A-League clubs should recruit South-East Asian players

Hmm good luck with the 3rd point. I can't see any of them discussing football with their SE Asian counterparts.

I don’t think clubs in A-League can afford to pay top ASEAN players. Consadole Sapporo spent €2.4m to bring Chanathip Songkrasin to J-League. https://www.transfermarkt.com/chanathip-songkrasin/profil/spieler/239602 And Yokohama F Marinos spent €1m to bring a Thai left back to Japan. https://www.transfermarkt.com/theerathon-bunmathan/profil/spieler/159950

like i said in a post above. i would love to see an australian u14 or u16 national team vs the vietnam or thailand equivalent. they're ahead of our boys (not sure about girls) in certain aspects of the game in those age groups

Having just watched the Vietnam game, none of their players stood out to me. Same could be said of the Chinese players last week. not that any A League club could afford any of those players on the park last week or tonight. Every time I look at games like this, I get to thinking that we are VERY harsh on our own players here in Australia,

There is some real talent out there, that is for sure. One consistent problem has been SE Asian players adjusting to a nutrition based diet. The Thais are much better at it now, which contributes towards their individual overseas success, however players from Cambodia, Laos and the like too often lack the discipline to stick to the diet. The result is they run out of energy at a quicker pace and cannot train at the same levels. The academies in SE Asia try to address this issue early, however it still appears to be an impediment.

The good players are really expensive

Lots of truisms here, one being that recruit a top player from The Uk or Europe for the A-league( in particular from countries as stated with large post war migration to Australia) and your on a winner. Another is that recruiting a top player from Asia is a strong move both on the park and viewing audience wise( ie eyes on the A-League). I saw some handy players in the Asian cup held here and there’s been plenty noted over the last 16 years in Australias qualifiers both Asian and World Cup. Bottom line whether Europe or Asian top talent, money as always. Money begets prestige, creating a Top 5 Asian league, therefore players wanting to play in the A-League. However The World football hierarchical system dictates that only some clubs can be big clubs generating big crowds, money, merchandise, sponsorship etc. Those clubs in Australia can only come from first and foremost the capital cities, with Sydney and Melbourne having a possible 2 or 3 and the rest Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide one. Therefore no salary cap. Promotion and relegation then is a must to make sure the clubs at the top are always being pushed from within the A-League by those below, who always have the fear of relegation to push their performance. No place on the planet except the rich USA with an abundance of big population sized cities has been able to buck this trend and IMO even there that MO is not sustainable when you’ve ran out of big cities. Unless the A-League can become a top Asian league( driven by a few Super clubs as stated) then if there is available an impressive player from any Asian country, they won’t be coming here. Personally I can’t think of another way given the population size of Australia and that population being concentrated in 5 Capital cities,to create a Top 5 Asian League. Other ideas welcome of course.

Better leagues develop better players, and most SEA leagues are ranked higher then A-league so why would one of there players want to lower himself and play in Australia?>

this is only in my experience of the past 15-20 years Roberto - i've missed just as many players as i've found lol. i have come across a lot of very good Vietnamese futsal players in australia, but clubs are reluctant to try to bring players from futsal across to the outdoor game i've personally only ever seen 2 players (not vietnamese though) that i recommended to clubs, go on to have careers and that was at NPL level - futsal is another issue all together and not a topic you want me to start on with my views lol. you can't even compare the croatian and serbian players we have been blessed with over the years, the sheer volume of players we've had represent australia from those 2 backgrounds over the years has been incredible. even recently, the transfer of Jankovic from the magic to red star belgrade has gone under the radar for many football fans in this country.

i can name dozens of players that fall into that category, but you need to realise my opinion on a player only holds a certain amount of sway it comes to them being recruited. I’ve gone into bat for many players over the years who I think ‘have it’, so much so that certain coaches and agents will not even go through me these days lol. It’s difficult when certain clubs only want certain characteristics from players in the 12-18 year old age bracket – I have learned over the years to put me personal opinion aside and if the club strictly only wants a, b and c then I cant give them d, e and f – its just the way it goes sometimes, its a numbers game Volpato was on my list, however his recommendation to clubs did not come from me; it came from an interstate colleague - the fact multiple a league clubs had a good solid look and still passed him over, shows you the lack of skillset of people in administration positions within our professional game the height thing really bothers me, especially when you're talking about attacking players (which lo and volpato are) i really need to write another article about recruitment and some more of my experiences lol.

And he's now 6'1-6'2!

Yeh, but if that's the best example you can provide some 42 years on, it sort of proves the point. Just look at the number of Croatians who made the socceroos within 30 years of that wave of immigration.

"height factors into decision making a lot when it comes to certain positions and that can see a kid skipped over" - That's what happened with Cristian Volpato. Looked over by Wanderers and Sydney FC due to his height. Now he's training with the first squad at Roma after Jose Mourinho was impressed watching him play and he could even debut in Serie A this season.

if he had 3-4 more inches of height, i would've staked my house on him playing in the a league. australian teams are still very old school when it comes to pre requisites for recruitment - height factors into decision making a lot when it comes to certain positions and that can see a kid skipped over. unfortunately he never had that late growth spurt that most teenage boys go through. there was a lot of interest in him during his teenage years, technically one of the best players in his age group in nsw - he could manipulate a ball amazingly well he's another one that falls in the 'what if' category for me

Martin Lo Football Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCYHNtgg3Aw

*cough* Martin Lo *cough* i scouted him while he was at bonnyrigg (i have a working relationship with that particular club and eastern european clubs when it comes to youth players) although lo never moved to europe, he had potential to be a trailblazer lol he was the best vietnamese australian player that i had seen skill wise, unfortunately the wanderers passed on signing him due to his height and then he got lost in our maze of a football system.

In terms of football South East Asia are higher paying than here, Australia is a player exporter in Asia. The J-league have got more money and they have a higher standard they can aspire to being the Asian EPL earning money from overseas, but the reality is European football particularly the EPL is taking all the money. In the late 80's and 90's Malaysia and Singapore took Socceroos from the NSL . Ollerenshaw was nicknamed the Ginger Maradona and he did have a ginger version of Maradonas hairstyle.

The average A-League salary is currently sitting at around the $125,000 to $150,000 range. If you can attract a Vietnamese international footballer in that price range, then sure, go for it. But you really don't want to be paying that much just get a player who is around state league standard. We are used to seeing footballers come from our various immigration groups, but we've never seen a proessional footballer come out of our local Vietnamese community, even though football is their number one sport.

Great idea, would love to see those sort of incentives in place that you quote for Japan.

i think you're being a little harsh on teams like vietnam/thailand, there is some talent there. they've spent a combined 20 odd million dollars on their youth set ups in the past several years, while australia has spent nowhere near that amount. i would love to see the australian u14, u16 & u18 teams take on the equivalent national team age group of vietnam or thailand. (especially from a technical skill point of view) my knowledge of those countries youth systems is very limited, but they are increasing at a rapid rate while we stagnate slightly due to the funding issues at various age levels. dont forget the newcastle jets wanted to sign that indian player, dias (he has one of the best potential growths of any player in the asian continent on football manager as my cousin told me recently lol - when he asked if i knew anything about him, which i obviously didnt lol)