One of my favourite rides at amusement parks as a child was the merry-go-round. I loved being able to pick a different horse every time the ride had finished.
Occasionally I had to compete with other children for the horse I wanted, but even if I missed out, there were still plenty of different ones to select.
A-League transfers each year resemble a merry-go-round. It’s a problem that has plagued clubs for years.
Eyebrows were raised across the country this week, when the talented Joshua Brillante announced he was signing with Melbourne Victory for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
This is the same Brillante who previously played for cross-town enemy Melbourne City, interstate rivals Sydney FC as well as the Newcastle Jets and the defunct Gold Coast United. At 28 years of age, this will be Brillante’s fifth A-League club.
Long gone are the days of being loyal and spending the majority of your career at one club.
The A-League is quite a small salary-capped league and that could be the issue to find players signing for three to four years like their counterparts in Europe. One to two years appears to be the standard contract length for a player in Australia.
It is extremely hard to get invested in a player you enjoy watching, because by season’s end they could potentially be moving on to a different club.
This could go a long way in explaining why fans of A-League clubs seem reluctant to put a player’s name and number on the back of a purchased jersey.
(Photo by James Elsby/Getty Images)
Why would you spend $150.00 on an official jersey including numbering to find it redundant when the player likely leaves in 12 months’ time?
Recycling of players is a systematic issue that has affected every club, with the only exception being Sydney FC.
The largest club in Australia has consistently been able to buck this trend, signing players on longer term deals.
Sydney consistently uses the full salary cap each year and they are one of the only clubs able to top up their squad with marquee players due to how strong they are financially.
Sydney has the best administrators in the game and they are regularly able to take advantage of the changing loopholes within the salary cap.
The concession they benefit from the most is loyalty player payments followed by home-grown talent, with both being exempt from the salary cap.
Not every club has the financial backing like Sydney though and most will be lucky to have one player stay for three years. By comparison Sydney FC have several players currently that have been together for multiple seasons.
Joshua Brillante isn’t the only one club-hopping around Australia. The league already has many players with multiple clubs.
The 31-year-old Anthony Golec and the soon-to-be 40-year-old Liam Reddy are currently tied in first place. In a 12-team competition they have both played for more than half the teams, representing a whopping seven clubs each.
There is a young player who is quickly closing in on that record though: 24-year-old Mariners centre back Ruon Tongyik, who in his short career has already worn the shirt of five different clubs in the A-League.
There will be plenty more transfer movements in the coming months. Teams will be waiting for the merry-go-round to finish so they can select a player.
For the ones that initially miss out on a club, all they have to do is get back on a different horse, because the carousel of A-League players never stops in the off-season.
Kevin
Roar Rookie
You’re right, I didn’t see him.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Sorry to see Ivanovic go - hope he does well at The Roar.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
You let the far more skilled ivanovic leave because he wanted more game time. Bad move for Elvis, he won’t be a starter
Grem
Roar Rookie
I did enjoy this article Andy - I love to read about Aussie football and the comments have been really interesting, too. It was also a very fair and even handed article- good on you. I was really pleased to just read that Sydney have signed Elvis Kamsoba from Victory as he is an exciting, young and quick player who the crowd will love. Maybe another of your Sydney FC criticisms will end soon.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Can you explain how the wanderers took it seriously when they let of go of players for the finals section and didnt sign up new ones winning the ACl with a semi reserve squad
Grem
Roar Rookie
Ryan Grant - a few years to go but a good possibility.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Well he is listed as being born in Hull England and came to Australia at a young age. I assumed he must have played in England because I read these regulations about what counts as a local player but maybe just being born in England is enough.
Franko
Guest
I guess if we can't afford Elsey you have to wonder who we can afford. Amazed nobody has picked up Noah Smith yet, looked good in the games I saw.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Extraordinary on the part of Broxham. Even better, his link to the Victory goes all the way back to the very first season of the A-League.
Kevin
Roar Rookie
Leigh Broxham seems to be on track to become the only A-League player to stay at one club his entire career. Leigh Broxham – “Wait is that not normal? I see other sportsmen in Australia play at one club.”
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
If the clubs dont want to move to winter for financial reasons, I dont see how they can increase their spending on players in a summer season. Its actually cheaper to have the same players get paid the same and move them to winter. Instant increase in output and longevity for the players in winter. The cost will only be smaller crowds by about 20%. The broadcast revenue doesnt change. But if they cant afford that, I just dont see how they will afford to start paying players whatever they want. Than more clubs will go under and I doubt other clubs can afford to prop up bankrupt clubs. But since they paid for licenses, they must. So the only way no salary cap would work is a winter model and no license model with promotion and relegation. This way if a club goes bankrupt than next one takes their spot. But I dont see NPL clubs suddenly spending millions out of nowhere. So step 1 - winter Step 2 - nsd Step 3 - promotion and relegation Step 4 - get rid of licenses Step 5 - no salary cap Transfer fees is kind of a break even scenario especially when we have the reuirement for x number of Australians per club. Because than you will be receiving tansfer fees but also paying them for the same recycled players going from club to club as per the article. So you end up no better off financially.
Chopper
Roar Rookie
Foxtel's football page is very poor now and only gets changed once in a blue moon.
Chopper
Roar Rookie
Winter? how do you reckon clubs cannot afford a no salary cap position? If you wipe the cap and introduce transfers market forces will prevail. There may be some early hiccups but really it is inevitable.
Chopper
Roar Rookie
I think you will find Brattan was born in Australia and played all his junior football at Rochedale Rovers south of Brisbane, where his father was an integral part of Rover's first team. His parents were both born in the UK.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
Its a pretty similar discussion pertaining to Australian football. Even the amounts are similar just not in aud.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Yes. Of course any PFA the world over is similar in that their only focus is increasing player salaries, so they will argue against anything that puts a clamp on player salaries, regardless of whether that's a good or bad idea for the game as as whole.
Remote
Guest
https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/uk-sports/2021/02/09/salary-caps-in-leagues-one-and-two-withdrawn-following-arbitration-panel-ruling/ I found the above article about the introduction and knockback of a salary cap in League One and Two in England interesting. IMO there’s parts of the article that are pertinent to Australia and it’s continuing angst in creating a proper football pyramid. Here’s a few lines I thought related to any league in the world with the possibility of having at least 2 professional divisions. “The PFA believes it is now in the best interest of the leagues, the clubs, and the players to work together and agree on rules that promote financial stability” For Australia where’s the evidence that this is happening? Where’s the dialogue regarding the A-League, proposed NSD, APL, FFA, PFA etc regarding financial stability going into the future? The discussion regarding licence fees and how that will comprise a smooth transition to a P/R system? “Portsmouth chief executive Mark Catlin said the salary cap had been a “blunt instrument” and paid no regard to the differing size of clubs in the third and fourth tiers. “We have been the biggest advocates of self-sustainability in football clubs but the salary cap in its current form just levelled the playing field, it did nothing in our opinion to address sustainability within clubs,” he told the PA news agency. “ “You have smaller clubs where the owners would still need to be putting in £1million-plus to get to the salary cap, but you had some of the larger clubs that could afford a lot more but were not able to put that on to the pitch. “We always said that was wrong, it went away from the model of self-sustainability which we believe is what we should be working for. “We have it within our grasp as an organisation to control the spending of clubs, but it shouldn’t be done with a blunt instrument, because not all clubs are the same.” “Clubs are of differing sizes and we should be able to work on that principle and respect that.” Isn’t all this what non salary cap football people have been talking about for the last 16 years in Australia?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
So how many players have A-league clubs bought from all the other clubs in the world. I know MV payed a fair amount for Hernandez, Adelaide United have paid the odd transfer fee. City got round the system by buying Caceres with Man City , raises the issue that City already had a way past it and they are the big buyer. Brattan was born in Britain and played there before moving to Australia, so thats my theory why he was signed by Man City even though he was off contract to boost their local player numbers. So you have a group of clubs that rarely pay any transfer fees and suddenly the cheque books will be open.
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
https://thewest.com.au/sport/perth-glory/perth-glory-owner-tony-sage-says-he-sold-house-to-help-the-a-league-club-survive-4-million-loss-c-3256272 It doesn't look like clubs will be taking the salary caps of any time soon. Newcastle is being funded by other clubs. Only clubs that could potentially afford it would be City, Sydney and maybe WSW.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Grem I don't think you are naïve. Players can't break a contract unless certain conditions stipulated within that contract haven't been met or a third part [another club] triggers an exit clause. [within the FIFA guidelines] Players these days have within their contract certain conditions that must be met by the club, as an example, they must be selected to play if fit. Shock horror, I always played for clubs where they picked the best 11 to start. Those days are long gone.