Youtube highlights to my 'favorites' - as it is one I woul d liek to reflect on from time to time....
Mahony
Guest
I agree. The game needs characters, buthese characters need have some 'character' in the most positive sense of the word. Lubko is a giant tool - no more - no less.
Mahony
Guest
I sit at a similar height in the Western Stand F.I.U.L - we pay good money to avoind sights such as this.....
Football United
Guest
a lot of those extra 5000 had come from the ashes
Liam
Guest
Ljubo showed why he didn't survive at the Victory. He is a prima dona who wants it to be about him. When Victory told him it wasn't about him and was about the club he couldn't cope. Victory is a team full of character and characters, but also humility. Even Archie Thompson (the Aleague player with perhaps the most right to boast) is down to earth and humble when speaking about his own success. He was at fault for the first goal. He should have closed Hernandez down as soon as he got past the two midfielders on the centre circle. He then spent the rest of the game yelling at any other Jets player who in his mind had made a mistake. The fact that his poor behaviour began after the Jets had equalised shows just how much, in his mind, the whole game was about him. He celebrated as if they had gone ahead and proved his prematch ramblings. I saw the ACL game at Etihad where Ogenovski received similar treatment from the Victory fans. When he scored the opener, ran the length of the pitch with his hand cupped behind his ear and then pointed to the name on the back of his shirt after the barrage of 'who are yah' chants, I was annoyed that we had conceeded but thought "Fair play to you Sasha. You stood up when it counted." If Ljubo had any class he would have left the same aftertaste. Instead all that is left after his display is contempt.
Username
Roar Rookie
no-one went to see Ljubo, you had 70,000 fans next door at the MCG. I talked to about 5-6 different fans after the game and they had just come from the 'G'. Same if you read the Victory forums.
Tom
Guest
Suspect that had more to do with the cricket. To an extent I think Ljubo is casting himself as a pantomime villain for the Victory fans, but mostly I think he just has a massive chip on his shoulder. I'm sure there are plenty of players who, for whatever reason, have a difficult time at certain clubs, but almost none of them bang on about it as constantly as Ljubo has. He simply can't seem to get past it.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Your both wrong, he succeeded in that 5000 extra people showed up compared to recent games and you two as well as others and now commenting about him and the game.
Rusty0256
Guest
Ljubo failed miserably on every possible front. He singlehandedly fired up Victory (could well imagine his words pasted bold on the Victory change-room wall). He made the game all about him, to the detriment of the team he was supposed to be captaining. If he'd made a single gesture, there would have been some boos, we'd all got a bit of a laugh and then we could have all (players and fans) got on with the game. But it went on all game, a constant stream of silly hand and even bum signals to the crowd that surely must have had him walking the fine line of bringing the game into disrepute. Clearly Branko Culina was unimpressed. The sad thing is he is actually a very good player when he wants to be, however on Monday all his insightful passing and decisive tackling was completely undone by his stupid behavior. In the end, his self-serving actions and words (together with Robbie Kruse's stinging reply), showed him to be no more than a prize buffoon in the mould of AFL's Jacko Jackson.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Nice column, Guido. I was one of those in the East Stand - albeit the upper deck - that was confronted with the sight of Ljubo's large posterior during the incident you described. To be honest, I enjoyed the bi-play between Ljubo and the fans. It's something that's been missing from the HAL, simply because the HAL is only 5.7 years old and it takes time to build animosity ("hatred" is probably too strong a word) towards a particular opponent or opposition team. And, when Richardinho scored in stoppage time and the crowd erupted all eyes turned to Ljubo, who was right at the centre of the action and had failed to deal with Robbie's inch-perfect ball ... I'm sure Ljubo wished the ground would open up and swallow him at that moment. But, credit to the big man - he applauded the crowd after the final whistle and continued to engage. I tell you what - I wish Ljubo was at the centre of MVFC's defence. He's the perfect centre back - a mountain of a man, with sublime foot skills, great in the air, an excellent football brain and his passing is as good as any centre back in the world. I'm more than happy if the HAL generates more characters like Ljubo - who can "talk the talk" AND "walk the walk".