- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Craig Moore is one of the greatest players to pull on the green and gold. Having 52 caps to his name as well as appearing in two World Cups puts him up there with some of the greats in Australian sport.
I for one will not forget his penalty against Croatia to help Australia progress to the knockout stages of the 2006 World Cup.
Moore has diversified his career into working within the media, with his voice filling the airwaves on ABC Grandstand for all Brisbane Roar games. His insight due to his long association with the game is appreciated.
His recent comments regarding a certain Frenchman, however, have left me feeling a bit left-field about the hardline former Socceroo.
In an article for The Courier-Mail, Moore expressed his distaste with Perth Glory signing former Chelsea and Arsenal captain, William Gallas.
Gallas has also played for French giants Marseille and has 84 caps for the French national side.
The experienced Gallas has joined the Glory on a one-year marquee deal, which places him outside the standard A-League salary cap. This puts him into the same category as Alessandro Del Piero and Shinji Ono.
Moore believes that this is a sign that the A-League is “a competition that just throws marquee positions to foreigners at the end of their careers”.
Yes, he is referring to the same Gallas, with the wealth of English Premier League experience and 84 caps for his country.
As a Melbourne Heart fan, I know I would have loved to see Gallas come to the red half of Melbourne, but I am still happy to see that he will be lining up for an A-League club.
The A-League has come a long way in regards to these “foreigners at the end of their careers”.
Take a look back to 2006 when the league was struggling for column space with 41-year-old Brazilian, Romario, a world-class player who was over the hill a decade before he signed for Adelaide. Or the 2007 signing of Zhang Yuning, “the Chinese David Beckham”, which was supposed to draw a big crowd but instead ended with him being shipped out six games into the season.
The new breed of marquee players that have joined in recent years have been far more successful than these expensive flops. Yes, they may be over the age of 30, but they still have something to offer the game.
It is a credit to themselves that they have picked the A-League over the riches of the Middle Eastern leagues, which have become famous for their wealth of players who earn a six-figure salary just because they are from South America.
Moore brought to light an age old problem in Australian football. Who wants to be a defender? Moore questions why the Glory are spending big money on a defender.
This astounds me, particularly as the Queensland Roar brought him as a marquee defender in 2007, which makes his whole argument somewhat hypocritical.
He looks to justify his point by saying how he has Australia’s national set-up in mind. Saying how signing one of the best defenders of the last decade is taking away the opportunity of a young Aussie centre back.
Well isn’t that what is happening to the likes of Joel Chianese at Sydney FC and Adam Taggart at Newcastle Jets?
As a former striker that ended up in defence, I know that in the younger age groups it is hard to convince kids that being a defender is cool. For young footballers to see the likes of William Gallas and Melbourne Victory’s Pablo Contreras in their own backyard goes a long way to changing that.
Football is a team game. A side goes out with 11 players of whom all need to share equal responsibility.
When this is done, success is plentiful (see: Western Sydney Wanderers). When this is not done, failure is probable (see: Sydney FC).
For a former Socceroos captain – a former Socceroos defender – to write publicly that a defender shouldn’t be as highly valued as an attacker is crazy.
William Gallas will be of benefit to the entire Perth squad. Not only the defenders, but also young players like Daniel De Silva and Jamie Maclaren, who now have an opportunity to expand their knowledge of the game.
Thousands of football supporters will be keen to see how Gallas goes in the purple of the Glory. Many will hope that he fails, but I know many more will hope to see him continue to raise the profile of the Australian game.
There is no reason why the next big marquee signing cannot be another defender or even a goalkeeper. The most important factor about a marquee signing is that they have the ability to add something to the club and to the league, and Gallas has that ability.
I do agree with Moore on one point – that clubs sometimes buy an overseas player just because they are from overseas when there is a player just as good playing state league.
This is an issue that must be addressed.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.