Volpato is from Camperdown, which is a suburb in the heart of western Sydney.

Lol that statement is a bit misleading. Its Camperdown not Cambelltown, the suburb is like 5 minutes from the heart of the city.

In any case I have no doubt he got discarded for the same reasons so many others do, not tall enough, not strong enough. I guarantee you the coaches would have gathered around the campfire and agreed he could play football but wouldnt make it. This is what infuriates me the most. Football is a game which can be played by all types of people, body types and physical attributes. The most important attribute for a footballer is technique, technique, technique. While everything else is important, it is technique which should be the overiding attribute for a football and the main determinent of whether you will make it. Isnt it hilarious, from an A-league reject twice straight to Roma. Just quietly arent all the best footballers around the 5’7 – 6’0 range anyway. The mind boggles, it really does. Same old same old.

The world has gone mad.

Furuhashi was snatched from Vissel Kobe. I am not sure where Kyoto Sanga comes into it.

Hi Stuart,

I have been following Celtic very closely since Ange’s appointment. Reading many of the forums and watching the youtube podcasts. These include Celtic chat, Kerrydale St, 67 Hail Hail, Celtic TV, A celtic state of mind. Those are my favourites anyway. What I gathered from all the supporters is just how passionate they are about Celtic and how much they have got on board the Ange train. They are backing him and they want him to do well.

Most of the supporters are angry with the board for allowing the Celtic board to be strung along by Eddie Howe for an unacceptably long time. The fact that the board took so long would have cause any manager headache coming into Celtic as they would be immediately on the back foot playing catch up. It was understandable that the fans would have been sceptical. Lets face it Ange was an unknown to the supporters no matter how you try and convince them that Ange can coach.

What has been utterly surprising to me is how quickly the players have been able to grasp his playing style and methods. They are all playing with desire, ambition and with smiles on their faces. They are playing really brave football and the players and the supporters are buying in.

No matter how you slice it this is a huge week for Celtic and will give a great indication of where they are at. On Thursday day evening (European time) Celtic will be looking to go through to group stages of the Europa league, no easy feat especially since AZ Alkmaar are more than capable side. They have to over turn a 2-0 deficit at home which will be difficult but not insurmountable. It is a dangerous team and a dangerous score line. Joe Hart did some brilliant saves while at Parkhead for the first tie, so they are in a good position but by no means are they out of the woods yet. The other match during the week is obviously the huge Old firm derby against Rangers at Ibrox. It is very difficult to get an away result at Ibrox so if he comes away with a draw or even a win its an amazing result. It wont define their season if they have a hiccup but if they do win both games which they are capable of then it will go a long way to shaping their season. They are playing well and with so much confidence that they can go on and win both games in my opinion. It is an exciting time to be a Celtic fan……………………..Hail Hail.

I think the OP just has a different philosophy than I do in terms of what confederation we should be in and I think being in the AFC is the best thing to happen to us. To tell you the truth we dont deserve to even be here. We are lucky to be in this confederation.

The question I ask is why do you want to be in the OFC. It offers nothing. Do you want to take the path of least resistance when it comes to qualifying or do you want to play better opposition and give yourself a real test. The only time we play decent opposition when in the OFC is the final stage of qualifying when we have to either face Sth American opposition (5th place) or a team from the
Middle East. In these instances we simply cannot compete with the very best nations in a one off play off series because we dont play consistently against these teams.

Lets face it we are mediocre in the AFC and this has more to do with our footballing structure rather than what the opposition offers in the AFC. We need to deregulate and take the shackles off in our football structure. That means no salary cap, better foreigners, an open pyramid with pro/rel, a full transfer system and academy players, a proper youth league. There is no reason we cant do this even if we are the 3rd or 4th spported sport in the country. If you start implementing these structural changes it will actually create more interest. I cant see why we cant do it either, we are a wealthy country, we have an adequate tv deal in comparison to other comparable leagues, we have lots of football lovers and wealthy individuals who are ready to invest in an open tiered system but cant get a look in due to this closed shop league. Unlock the shackles, allow football to be run like football, start investing and we will get to where we need to go. We are a global sport, lets start acting like we are.

I think this is a non issue. The club chairman himself is Jewish and that hasn’t stopped the Arabic community supporting the club or the players. It would certainly help if he toned the celebrations down, but I will leave that decision for Hemed. I think the Arabic community of Western Sydney are more open than you think, especially if he is scoring goals and winning for the club.

I am all for pro/rel. Its all positive and nothing negative. You do not have to worry about which teams are in the top flight. Over the years when you finally implement pro/rel this will take care of itself. That is what its supposed to do. If your region or city doesnt have a team in the top flight, then guess what, tough t*tties, be better. Its not about NSL clubs or A-league clubs, old soccer or new football or bitters and new dawners, its just about football. A process to promote the strong and to discard the weak.

The pros are numerous to count – 1. Firstly we need to promote this culture in our football. It will rely on clubs managing to hold onto fans through thick and thin. Those who do better in fan engagement will have fans for life. This is the culture you want to promote in football.
2. From the players perspective and even the clubs they need to be exposed to this kind of pressure week in week out. This sort of pressure is what builds your players into killers, never say die, fight for every point. Our football needs to be cut throat and the players need to be exposed to this if we are to ever win a world cup or be consistent winners of the ACL.
3. The idea that any club in the system can be promoted to the top flight is an important notion. It is what will drive the sport forward. You will get lots of action at all levels such as mergers, takeovers, aquisitions, foreign investment and even domestic investment. You should be able to start a new club in the lower rungs of the pyramid and work your way up or takeover an existing club. We already have plenty of people wanting to be owners of football clubs if the past A-league submissions were anything to go by.
4. We are not unique, every country has their advantages and disadvantages. If you cant perform at the top tier then thats ok, you will find your level and another club will take your place.

For those who are against pro/relegation I can counter every argument you have. There is no downside or risk to pro/rel, only teams who can and teams who cant. All we need to do is just start the process because the way I see it, NO CLUB SHOULD BE ENTITLED TO A PERMAMENT POSITION in the top flight, which is what we have right now. You need to earn that right every year just like everywhere else in the football world.

This is why he should have taken the big money move to China way back when. When a club is ready to throw stupid money at you that will secure your future for life…………..you take it. Lesson learned, pity its too late for Tommy. Nothing is guaranteed in football.

How about the fact that Sydney United has contributed more socceroos than probably any other club. You wanted to know how they have contributed and you’re welcome.

There is definitely a dickhead element at SU58 but the club itself and the vast majority of its supporters are just normal football supporters like you and I.

Lets not get too carried away with what happened on the weekend. That is not a true representation of the club, but a bunch of try hard wanna be hooligans. Not a good look of course but you can’t paint the whole club with that brush.

If the fans don’t support this it will never succeed. Fancy that, they didn’t even ask the most important people in the football equation what we thought. Talk about arrogance, why I am I not surprised. I for one won’t be watching these teams play in a super league. The super league will only be worth watching once they implement a mechanism for qualification, pro/rel. As it stands you can count me out. No one is entitled to a spot. Sure go set up your league and play, but I wont be supporting it.

At this point in time we need every football fan we can get. Having said that my one biggest gripe is how desperate the FFA were in chasing non-football fans to get to A-league games. Then on top of that some of the suggestions which made no sense to me, the usual nonsense like, lets not have offside or do we need a BBL style competition.

The best way to attract fans is to make the football as good as you can make it, to run the competition with integrity, to provide what I would call an “authentic football” experience, to not treat your fans with utter contempt, to be fair with your pricing policies, to allow access to players through the media and the fans.

Everybody knows my stance on football in this country. It has to be an open tiered competition with pro/rel at the centre of this discussion. This is the only way you capture the football pyramid and the whole football public. That idea that one day your little club no matter how obscure and difficult can one day make it to the top flight. You might think this is fanciful but this idea happens the world over. It takes a lot of money and a lot of know how, but it can be done with any club. With every club in the discussion this becomes a powerful force and you are all under one football unbrella. If you are plastic now, then you are all effing plastic.

At what stage does VAR no longer become an experiment. We have been at this nonsense for almost four years. Its beyond a joke now. I have no idea why the FFA, FIFA and other football leagues are dead set on trying to keep the VAR. It has proven to be an absolute joke and it is RUINING FOOTBALL. Why would you try and keep something that is ruining the sport. It doesnt make sense.

This decision is just awful and the repercussions of it are even worse. As a player of the game you want to do everything you can to win. How does winning look like obviously differs from player to player. As a player how can you decide to go down in the box without even being touched is beyond me. In this instance if Mauk has any conscience he gets up talks to the referee and says “he never touched me”. Obviously that’s me being naive in the extreme, but one can dream.
What I found extraodinary was Mauk fronting the camera’s at half time and giving his version of events in justifying the penalty. Did we really need to hear that, it was unbelievable. I understand he is not going to say that the ref got it wrong both times (field + VAR) but come on Mauk be honest mate.

I was watching on and cheering for Adelaide as I had a small stake on the game, but even with my BIAS clearly going towards Adelaide I thought that it was a CLEAR NON-PENALTY. I can understand perhaps the referee on the field getting it wrong, BUT HOW DOES THE VAR. How do we keep getting it wrong.

This is one of those annoying articles that totally misses the point. It still annoys me that these types of articles are even written but what do you do. So many misconceptions.

1. We have well and truly moved on from the NSL days. There is no going back and there is no inclination we will go back to those days. Even if we did, so what, get over it.

2. In all honesty I think our football and our footballing fabric is worse off because of the non-inclusion of ex-NSL clubs. I wouldnt even go to say NSL clubs, but the mechanism to include ANY CLUB is not there. That is what annoys me more.

3. All the clubs in Australia even the ex-NSL clubs you so loathe are AUSTRALIAN CLUBS. They have taken in all different types of players from all walks of life and is part of our footballing culture and community. The clubs have served Australian football well and dont owe anybody anything. The only people they are there to serve is their membership base.

4. An inclusive football culture includes all football clubs whether they are supported by people of a certain heritage or not. It makes no difference. If that is how the club operates and wants to be known then let them. That should be an advantage for every other football club who decides to set a new club and not operate in such a narrow band.

5. The ex-NSL clubs are wealthy clubs – they have plenty of backers who can bankroll teams, plenty of business people ready to unload their wallets, they own their clubs, they own their land and social clubs. The A-league clubs should be worried – ALL THEY REALLY OWN IS A LICENCE.

6. The only thing that should concern people are the mechanisms for our A-league and the NSD, the pro / rel mechanism, the integrity of our league and how we run the competition. It should be an open tiered competition with no salary cap or any restrictions at all. Let the best team with the deepest pockets win which will force the cream to the top.

7. By going this way you will more than likely weed out most of the ex-NSL clubs from the A-league anyway and it will go about strengthening our football by having a merits based competition. If you do that then by your own reasoning and logic, how are NSL clubs supposed to compete.

8. I am not for NSL cubs or against them per se. I am saying we should allow all forms of football clubs to operate within the system. As someone who grew up watching the NSL I firmly believe that clubs that operate within a region / district have a better chance to thrive and survive. In my opinion it is a better model but it shouldnt be the only way a team is formed or operated, how boring is that. Even still over the years if its not the right model these clubs will quickly find out how difficult it is to operate in this way and will need to adapt and change. Isn’t this what we want.

9. Lastly – all I will say is that if we had allowed pro/rel to be introduced a long time ago our football league would be absolutely amazing. It would be filled with strong clubs from top to bottom, all competitive with zealous tribal support all round. This is what we are missing, that authentic football experience that happens worldwide in those leagues run with the best integrity. The most important thing is that the mechanisms are in place, it doesnt matter so much about the teams, that will take care of itself and after almost 16-17 years it would have taken care of a lot of the issues we are STILL talking about to this day. Just get on with it.

Rant over.

This season has been superb. I don’t think I have ever witnessed a season of so many intriguing matches. Even the nil-nil draws have been entertaining. All the doom and gloom of losing a whole raft of players to the Indian Super League and elsewhere and the A-league is better than ever.

Imagine how good it will be when all we focus on is the football. When we have a fully integrated competition. As I keep saying it does not matter what teams are in the competition all that matters is that the sport is run with the utmost integrity and is RUN TO APPEAL TO FOOTBALL FANS, everything else with take care of itself.

In saying that the first course of business is to get rid of the VAR. This is the biggest blight on our game today. It has literally sucked the joy out of football and is one of the single biggest issues which has caused our sport to regress. Yet we still persist with this abomination. We still cant accept that we should be having one human in charge in the middle(who will make mistakes) rather than two (who will still make mistakes).

The next issue is the need for an NSD and for this NSD to go NATIONAL. I do not want to hear about the problems I want solutions. The clubs have costed this out and they have said they can afford it, yet we still want to water this down and turn this into NPL Mk2. We need a National competition simply to make the identification of players easier, so that they can filter to the A-league. It has been proven already that the young players are stepping up. Will their be gaps, sure there will be. Happy to live with those gaps and allow our young players to develop. This is what it is about. The NSD is not supposed to be the same quality as the A-league, you are supposed to cherry pick the best of it and the A-league clubs need to pay for it (if player is under contract). Get on with it already, the amount of dilly dallying on this issue is doing my head on.

Dont get me started on pro/rel and transfer fees which I alluded to already. All this is the genuine football experience that the fooball fans want. if you do it this way, you will also get the casuals that the our suits are craving for without upsetting their bread and butter supporters. The sooner the better.

From what I have researched from various articles and posts no racial vilification was said. Unless of course you take issue with the Indian cricketer Siraj being called a “shiraz”. That’s the extent of the sledge.

Did we at least proudly sing our National Anthem.

Judging by the comments from Tony Sage surrounding the CBA negotiations I would say he is quite salty about it.

Until the FFA and the A-league clubs realise that football is the world game then this drain of talent will continue to happen unabaited. If that is the route they want to go down then I have no problem with it. The A-league clubs cannot just hold the players to ransom and expect them to play for a 30% cut. The ramifications of this are that the players have thought “hang on a minute I can do this for more money without the headache” and off they head in their droves. Again I have no problem with it, the only ones that do appear to be the A-league clubs who for some reason or another are astonished this would happen.
The only way out of this is even tougher for the A-leagues to fathom because they dont want a bar of it. That is the whole structure of football must be deregulated. That means no salary caps, no broad CBA agreement, pro and rel (working towards it), the introduction of domestic transfer fee market, clubs to invest in players and bring back value into the A-league, get rid of VAR, allow football to be football. Compare ourselves to other football markets and not on AFL or NRL which is for the most part an irrelevant exercise. Cater to your bread and butter audience and if “new fans” want to see this “new” football product which is actually how football is supposed to be then all the power to us. It doesn’t get anymore frustrating.

No

Why can’t clubs just choose to operate how they want to?

I know nobody wants to hear it and I can feel the eye rolls already but I will reply regardless. The A-league can be fresh and exciting every year in a pro/rel environment. For those people who are addicted to football like you and I following your team in a second tier for a year or two would not be the be all and end all. In fact it would strengthen our support and resolve for our teams. In fact it would allow us to start to convert more football fans from the casual observer into more hardcore supporters. Currently that conversion rate of football fan to A-league fan is abysmal.

In this covid-19 era and the defunding by foxtel sport means that the A-league needs to be driven by clubs who are willing to spend. This is true of every football league around the world. The top clubs in every league drive the value of their league upwards. By having a pro/rel environment will mean that clubs will have an arms race of sorts to stay in the top tier year in year out. Every year the league will be freshened and strengthened by relegating two clubs and promoting two clubs. Clubs which are responsible and are well run will be the ones who will stay in the top tier.

In my opinion the salary cap needs to go immediately. The clubs will naturally all get a similar dividend from fox but why should we limit clubs to that spend only. Why cant clubs use the funds of wealthy owners or the sale of domestic transfers in their budgets for players like everywhere else in the world. If a club owner is not fiscally responsible guess where he finds himself, usually at the wrong end of the table. It might not be this year but it could be the year after. In a pro / rel environment the table does not lie. Every year the best and strongest clubs compete. Why is that such a difficult concept to grasp. I can refute every point against pro/rel with logic and you will have no answer. It has to happen for our sport to progress and reach its full potential.

I dont get the logic Mike. As far as I am concerned every season is a brand new slate and an opportunity for your club to grab silverware. If Sydney FC do it this year, good for them. It certainly doesn’t lower my interest in the competition for the following years, that’s just nonsense. The fact that Sydney FC have been able to do this year in and year out is due their ability to negotiate good players on poor contracts, which is fair enough. If players are happy to play for Sydney FC when they could be getting more elsewhere then that is up to both parties who signed the contract or it could be a case of other clubs paying way to much for players to play for them. Either way Sydney FC is coming out on top for the way they are managing their player roster and the salary cap. If that results in them winning each year then thats how its supposed to be. There is no magic formula to it.

I think the idea to pay in the A-league is an abhorrent one and the licence fee is something that should have been done with years ago. Find a way to buy this out and let the clubs compete on merit. Clubs in Europe dont have to pay to play in the top flight, it is the other way around. In fact the promotion to the premier league is the richest prize in sport. If clubs had to pay to play in the premier league as an example, they would be laughing at the league. It serves no purpose and it is wasted money that can go into proper infrastructure.

This is a perfect illustration on why we need P & R so that weaker clubs can get relegated and stronger clubs promoted, then rinse repeat season upon season. No one should be entitled to a spot in the top division.