Supporters in Adelaide care more about football than fans in Brisbane. What else can we conclude from the fact Josep Gombau was voted coach of the A-League All Stars over Mike Mulvey?
It may be a Mickey Mouse fixture to some, but the now-annual A-League All Stars encounter enticed more than 16,000 A-League fans to cast their vote for Adelaide United tactician Josep Gombau to coach the All Stars against Juventus.
I’ll come right out and state that I’m a big fan of Gombau, and more specifically the way his Adelaide United team plays.
The Spaniard has been a breath of fresh air in a competition in which too many coaches prefer to grind out results through dour football instead of employing a genuine attacking style.
But I found it the height of madness when Gombau launched an astonishing verbal assault on journalist Val Migliaccio earlier this season, and I’m glad I wasn’t the only one.
The Courier Mail’s redoubtable Marco Monteverde wrote as much in a scathing rebuke published earlier in the week on the decision to appoint Gombau as All Stars manager.
Monteverde argues that as the coach of a premiership winning team, the most suitable candidate in Mulvey was overlooked in a straight-out popularity contest – and I’m inclined to agree.
There was a great editorial in the March edition of When Saturday Comes which argues that Manchester City manager Manual Pellegrini is viewed as boring by the English press because he refuses to engage in media mind games.
When it comes to generating post-match soundbites, the nonchalant Pellegrini generally shrugs his shoulders, offers some barely multisyllabic thoughts on the game and shuffles away with scant regard for anything the media says.
It’s not the same with Mulvey – who is actually incredibly insightful behind a microphone – but it speaks to the fact that the more demonstrative coaches receive a disproportionate amount of media attention.
But perhaps the most overlooked aspect of why Gombau received more votes than Mulvey is simply the fact that the citizens of Adelaide care more about football than they do in Brisbane.
Call it a ‘pissant town’ or a parochial one, but Adelaide is a city which seems to care deeply about how it’s perceived on a national stage.
Contrast that with Brisbane, where despite two A-League championships the Roar have struggled to make their mark on a city-wide consciousness.
It’s a bit like that with any kind of popularity contest, where quality often takes a back seat to whatever is generating the noise of the crowd.
One of the best examples of that from this week alone are the nominations for the reliably baffling Football Fans Downunder awards.
It’s not because I failed to garner a single nomination that I say that – my popularity plateaued the minute I began to look like Milo Aukerman and has flatlined ever since – but because the vast majority of A-League fans wouldn’t have the first clue what FFDU even is.
Yet somehow, by virtue of filling a gap in the market, an otherwise anonymous online community has positioned itself as an honorary organisation worthy of doling out awards for the quality of Australia’s football coverage.
With any luck, one of this year’s victors might create their own chuckle-worthy Wikipedia entry like someone did a couple years ago, and the rest of the A-League’s multifaceted football community can get on with the serious business of trying to analyse the game.
But what the awards illustrate, just the like the A-League All Stars voting process, is that those who make the most noise almost invariably generate the most popularity.
And the most fascinating potential narrative of any possible Brisbane-Adelaide showdown is how their respective coaches conduct themselves.
Gombau may well jump for joy should his team get on the scoresheet, but if the Roar team win the A-League title, it’ll be Mulvey who has the last laugh.
patrick
Guest
compared to where Adelaide were at last year to Brisbane, Gombau has been far more impressive.
Kareem Mohamed
Guest
Coming from a mariners fan... Western Sydney wanders best team of 2013, brisbane the best team of 2014 If you don't like it go follow afl or rugby!
BrisbaneBhoy
Guest
I still fail to see how you can come to the conclusion that "citizens of Adelaide care more about football than they do in Brisbane." I could perhaps understand if the comment was "citizens of Adelaide care more about the All-Star exhibition match than they do in Brisbane." But as others have mentioned, those who voted for Gombau didn't nessersarilly came from Adelaide/Sth Australia. I'm sure Gombau picked up many a vote from all across Australia due to the way he has transformed Adelaide this season.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"If the question lacked such insight, then what was the point of Gombau blowing up about it?" You've never had a bad day at the office, where you've said things you later regretted? I don't agree with Gombau's making reference to Migliaccio's son but, from all accounts, that discourse was "off-the-record". What exactly would "off-the-record" mean in relation to dealing with AUS journalists?
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
If the question lacked such insight, then what was the point of Gombau blowing up about it?
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
So, Migliaccio's "hard question" was "why have you won 1 game out of 9"? Wow... surely they must teach more insightful investigative skills at journalism school? Or, do those graduates immediately get snapped up by SBS & ABC news services?
onside
Guest
Kasey, I am a Brisbane supporter, but really enjoy watching Adelaide play when they're on song. I have long considered Adelaide a real threat to Brisbane, if both teams make the Grand Final . Being appointed coach of the All Stars in not inconsequential in my book. It is an honour. I reckon 'little Adelaide' have something some big city clubs cannot engineer, a genuine soul. If you make the final against Brisbane, I wish you good luck. Not all that much mind you,just a little.
brisvegas
Guest
I'm a Brisbane fan. I voted for Gombau. I thought it would make things more interesting and entertaining. I don't much care about the result of the game, who the coach is or who plays. My only interest is in seeing an entertaining game and football getting some exposure. I think Gombau has a more entertaining and engaging personality than Mulvey. I thought it'd be more interesting in seeing what sort of gameplan he comes up with. If there was something meaningful in the game, in a football sense, I'd go for Mulvey. Mulvey has shown himself to be far and away the best coach in the league, at least this season, as witnessed by Brisbane's extraordinary performance in being runaway winners. Such a gap between first and the rest in a salary capped league says more about the coach than it does about the players. IMHO that is.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
I think the first job as Migliaccio as a professional media representative was to point out that winning one game out of nine was not an impressive start. He did that, Gombau didn't like it, Migliaccio suggested that he might need to "harden up" and the rest, as they say, is history.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Great point about Merrick.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
I couldn't care less who was voted All Stars coach, nor do I have any issues with Adelaide United receiving due recognition.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Mike What were the "hard questions" that Migliaccio asked Gombau? How could any football analyst not see what Gombau was doing? Migliaccio is a professional football journalist. He has access to a coach that 99.9% of ALeague fans do not. Yet, all he could come up with when talking to Gombau was "mate, you've got to harden up"? Why is it that ADL (and rival Aleague) fans could appreciate & understand what Gombau was doing, but the professional football media representatives were, for the most part, clueless?
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
" The lack of analytical ability of some people is truly astounding." I could say the same thing. I never once stated that I'd done a statistical analysis, or that I was in any way in possession of the specific numbers who voted for each coach. I simply offered the hypothesis that "supporters in Adelaide care more about football than fans in Brisbane" based on the fairly obvious premise that Gombau was voted All Stars coach and Mulvey wasn't.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
The problem with this theory is that Fuss is one of the most vociferous critics of what he considers to be 'soft journalism'. Yet when journalists like Migliaccio and Monteverde actually get out in the field and ask hard questions on a daily basis, he criticises that too. You can't have it both ways.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
"I didn’t even vote, that’s how much i care who is the coach for this game." Precisely my point.
NUFCMVFC
Guest
Generally agree, Ernie Merrick was able to be put forward as some really boring regressive coach because of his cautious media personality This is despite being the most successful A League manager with 2 premierships, 2 championships as well as another GF and near Premiership to boot Plus Melbourne brought in some very progressive players which influenced trends, eg after the Trio from Rio there was a trend towards Brazilian players in the league, plus bringing in people like Carlos Hernandez isn't exactly to underpin long ball football As for the All Stars concept, I'm fine with Gombau winning this, because this is purely a gimmick and nothing but a popularity contest and doesen't deserve to be taken seriously Frankly it is better to bring the big clubs in to play local clubs IMO Mulvey will quite rightly win coach of the year, he has quite nicely proved his doubters wrong which is good on a personal level, plus got automatic ACL qualification and so exorcised the ghosts of missing ACL qualification last year
AL
Guest
I've said this before, but what a waste of a great team on Brisbane and QLD in general. This is not a dig at Roar supporters. But the Brisbane & QLD media in general eg demise of the Fury. IF Sydney had team like Brisbane we would have 30K average.
Kasey
Guest
yes onside and while we're at it...why don't we add a membership tally column to the league table? That way the Bigger cities of the Eastern States can dominate everything as they already do with the National Team:( I think the real butthurt here is from Eastern Staters like Mike Tuckerman and Marco Monteverde types surprised/annoyed that "little Adelaide" actually had something nice(even if inconsequential) happen for us.
Steve
Guest
Agreeing with you again. The lack of analytical ability of some people is truly astounding. Some of the "logical" conclusions are anything but.
Steve
Guest
Yep, given you plenty of stick Fuss but couldn't agree more. My favourite comment of yours.