David Villa and the City Group have made a mockery of the A-League and everything Australian football has built over the last 10 years.
To promise the Australian public 10 games, and then cut it short for ‘promotional reasons’ is absolutely disgraceful.
One can be sure that Frank Lampard’s stint at Manchester City won’t be cut short for similarly pathetic reasons.
Make no bones about it, David Villa will not return, and nor should he be allowed to be. He has made a joke of our competition, turning up for a few matches, and then taking off with the belief that we should be grateful that he graced us with his presence for measly few games.
The A-League and Melbourne City fans deserve much, much better. We have a team in the Asian Champions League final, wonderful active supporter groups and strong growth in interest, TV ratings and attendances. We need bow to no one anymore.
In the wake of this scandal we need to remove guest players from our competition.
A long time ago, when the competition was fledgling, guest players might have been useful. Kazu Miura and Benito Carbone were strong performers, but their real influence was minimal.
When we think about the foreign stars who built our league up, we think of Dwight Yorke, Fred, Thomas Broich, Alessandro Del Piero, Carlos Hernandez, Besart Berisha and even Robbie Fowler.
What do these stars have in common? They all signed proper contracts with the club and played at least one full season. They didn’t come for guest stints of only a few matches, they stayed and had input at all levels of the club, on the training pitch, in the dressing room, with fans off the field, with sponsors, and of course, performances on the pitch itself.
We didn’t need David Villa to come to the A-League to continue its growth. There was enough hype going on around Melbourne Victory, the Heart’s rebranding, Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC, not to mention the new excitement that occurs with every new season. A-League season 10 was going to be huge regardless.
Ours is a league to be respected, for it’s a great league and one Aussie fans should be proud to call their own.
So why do we still allow people who aren’t fully committed to the growth of Australian football to grace our shores? We shouldn’t. We should scrap the guest player rule and consign this disgraceful episode to its rightful place in the dustbin of history.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
"In the wake of this scandal " it's not a scandal
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
The UCL has been very lopsided the last couple of days. 1-7. 0-7, 0-4, 5-0, 6-0..... some exceptionally heavy shellackings
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@nordster Have you been watching any UCL this season? In 40 years following this European tournament, it's the most lop-sided competition I've ever witnessed. Unlike business, where 3-4 big entities can still create a vibrant competitive marketplace. In sport, 3-4 big entities will be the death of any competition. I guarantee UEFA will introduce a Salary Cap, or some restrictions on players within the next 10 years.
George Haida
Roar Rookie
So we're saying here that having a World Cup winner, world class player in the prime of his careers, unlike many other ageing marquees, would not have made a difference in publicity and attendances whether he came or not? Also, whether it's true or not, the reason stated for his leaving is family reasons, with promotional work to go with it while he's there. The bottom line he's New York City's player, not Melb City's, so there isn't a real argument there against his going back. And as a side note, there's a big possibility he'll come back in December-January for another 2-3 games, which makes a difference.
nordster
Guest
Well u can continually broaden said regulations or just contract them for the sake of simplicity. Guest players could be rolled into loan players. Guests arent in the cap and loans are? So abolish the cap and CBA, there i just cut more red tape haha. (The visa exemption...hmmm maybe just allow one or two exempt foreign loaners...) Or whats the buzzword for football red tape....cant be green thats taken...'boot tape' ? Maybe 'black tape' as most boot tape is black.! Anyway we prefer the opposite outcomes....i guess your data analytic job has a large helping of regulatory mazes that you've invested time into learning... :) I do enjoy jousting with pro regulatory folks as i spend most my time on these matters interacting with like minded rational anarchists and minarchist types. You're a breath of 'something' air not sure if its fresh or what....fun anyways!
Towser
Guest
Your last sentence Patrick is spot on.. World football is sort of like the CB radio, I remember a friend of mine had one in his truck. Used to be a lot of static,garbled nonsense at times,then out of the nonsense came a clear voice. These football superstars give the A-league that clear voice.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
But, in your haste to just continuously whine about the FFA & ALeague you've missed the point. The Guest Player role is an attempt to broaden the regulations. David Villa is a loan player. He is also a Guest Player. From my understanding of the A-League Player Regulations, by being a Guest Player: 1. David Villa isn't included in the Salary Cap 2. David Villa isn't included as 1 of the 5 foreign visa players By contrast, last season, James Troisi was a loan player; but he was not a Guest Player. You can be a Loan Player & also be a Guest Player. It's not one or the other. And, one is not the subset of the other. All loan players don't have to be Guest Players. All Guest Players don't have to be loan players. Look at the facts for each individual case that is presented.
Patrick
Guest
Like I said in one of the other articles, we should count our lucky stars that we have a player who has just come off a Spanish league title, Champion League final and World Cup campaign play in our competition in the flesh, regardless of how minimal the games participated in are. Rewind 10 years ago and if you said you had a player with David Villa's pedigree and still somewhat in his prime fronting up for an A League time after the likes of Brian Deane, you'd laugh. And yes you mention your Broiches and so forth, but now the Del Piero's and Villa's of the world who come and play in the A League create so much more exposure for the A League, and no doubt when managers are looking to sign players, they have a larger pool of players of higher quality who won't snub the league because they know nothing about it, but will now come/consider coming.
Dean
Guest
Did I mention it's one of the rare occasions the A-League gets much sporting mention in the papers, much less Melbourne City. The Herald Sun had one page of just David Villa's face to cutout. The ALeague getting so much attention is groundbreaking.
Pat Malone
Guest
I agree dean, the author is over reacting
nordster
Guest
Yeah i was agreeing with u....but the guest player seems superfluous as a distinct rule when they could just as easily be a loaner. Over regulated i tells ya :)
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"Might be a good idea to deregulate" What are you on about? There is no regulation - players already are being signed by A-League clubs on loan deals. David Villa was signed from NY City on a loan deal. It's just that he can be designated a "Guest Player" in the A-League. It doesn't alter the fact he's here on loan.
nordster
Guest
Exactly, loan deals wouldn't have so much expectation attached either. Might be a good idea to deregulate, huh:P
Arnold Krewanty
Guest
scrap the guest player - that's your opinion, but certainly not mine and many others. David Villa playing in A-League is good publicity, regardless of the amount of games he plays. You don't like marquee guest players coming and playing for a few games for your club, don't watch!
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"After the Villa debacle, it’s time to scrap the guest player." Would not make a scrap of difference. Even if there was no option of "Guest Player", David Villa could still be signed on loan & play for 4 matches in the A-League. Last season, James Troisi and Tommy Rogic were signed by MVFC on loan.
Dean
Guest
'Wonderful active supporter groups'. It's a football competition, not a jump up and down chanting competition, that's called X-Factor. Get your hand off it. Having a world class striker play 4 games is better than none and is an obvious boost to the stature of our league. Melbourne City didn't promise 10 matches, nobody promises 10 matches on a loan stint because of the chance of injury or other commitments. He was initially available for 10 matches, but not all of them have panned out. So be it. If a team loses a player to injury (as they did with Lampard) it's not uncommon for them to call back other loan players without a minute's notice. Melbourne City have their highest memberships ever and this year's attendances will be up on last years even if you discount the matches that Villa played. All in all, it's disappointing that he won't play 10 matches, but those 4 have been a kick-start that Melbourne City have benefited greatly from and would continue greatly from if the great Frank Lampard was to grace our shores next year.