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John Aloisi announces he's joining new A-Leauge franchise Melbourne Heart FC - Slattery Media
It’s March 3rd, 2008, and Sydney FC has just re-announced themselves with the collective signings of Mark Bridge, Simon Colosimo and John Aloisi. The moves are hailed as smart business and many within football are celebrating Aloisi’s salary package being the biggest in Australian domestic sport.
Less than 12 months later, though, Sydney missed out on the finals for the first time in its history, John Kosmina was sacked as Sky Blues manager, and Aloisi was being routinely humiliated right across the country.
As one member of The Roar’s community wrote at the time: “(Sydney FC) are a good barometer for the health of the FFA and the A League. Energy and Money poorly spent.”
In hindsight, Aloisi’s signing was a microcosm of everything that was wrong with Sydney FC. While the 34-year-old is an extremely useful player he was never suited to Sydney’s style.
John Kosmina spent season four of the A-League playing the former Socceroo at the tip of a tactical set up which just didn’t suit him. Even this term, under the more astute Viteslav Lavicka, Aloisi often seemed out of place.
In terms of the former Socceroo’s status as a marquee signing, Sydney’s management again misjudged the situation. Despite scoring THAT penalty, Aloisi was never going to be a big enough name to draw the crowds to Sydney Football Stadium.
Considering all that, and despite his reasonable form this season, it’s no surprise Sydney weren’t willing to beat Melbourne Heart’s $120,000 offer for his services.
While the new Melbourne club’s unveiling of Aloisi (and the side’s playing strip) yesterday might not have been as big of an event as when the striker signed for Sydney, it still told us plenty about the Heart.
Thankfully, for all involved in the A-League, the news is much better.
Firstly, this move is a positive one for Aloisi. The reason he found so much success at the Central Coast Mariners is because the side was set up for him to exploit: plenty of crosses coming in from wide positions, the striker always receiving the ball facing goal, and so on.
At Sydney, that was never the case, but in Melbourne, things should be different. The early signs are that Heart’s manager John van’t Schip is well aware of the kind of player Aloisi is.
All of the new side’s signings have been well thought-out and this should be no exception.
This also hints that the Heart is spending time thinking things through as they look to establish a club that can challenge the Victory’s local dominance.
While one can argue that last season’s expansion sides are wobbling, the Heart look a safer prospect.
Aloisi’s signing might not be the have same “bling” as when the 34-year-old joined Sydney, but it is still a good sign for both player and club.
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