Melbourne Victory turns into Melbourne Underbelly

Traditionally, the last weekend of November brings the curtain down on TV ratings season. This weekend is no different, where it’s good bye Summer Bay and hello Byron Bay for the people behind the acne prevention promotion vehicle otherwise known as Home and Away.

But, if you follow the A-League, there is no need to fear as Melbourne Victory, home and away, will be filling in during those sultry summer nights with what is promising to become the A-League version of Underbelly.

It never used to be this way.

During the Chairman Geoff Lord years, watching Melbourne Victory was like subjecting yourself to six seasons of A Country Practice. They had their ups and downs, but with a phlegmatic Scot as manager and a predictable style of play, it all became a bit too humdrum.

The fans became restless. They wanted to be entertained. They wanted to win, but with style and pizazz.

Geoff Lord stepped down as chairman. He knew he wasn’t the man to take the man to take the club into unchartered waters and an ambitious Italian stallion, Anthony Di Pietro, took over the reins.

Di Pietro had a vision. He was going make his mark on the club and the fans by re-creating the Brisbane Roar by the Yarra.

First came the easy bit, he got rid of Ernie Merrick. It must have felt good. He made himself an instant hero with the Victory fans with this act of bloodletting. Di Pietro then confidently embarked on the next course of action, the headhunting of Brisbane Roar manager Ange Postecoglou.

To his astonishment Postecoglou turns down the offer from the most powerful club in the A-League.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

The club went on a protracted search for a manager, received over 80 applications, went through two stages of interviews and found him right under their noses.

Anthony Di Pietro and his board, to the surprise of many, went the cut price route and anointed, the caretaker manager, Mehmet Durakovic, as manager. It was a peculiar choice as Durakovic’s record was an unspectacular three seasons as the Victory youth team manager.

On the very same day, Francis Awaritefe, was appointed to a newly created position.

This is how Anthony Di Pietro made the announcement.

“We are also very excited about what Francis brings to our football club. He assumes a newly created role, Football Director, which in addition to handling the football department administration, will involve fostering our football ‘club centred’ philosophy and culture. Francis will also drive the creation of our youth pathway programs and development of a prototype for up and coming Melbourne Victory footballers.”

“Francis will work very closely with our key football staff, comprising of Mehmet, Assistant coach Kevin Muscat and goalkeeping coach Steve Mautone.”

This is how Francis Awaritefe explained his grandiose vision.

“When you’re implementing a new philosophy like we’re talking about it does require patience, it does require time.”

“We’ve seen with some great clubs around the world, Barcelona for example at the moment, they have a particular philosophy. And that philosophy has taken 30 years to produce a generation that we’re seeing today.

“This isn’t something that is going to happen over the next couple of years. It’s going to take a while.”

Well, so much for thirty years. Five months later, Awaritefe’s dream of bringing Barcelona’s La Masia to Melbourne was really just a pipedream as he became the first casualty in Victory’s blame game for their woeful start to the season.

The youth team is a shambles. They have lost all four matches, scored only two goals and conceded a whopping eighteen.

Seven rounds into the season and their senior team, the one with the superstar strike force, has a solitary win, a goalkeeper to thank and a manager who is either ill-equipped or is in an environment where he can’t get the team to play his way.

There is a clear reason for this and it should now be apparent to the Victory board.

A miasma has set in and this usually happens when too many players and staff have overstayed their welcome. Too much familiarity can not only breed contempt, but indifference as well.

Yes, some of this is Merrick’s legacy after he re-signed an aging midfield that has seen better days, but when it comes to the appointment of the managerial team, the board is squarely to blame.

Too much familiarity can breed contempt and indifference.

First the air becomes stale. When this happens you get disturbing, listless on-field performances like the one against Perth Glory last Sunday.

Then it becomes toxic. The club needs to regenerate and let in some fresh air.

This is why watching the machinations at Melbourne Victory will make for such compelling viewing over the next few months.

If Victory keep underperforming over the summer, Anthony Di Pietro will have turn to his board and say: “We need to talk about Mehmet”.

But, he will also have to say: “We need to talk about Kevin.”

Athas Zafiris is on twitter @ArtSapphire