Not EPL, but good on Des Buckingham, former Wellington coach and Melbourne City assistant coach and Mumbai City coach, getting Oxford into the Championship. This is a much better story than Man City winning another title.

You’re probably right. If Popa is looking for a similar salary he might be best looking to India or China

What do you make of Aurelio being given 2 years by City? Feel for poor Terry Antonis too being let go after one year. Thought he did enough to be a super sub but does’nt look like he’s 100% fit, has age or injury caught up with him to play a full 90

The other option might be Popovic back as looks unlikely that MV is renewing him due to his salary rumoured to be $750K pa. Back to the future might be the best bet for WSW.

Weird only three defenders, and I’m not sure if Ben Garuccio has been one of the best Fullbacks this season but of course it depends on who is available. Also understand a few players from the sides which lose this weekend may be picked as well, so that might see a number of other players included for instance Geria from MV might be taken as a FB. I heard a report that Irankunda is’nt available anyway as on to Germany but not sure if that’s correct or not.

At last someone who actually has called out Arzani for what he is. Here’s some stats; prior to MV stint, 78 games 6 goals (2 at City), SR 0.076 per game. MV 28 games 4 goals SR 0.14 goals per game, 6 assists though. He has improved under Popa so cudos to him and that’s probably with age and I think he can still fid some improvement, he’s still only 25 He’s what you call a luxury player, you have to defend for him but if he can get rid of that penchance of doing too much and playing the simple pass first time instead of messing around with the ball and then losing it and not getting it back he would become a much better player.

I am also disappointed, their is some very knowledgeable and passionate members I know from the forum who would do a very good job on the FRG and be most transparent with members. It’s as though these two don’t want to engage with other members for the views of City supporters as a collective. Surely as a FRG you would need to be canvassing supporter views, not just your own agenda and how can you canvass supporter views if you remain unidentified to supporters and don’t reach out to the supporters yourselves. Also a concern is how long there reign is for, is this a yearly nomination or a life dictatorship. This FRG should be elected by members, i.e you nominate or get nominated, background and reason for joining FRG sent to members, then goes to vote, first two past the post win (members not compulsory to vote). That’s how democracy works, not appointed by City as ‘typical’ members

Stevo, as a member of City and a contributor in their Forum, I understand that the two City FRGs were appointed by City. It’s believes one is associated with the Talking City boys who run the podcast and do some stadium announcing and the other woman no one knows who she is. There’s been speculation she’s actually related to someone in management or some sort of stooge for management. Unfortunately when both of these FRG members do not in any way communicate with members and supporters about their views as a collective, the FRG cannot be taken seriously.

OK so you go to AFL website and bring down the 2023 Annual report noting that AFL financial year ends 31 October each year. Revenue was $1,063M for the year which comprised $444M from broadcasting, $415M from commercial operations, $16M from Football operations, $33M from game development, $103M from Stadium Development grants, $36M from other revenue, and $15M from advertising. Operating expenses were $394M so Operating surplus of $667M made. Payments to clubs were $394M. Payments to AFLPA (player’s association) was $41M, Game Development costs $90M, Ground and facility improvements $14M . Net Profit $127M for the year. Now of course there are government funds covered in all that which you could drill down to and sure the AFL gets it’s more than fair whack. But the point is we can actually see these figures. APL we can’t because the figures don’t have to be publicly listed.

Obviously I know little about the actual machinations within Victoria espcialy with the NPL teams that you may know SS, but I would be interested to see your view on City’s youth set up. Especially considering that we play pretty much a young side in VPL1 (previously NPL2) currently running fourth last in comparison to Victory who are on the top of the table there.
There are a number of young players who have either had a go in the A-Leagues this season and are signed up with contracts:
Caputo, Mazzeo, Politidis, Sulemani, Shillington, Durakovic, Necovski, Nieuwenhulzen
I’d be interested to know your thoughts on these boys. Sulemani did his ACL last year and scored a brace on the weekend his fourth game back, he seems likely to be playing a few games next year and Necovski is captain on u17s Joeys and has big wraps on him.

I’m in Finance so I can advise that all publicly listed companies, non-profit organisations such as charities, schools, clubs etc, are required to make financials publicly available and usually on their web-sites. Any company which is privately owned i.e is Pty Ltd is not required to make financials publicly available. For instance the AFL makes their financials publicly available and you can get these off their web-site, I used to finance their company cars in a previous life hence I know this and obtained from their web-site. I will have a bet that APL is listed as a privately owned company Pty Ltd hence no disclosure is required but I may be wrong.
But I agree there seems to have been an abhorent waste of money especially with KeepUp. Unfortunautely when some people in charge get in, they lose the notion that they should look after the business finances as though they are thier own and simply spend spend spend. Reminds me of Victoria at the moment, latest budget still not addressing the public debt, now forecast to go to $187b. It will be interesting if they decide to reduce the salary cap now that there is lower income to the teams.

And we’ve seen some of their players in the A-Leagues; Markel Susaeta who played for City and Macarthur, Benat Etxebarria Urkiaga with Macarthur, and Iker Guarrotxena Vallejo with WU. All have been quite technical and good quality players. Iker is still plying his trade in India this year whilst the other two retired after finishing up in the A-Leagues

In the end it was just as well I did’nt go the women’s game, I’ve had an awful weekend. City loses both games, and my Tigers get whacked by Fremantle in the AFL. To make matters worse on Sunday going to the game, I did’nt realise they’d scheduled train works so I rock up to the train station finding out I’d have to get a bus replacement waited 20 mins no bus, so get in the car drive all the way into Richmond no parking so drive to the city find a car park and walk back, missed the first 20mins of the game. Victoria the place to be!!!

I’m having a gripe. Elimination final for Victory v City is Sunday 5pm so I get my tickets for me and my son $56 for two. Very good although seats are way up high on the corner, going to be a big crowd I think at AAMI. An hour later I get an email from Liberty Finance offering a two for one ticket for the ALW final but that’s on Saturday at 4:15pm. What sort of morons schedule two City games on different days of the weekend. The Mrs is already narky about me going to one game let alone a second. But surely if they want a huge crowd for the ALW final it would make sense to schedule them both on the same day.

As a City supporter I can only speak about City’s model. City run a “football school’ with Parade College, a catholic secondary school in Bundoora, that school runs normal classes but also a dedicated football program and has been running since CFG took over, there’s a couple of players who’ve come from that recently, Ben Mazzeo who has had a few games this season before injury, and a 15 year old has just been signed Jayden Necovski who is the u17s Joeys captain, a CB and has great wraps on him. They also run an affiliated club system which has also been running since CFG took over Heart. Previously this meant the club sent down a coach and a player to training once a year. Our local club had John Aloisi and Brendan Hamill come down one year, another year it was Ross Napoli and Stef Colakovski. They have ramped this up since moving their training grounds to Casey and I understand that affiliated clubs in the South East of Melbourne get much more time with City trained coaches. Unfortunately our club is North East of Melbourne and has pretty much missed out on this.

It should be noted that the AFL used to do this years ago in the 70s and 80s with each club given a zone in Melbourne and Country Victoria to look after and nurture players. Where I lived when a kid was Fitzroy’s zone so we would have Fitzroy players come to local clubs and local schools to run drills etc. This not only lifted standards and instilled some passion to play AFL but also I believe lifted the presence of AFL in Victoria and helped get crowds to where they are, basically if you did’nt follow a club in those days you were considered an outsider.

Have’nt heard anything but new owner can always appoint their own coach. Wonder if Pelligra is a fan of Popa and looking to going back to Perth? Story also going around that City may approach Popa if they do not continue with Viddy. Personally I’d like them to stay in house if they’re replacing Viddy and consider Dario Vidovic who’s done a great job with the girls this season

If City beat WU that will be three on the trot and I’ll start being a believer. That sets up what I think will be a very juicy Melbourne Derby (the big one) for the final and that could be anything.

Mark Boucher as keeper too is a very decent keeper and one I did’nt think of originally until I started looking up names. Mark Vermeulen the Zimbabwean seems to have had a hectic career. Charged with Arson and snet to jail for burning down cricket change rooms due to a dispute with Zimbabwean cricket officials I believe.

Seeing I’m a Mark myself, I checked out what you could do with the Mark XI and here’s my team

Mark Taylor Aus lh opener
Mark Richardson NZ lh opener
Mark Butcher Eng lh batsman lh mdm/off spin
Mark Waugh Aus rh batsman ra off spin
Mark Greatbatch NZ lh batsman la mdm pace
Mark Ramprakash Eng rh batsman
Mark Boucher SA Keeper
Mark Ealham Eng rh batsman rh mdm fast
Mark Craig NZ ra off spin and rh batsman
Mark Gillespie NZ ra fast mdm
Mark Wood Eng ra fast

Emergencies
Mark Burgess NZ rh batsman ra off spin
Mark Dekker Zim la mdm
Mark Stoneman Eng lh opening bat
Mark Vermeulen Zim rh batsman
Mark Priest NZ lh slow orthodox

Not a bad batting lineup and would bat very deep as both Ealham and Craig were all rounders, Burgess could conceivably provide better bowling than Craig though but worse batting and Ealham is better bowling average than both but worse batting. I’m not sure they could bowl a team out quickly only Wood the really recognised bowler

Why is Victoria not bidding? Probably because they’re $100b in debt, had to ask the feds to pay their GST component early to pay the interest nil and a few months ago had to hand back the Commonwealth Games.
But nah, stupid Vics will vote in ALP again because, hey look down here, we’re a progressive state.

You know what, this is another article about the problems of A-Leagues, we hardly see that on the AFL part of the Roar but seems to be a focus of the football section. Instead how about we start focusing on the clubs, as they do in the AFL area, and the league can take care of itself.

There’s plenty of stories here; such as WSW continuing to fail despite purportedly a big club, City’s massive fall from last few years and their inconsistency problems, Aloisi’s coaching of WU, PG’s parlous state and what can be done there, NJ continuing non-ownership, Sydney’s renewal with Ufuk installed, and Popa’s improvement with Victory etc etc. No one wants to know about the league, they want to know about their own clubs and what the ‘experts’ think and to debate their opinions.

Gee would’nt you think you’d do your homework before you commented and make yourself look like a dill. Jack Ross is also out now, 8 weeks with fractured foot, and whilst not guaranteed in the 22 is on the verge their and has been handy this year.

Tunisia is actually a good side, regularly competing high up in Africa. Ranked 41 in FIFA standing whilst New Zealand is 103. Sort of shows why Australia needed to leave Oceania group if the highest is ranked 103.

I think you nailed it on the head, the reduced pre-season after playing through to the Grand Final is a big part of it. It’s not only that they get reduced time, it also gives less time for those playing injured during the finals to get in to a surgeon and have an operation and then recover and then pre-season. Another thing affecting performance is that a significant amount of the older players you need to win a grand final decide either that it’s the perfect time to retire, David Astbury from Richmond comes to mind who retired perhaps a year or two early in 2020, or that their older bodies just can’t pick up after such a long season to the grand final, Pendlebury and Sidebottom seem to indicate this at this stage. There is of course no solution to this and it’s just something that a premier and indeed the runners-up have to negotiate.

And on the other side of the University was the old Melbourne City headquarters with two very good pitches and a decent sports performance centre which was paid by City. I understand that it’s now been bulldozed. I really don’t understand the way soccer is run. It’s like a whole lot of morons exist within FA