The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

A-League wins Villa, loses it's Heart

Roar Guru
5th June, 2014
Advertisement
Roar Guru
5th June, 2014
32
1755 Reads

On the same day the biggest signing in A-League history was announced, so too was something even more shocking – the loss of the Melbourne Heart.

Lost in the joy of the recruitment of Spanish superstar David Villa was the name change of the Melbourne Heart to Melbourne City.

Villa who at age 32 and still somewhat in his prime will no doubt have a massive impact on the A-League next season, but what will the impact be on Melbourne losing it’s Heart?

What happens if City Group, the same mob who own Manchester City, decide they no longer wish to own the Melbourne franchise – would it revert back to it’s original name?

Now I know a lot of people will say that the City group own the team so they can do what they wish with it, but is that in the best interests of the A-League?

Let’s remember the Heart are a relatively young club and still trying to draw fans away from the Victory. I’m not sure changing the name and playing strip will do that.

The group no doubt expected some backlash, why else would they announce the name change on the same day as the signing of Villa?

They were clearly looking to mask the “rebranding” somewhat.

Advertisement

I wonder how Manchester City fans would have reacted if their new Middle Eastern owners had changed the name of their club when they first arrived.

My guess is not very well.

The legality of the name change is also somewhat dubious as there is already a Melbourne City FC in town, which has been kicking around for almost 25 years.

Sure David Villa will bring 10 games of excitement to the league next season as a guest player. He might even do it for 10 more games the year after, but he should be doing it in a Melbourne Heart jersey.

Now I don’t claim to be the biggest football supporter in this country, but to me the Heart name and their playing strip looked like a very marketable product. All the franchise was missing was some more wins on the pitch.

Given more time they probably would have caught up to the Victory in terms of supporters. But after the name change this seems less certain.

Instead the A-League has given in to the wealth of the City group, in turn gambling on short-term marketing gains.

Advertisement

But will it be long term pain for this Melbourne franchise?

close