The concept of the international marquee player in the A-League is a brilliant idea. Off the field, the benefits are for all to see.
It allows clubs to make national and often international headlines, bringing in exposure that wouldn’t otherwise be forthcoming.
Crowds flock to to see the likes of Del Piero, Yorke, Fowler and even our own Harry Kewell. Sponsors line up to to get their brand associated with these idols and the results for companies are immediate.
“Sydney FC major sponsor Webjet’s media exposure for the month of September was over eight times the average for the same period last year,” reported news.com.au on October 27 last year.
“That’s a direct result of Del Piero-generated coverage, and a potential game-changer in terms of converting exposure footprint into consumer impact.”
Put simply, big name marquees deliver off-field results in a big way.
Lately, however, the on-field situation has shown up a major problem in the international marquee scheme.
The biggest names will always play in Europe, and the likes of Alessandro Del Piero and Emile Heskey have entered the A-League in their twilight years.
Benjamin Button these guys are not, and age combined with elite league football has wearied these gentlemen.
Heskey injured himself in pre-season and only just became a starter in last weekend’s match against Sydney.
Del Piero is in a constant state of flux between injured and “fit enough to play”.
Kewell has had injuries more to do with misfortune, but his body seems to be healing slower.
Shinji Ono has picked up another ‘Shinjury’ and came on off the bench on the weekend.
The week after William Gallas was gasping for breath in his debut, he pulled a ‘troublesome’ calf.
Here is a statistical run down of the minutes played by all the major marquees out of a possible 720 minutes (accurate at time of submission)
Del Piero: 446 mins
Heskey: 155 mins
Ono: 467 mins
Kewell: 66 mins
Gallas: 62 mins* (*from a possible 270)
TOTAL: 1196 of a possible 3150 mins
The statistics don’t lie and they are damning indeed.
Out of a possible 3150 minutes of we have only seen 1196 minutes of marquee action. That is roughly 40 percent of possible game time from a group of players getting the biggest dollars from their clubs.
You can’t blame the individual for an injury. They are an unfortunate part of any sport but review of the current marquee situation is needed.
There is no point signing a big name player if he going to be sitting on the bench or the treatment table for more time than he is playing.
While there is no easy immediate solution for this conundrum, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Time is all it will take.
Australia will always be a popular destination and as the A-League grows and the turnover increases, we will see the big stars making their way here at an earlier age.
Just as the MLS secured Thierry Henry, Tim Cahill and even David Beckham at slightly younger ages, the A-League will one day see players of similar ilk plying the trade at less rusty ages.
Hopefully that day arrives sooner rather than later.
In the mean time, however, managers and CEOs need to choose carefully before paying the big dollars for a big name.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Drogba and Eto'o have the profile. Ideally after the WC but more realistically in 2-3 years time (unfortunately).
Squirrel
Guest
When are they going to get a real marque player not injury prone has beens who come here for a holiday.
Steve
Guest
Im sure Lucas Neill will be looking for an A league marquee player deal now he is clubless.
nordster
Guest
Just on GC....to clarify....Palmer did offer to keep the club operating at a sustainable level by reducing its costs. That was late on in the piece, offered to keep them on NYL level funding from memory. Or maybe it was someone at the club or local assoc. Blew a heap at the start though.
Football_Wunderkind
Roar Pro
Of those 4 clubs I can only really see 1 team that truly cared/cares about it's existence. Gold Coast had a parachute, a big fat overweight one. He continually poured money into a money losing enterprise so the club operated in a way that wasn't scared of losing money because the balance would be fixed. Auckland Kingz were given their license by default due to the arrangement for an NZ side to be included. They had no emotional desperation to succeed. "Just making up the numbers" North QLD was just a monumental bluncer.
Football_Wunderkind
Roar Pro
True, very true What if the reason Shinji Ono or Besart Berisha or now Sidnei at Perth Glory even considered the A-League because the heard ADP was playing there? (Besart may have heard Dwight Yorke played there) You can have both but I am saying that when signing these guys clubs have to be aware of the risk of injury.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
An A-League without salary caps wont do that - they'll concentrate on players who will put bums on seats and sell jerseys. Yep, that means more pensioned-off, used-to-be-good Europeans that fans have heard of, because no one will care about a Sarawut Musak or a Titus Bonai. It also means the league will be dominated by a Sydney club and a Melbourne club fighting it out, while a contuinued stream of regional clubs go broke and fall over. Wasnt players not getting paid fun ? Didnt it do great things for the league ? Didnt that keep the attention where it belonged, on the footy field ? And for what ? To go from being a feeder league well below the standards of the top leagues, to being a feeder league well below the standards of the top leagues.
Titus
Guest
The a-league should be developing talent from all around the region, Indonesia, Thailand, Pacific Islands, NZ, and Australia. For this to happen, the teams need to be free to grow as big as their potential and their potential to invest. We also need to be investing enough money to take young kids in Australia away from AFL/NRL and into Football. Every team has a base of supporters, MHFC has 6-8 000, CCM the same. These supporters will turn up whether the team is at the top or the bottom. SFC, WSW, MV have a core of around 15-20 000 who will always turn up but the fans that aren't turning up are the ones who will only turn up for the quality, this quality will only come from big clubs investing in it and dragging the whole league up with it. We have the option of getting there slowly with constraints or getting there quickly by removing them but sure enough the league needs to be set at what the big clubs are capable of and not what the small clubs are capable of.
realfootball
Guest
That is the glass half full argument. You may be right. I would prefer to err on the side of optimism. With owners like Traktevenko and clubs with the pulling power of Victory (which would be much greater with a better team), I believe that we can achieve a suitable degree of excellence (a wonderfully amorphous term, agreed!)
The Auteur
Guest
You know what's even better than signing big names to your club who will only guarantee a short-term boost in crowds numbers? Signing good foreign players at younger ages who can play within a team's system provide creative outlets or bang away goals. Winning football, a better reason to boost your crowd averages in the long-term than a short-term marquee player fix. For me, hands down (along with many other Roar fans), would prefer Berisha over Del Piero any day.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Titus, Of course you can - you just put in a category for 'youth marquee players' the doesnt go under your conventional cap. Heck, the way Id do it is to force a link between marquee players and youth marquee players - for every dollar you want to spend off-cap on some pensioned off used-to-be-good player, you have to spend fifty cents on kids who might turn into something.
Titus
Guest
Another problem with the salary cap Ian, we can't afford to lock down kids for 3 years and play them in the NYL until they are good enough, Liverpool can and their youth ranks are full of young kids who will never make the big time.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Realfootball, The thing is, you arent going to get excellence - the money just isnt there. Without a salary cap, you'll get two slightly less mediocre teams in an unstable league where clubs go broke with regularity. This lack of stability will scare off corporate sponsors, because every crisis at an A-League team affects the reputation of all A-League teams.
Realfootball
Guest
Agree on K, but not on Fowler. His impact was very limited, really only lasting a few games. But I am relying on my memory here - the stats may say otherwise.
Realfootball
Guest
The more salient point, I believe, is that with success there will always be failures. No light without darkness, and so on. If the price of excellence is the failure of some of the smaller clubs, I'll take it. We should always strive for excellence, in everything. The reality is that excellence is impossible in football with a salary cap in operation. Until we allow our bigger clubs to pursue football excellence unfettered, the game in this country is effectively walking on its knees. I also reiterate a point I made elsewhere: without a salary cap, the smaller clubs still have the tv money. Their only option, if they lack a wealthy benefactor, will be to develop youth players, and that can only be a good thing for football. On the point of wealthy benefactors, not all of whom are Clive Palmer, the salary cap is anything but an inducement. What businessman wants to involve himself or herself in a business where they are legally constrained from outcompeting their competitors? There are so many things wrong with the salary cap.
nordster
Guest
Haha yes FFP is total window dressing....agree there Ian...so many loopholes these days, what with alternate currencies and all! Lets say there was more even prizemoney in champs league, some small leagues and clubs would never be able to match them. Such is life... not a reason to restrain performance at the top though. Merit based prize money is no bad thing either....teams that finish higher are rewarded, more incentive...sport doesnt have to be some socialist experiment in redistributing income. In fact, its better off when its not. From a sporting purists standpoint anyway.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Punter, My apologies on Sydney United rather than Sydney FC. And, yes, we are a feeder league. And thats exactly why the kids need to be locked down by A-League teams on 3 year contracts, so when they leave for the bright lights the club gets some sort of return.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Would you be willing to make a small bet on that ? See, unlike you, I know how the Champions League money is distributed, so I know what leagues simply cant afford to put the squad together that can win it. Oh, and FFP ? That conspiracy by the existing Big Clubs is going to make things worse, not better.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Alternatively, a club with a deep-pocketed owner can do these same things, forcing other clubs to either over-spend and risk going bankrupt, or be an also-ran who crowds and sponsors dont want to know. If you have a tax and banking system that refuses to foreclose on "culturally important" footy teams, you can get away with these things. But this is Australia, where association football is the #3 sport.
nordster
Guest
Well if there is no one with the gonads in Oz football to take on potential giants like WSW or MV....then so be it. Me i dont think that would happen. Having big clubs would be a natural incentive for others to want to knock them down a few pegs. Especially in a country like Australia. But done the old fashioned, competition based way...rather than relying on regulation to artificially level things out.