As a season-ending 1-0 loss to cross-town rival Melbourne City on Sunday afternoon loomed ever closer, Melbourne Victory appeared almost certain to claim its first ever A-League wooden spoon.
A late goal prevented such a plight, yet had the Newcastle Jets been given the chance to tackle City in the season’s only outstanding match, it could potentially still have happened.
Despite much banter and comment in A-League circles suggesting there was potentially something quite humorous about seeing one of the traditional powerhouses of the league flailing away helplessly and doomed to the bottom of the table, it was actually not funny at all.
Who am I kidding? Yes it was.
Fans of the other 11 A-League clubs were well within their rights to have a good old chuckle and snort with laughter at the prospect of the four-time A-League champions’ pending relegation from the top tier.
Oh, sorry. We haven’t quite come that far in Australian football just yet have we?
The justification of such mirth lies two-fold. Firstly, because each and every A-League club bar the two newcomers have been towelled up, chewed on and spat out consistently by Melbourne Victory over the last 15 years.
(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Secondly, the game of football excels at banter and the mocking of traditional foes when they are down. Should such tribal culture ever be lost to the game, the worse it will be for it.
This time around it is the Victory’s turn to be the butt of jokes and meekly skulk into the distance as the serious A-League contenders head into the finals this weekend. The Mariners have had their time in such a role, Wellington Phoenix as well and the Jets reside in a very similar place right now.
Yet seeing Victory plummet to another disastrous finish after topping only the Mariners in 2019-20 appears to have many in the A-League universe giggling.
There were just five wins and four draws for the men in navy blue this season, alongside an appalling 17 losses. A rather comical -29 goal difference is perhaps the best reflection of the train wreck that was Victory’s season 16 of A-League play.
As is par for the course, Newcastle was widely tipped to claim the spoon in the pre-season, off the back of continued low levels of investment in the playing stocks and a squad that always looked unlikely to challenge for a spot in the finals.
Central Coast were also in that conversation, yet despite grave concerns around the depth of the Victory squad that Grant Brebner took into the season opener, a 3-1 loss to the Brisbane Roar on January 2, I’m not sure too many felt it would ever get as bad as it did.
As history would have it, the Mariners excelled under Alen Stajcic, Newcastle lived up to the lowest of expectations through no real fault of their own and Victory slumped even further in the credibility stakes, in its most regrettable of seasons.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Don’t get me wrong, I take no particular pleasure in seeing Victory slump to the pit of competitiveness this season.
However, I am also mindful of the value of good natured banter and the interaction that occurs between fans of combative teams around the globe.
Considering the quality of social media humour directed towards the consistently disappointing plights of Arsenal and Tottenham in the EPL, the life or death barbs used when it comes to Old Firm encounters in Scotland and some of the passionate and pointed sarcasm adopted by Spanish fans when traditional derbies roll around, it seems only fair that Australian fans pile on when given the chance.
Something tells me we might be all getting a little soft when it comes to sinking the slipper into teams when their star takes a rather sudden downward turn. No one ever took it easy on the Mariners or Phoenix, so why should a softly, softly approach be taken now?
As traditional rivals, Sydney FC, Adelaide United and Melbourne City fans have the right to be rolling in the aisles, hoping that a short-term pattern has been set and their arch enemy is off battling to recover for the next few seasons.
Even though finals proved a bridge too far for Mark Rudan’s men in their second season, Western United also have the right to be giggling away at the plight of the big brother that they have now out-performed for two successive seasons.
In fact, all of Australian football well and truly has the right to be laughing at Melbourne Victory. Frankly, they stink.
However, everyone happy to jump on the bandwagon had best be ready when the ship is righted and Victory return to competitiveness.
For now, chuckle away. But be prepared to cop a whack of your own when the club you support hits hard times.
josh
Guest
Sigh, SydneyFC fans need to keep adding finals series to the mix to get this magical higher attendance figure. We've been over that lie before.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Perth’s continued underperformance worries me far more than Victory’s current woes
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Ok, we can now officially laugh.
Coastyboi
Guest
Remember the angry Victory protestors who once stalked their players at training? They made a banner in arts & craft that read, “The line has been crossed.” Here’s a question for the intimidators who disrespected their own team: now that you have won the wooden spoon, was your dramatic objection worth it?
NoMates
Roar Rookie
What ever happened to the FFA approach of "You cant squat on a license"? Something Victory have been doing for some time.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I may have been a thousand out and whether it was a home or away derby there were at least 30000 blue shirts and you can't fact check me on that!
Jubal1
Guest
Oh, dear Josh, go and look at the facts. Sydney FC has had higher average crowds than WSW in every single year that your club has existed bar one, you need to give up the delusion that WSW crowds have ever been consistently larger than Sydney FC's We've survived our exile from our home ground far better than your club did and your supposedly triumphant return to the stadium that was going to fix everything has fixed nothing.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
I don't think its as fragile as people think. If you are at the bottom of the ladder, there is usually a myriad of reasons that need to be addressed. If they are not, than nothing changes and the club just keeps putting out positive fluff statements while there is revolving door of coaches.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
Yeah if nothing else changes besides a new head coach. Than they will be back in this position while every other club has pulled further ahead.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
Its great to be positive however the CEO left so there is no one in their permanent place. The current managing director is a lawyer so not sure what experience she has in football or in operations. Relying on the head coach is tricky if he leaves and his recruitment doesn’t work out. Going about as business as usual will lead to similar results as before. Plus not having any training facilities puts the club behind City and WU for recruiting and developing younger players. All younger players will choose City first for obvious reasons. Once WU have their own Training Facilities than they will be second in line for recruiting young guns. What can Victory offer? We used to be awesome and we train at the park next to the stadium?
Kevin
Roar Rookie
Melbourne will be in an even worse position with Popovic now. Yes, Melbourne will probably shoot back into the top two next year under him, but its then gonna be a long and painful descend back to the bottom, and after Popovic leaves after his second season, they will be in an even worse position than they are now.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
yup, phoenix are in trouble already. Luckily they have a coach in talay who has proven to be able to have an eye for talent, he’s going to need that intuition because phoenix are being gutted of there best players left right and centre currently
NoMates
Roar Rookie
We've lost Devlin to the Jets as well.
Guppy
Guest
Lucky duck. Still waiting to hear if my membership seats have already been sold to someone else!
dennis emery
Guest
Just fact checked your post Grem and this post is fake news. It was 61,880 and it was a WSW home game at Sydney Olympic Park and definitely not a Sydney FC home game.
josh
Guest
That was 61,000 Grem, and it was a WSW derby held at Stadium Australia.
MVPeter
Guest
The mighty MV will be back. The board especially this season made some horrible decisions related to club memberships which made it very difficult for loyal members to purchase tickets via the preferred online retailer. As for recruitment, the great MV has got it wrong for the past few years. Recruiting experience players who have past their expiry date is concerning. This resulted in playing an unfamiliar style of football sitting back and absorbing the pressure and relying on speedy breaks to score goals. How successful has that been in the past 2 years? I feel that MV hasn’t realised that Asia has great players as well as Europe and they will come and play in Aus. The coach with all respect to Brebs was a COVID decision + minimal pay. The expectations were low from the beginning of the season when most of the players didn’t have a pre-season. So fitness was already an issue. Add injuries to the table and you have what is today., possibly last spot. As an inaugural MV member, I hope next season will bring back success and the fans to each game. With Pops as the head coach changes will come, but success and A-League titles will come in some time.
Neil
Roar Rookie
The A League which I whole heartedly support is fragile. We need all teams to do well. So I do not piss on anyone who is doing badly.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
Victory need to build some Training Facilities like City, WU, Macarthur, Sydney etc. Hiring Poppa for a third A League club and expecting miracles doesn't seem like it will lead to long term cultural changes within the club. Are Poppa's sons coming to the starting 11 in Victory?
Grem
Roar Rookie
Sydney pulled in 63000 at one of their derbies and regular 40000 at Allianz so I don't think we can knock their crowd appeal. I wish Wellington did pull in 20000 plus crowds every week but unfortunately it only happened as a show of appreciation for what your team has done for a year and a half. Once your team is playing regularly at home their crowds will, unfortunately, go back to what they were. If the crowds do stay up then I will be surprised but just as happy as you because I support football and would love to see all teams doing well.