Congratulations Western Melbourne Group. Now don’t pull a Melbourne City

Like many people on this website, I was eagerly awaiting the day expansion was confirmed, however I was controversially campaigning for a third Melbourne side.

Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to see Canberra or Wollongong join the league, but as someone who is living in Melbourne, who has a strong dislike for Melbourne Victory (due to my Adelaide roots) and for Melbourne City (due to my support of Manchester United) I wanted another club to connect to.

While only time will tell if I buy a membership for the Western Melbourne Group’s new franchise, I am pessimistic about their long-term success. Why? It is because they are a third franchise in an already saturated area.

The solution to this problem I hope is clear for the board at West Melbourne, that is to establish an identity that is different from Melbourne Victory and City. The question that should be raised instead is how does one establish an identity within a franchise to make themselves known as a club?

Fans at the Melbourne derby (AAP Image/Joe Castro)

I used to think that establishing an identity was as simple as establishing a clear geographical divide between existing franchises. While a geographical divide is crucial to a club’s identity, I now believe that simply doing this is far too simplistic and not enough.

When comparing City and Victory, you would say that City do not have an identity. They hardly have a fan base, there are no clear principles that are dictating their philosophy as a club only offering vague statements like “a broad based community team, celebrating cultural diversity” and there is no geographical divide.

You don’t know what Melbourne City are supposed to be. If they are a community club, then why the takeover and re-brand from Heart when it was the community that decided on these colours and names?

Are they the A-League’s Manchester City, playing attacking football? You certainly would not know it from the way Warren Joyce is managing them. Are they for the purists trying to convert ‘Eurosnobs’ to the A-League? There are no notable successful international marquees that have played there. Or are they just the anti-Victory?

This brings us to the problem with West Melbourne. If this franchise is going to become a club, then from day one there must be a stronger community influence then that what City has become. So what does this look like?

Firstly, there must be a geographical divide. I will give partial credit for this franchise at this stage. The efforts to build a private stadium in the Wyndham City Council clearly establish the territory. As per reports this is at least 30 mins away from Victory and City heartland in the CBD, but they have shot themselves in the foot by choosing to start their existence at Kardina Park in Geelong.

This causes a confusion about the franchise’s geography. Are they a Geelong franchise or a Western Melbourne franchise? While this is an issue, it is better than the alternative of playing at AAMI Park whilst the stadium is built. It can be expected that initially the franchise will struggle on this part, so it must look to develop other parts of their identity while this is in the works.

Let’s look at colours and names. No matter what the colours and names are and no matter what the product is, this must be chosen by locals within the Western Melbourne (and possibly Geelong) areas.

Comparing the processes between the naming of North Queensland Fury and Western Sydney Wanderers for instance, many of the fans behind the latter where relieved that their name was chosen by themselves, rather than a focus group.

The Melbourne Heart never really had a proper identity. (AAP Image/Mark Dadswell)

By doing this, this will give the supporters a real sense of ownership surrounding their club, not like City or Fury where a corporate overload will make the decision for them. On ownership, these supporters should also come up with philosophies that West Melbourne should abide towards.

When I mention these philosophies, I do not mean coming up with vague principles like “win every game” or “score x number of goals every game”, such approaches would be impractical and unrealistic.

What I am referring to is how would the supporters of these teams like their team to play. Borussia Dortmund under Jurgen Klopp for instance desired every game to play a particular ‘gegenpressing’ style of high intensity, Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona also adopted this attempt to form an identity through his possession tactics.

This is what Ange Postecolgou was trying to implement with the Socceroos, always playing an aggressive ‘Australian’ style of football. This may not have always gathered the desired outcomes, but the commitment to realise an identity was always present.

Some may say that results will always outweigh style and identity everyday of the week. To counter this, I would like to divert to Jose Mourinho’s second spell as Chelsea manager.

Results where there when they won the league title, but the chants of “boring, boring Chelsea” remained.

Further, if results are the exclusive focus on West Melbourne, then what difference is there between them and Victory or City? All franchises are about results, but not all franchises have a focus on identity and style.

We are trying to create a point of difference between West Melbourne and Victory and City and this is but one avenue to do so.

Another avenue is in terms of players and staff. Already Macarthur South West Sydney (MSWS) are seizing on this opportunity, demonstrating a commitment to prioritising locals and NPL players from that region.

This is how one develops their identity. MSWS are making it their philosophy to use promote locals and youth players, differing themselves from Sydney FC’s ‘Bling FC’ mantra however whilst also using geographical location to differ from the Western Sydney Wanderers.

Per reports, West Melbourne are looking at getting Celtic captain Scott Brown as their inaugural marquee, but is this what the fans want? Do they want the club to be aggressively campaigning for marquee players, or would they rather a local focus?

These are the questions that the board of Western Melbourne must be asking their fans at the earliest possibility.

For West Melbourne to be successful, they must prioritise establishing an identity that differentiates themselves from both Victory and City.

City have failed to do in their existence and are facing the blunt of those consequences today. They have been given an opportunity that more than ten other bidders desperately wanted because they have managed to convince the FFA board that they have potential.

We can only hope that they seize upon this opportunity in 2019-20 and don’t pull a Melbourne City in creating a confused franchise, with no clear vision.