Wanderers have come so far, and have the desire to go much further

“Look how far we’ve come” goes a line in the Red and Black Bloc’s song We Unite as One.

To think that just over two and a half years ago many of the fans at Parramatta Stadium last night would have been sitting in the theatres and RSL clubs of western Sydney to share their thoughts at a series of forums for what was then know as “new Sydney club”.

And now that club is both real and unreal, enshrined not only the fabric of western suburbs of Sydney, but in the fabric of the A-League, Australian sport and now Asian football.

By making the final of the Asian Champions League at the first time of asking after another methodical and clinical display at Wanderland over FC Seoul, the Western Sydney Wanderers proved again just how much belief runs through the club.

They might be under new ownership, but the values and foundations of hard work that were demanded by the fans at the initial forums appear to have been renewed.

It’s early days for new chairman Paul Lederer and his crew, but the signs are that they are ready to take the club forward, beyond the work of the FFA over the past two years.

This is good news for fans of the club and football in Sydney’s  west.

Last season, after the success of the inaugural one, there were doubts around the scene about how the management were handling their initial success.

The sense was that Lyall Gorman and his office were chasing quick rather than sustainable growth in order to boost the club’s selling price.

While that was perhaps understandable given the FFA wanted to divest its control, many felt there was a movement away from the core values promised after the fan forums, at least from those not in the football department.

On the pitch the team continued to deliver, with John Tsatsimas as football manager and Tony Popovic driving the technical output.

It’s perhaps no surprise then that the sense of a renewal of values has come from Tsatsimas’s move from the football department to the role of CEO. It’s looked a seamless transition so far.

A western Sydney boy with football in his veins, Tsatsimas had one of his first public appearances as CEO at last week’s Wanderers season launch, speaking passionately, humbly and with care not to miss anyone about the commitment of those employed by the club, and the appreciation of their stakeholders.

He was backed by an equally grateful address by Lederer, who was keen to emphasise how he wanted the club to touch everyone out west, regardless of status or disadvantage.

With the type of commitment shown by the players and staff so far in the Asian Champions League, it’s impossible not to get drawn to the Wanderers story.

There’s a tale doing the rounds about Lederer’s trip to Guangzhou for the quarter final second leg against Evergrande and how he went into the dressing room at half time and saw his team, early in their pre-season, absolutely shattered.

After-all, they’d been played off the pitch by Asia’s most expensive team, and the defending ACL champions. Somehow they’d survived to get to the break level. But it looked only matter of time before they’d be out.

Lederer, getting a few words in, emphasised how proud he was of the team’s effort, irrespective of the outcome.

Somehow they summoned the reserves to get through. It was the same in the second half of the second leg of the round of 16 against Sanfrecee Hiroshima.

Indeed, cast the mind back to the opening matchday loss to Ulsan Hyundai and there were many already writing the Wanderers off as another A-League team without the quality to get the job done in Asia.

Popovic has pointed to this quite a few times, suggesting he and the team have used it as motivation.

The campaign hasn’t always been pretty, and the amount of heavy touches and poor execution last night summed it up well, but there can be no denying how determined this side is.

Despite making the grand final, this looked a team on the slide at times last season, but last night there were signs a fairly new squad was starting to climb the mountain again.

Indeed, as I watched from a vantage point not far behind Popovic,  I was very impressed by the defensive work of the new look back-four.

Anthony Golec, in particular, looks a terrific pick-up and an upgrade on Adam D’Apuzzo.

He might not offer a great deal venturing forward, but his defensive work, particular his ability to block crosses from the right, and defend crosses from the left in the air, is high quality.

The fact he can play in central defence, when required, as he might be when Nikolai Topor-Stanley jets off with the Socceroos soon, is an add-on.

Indeed, the depth at the back looks a real strength for the Wanderers this season, meaning they’ll remain tough to beat.  

Topor-Stanley, now the permanent skipper, gets better and better, delivering another dominant display. You’d be hard pressed finding a better defender in this season’s ACL.

When you think about Matthew Spiranovic coming back in, and Brendan Hamill  possibly being a back-up, it’s deep.

While Popovic might want to get a little more from the fullbacks coming forward, the defensive structure which has been the Wanderers foundation looks as strong as ever, perhaps at its strongest yet.

Indeed, while there is a desire from many fans for a more proactive approach, the feeling I got from chatting to members of the Wanderers technical team is there won’t be much of a deviation from the blueprint that has worked so far.

Everyone who comes in gets to know and understand the system, and there have been signs Golec, Hamill, Daniel Mullen and Vitor Saba are really starting to find their feet.

Saba only had a few minutes to strut his stuff last night, but impressed again on the back of a neat showing in Seoul.

Meanwhile, the move to use Shannon Cole high on the right was one that had to happen after Kwabena Appiah struggled with the defensive work required in Popovic’s system.

With Romeo Castelen to come in on the right for the A-League season proper, the Wanderers appear to be building the options nicely within the template, and who’d be brave enough to bet against it working against Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the final?

While good fortune has been on the Wanderers side for large parts of the ACL campaign, this has only served to fuel the feeling there is a destiny about the Wanderers run.

Everyone wants a piece of it, new and old.

Lederer and his good mate Frank Lowy came onto the pitch soon after the final whistle last night, Lowy making a beelie straight to Popovic to no doubt thank and congratulate him on reaching the final.

The FFA and Lowy might no longer be the club’s boss, but they deserve credit for getting it off and running.

The challenge now for Lederer is to build on it, but maintain the humble and honest tone that was set by the football fans of the west only 30 months ago, and that were on display last night in another great chapter not only for western Sydney football but Australian football.