monza would be the blueprint to follow, in terms of how they ascended to serie a

it helps having football people who have been in the game for a long time, in the right positions – both berlosconi brothers with galliani also in tow

its definitely achievable if things fall into place financially and there is no funny business from a certain “organisation” in the region lol

looks like scilian football is on the up now, after trending downwards for some time – palermo in serie b, messina in serie c, catania in serie d

it all depends on how much money pelligra group want to dump into the team.

if they run it, how they are doing with adelaide – it will be very prudent, but money will be made available for the right players.

things might get a little more complicated with the ndrangheta though – especially now that catania will try to be established again as a strong club

5 years could be deemed as ambitious, but you would have to expect back to back promotions to get to serie b – given the financial might behind the club now

ohh absolutely, hes in his early 30s now – but never had to rely on pace or trickery that tends to go as you get older as a player.

hes scored goals every clubs hes been to (even though his time at southampton was a little lean)

if brissy can keep him fit, they should be capable of scoring a lot of goals

i dont think theyre going to have too much trouble getting out of d and c now with the current owners

its definitely a realistic goal to be in serie b within 3 years and serie a within 5

underachieved in the sense of young talent coming through, that should be playing in europe already (and the ones who are, should be in much better leagues and clubs)

as for the big announcement on friday, its the signing of……………… NANI !!!!!! (im joking, victory will announce him in the next week haha)

friday is the start of the new financial year, which means pelligra group can now officially be announced as owners

sydney have not entered negotiatioans with either player yet, they are exploring the possibilities associated with transfers though (standard procedure)- considering they were both on $15k+ pounds a week, it could be prohibitive even for a club of sydneys stature

rogic has multiple overseas offers while hes dealing with his family issue at the moment still, i would be shocked if he comes back to the a league

arzani is the most likely of the 2 to come home – brisbane were sniffing around, but backed off after his salary demands

adelaide doesnt hold an interest in either player, nor have they been offered them

yup.

arzani does have a league interest (noteably from sydney, who have also shown interest in rogic)

has the potential to be a pathway for not just adelaide players, but interstate ones as well.
(obviously a ‘sister’ club relationship between united and catania makes sense given the ownership.)

i dont think catania will exactly go wild with an open chequebook either, people assumed that was going to happen at adelaide – but i did tell everyone that this wont be the case lol

barnett’s an adelaide boy (know his dad really well) his career hasnt really kicked on
unfortunately – never should’ve gone to victory, its always been a grave yard for young talented interstate players. (especially ones from adelaide and brissy in particular)
if you look at victorys recruitment this off season, its a byproduct of how much they spent last season (i felt as though they were 1 of 3 clubs that were definitely over the cap in 21/22) –
smith, timotheou, adams etc are all on extremely low wages/scholarship contracts, juric is on decent money and the FA will be footing the bill for Nani (which will be announced very soon)
many reasons why kids dont make it professionally in australia, academies can give a solid foundation – but theres issues completely out of the academies control when it comes to non football matters – friends, family, school, social media, outside interests etc etc
its a minefield, only the absolute strong survive – kids today dont realise how hard you have to sacrifice to become professional

Nieuwenhuizen has the better potential out of the 2 IMO (im pretty sure i had an in-depth chat with one of the melb city supporters on here earlier in the year – i think it was stevo?)

this article was chopped and changed around quite a bit by editors, they removed a couple of interesting tidbits.
*ross is about to complete a seperate deal in sciliy to renovate an entire village and return it back to its glorious past
*vince grella came with ross on this trip, they have become very close – im not insinuating or implying how this effects adelaide united (the DOF position is still vacant though)
*ross has just finalised another hotel deal in adelaide worth 60 million dollars
Scily is definitely ‘interesting’ as there is still a heavy underworld influence
however ross has been to sicily/catania many times over the years, i think the family’s originally from solarino
he’s said all the right things when hes met the locals and being someone who’s family is from there will hold him in great regard.

parsons had a much higher wage offer, brisbane as well as several other a league sides wouldnt match that offer for a teenager – there are times a club will have to stick to its guns, when it comes to salary and how much they believe a player is worth, but there are also times it will need to be broken.

for what its worth, i think he’s going to struggle at his new club

adams has struggled with consistency and the end product required in his position to make it professionally, training has been quite poor by all reports – looks a world beater at QNPL level though.

moving to victory is a bad move imo, as that club continually stagnates youth.

jelacic is a player ive had high hopes for since he was in the under 10’s, ticks all the boxes for his position and probably the best young player in QNPL this season.

just when it looked like he was making inroads to the actual roar first team, he picked up injuries.

hes at least gone to a club (perth) which should see him get playing time

the player has openly said in many interviews hes had to alter his diet because it was unhealthy and to cope with the rigors of professional football

in your early 20’s you can probably get by with 2 or 3 pints after training with a kebab (obviously not recommended for a professional player lol) but in your late 20’s and early 30’s when your body starts to change with age (not that late 20/early 30s is old haha, but you know what i mean)

you need to adapt to different diets and styles of training to prolong your career, 30 years ago players wouldnt even contemplate yoga – now its normal

i think thats the first i’ve read of charlie austin and speed together in a sentence lol

if you’re looking at speed, austin will be one of the slowest in that squad next season – luckily for him, all his other outstanding attributes will make up for it (like its done his whole career)

i believe that is the case Waz.

they will go from one of the youngest sides in the league, to one of the oldest – the good caveat with that though is, statistically ‘older’ sides tend to fare a lot better making it in the top 6 then younger ones and winning the competition as a whole

moon did his reseach on lescano and knew he was a ‘link striker’ the fact he barely played him in a system that get the best out of him – is down to the coach (regardless of the injury issues the squad suffered last season)

i’ve had many discussions with lionheart and yourself about lescano over the past season.

austin is an old school uk forward, absolutely need to play to his strengths eg swinging crosses in, letting him hold the play up, set pieces etc etc

i wouldnt expect brisbane to play a sexy brand of football next season, but i would expect the team to be set up to get the best out of austin

anything less and its bye bye moony

hes enjoying some R&R in croatia, he’s also turned down an assistant coaching job.

i wouldnt expect him to come back to australia in any capacity as a coach, his pathway to europe is already there for him

i wouldnt say hidden, austin has had some bad hamstring tears over the years and shoulder issues.

he did fail a medical at hull city (reasons were undisclosed, at the time) which might explain why the owner of west ham said what he did in 2015 –

austin had knee surgery when he was younger due to torn ligaments in his knee, but hes barely had any issues with it since

i think brisbane fans have every reason to be optimistic towards the upcoming season, however they need to also temper expectations – especially with how injury prone the signings are eg zullo, kruse and austin.

austin’s definitely the fittest of the 3, but its almost guarnteed he’ll at least have a soft tissue injury and miss multiple weeks of either pre season or actual season matches – always happens with visa players

on paper it is a good blend of experience and youth, but the jury is still out on the coach.

adelaide are quietly going about there business under the new owners, i did warn many people it was not going to be a busy or expensive off season.

heres a hot take, i would say its the clubs best ever season in terms of re signings since the aleague began.- its a very settled squad now

always a gamble when you give decent money to an import striker, especially at a club that is working under a strict budget like brisbane is.

theres been strikers with great goal scoring records that flopped and ones with poor goal scoring records that succeeded in the a league

its interesting seeing the return of actual big strong target men, to the league in recent seasons and how successful they have been. – the champions and a team that got to the semis last term had sizeable target men

bobo at sydney (a couple seasons ago)
juric at adelaide (a couple season ago)
yengi and ibsuki at adelaide
prijovic at western united
hemed at wellington (a couple seasons ago)

austin should be looking at 10-20 goals next season, given the chances brisbane and inparticular o shea(if they keep him) create.

pre season starts in a week or 2 for most a league clubs, austins in great physical condition – but lets see how he goes with the pitches and qld weather first before judgement is cast lol

looks a very promising signing, that would start for most a league sides

although hull finished near the bottom of the table, they had one of the best defensives outside of the top 6 (scoring goals was the big issue).

i would expect him to stay in the championship.

he’s consistently proven hes capable of playing at that level, however being that hes a ‘defensive full back’ rather than an ‘attacking one’ – this will significantly limit his options in terms of clubs

i believe hes still under contract, which means if he is unfancied – hull would need to either pay out the remains of his contract or have it subsidized via a loan move

late 20’s, no need to come back home to finish his career in sydney yet.

i should’ve specified visa striker lol

maclaren was definitely prolific at brissy, but hes not a visa player

i have zero issues with him at NPL level or youth team level, however its a big step up going to a professional side where the lights are shining down on you brightly.

if P&R were in place, its likely that brisbane as one of the bottom 2 – would’ve been relegated last season – which means a new coach for this upcoming one.

i’ve always said any coach of the big 4 (sydney/victory/wanderers/city) if they miss the 6 should be fired regardless.

for the other 8 sides in the league, if any of them finish in the bottom 2 – coach should be sacked.

cannot keep rewarding mediocracy in australian coaches

It would be an “unexpected title charge” this season, with moon at the helm.

i still dont believe he is a league level, tactically he was all over the place last season (yes brissy had a lot of injuries and a lot of youngsters) but moon hasnt exactly won over anyone with his coaching at the professional level yet

the sides going to be a lot more “mature” this season (austin/zullo/kruse) who have all been injury prone throughout there careers.

brissy has a very experienced look now, which when you think about the league and how statisically teams with several players in thier 30’s generally do better then young sides – should indicate brissy will be finals series bound this upcoming season.

fowler if you include the termination payout, was close to $500K

in terms of budget, this was the bottom 4 last year (none of these sides spent anywhere near the salary cap)

mariners, wellington, adelaide, brisbane (last season was the first in several, where newcastle was not ranked in the bottom 4 for budgets)

on paper, this completely transforms brisbane as a side from an attacking point of view.

austin at the pointy end of attack, with the incoming robbie cruz on one wing and milusenic/ivanovic on the other with o shea and akbari threading passes

brissy are always tight at the back, but they struggle to convert chances (that was a different story when they they berisha and van dijk though lol)

its been a while since a striker with this clinical pedigree has been at the club

matches arent won on paper though, lets see what happens in pre season

i think that goes for all a league clubs, when it comes to recruitment from the UK (in particular england) for every success story like adam le fondre and paul ifill there’s just as many lloyd owusu’s lol

on paper though, this does look like an excellent piece of business for brisbane – especially if they can get him acclimatised and through pre season without injuries