While Markus Babbel finds himself in the firing line after three straight defeats, it’s slightly quieter on the other western front.
But much like his Western Sydney Wanderers counterpart, Western United manager Mark Rudan can’t buy a win at the moment.
No one is saying Rudan should be sacked, but there is cause for concern at Kardinia Park – and not just for the overly anxious security team.
More worrying than 200 Sydney fans not sitting down is the spot of bother Rudan’s team finds itself in on and off the park.
Rudan’s a solid operator. He’s got a front line of pre-historic age levels, but there’s plenty of quality in his team and he should be able to get things back on track.
But he has little control over what’s happening off the park. We continue to wait for any kind of update on the progress of their new home, which by now has to be a massive cause for concern.
The club simply is not gaining anywhere near the traction they would have hoped for in Geelong, but this is hardly a surprise.
It’s not for a lack of trying. The local club email inbox I help manage has been constantly sent offers for free tickets, but there’s a small problem: the club in question is over 80 kilometres away from Kardina Park.
It was always going to be a hard sell to get serious community investment from an area when the people in that community know full well you will not be there in five years.
It must be a harder sell when you’re trying to attract people almost 100 kilometres away.
(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
If I knew that Melbourne Heart would become Melbourne City and wear City blue when they joined the A-League, I would never have bought a membership.
And that’s where the A-League model continues to fall over.
Without a home – and without any ability to rely on an identity, culture and people – it’s hard for any club to attract and retain supporters. The Wanderers’ struggles in between stadiums also provided evidence of that.
I understand that facilities don’t just happen. But while it’s well and good to look two years into the future – and let’s be honest, we’re probably looking further ahead than that – the club has to be viable in the short term, too.
A home derby against Melbourne Victory – a team no stranger to Geelong – will hopefully provide a much-needed big crowd, but who knows if they will attend given the treatment of Sydney FC’s travelling supporter base last week.
United desperately need a solid contingent of away fans to turn up to boost their shoddy metrics – but until they have a home in which they can attract and build their own supporter base, these derbies will prove little more than a sugar hit.
I wrote before the season started that the club’s best chance at long-term survival lies in Rudan’s ability to cultivate a winning team and attract fans for the quality of his team and their play.
Unfortunately, even that prediction has fallen short. Post-game scenes after Western United’s incredible triumph over Victory at Marvel Stadium provided one of the highlights of the season and a glimmer of hope for what the club could be.
But without an update on their new stadium, I fear even success will only take them so far.
reuster75
Roar Rookie
Incorrect. The land the stadium was to be built own is owned by the council and has been kept in reserve by the council for the sole intention of building a stadium there. The local council was heavily involved in the bid so thus knew what the stadium plans were and so planning permission would've been given fairly quickly. The land is right near Dandenong station so whilst the station would've needed an upgrade it doesn't need to be built from scratch. But the FFA were swayed by the whole 'growth corridor' myth - that because the population out there is expected to grow therefore they will all be football fans.
MelbCro
Guest
@ Redondo, we don't want them, we have already told WU to piss off. They will never play at Knights Stadium.
con
Guest
team 11 would have been a massive disaster they would have taken forever to get a permit and playing in Cranbourne ,also known as red neck central they would have been 2,500 on the non derby days
con
Guest
hellas Verona have ethnic root that are not Italian hence the name I am trying to say that the Italian league is quite happy to have a team that was started up by another ethnicity so why cant it be so here, in much more multicultural Australia, try to understand when people are responding to your views
AxeMaster
Roar Rookie
So Hellas Verona are in the A League? What's Serie A got to do with us. They wouldn't give a stuff over there with all the racism and bigotry against certain players anyway.
con
Guest
have you heard of a team called hellas Verona ,funny name hey they survived thirty years of fascist rule and are still around
con
Guest
The name hellas was stopped in 1985 you guys in this forum are the only ones that use it as a derogative term ,but in all honesty how and why does it hurt your ears and its should never be used ,is it because this country primarily has racist views ,I think we do have, we say we are multicultural but we have very negative views to other cultures ,did u know there is a Verona hellas in Italy and it survived mousoulini's fascist government , so what is our story
AxeMaster
Roar Rookie
Yeah, I like that. Real Geelong, F.C Geelong, Geelong Wednesday, 1860 Geelong……..maybe a boutique stadium in Geelong would have got some more Government support. A green & black horizontal striped kit would have appealed to the local community too.
AxeMaster
Roar Rookie
Why can't they build a Matildas HQ and Team 11 in the same development ? Makes sense.
AxeMaster
Roar Rookie
That's the problem right there in your sentence. South Melbourne "HELLAS"....thought they changed there name. A club named Hellas will never be in the A-League, nor should they.
AxeMaster
Roar Rookie
Yep, spot on James. Surely there is some local club ground where they are based, that could get updated a bit and used before their proper W.U boutique stadium never gets built.
AxeMaster
Roar Rookie
North Qld Fury & Gold Coast United are awaiting them in Purgatory.
AxeMaster
Roar Rookie
In fact it's the predictability of the utterly predictable...which is even worse. I thought that before W.U was even allowed to join the A-League, this whole Stadium issue had to be sorted. I still remember Steve Horvat, scarf and all, boasting about the bid. Is he even still involved. Surely if the stadium is a no-go then doesn't the A-League have the right to delete them from the comp' and replace them with another club....maybe "Team-11" from Dandenong would have been the better option. Here's a prediction, sorry to say too but by 2025 the A-League will be on a par with the old NSL.
Micko
Roar Rookie
I think you'll find Geelong's AFL team usually gets close to capacity for most of their home games there.
Nemesis
Guest
As I mentioned in a previous post: WUN is on track to be playing out of their boutique stadium as promised in the Bid Documents. Today the WUN management provided an update. Things progressing as they outlined in the timeline in the Bid Documents. Western United's Wyndham City Stadium reaches major milestone The vision to develop a 15,000-seat stadium as the home ground of the Western United Football Club has taken a major step forward with the completion of site investigations. https://www.wufc.com.au/news/western-uniteds-wyndham-city-stadium-reaches-major-milestone
rolly
Guest
the state govt has refused to provide the funding as previously sought in the bid stage so in limbo .no money no stadium thats a big problem . A big flaw from FFA when a home ground was a major criteria for any bid team and they FFA decided to let that go for this bid because they upped their licence fee amount to 15 million from an original ten million .money buys a license but not a successful club will it make having a home a ground a base is far far more important .greedy ffa in the mean time the league suffers .
con
Guest
Marko south Melbourne would not be a limited growth its a region of Melbourne the south east area for anyone who likes our code and is welcomed to attend and its old ethnic roots that still leave in Melbourne that prosper and grow like all other communities ,but what stands them apart from most other communities is they are proud and support there culture within a culture which Australia is all about, just look at Oakleigh mall and how it's buzzing every night ,just look at the crowds every time and every game that Greece or a Greek team has played in Melbourne, to deny a football mad community the right to be in the A leugue is a shame
Nemesis
Guest
"Melb Victory are the biggest richest club in the ALeague, and there is no way they could afford to buy the management rights of AAMI Park" No one suggested this. What I said was: "Every ALeague club needs to aim to be in 100% control of its home stadium for 24x7x52." Anyone who can't see the difference it's likely because they've had too many Coward Punches to the head. And/or they're just unable to grasp fine details.
AR
Guest
“Every ALeague club needs to aim to be in 100% control of its home stadium for 24x7x52.” Shirley you can’t be serious. Melb Victory are the biggest richest club in the ALeague, and there is no way they could afford to buy the management rights of AAMI Park. Even with all its relative financial muscle, MV is still reliant on the cheaper tenancy deal it enjoys with the AFL at Marvel Stadium. The idea that it could suddenly purchase management rights of AAMI across the entire year is just laughable. But by all means, call *me* ignorant and illiterate.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
As there are two other clubs in Victoria, it would be fair to say derbies constitute somewhat more than a sugar hit. I do feel Western may have missed an opportunity by scheduling their game against Adelaide in Geelong. Ballarat would make a decent road-trip from Adelaide and could be built into a regular fixture. Ballarat has a bit of a history with hosting South Australians going to Melbourne for sports events en-mass so no doubt they would know how to put on a show and hence do their bit to build up the fixture. It feels an opportunity missed (for this year at least).