A-League needs its broken Heart to mend

No, that's red and blue.

Victory wears the Victorian state colours, Sydney FC wear the NSW state colours, Adelaide wear the South Australia state colours. At least in Sydney the two clubs are clearly differentiated, by geography and class. Sydney FC represent the silvertails of the harbour dwellers and WSW represent the bogans of the western plains. They each represent a different crowd, different people. Who do the Heart represent? They stand for nothing and for nobody. Their support comes from the disgruntled; disgruntled with Ernie Merrick or Kevin Muscat; disgruntled with the ban on flares; disgruntled with the loss of their NSL clubs and that the new league has no place for Hellas, or Makedonia, or Croatia; disgruntled that the FFA has gone mainstream and is run by outsiders such as O'Neill, Buckley or Gallop and not true soccer people; disgruntled with the style of play, the Euro-snobs; disgruntled that the Victory wear Scottish colours, yet not understanding that Hearts have English colours and are happy to wave the English flag; disgruntled with Etihad stadium, even though it suits families who don't like being rained on; disgruntled at having a franchise being imposed on them, yet not understanding Hearts is as much a privately owned franchise as Victory. Yes the Hearts represents the disgruntled, so it's no surprise their supporters are disgruntled and agitating for a new coach, as if that will make the world better. Unless the Hearts represent a clear, distinct tribe (such as the West Sydney Wanderers), unless they stand for somebody other than the disgruntled, they will be doomed to mediocrity and failure. Les Murray was right.

Cameron - to guide your thinking . Last year at game 25 the average attendance was 15,030.By game 135 (season's end) this average had dropped to 12,343. This is a perfectly normal occurrence in statistics unless something occurs that creates interest or novelty and last year that (the ADP effect) did lift that earlier figure so this year at this point in time such a big drop should not occur although there is evidence of a slight decline happening already, 17,296 at game 12 down to 16191 now. jb

Lachlan You've spelt it out good my friend,realistic figures with fair analysis. jb.

BP If I may suggest ,are you not better making comparisons of 2 clubs over the same period of time for there are economic conditions to be considered &,in Perth's case last year ,a ground that was limiting in the number of people who could attend being more like a building site than a sports stadium.Perth were also having on & off field problems that were not attracting the best of publicity but their first game of this season has drawn 13,850 when playing Heart & 10.600 againstSydney FC for a 2 game average 12,200, Will this improvement (10,780 last season) remain now that their stadium has been completed?, only time will tell of course but we should wait & see. Yours jb

Reg - just a word of warning when analysing figures. Last season's "opening" fixtures were 10937 v Wellington & 6357 v CCM giving a total of 17,294 to give a 2 game average of 8647. Note well the opponents. This year they have drawn 8734 v CCM (an increase) & 8087 v WSW. (last years champions).giving a 2 game average 8402. To try & compare "corresponding" fixtures is extremely dangerous when forecasting an average over 13 matches, in fact to get a true figure of Heart's support base the 2 derby matches should be left off calculations & be listed as a couple of "extraordinary" items on their balance sheet. This would result in a more realistic calculation of their "normal" home attendances during the season.Lets just hope their crowds do expand. jb.

You want to alienate 6500 existing Heart members, most who would be lost to the HAL? This is the way to go.

Ben, everyone outside Melbourne has a thing about geographical differentiation despite Melbourne people saying that the Melbourne sporting scene doesn't work that way. Heart does need differentiation, and they had it when they started, that differentiation was on the football field - youth development and possession based football. The possession football started to change near the end of JVS term as coach and has been totally abandoned in the mish mash football style employed by Aloisi. Aloisi has abandoned the youth philosophy too. Despite this Heart has more members at the start of this season that ever before, a 25% increase on the corresponding period last season. They have invested in a good list and in support for the coach. Its clear though that the gamble in appointing Aloisi has not paid off, he will be a good coach but this is not his time. Once the club employs a good coach and what is a top 4 team list starts playing to its potential, numbers will rise.

Melbourne Heart's average home crowds, EXCLUDING Melbourne Derby games (where Victory fans fill the stadium): 2010-11: 5,824 2011-12: 6,423 2012-13: 7,072* 2013-14: 8,402 (average over 2 matches) *Note: Includes one game where SFC/Del Piero played. Excluding this game, the 12/13 average was 6,465. Number of games Melbourne Heart have had home crowds over 10k (in a non-Melbourne derby game) in their history: 3 2010/11 Round 1 v Central Coast 11,050 2012/13 Round 2 v Wellington 10,907 2012/13 Round 3 v Sydney FC 13,125 By comparison - Western Sydney Wanderers average home crowds, EXCLUDING Sydney FC,Newcastle or Central Coast games: 2012-13: 11,170 2013-14: 16,286 (2 games) Source: http://www.ultimatealeague.com/club_detail.php?club_id=12&info=fixtures&season=2012-13

Being a Brisbane fan I don't need to see why Heart needs to shut up shop because (some) Victory fans tell them they don't belong in Melbourne. Those Melbourne residents who actively choose to wear red and white rather than blue and white appear to love their club.

There have been many, but this is probably the most pointless article I've read about Melbourne Heart. How about the writer try to apply a little bit of in depth analysis instead of basing an argument on the most superficial data. If he takes away the effect of the derbies, of which we had 2 in the first two seasons, and 1 last season, he would see that home attendances have, in fact increased every season. Also, he might like to consider that this season, even after finishing 9th last year, memberships have also increased. And despite being winless so far, our two home games have still averaged over 8,000, again an increase on previous season's non derby averages.

"when until 2009 were Manchester City considered to be the giants of the game?" Seriously? When have City NOT been considered giants of the game? English football didn't start in 1992, no matter what Sky and the Premier League might say. You mention history so you might want to have a look at the Manchester derby near the end of the 1973-74 season, City fans have been reminding their red counterparts about that for years.

Anybody who spent a little bit of time looking into Hearts crowds like they should when attempting an article should realise that all indications are that Heart will record a record attendance this season. You also failed to mention that memberships are at an all time high.

@ RoarFan I presume you're from Qld, so I expect you to be clueless about political issues in Victoria. Do some research about the history of AAMI Park. Yes, when the idea to build a rectangular stadium in Melbourne, it was for use by MVFC & Melbourne Storm (it was 2006 & MHT were not even close to an idea; RU had failed with teams). The VicGovt wanted to build a 20k capacity stadium. MVFC simply told the Vic Govt. "if the capacity is 20k, MVFC won't be a tenant". As a result, the Vic Govt increased the capacity purely to ensure MVFC was a tenant. Hence, we use the slogan "Built for Victory". Please, do some research to avoid looking like a(nother) clueless Queenslander.

Sick of this argument Heart is a city club hence the name Whereas victory is a state club hence the big v Of course the state club will be better supported. Maybe the issue is that two Melbourne teams should have started at the same time rather then starting on the back of the success of one however hindsight is a wonderful thing. If heart go on a decent run they can definitely pull over 10,000 regularly. Why are football fans so impatient. To think by a-league standards we are complaining about 5-6000 crowds considering the clubs no longer in the A-league what they drew.

Well I guess basing a team in the Central Coast hasn't always been successful. Central Coast isn't really an attractive place to create a football team.

What I'm trying to say is that over history, City fans have had to cope with hearing about how good Manchester United are which is something that Melbourne Heart fans may have to continually listen to the Victory fans going on about how good their side is. The Victory is an established side in the A-League whereas the Heart have had to make their way for acceptance. And when until 2009 were Manchester City considered to be the giants of the game? For a time until about 2003, City were in 1st Division football which is now the Championship.

Brisbane Roar is doing quite well too thank you!