When are we going to start talking about the football again?

Pfft!

Lionheart - Sorry you find my comments "shallow" considering most of them are based on facts than can be traced back to pre-HAL times.What worries me is that you ,as a dyed in the wool loyal fan.appear to place all your hopes for the future in Roar's ability to sign a new coach. You and I differ there for I ask the question,who is picking the new coach and what criteria are they using in establishing their choice's abilities. for in their 13 year history the powers running the club have only made one good choice out of the 9 times they have appointed a coach?. You attempt to change what I said when you mention Fox saying something, when I said clearly it was the commentators , namely Kosmina and Ognevoski, who, when asked what was wrong at Roar, saw Kosmina almost "stunned" into silence, wheras Sasa ,an ex-Roar player, didn't miss his words when he said they would have to start all over from scratch. You mention Roar fans being kept "well informed" as to the hiring of a new coach ,I would have thought that the lack of comment was almost deafening in it's non- happening. Last I heard they had elected a committee to advise on the hiring and in my experience in football administration,the election of a committee to do something like that is tatamount to "passing the buck", so that there are others that can be blamed should the new man not work out. Remember the hiring of the Dutchman Thijssen who, after he arrived here,no one appeared to know what his position actually was. He is listed as manager at Roar for 6 months, but what someone forgot to look at was that he hadn't managed a club for 13 years before coming to Australia and hasn't managed a club since leaving in 2014. Don't be offended but I feel sorry for you and your fellow Roar fans when I see see you being treated in such a poor manner, but the inescapable fact is that this club has been on a downward spiral since AP made his mysterious exit, and the facts go a long way to proving that statement Cheers jb.

JB, I find your comments rather shallow at times - Fox wondering what's going on? It's pretty obvious what's going on, Roar's coach, who was appointed on the recommendation of the former coach who you say is the only exception to our coach saga, recruited poorly despite having a bigger budget bar two of all HAL coaches, was a dud (who Roar held onto for too long) and who walked out midseason leaving his train wreck in the hands of the recently arrived, inexperienced and unexpectant Davies. The team, with ten key players missing from the original list plus a couple of assistant coaches, is in limbo awaiting the appointment of a new coach, which rightfully is taking time. Fans, by the way, have been kept well informed of this process. Of course the club has to shoulder the blame, but your ongoing insistence that the core of the club is rotten is not a logical conclusion on the evidence available. I am fearful that Roar will appoint a big name with no coaching experience, and I would put that down to owner interference. Still, I'm a supporter and will have no shame enjoying the day when we do get back to the winners table. There haven't been many years where Roar hasn't rewarded its fans by the way; it's not all a doom and gloom history as you portray it. Indeed, Roar has achieved a great deal for football in Queensland in its short history given the limited support (or active opposition) of the Qld football community, government, media and pretty much everyone else other than the 7,000 or so fans. (I think the number they announced at the ground was 8400, still better than most clubs will get this round although I felt about 2k last night were Sydney fans, but still Roar can double that with the right coach).

Lionheart - Once again your colours are showing and they are most definitely "orange". While I wish there were another 10,000 just like you, I'm afraid that same banner is maybe blinding you to the facts of the matter. Roar's crowds in the last five months have sunk from a respectable 15,000 to last night's 7,700 and why that is not sending out a huge alarm signal to the people who run the club is beyond my comprehension. You often cite the success of youth teams and ladies teams as a sign that all is well behind the scenes and this in itself is misleading for these teams you mention are champions in competitions that are far removed from the standard of the top HAL football, and it is in this area you have to analyse what is the future for Brisbane Roar. The coach saga is not only 3 years old it has been there since day one of the HAL with one exception ,AP, and even his departure, from a top performing team, is still shrouded in a bit of mystery. Apart from that one exception the powers that be (different people) have long shown the inability to set a course for the club and more importantly, picking the men with the necessary nous to accomplish their desires. And so we are left with those loyal, die-hard, 7000 or so supporters, who are left to absorb minimal communication as to what it is that is happening behind the scenes that is witnessing the total degradation of a football team that not so long ago was the pride of the country. The blunt truth to be faced re. the unlimited use of young players was shown last night when one of the HAL's top teams brought on 3 international standard substitutes who had an immediate influence on the game. It is squads like this who hold the high positions in the HAL and a team of "Brisbane Babes" (to give them a romantic title) would get slaughtered by such a team. Just remember, when AP had his famous "clean out", the standard of player he procured ,eg Berisha and Broich, did not come from the youth ranks within the club,so very little has changed over the years, in fact, only 2 of the "youth" players signed in season 11/12, who came out of the Roar youth ranks, are still playing at the top level,Brattan and Donnachie, both "lost" to the Roar due to management errors. I honestly wish I could see some relief for you in the near future but even the Fox commentators are now shaking their heads in wonder as to what is going on. Cheers jb.

totally agree JB, but not necessarily that it's a long road. The right coach could turn the team around in two seasons. The Eric talk originated in an interview in yesterday's Courier Mail, and I think he made it fairly clear that he'd happily stay at Roar, but not knowing who the coach will be means he doesn't know if he'll be signed or not and he's got to secure his future. His family likes Australia but he's also talking to a number of overseas clubs. I think it's important that we distinguish between team and club JB, as you've done. Club's going great, NYL champions and 2nd in the W League. The senior team has done poorly, and as you say, require a rebuild. I would like to see youth given more a go JB, to be honest. Darren Davies has given Wenzel-Halls and Leck a go, but where's young Caletti and Barnett and Powell and the young crew that we've had bare glimpses of.

Ok... So that last comment went straight to the mods so perhaps that answers my question.

Yes mate, I understand, I'm a Derby fan, last time we were in the P/L, we won 1 game all year. At least in championship we win a lot more then 1 game.

Lionheart - I'm afraid the "rot" may have already set in, with Victory reported as being interested in Eric as you say, but more importantly ,Eric seemingly keen to depart to ,and I quote, "a good team with a good coach". Is he in fact just clarifying something many of us have been saying for the last 3 seasons?, that is, Roar are not a good team and not being run too well. In your articles you push the young players almost non-stop but Darren Davies cannot be accused of not giving youth a go but still the team loses games and sits close to the bottom of the comp. You must ask yourself, do Roar, instead of supplying non stop, players to other clubs, wish to get that reputation ,or do they once again wish to be regarded as a top club in Australian football. If that is the wish then the road is going to be long and hard. Cheers jb.

Been to a few of their home games Punter, great fans, fairly timid by England standards. I've become a fan by association. It's funny over there, fans of clubs like Norwich don't mind promotion occasionally but will openly tell you they'd prefer to be in The Championship rather than have their butts kicked week in/out by the big rich clubs. As for MV - we really do need transfer fees.

Headline reads - When are we going to start talking about the football again?............................................. it never stops for EPL, UEFA etc......it just Australian Football & A league that went to sleep last week.

It does a great job with the AFL in Sydney, giving it lots of airtime.

MV should be called BR2. Good story by the way on Norwich, who are the darling of the championship.

You should view it as a positive that the ABC doesn't cover soccer, because it generally gives more airtime to niche sports. This means the the more commercially attractive professional comps like the A-League are the sole province of the commercial media, which should be viewed as a positive.

@ Fadida It’s not Fowler; I’d take a European coach over an Australian coach full stop.

“By that logic then Australian coaches will never get hired because they’re always going to be seen as inferior to international managers and thus it will become a self fulfilling philosophy.” >>> not true. They can develop experience overseas if they’re prepared to move, or as assistants, or in extended coaching teams. Australia is still very immature and only offers a handful of full time appointments (a second division will increase this - another reason it’s important: it will deepen the coaching pool). It’s not that Australian coaches are inferior to overseas coaches, it’s that often they’re not good enough (that was my point not that they are “inferior”). “As I said lack of experience shouldn’t be an issue as surely the whole point of the a-league is to develop Australian players and managers” >>> lack of experience definitely should be an issue. The place to learn how to be a coach is not in the first team but elsewhere, that’s actually an FFA training and development task; then they have to find relevant experience by getting into a professional environment; and finally the A/Pro Licence is mandatory for the HAL - most NPL coaches don’t have it Your comments on signing visa players I find flippant and disingenuous. A critical success factor, the difference between success and failure in the HAL, is the signing of visa players - if an NPL coach doesn’t have that ability they should not get near a top job. If a club has the ability (through scouting networks etc) then it’s much less important but Roar don’t have scouting networks so it IS critical the new coach has it. (The MLS addressed this by funding a central scouting network that all teams could draw on, that’s how important this is). We have a coaching crisis in Australia and the answer is not to hire more Australian coaches, they’re just not good enough. We need more qualified coaches, we need more courses for coaches to qualify from, and we need them locally not just in Sydney, and then we need more opportunities for them to coach at a high level But “giving them a go” because they’d Australian will just drag the whole league down - they’re not good enough.

The gist of my musings is that viewers in the Middle East and Asia have access to copious amounts of football - EPL, EFL (Championship, League One, League Two), Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and many other European and South American leagues. Yet in many countries they can also support their domestic leagues just as much. Scandinavian fans have been doing this for decades, comfortably balancing support for local leagues and watching foreign and especially English football. A-League fans need to adjust themselves to live with this reality. The league needs to plan its way through this. One must wonder if the A-League had been established a decade or two earlier if it would then have been better prepared?

totally agree about the youth. Sad MV signed our Academy director, NYL coach and are now, according to SBS, talking to Eric. Anyway, this link below is to an article about Norwich's coach, Daniel Farke who's dragged them from the bottom of The Championship to the top since they signed him in 2017, promotion to the EPL next season. He's had a low budget but has signed players who fit his philosophy based on passion. Should sound familiar to Roar fans, never die, play to win always. He's German, coached his old team in the lower divisions for 6 years (raising them up a few divisions), and then Borussia Dortmund 2. He wasn't a popular choice at first, but Canary fans love him now. http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com/2019/03/26/the-blueprint-for-norwich-citys-success-and-you-heard-it-here/

Fadida, I can’t argue with your logic. Roar must do their homework on this, it’s not a decision to be taken lightly.

I like your comments about asia and middle east. They consume copious amounts of EPL. It s just well packaged and sold and it isn’t just ex pats living and working around the world. I saw hundreds of Singaporeans all dressed up for Man Utd v Liverpool game and Thailand goes crazy every Saturday evening. Same applies in Korea, have to learn to live with it as it provides entertainment on a global basis and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

I suspect that some people are falling for the big name player equals successful coach trick. There is no evidence that Fowler, for instance, wouldn't simply bring in 5 English lower division players, recommended to him by former team mates. No doubt there'd be one of two ex EPL has beens amongst them and the football would probably be as turgid as City under Joyce