Coach Ante Milicic says Macarthur FC will be hurting from their A-League finals exit for some time, but he’s confident the competition newcomers have set a platform to kick on.
The Bulls’ first season came to an end in Sunday’s 2-0 semi-final loss to Melbourne City but they had two golden chances to take a first-half lead, with Charles M’Mombwa having a shot cleared off the line and Ivan Franjic hitting the crossbar.
“It’s hard to get to these games. It’s a big opportunity, I felt we were a massive chance,” Milicic said.
“In the end, I’m hearing all those cliches – ‘first year was good, it was decent, we got to this game’.
“Maybe it’s right but I know with the group of players that we have, they’re very disappointed.
“They expected more, they wanted more. We all did and to fall short the way we did, it’s going to definitely hurt for a while.”
Despite Macarthur’s disappointment on Sunday, there was plenty to like in the A-League newcomers’ debut campaign, where they remained in the top-six all season and beat third-placed Central Coast in their elimination final.
“We’ve set a platform, we’ve set a way of playing,” Milicic said.
“But of course that keeps on evolving and a lot has to do with the time you spend on the pitch, the players coming at the start of pre-season getting a better understanding.
“But also, they get a better understanding as well as players how I work and my staff also.
“So looking forward to seeing how that process unfolds during the off-season, but we’ve been active in the way that we’re looking forward towards next season.
“We’re probably a more preferred destination now in the A-League than what we were 12 months ago. So if anything, that’s something to be pleased about.”
Macarthur are expected to announce the signing of departing Wellington playmaker Ulises Davila while they have also been linked to Central Coast’s Danny De Silva and City winger Craig Noone.
One confirmed departure from the playing ranks is captain Mark Milligan, who has called time on his professional football career, but will join Milicic’s coaching staff.
“When you start up a new club in these difficult times around the world, you know that Mark Milligan can accelerate your process,” Milicic said
“So he’s been fantastic for us, he’s a gentleman.
“To have him working closely with me next year, I really look forward to it.”
chris
Guest
You are right with the south west of Sydney being WSW territory. When my youth team plays out at Marconi you only see wanderers colours. But I wonder how long this will be the case? The whole west and south west of Sydney can more than accommodate 2 teams.
josh
Guest
Let's think back to season 1 and see how many WSW fans made the trip to Newcastle for that final match. I believe the number was about 10,000. I live for the day WSW finally decides to stop being a youth development camp and gets serious about winning something.
josh
Guest
I live only a few minutes walk from the Bulls head office and every house in my street is close to a million dollars now, I really enjoy it when SydneyFC fans call me a dole bludging westie.
josh
Guest
My favourite part has always been where SydneyFC fans can't and won't admit hurting WSW was their primary goal.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
No hate from me, There building nicely for next season and i hope the fans show up in numbers too as so far they haven’t been very good but Im sure the Mexicans will cum out in numbers.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The clubs that get the most revenue would be Sydney ,Melbourne Victory, and WSW. The last two spent up big to get the wooden spoon and not make the finals. If you had a choice which two opposition clubs to give a wad of money knowing they would squander it would be those two. It would take away City, Macarthur, Western United and give Sydney the title on a platter. Not a bad idea and Adelaide runners up and grand final losers you can have the double whinge of the year at the end of the regular season after the grand final.
Grem
Roar Rookie
And I reckon Covid19 didn't start in a Wuhan lab, it was probably Sydney FC that caused that too!
dennis
Guest
Spot on Josh. Go to the plaza at Campbelltown or Narellan and all you see are red and black jerseys. I was at the Bulls v WSW Campbelltown and the support for the Bulls was embarrassing. I am unsure who gave the go ahead for this club. Just to add a further thought. If you can make it to the semis and still only get 2000 people then you clearly have a community engagement issue. WU and Bulls are one of the same. Only Fox and FFA wanted them for the $. Where will they be in the longer term ? Resting nicely in the same corner of the grass as Gold Coast.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Transfer fees are paid when someone is on contract. The reason they were actually not allowed is they are a great salary cap cheating mechanism. Say player A in on contract for 3 years at club A at 50k a year and suddenly play well better than the overage foreign player who is on 400k a year and a miracle happens and an A-league coach puts one of their useless overage players on the bench. Club B then comes in offers 500k transfer and pay the player 150k a year in effect poor Club A lose their one good player and get wooden spoon. Thats the beauty of allowing transfer fees among A-league clubs. Maybe these A-league clubs need to get their heads right and only bring in players they can sell in the future.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
WSW have about 2 million people with a 20 minute drive of their stadium and is surrounded by people on all sides. Macarthur have about 300k. Sydney with Kogarah is currently the same with drive time from Liverpool where all three teams overlap. If its all Sydney FC doing why not bring in Marconi, Sydney United, Bonyrigg Eagles, Blacktown all much closer to WSW . That would make more sense all further from Sydney FC and closer to WSW.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
100% you still would. for arguments sake melbourne city would still pinch other clubs youth because they cant develope their own; the only difference is they would be required to pay fees now - which they wouldn't have any issue doing because they're rich
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
the issue is they're spending more money, then they're bringing in - massive red flags with this club same as western united. bulls used the full cap and the additional 300k for a new team last season, next season they have already blown 1.5 million on 3 players first year contracts (davilla, de silva & noone) they are losing money on gate takings each week and i doubt they sell any merchandise. if the owners werent so rich, they would be in trouble. The clubs not going to magically turn a profit next season either. the salary cap should be adjusted for each individual team in terms of there seasons profit/loss if you really want FFP to work
Chopper
Roar Rookie
In relation to Macarthur and other teams "buying" players by offering them more money than they currently get, I wonder if transfer fees came in whether we would still see such activity?
Grem
Roar Rookie
I wish I could afford to live in many of the houses and house on acreage properties in the Macarthur area. I don't think we need to worry about the ability of many to buy a membership. There are plenty of highly paid professionals and tradespeople who live there. I would guess the median house prices would be above Brisbane, Adelaide, Wellington and a few other places.
Grem
Roar Rookie
And I've noticed a few children in the local schools wearing some merchandise, which is a good sign. Football needs to win the younger generation- as we know.
Grem
Roar Rookie
They have invested considerable money into land at Cawdor to build training facilities for youth and women. They will have a W League team next year and they are doing good work in the schools. They also actually represent an area and hopefully the area will support them in bigger numbers in the future. They were attracting some more spectators as the season wore on. They have invested in their team for next year and I can see them building into a strong club. They need time, especially time in a non Covid season. They did make some mistakes early on with pricing and upsetting some members but I also believe most clubs have a few dills in their support section who think they are bigger than the club, too!
josh
Guest
Agreed, if WSW weren't so inept at signing players they would have buried Macarthur this season. The South-West of Sydney has always been WSW territory, you only need to see the first match between the clubs at Campbelltown stadium and how hopelessly outnumbered the bulls supporters were to know who's area it is. To answer the reply to your comment - Wollongong, it should have been the Wolves from the start.
josh
Guest
and that's exactly why SydneyFC pushed so hard for them to be in the A League. It wasn't to have an extra derby, anyone with half a brain knows they can't be manufactured. They've never been comfortable with WSW having more members.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Was it true that their prices were a bit hefty, affecting their crowds?
Micko
Roar Rookie
So if they scrap them, then where else would you base a franchise?