As a City member and active on their fan forums I can tell you that a significant proportion of the current fan base is based all over Melbourne and regional not just the South Eastern suburbs. So a complete move to Casey will see a drop off of attendance from those members. City as has been stated has moved administration and training to Casey and the facility there is up and running as I understand is the small stadium of 4,000 which is going to be used by the ALW and NPL youth teams in the near future. They are certainly investing time in the local south east area with clinics, free tickets to families from clubs in that area. However this is all going to be a slow burn probably taking a generation for fans to become rusted on. It’s not like a light that you can just flick on and volia thousands of supporters are made. I think the last thing they would want to go through is another rebrand after the failure of the CFG one after they bought Heart. This was the major problem alienating a lot of fans of Heart who were just gaining traction in their supporter base to have it ripped from under them. It is telling that since CFG buying Melbourne Heart and installing NYCFC, there first two acquistions after Manchester City (apart from Mumbai City which was a start-up) they have decided to stick with the previous teams colours and names for the teams they have bought e.g Montevideo Torque, Troyes, Lommel, Girona, Palermo, Bahia, Sichuan, and Club Bolivar. I doubt CFG is willing to stump up too much cash for Melbourne which is becoming increasingly the poorer cousin of the CFG stable of clubs unless their supporter base increases, so I think this has become a little bit of the chicken and egg which one comes first. Further with Victorian State Government already feeling pressure from large blowouts in costs on infrastructure affecting their record high level debt and downgrades being mooted by credit agencies I can’t see them being behind anything in the near future as well.

I’ve always thought it looks good if you give a rating to a player who looks like they’ve done something on the field
Tigerinthetank 84.7

WU always seem to get up for the game against City. Maybe it’s their sense of a derby. So this might be closer than you would think

Agree with Tilio’s move to Celtic did’nt seem to be the right move for a young player to get game time in what is basically the biggest club in the league they play for. If he was going to SPL he need to go to somewhere like Hibs, Hearts, etc where he would be more likely to get game time. Actually thought he’d be better on the continent like Bos and O’Neill who went to Belgium or France like Genreau, somewhere his lack of height and weight would’nt be such a problem and his techinical ability would have been better appreciated.
Jakolis is also getting much better, two very well taken assists in that game. City seem to have started to gel now which was expected to take some time with such a large player turnover and a very busy schedule with ACL commitments as well as A-League.

Couple of things here to pick up on. Devlin has fallen down the order at Hearts and is not been getting game time, a bit of bench action only. Iredale has been scoring and playing full games in Bundesliga 2, actually scored and won their latest game against Irvine and Metcalfe’s St Pauli who are top just last week.

If it’s a midfielder then maybe Oliveira. His father I imagine would be pretty upset though. As I said I don’t know how he was at City as a trainer but my impression was he could have played harder, I compared him to Borges Rodriguez, maybe unfairly but always felt it was the latter who worked harder to get his chances playing in the City team

Don’t follow Adelaide that much but love a guess. So if it’s a visa I’m going Ibusuki, and if it’s an Australian player then Oliveira. Ibusuki to me seems to be the sort of player who has come over thinking it would be a bit of a holiday and just has’nt worked out how he wanted it to and is now had enough of the A-League. Oliveira just because I think when he was at City he had the goods but just was’nt really tearing it down if you like in NPL games let alone A-League. But as I said I don’t know enough about Adelaide to have a really educated guess.

Just recently Des Buckingham has been appointed manager at Oxford United, after leaving Mumbai City who he won their championship last year which is a CFG team. CFG have now appointed Petr Kratky as manager of Mumbai City FC who was the current assistant Manager at Melbourne City FC and took the game against Buriram when Rado was ill earlier this ACL season. It will be interesting to see if Yokohama Marinos also look to appoint another Aussie coach. Maybe Kisnorbo might be given another chance at Yokohama Marinos since getting sacked from AS Troyes? Or maybe someone else in Australia, I reckon they might like the look of Stajcic, Veart, and Sterjovski or maybe even Millicic since he had time at City or left field would they look at Valkanis although he looks happy to work with JVS at Ajax

OR…Arnold look at a different set up with maybe two strikers up-front. Duke and Maclaren or Fornaroli or Botic say. It’s not like the wingers are especially on fire apart from Goodwin. Boyle is breaking down half the time, Lecks just come back from injury, Mabil not playing regularly and Kuol has’nt done anything yet internationally. Why not go 4-1-3-2? That way you can use more of the midfielders who as you say are playing regularly and playing well. Say Goodwin, Irvine, Metcalf, and Luongo as DM with McGree and Baccus off the bench. I mean apart from Duke none of our strikers are especially tall whilst Irvine and Metcalf can provide support in the air, but crosses are’nt especially the way to go, so it’s probably a better way to play through the middle of the park…I mean can’t hurt to experiment.

Puc got a 65 in second innings v SA yesterday, hopefully a sign that he’s about to start scoring big again. Young Kellaway put together a pair of high 40s, Harper a 115 in first innings. Fergus O’Neill seems to be going okay a 5 for in first dig and currently 3 wickets in SA’s second innings. Vic’s seem to have a good bag of young guys progressing well.

Zheijing v Buriruram United were taking no prisoners in the ACL last night. Big punch on between the players and officials after the match. Might be some sanctions there, which might see City qualify easier

Yeah that was the 3 2 1 there Sakhi, Souprayen, Young. No one else did much tbh. Young though bottled it twice last night, Kofu’s last two goals were comical

Richmond fan. I’m not so dirty at the AFL, more disappointed in Dimma and really not about leaving to GC, more about losing the trust of the players after that messy business taking up with the Richmond staffer. After that I think he lost his modus operandi which was all about family club, trust values, and sticking with the process. If you can’t walk the talk it’s hard to ask those players to do the same.
As to the NGAs, I think just run with it as is for probably the next decade, but it’s got to be phased out after that OR allowed for every club by then because both GWS and Suns should have father-sons by then.

In regard to Souprayen, he played a decent shift compared to others in the squad. I’m running the MVP for City fan’s forum and he came in second with votes to Hamza Sakhi who won the penalty. So the fans (yeah I know all four of us) also agreed somewhat with the author. One thing which is probably not getting enough of a talk about is Maclaren’s yips with penalties at the moment. Since he’s also been appointed captain this year, it makes it doubly difficult to take penalty taking duties off him. I think also it was a mistake appointing him captain, as he really does not get involved in the play enough and from up top it’s very hard to see what’s happening behind you.

Considering what hand the Tiges had I think they’ve done better than expected. Full bodied mid in McAuliffe and a promising key forward in Fawcett and then two future third round picks from West Coast and Freo which should be pretty highish third rounders if they use them next season. Also both South Aussies which i think may help with their adjustment to life in Melbourne. At this stage I reckon a good job well done by Matty Clarke and team. Of course it will be a few years before we see the fruits.

It’s all up side for me apart from it causing a bye. Hopefully a billionaire somewhere is happy to stump up some money for a team from Canberra as well. And that owners can be found for Jets and Glory as soon as possible

Something which may be of interest, Victorian Government is giving away $200 Get Active vouchers for kids to play ‘winter sports’ in Victoria. I know it’s not a lot since fees around $500 for FPV teams but will help some cash strapped parents with kids sport.

Yes Victoria has pro/rel in NPL. City and WU NPL squads both advanced from NPL3 to NPL2 last season and this season came 9th and 3rd respectively so stay in NPL2, MV was in NPL3 but came 2nd so should be promoted to NPL2 next season. NPL1 was won by Avondale who has been selected to go into the NSD, and South Melbourne second, Preston Lions was 8th in NPL2 so I’m a little surprised that they got selected to do the NSD but maybe they are very financially secured. Preston Lions is the old Preston Makedonia from NSL days.

Is it a Melbourne thing? As a Melbournian I don’t know what happens elsewhere but I do feel that because Victory is such a strongly supported club compared to City and WU their supporters seem to grow the courage to be obnoxious by being in far greater numbers.

My son who went to the game with his mates can confirm that a number of current and former City players were subject to jeers from sections of the crowd not only Maclaren but also Bos and O’Neill. In regard to the crowd, there was little attempt to advertise this game until the actual day it was on in Melbourne. In fact I was’nt aware myself it was on until my son told me the night before he was going to the game.

FWIW, my son and 5 of his mates are going to AAMi to watch the Socceroos against Bangladesh tonight. I’m on ferry duties with my other son who has a VCE end of year party to attend. Unfortunately only one of his 5 mates attend the A-Leagues and he’s a Vuck

Actually think it will help as the way I see it the Socceroos are needing to replace a lot of the older wood with younger guys who will need to get some confidence in playing for the NT. Old hands like Leckie, Behich, Degenek, Duke, Maclaren, Boyle, Redmayne maybe even Ryan, Goodwin and Irvine are going to have to be phased out in time and I can’t see most of them playing in the next World Cup. Nothing breeds confidence as winning and winning well. What needs to be managed is complacency in results, that is Arnold’s chief problem.

Work with me here, what if…..Andrew Dillon is actually Peter V’landys in a latex mask of Andrew Dillon. Sort of like one of the henchmen of the villain in Johnny English wear a mask of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It’s like an evil plot so that NRL can become the biggest sport in Australia and back up his words in Vegas. I’m not a conspiracy theorist but this explains the decision perfectly. Anyway I’m off to scout out grounds in Antarctica for the next AFL all-in round, just so we can bring the great game down there.

I think you’d be best to run with two or three conferences of say 4-6 teams each. EG a Sydney conference, A Southern conference incl Vic/SA/Tas, and maybe a Qld conference/plus regional NSW and ACT team included. RPG would work with the bottom teams from the A-League in that particular Conference Region would be relegated and the top team from that conference promoted. I’m not sure what you’d do with Perth and the NZ teams though.

26 clubs were shortlisted in May 2023 as follows:-
ACT: Canberra Croatia, Gunghalin United NSW: Apia Leichardt, Fraser Park, Marconi Stallions, Rockdale Ilinden, Sydney Olympic, Sydney United 58, Sutherland Sharks (with NRL Cronulla Sharks support), Wollongong Wolves QLD: Brisbane City, Brisbane United (comprising Wynnum Wolves/Brisbane Strikers/Virginia United) Gold Coast Knights, Gold Coast United, Olympic, Sunshine Coast SA: Adelaide City, Football SA (composition of a number of clubs) TAS: South Hobart VIC: Avondale, Brunswick Juventus, Green Gully, Heidelberg United, Melbourne Knights, Preston Lions, South Melbourne
There does’nt appear to have been any interest from clubs in WA or NT although that may be due to stadia in NT. I don’t think NZ teams were canvassed. Being a Victorian I know little about the other clubs interstate, but all those Vic clubs have reasonable to strong supporter bases. Some haven’t been involved in the highest level of NPL over the last few years but certainly Avondale (last year’s winner), South Melbourne, Knights, Green Gully and Heidelberg have been relatively successful recently. You’d probably suggest at least 4 of the Vic sides would get in.