Sydney FC are the greatest A-League team in history, but it will count for nothing if the Sky Blues fail to win the grand final in May.
On Thursday night Graham Arnold’s team finally did what they have been threatening to do all season – run away with the premiership at a canter.
Arnold’s side are not only the best team in the competition by a country mile, they’re better than even Ange Postecoglou’s double-winning Brisbane Roar.
But the Sky Blues never get the credit they deserve for two key reasons – firstly, because an army of critics can’t stand Arnold, and secondly because the Melbourne media and fans dislike the fact it’s not Melbourne Victory dominating.
Think the Herald Sun or The Age will lead the plaudits for Arnold steering his side to back-to-back premierships? Nope.
And although Arnold has a handful of Sydney-based commentators in his corner, the outcry on social media over his appointment as Socceroos coach – lead eagerly by Victory fans – shows how widely disliked the Sydney FC tactician is.
It’s not so much a case of the green-eyed monster as one wearing a navy blue jersey, although Arnold himself rarely cuts a particularly sympathetic figure.
And he won’t care about the fact that Bobo just set a new A-League goal scoring record, or that Adrian Mierzejewski is enjoying an even better campaign than Milos Ninkovic did last season, if Sydney FC fail to win the grand final.
(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
It’s here that the finals series really proves its worth.
“I no longer watch the A-League because there’s no promotion or relegation,” goes the familiar refrain on social media.
Yeah. But how about the fact that with two rounds remaining, there are still eight teams fighting for a top six spot?
Or that all five Round 26 games next weekend will play a vital role in deciding the outcome of that top six?
If the A-League employed a first-past-the-post system, the final two rounds of the season would be irrelevant – particularly with no promotion and relegation.
But the jockeying for positions between second and sixth is no different to the race to finish in the playoff places in The Championship or the lower leagues in England – with, perhaps, one exception.
We rarely read trenchant critiques of the English playoff system on The Roar – partly, I suspect, because no one cares enough to write them, and partly because it’s assumed that anything they do in Europe is automatically better than what we do in Australia.
But the reality is that those who complain most vociferously about the A-League are also those who never seem to actually attend games or watch them on TV.
So we’re left with a silent majority who are happy enough with the way our champions are decided, but sneered at by online critics who can’t be bothered to support the A-League anyway.
At any rate, the sooner the A-League expands to a 12-team competition so that sixty per cent of the teams don’t end up in the finals, the better.
And if Football Federation Australia wants to pull a rabbit out of its hat, it could do worse than add a third expansion team alongside Southern Expansion and Brisbane City to replace Wellington Phoenix.
Nothing highlights the stupidity of the Phoenix’s football department like watching Dario Vidosic score twice for Melbourne City in their 3-0 win over Newcastle Jets yesterday.
This is the same player Wellington were happy to discard – along with his father Rado – because they supposedly didn’t get along with Darije Kalezic.
And what did the Phoenix do shortly thereafter? Sacked Kalezic.
There’s no outcry in Australia over such bone-headed decisions though, because there’s so little interest in the Phoenix that no one even bothers to mention them.
They’ll finish stone motherless last this season.
Fortunately there are nine other clubs doing their best to make sure the final month of the season is as compelling as the first six.
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Well, they did introduce a six club finals series in a ten-team comp. Having an 8 team finals series in a 12 team comp does come with one big advantage, you can treat it all as a knock-out comp with quarters, semis and then a final - that wouldn't be too bad (1st vs 8th, 2nd vs 7th, etc, higher ranked team gets advantage of home final, and you could even have a rule that they progress if still a draw after extra time).
Rolly
Guest
NRL average attendance for home and away is 14919 with out finals series for 2017 season compared to A league 10,744 not much difference really considering the saturation media coverage the NRL gets .A league problem is that there are only ten teams as well as lack of promotion lack of marquee players and lack of FTA exposure .The A league really needs sixteen teams .ten teams is stale even adding two more teams is not enough for the game tô keep growing .sixteen is the number of teams that's required for the A league but for a incompetant useless FFA .
AC
Guest
Is there an echo here ???
AC
Guest
Sorry not true about the metrics - NRL crowds are up 20 percent in the first four rounds of this year. Please back your Code or League in this case A-League but don't do it at the expense of other codes whether it be AFL or NRL.
AC
Guest
And your right TV Ratings for NRL are booming on Fox. Attendances have hit a 20 percent increase to 18294 compared to A League 10744. I think the A League way too long now.
Johnno
Guest
NPL
Kangajets
Guest
Actually I was at last years grand final
Nemesis
Guest
What you've written that shows a complete lack of understanding about the world of commerce. The number 1 priority for any business is to ensure: [Annual sales revenue] > [Annual operating expenses] We don't know what the deal is between City & AAMI Park. But, it's not unreasonable to speculate City will get a better deal per game for playing 13 home matches, than they would if they only hired the venue for 4 home matches. Additionally, it's not unreasonable to speculate that sponsors will pay more for more for a season that runs for 9 months, than a season that runs for 7 weeks.
Kris
Guest
Another interpretation is that with 36 referees chosen from 211 member nations, the overwhelming majority of nations won't have a ref at the WC and there is nothing more to it than that.
Kris
Guest
Hoping FIFA do something beneficial is probably a bit optimistic. We will be sitting here in 12 months still waiting for a FIFA report.
Bilbo
Guest
Oh Nemesis, "Average crowds won’t matter as long as total sales revenue from tickets, TV, merchandise, sponsorship increases." It matters to clubs. Clubs have a break even figure when it comes to attendance (gate takings) for each match. They have to pay for the grounds, security ect. Lets say Melb City needs 8,000 for break even for a game at AAMI Park. If they play an extra 5 games there an average crowds drop from 9,000 to 7,000 then that has an impact on their bottom line.
ac
Guest
Spot on kangajets - season way too long.
MarkfromCroydon
Roar Pro
Nemesis, I couldn't agree more. We need 34-38 weekends of matches and it's better if that's spread out in 2 'blocks' over the course of a 52 week period. Doing so means you eliminate the HUGE gap between seasons and have 2 shorter gaps, where people can maintain interest and get excited for the next championship. It also gives us a chance to avoid the 2 periods where the Asian Cup and World Cup are usually played, as well as avoiding the 2 periods of the year where our playing conditions are just about at their worst.
Cool N Cold
Guest
"Not true, referees don’t make VAR decisions, that’s why they have VAR." Referees don't make VAR decisions? What are you talking? What is "VAR decisions"? If referees do not make decisions? Who makes or make? "An independent panel makes the VAR decisions, so the VAR decisions are not a reflection of refereeing ability." "The video assistant referee (VAR) is an association football assistant referee that reviews decisions made by the head referee with the use of video footage and a headset for communication," according to Wikipedia. So, it is the main referee to make decision. Isn't it? Did I say the VAR makes decision? Read again please. I have always been using the term "VAR system". "At the end of the day people are only human and they call it as they see it, if they have any doubts they have the VAR to call upon." Everyone knows. Why you have say. "Try and be a little bit more mature and positive." Which and/or what make me not mature? Is "positive" all mighty. So, whoever not positive, he is not mature? What level of intelligence you have?
vin
Guest
hopefully your right, then we can save 12 million dollars a year in FFA salaries and bonuses.
Nemesis
Guest
The current FFA board is in its final days of administering football in Australia. And, it's highly likely, the ALeague will be operating independently of the FFA within the next 12 months. Having said that, even after the ALeague is independent, the FFA could still organise an End-of-Season tournament & invite the Top 8 ALeague teams to compete. If the independent ALeague clubs want this, it will happen.
Nemesis
Guest
Season will only get longer with expansion to 12 teams; then 14 teams. I'd say we're working towards an 8-9 month season; with breaks for FIFA internationals. Plus, we'll probably have a League Cup tournament for the 2nd Division teams & Aleague teams to add to the FFA Cup. Average crowds won't matter as long as total sales revenue from tickets, TV, merchandise, sponsorship increases. I'd rather 10k average crowds for 200 matches each year, than 50k average crowds for 40 matches each year.
rolly
Guest
@sam really are you sure about that.papers are on the decline league and Afl cant save newspapers both fairfax and news limited are losing buckets loads of money , as for pay tv subscriptions foxtel subscriptions have been nose diving for the last two years .basically print media and pay tv do not cater for the masses and interest from the public has been declining . as for the" big sports" league crowds and soccer crowds are very similar for average home crowds .League rates better on Tv because its broadcast on the main FTA tv channels .soccer dosent have that luxury of being live on FTA every game .how is that not obvious to you,
Bilbo
Guest
Season is far too long, loses it's appeal towards the end The lack of enough mid week games during Dec/Jan and we end up with a competition running into May Come mid March most sports fans are keenly watching or anticipating the NRL/AFL seasons, but wait, there are still five matches left of the A League and snooze...zzzzzzzzz Only 6,300 turned up for Melbourne City's home game last week, an awful turn out This league should be wrapped up by early April at the latest, for that we require more mid week fixtures
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
I'm always happy to take a wager, vin. I can't see Football Federation Australia being dumb enough to expand the finals series to a top-eight format though. Mind you, it is the FFA...