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Well, Mutch is at the end of his career ... oh wait he's only 29. I suppose his career ended many years ago.
Jack for AFC looked almost gone as well. Has the skill but couldn't really run past anyone with the ball, even with the skill. Something Wallace despite his age managed to do the 2nd half and get out of trouble.
Just goes to show these very skilful players are just not fit at all.
The A-League is the donkey sanctuary of world football.
From Matt Derbyshire's Wikipedia page:
On 4 August 2020, it was announced that Derbyshire had decided to retire from playing and had signed for new Australian A-League club Macarthur FC.[39]
Mutch was one of the most nondescript players I have ever seen wearing a QPR shirt.
A complete waste of our transfer monies at the time, I couldn't tell you how much we got for him when he moved on or even where he went and like the bloke himself I'm not interested either.
My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic.
A league is at a crossroads. A few years ago it was getting quite good. Western Sydney Wanderers are potentially the biggest team in the comp but have struggled in recent seasons (3 grand finals initially, all lost and won the Asian champions league, only Australian side to do so) after a very good start.
Sydney derbies v Sydney FC used to attract over 40,000 and had superb atmospheres. Wanderers as I've said have struggled in recent seasons while Sydney FC have been successful, but they don't have the passionate support Wanderers do. Sydney FC had the city to themselves for a decade before Wanderers were founded and couldn't pull a crowd - used to give away free and $1 tickets all the time. Wanderers drew huge support from the start and turned the derbies into a genuine must attend game. At last, something like a proper sporting atmosphere in Australia (largely very lame at other sports here). The Wanderers support also made Sydney's support better as they had to try and respond.
The standard of football has dropped recently and attendances have fallen across the board. The tide needs to be turned. Australia's national team peaked at the 2006 world cup and the current side is a shadow of that one. All the ingredients are there. Facilities, kids participation, a league still growing (new teams being added - there's a 3rd Sydney team now) despite its struggles.
I'm a Wanderers fan, drawn in by the atmosphere at their games, my son loving the passion of their crowd at the first derby we went to and the Dennis the menace home kit. This season they've shown signs of turning the corner. New state of the art training ground just opened, new coach, fantastic new stadium on the same site as the old ground. The potential support is huge for this club.
Wanderers now have Graeme Dorrans who has done well so far. Mutch will take a bit of time as he had to do two weeks quarantine in a hotel room and will need to get his fitness up, but I hope he brings good things to the team. Mitchell Duke who has a nice habit of scoring winners in Sydney derbies has also just returned.
Hoping for good things from Mutch, time will tell.
A league is at a crossroads. A few years ago it was getting quite good. Western Sydney Wanderers are potentially the biggest team in the comp but have struggled in recent seasons (3 grand finals initially, all lost and won the Asian champions league, only Australian side to do so) after a very good start.
Sydney derbies v Sydney FC used to attract over 40,000 and had superb atmospheres. Wanderers as I've said have struggled in recent seasons while Sydney FC have been successful, but they don't have the passionate support Wanderers do. Sydney FC had the city to themselves for a decade before Wanderers were founded and couldn't pull a crowd - used to give away free and $1 tickets all the time. Wanderers drew huge support from the start and turned the derbies into a genuine must attend game. At last, something like a proper sporting atmosphere in Australia (largely very lame at other sports here). The Wanderers support also made Sydney's support better as they had to try and respond.
The standard of football has dropped recently and attendances have fallen across the board. The tide needs to be turned. Australia's national team peaked at the 2006 world cup and the current side is a shadow of that one. All the ingredients are there. Facilities, kids participation, a league still growing (new teams being added - there's a 3rd Sydney team now) despite its struggles.
I'm a Wanderers fan, drawn in by the atmosphere at their games, my son loving the passion of their crowd at the first derby we went to and the Dennis the menace home kit. This season they've shown signs of turning the corner. New state of the art training ground just opened, new coach, fantastic new stadium on the same site as the old ground. The potential support is huge for this club.
Wanderers now have Graeme Dorrans who has done well so far. Mutch will take a bit of time as he had to do two weeks quarantine in a hotel room and will need to get his fitness up, but I hope he brings good things to the team. Mitchell Duke who has a nice habit of scoring winners in Sydney derbies has also just returned.
Hoping for good things from Mutch, time will tell.
I live in Redcliffe and I could walk to Brisbane Roar's home games, but I don't. Why would I sit in blazing sun, 30 degree heat, when it's live on TV?
Well, Mutch is at the end of his career ... oh wait he's only 29. I suppose his career ended many years ago.
Jack for AFC looked almost gone as well. Has the skill but couldn't really run past anyone with the ball, even with the skill. Something Wallace despite his age managed to do the 2nd half and get out of trouble.
Just goes to show these very skilful players are just not fit at all.
Wow, I honestly would have thought he was nearer 39 than 29!
SydneyRs, why did Wanderers have big support right from the beginning? Was there some special reason?
Western Sydney is a big catchment area for fans and they responded really strongly to having their own club to support. They also had a lot of success the first few seasons.
What attracted us was the atmosphere at their games. Constant noise from the home end for 90 minutes every game. Only Melbourne Victory has as big and as loud a supporter base, but being so far away neither team will take the numbers you can take to a Sydney derby.
Took my son to a Sydney derby when he was 8 (he's 14 now). Sydney FC played at a large 42,000 capacity stadium (currently being rebuilt) that usually had around 8,000 in there for their home games. The Wanderers derbies in the first few years were sell outs with huge away support. A great night out. He loved the atmosphere and from then on was a Wanderers fan.
Mutch was one of the most nondescript players I have ever seen wearing a QPR shirt.
A complete waste of our transfer monies at the time, I couldn't tell you how much we got for him when he moved on or even where he went and like the bloke himself I'm not interested either.
He went to Palace after us, then here to Vancouver (yay!) After that to Korea, then Norway, now Sydney. Most of that time he was Palace's player. The loans ended in Norway. He's an itinerant footballer, not altogether bad, but not good enough to stay anywhere for long.
The A-League is the donkey sanctuary of world football.
From Matt Derbyshire's Wikipedia page:
On 4 August 2020, it was announced that Derbyshire had decided to retire from playing and had signed for new Australian A-League club Macarthur FC.[39]
Matt Derbyshire is the top scorer in the A League so far this season with 6 goals
The quality of the A League has gone down further in the past few years and it only seems to attract has beens or never weres for one last pay day
Melbourne Victory have a few donkeys that were playing in England in their team Rudy Gestede (ex Cardiff, Blackburn, Aston Villa and Middlesboro) Ryan Shotten (ex Stoke, Derby, Birmingham and Middlesboro) Jacob Butterfield (ex Barnsley, Middlesboro, Huddesfield, Derby, Sheff Wed, Bradford and Luton)
The only one I would give a pass mark to so far has been Callum McManaman (ex Wigan, Sunderland and Luton)
Steve Kean (ex Blackburn manager) is the assistant coach
Melbourne Victory have gone from being the best team in Australia in 2017-18 to being the worst team this season. They remain the biggest club in Australia.
However with poor leaders off the park, owners with other priorities using the club as a vehicle for their other business interests (Fernandes), a CEO out of his depth (Beard), the head of the recruiting area incompetent and recruiting his mates and a poor manager (take your pick here)
There are parallels with many football clubs and I've highlighted a few QPR examples above.
The Melbourne Victory fans have remained reasonably loyal considering how crap they are and still have over 26,000 members and an average crowd of over 17,000 (before covid)
All of this shows to me how important it is to get the right people and strategy in place off the field first. Then recruit managers and players who are aligned to the strategy. We are getting there.
Matt Derbyshire is the top scorer in the A League so far this season with 6 goals
The quality of the A League has gone down further in the past few years and it only seems to attract has beens or never weres for one last pay day
Melbourne Victory have a few donkeys that were playing in England in their team Rudy Gestede (ex Cardiff, Blackburn, Aston Villa and Middlesboro) Ryan Shotten (ex Stoke, Derby, Birmingham and Middlesboro) Jacob Butterfield (ex Barnsley, Middlesboro, Huddesfield, Derby, Sheff Wed, Bradford and Luton)
The only one I would give a pass mark to so far has been Callum McManaman (ex Wigan, Sunderland and Luton)
Steve Kean (ex Blackburn manager) is the assistant coach
Melbourne Victory have gone from being the best team in Australia in 2017-18 to being the worst team this season. They remain the biggest club in Australia.
However with poor leaders off the park, owners with other priorities using the club as a vehicle for their other business interests (Fernandes), a CEO out of his depth (Beard), the head of the recruiting area incompetent and recruiting his mates and a poor manager (take your pick here)
There are parallels with many football clubs and I've highlighted a few QPR examples above.
The Melbourne Victory fans have remained reasonably loyal considering how crap they are and still have over 26,000 members and an average crowd of over 17,000 (before covid)
All of this shows to me how important it is to get the right people and strategy in place off the field first. Then recruit managers and players who are aligned to the strategy. We are getting there.
U R's
[Post edited 21 Feb 2021 23:36]
Agree that Victory have been the most well supported club. Sydney FC were their biggest rivals before Wanderers arrived and could never get close to matching the passion and numbers of the Victory fans.
Wanderers have a large membership, second only to Victory, with plenty of potential. Really strange to see Victory struggling as they've mostly been right up there and I think the league needs the bigger supported clubs to be doing well to draw attention, sponsorship etc.
Sounds like similar mismanagement behind the scenes has happened at both clubs in recent years. That German 36 year old striker Wanderers signed as a "marquee" player a while back was slower than me and lord knows how much they were paying him.
The recently opened training facilities and new management team does provide some encouragement for better times ahead.
Agree that Victory have been the most well supported club. Sydney FC were their biggest rivals before Wanderers arrived and could never get close to matching the passion and numbers of the Victory fans.
Wanderers have a large membership, second only to Victory, with plenty of potential. Really strange to see Victory struggling as they've mostly been right up there and I think the league needs the bigger supported clubs to be doing well to draw attention, sponsorship etc.
Sounds like similar mismanagement behind the scenes has happened at both clubs in recent years. That German 36 year old striker Wanderers signed as a "marquee" player a while back was slower than me and lord knows how much they were paying him.
The recently opened training facilities and new management team does provide some encouragement for better times ahead.
I think Western Sydney Wanderers have turned the corner and the future looks a lot brighter for you. Play decent football and appear to be well managed on and off the park.
Any league that is won via a play off is Mickey mouse IMO. That includes the rugby premiership.
It's the same in MLS. If you've won the league, you've won the league. By all means have a cup competition but not that stupid play off system.
Rant over.
I agree with this, but unfortunately this is the way its done in Australia. It was felt they had to do it this way with football in order to compete with other sports.
I agree with this, but unfortunately this is the way its done in Australia. It was felt they had to do it this way with football in order to compete with other sports.
Also, without relegation, it would give three quarters of the league with nothing to play for in the second half of the season.
Just scored the winning goal for Western Sydney Wanderers.
I can’t believe we paid £6m for him and sold him shortly afterwards to Palace for £4.5m
By the way our top 10 transfer fees paid of all time are Samba £12.5m Caulker £8.5m Fer £8m Remy £8m Sandro £6m Mutch £6m Phillips £5m Mbia £5m Hoilett £4m Zamora £4m
Got most of money back on Samba and Mutch Remy made profit
Just scored the winning goal for Western Sydney Wanderers.
I can’t believe we paid £6m for him and sold him shortly afterwards to Palace for £4.5m
By the way our top 10 transfer fees paid of all time are Samba £12.5m Caulker £8.5m Fer £8m Remy £8m Sandro £6m Mutch £6m Phillips £5m Mbia £5m Hoilett £4m Zamora £4m
Got most of money back on Samba and Mutch Remy made profit
We got the Phillips' fee back as well. I think WBA paid about £5m for him.
It is depressing, yes but I'm more focused on being thrilled we're not wasting money like that now. It may be that not all our signings don't work out, or that want to leave us after a few years, but we don't have players that don't want to play for us from the outset/think they're too good for us. That makes me feel happy.
I find it interesting that both Aussies who are discussing this topic are doing so with a very club-centric set of responses. While I disagree with some of the comments, like Sydney FC averaging 8000 when in fact it was probably closer to 13000 and, mind you, that is extremely poor for a single-club in a city of some 4m. However, there are so many other, somewhat more important, factors that have been left from the discussion.
Specifically, WSW represented a whole different demographic than the Eastern suburbs/Northern suburbs elite that many portrayed Sydney FC to be aligned to. A club from "the West" was not just needed for its ability to speak for those west of, say, Leichhardt, but there was a need for one that spoke for the general masses. Yes, the need for a derby situation was important, but a need to represent those who were disenfranchised upon the termination of the old NSL, specifically those from the Fairfield area, was more important.
The new Macarthur FC is a strange decision that is becoming even more weird by the day. They were created to give another derby and to allow for Foxtel (the main pay-TV in Oz) not to have to travel too far to cover games. They do not represent the South West as per their name. Otherwise, someone should explain why their youth is based with Northbridge, which is in the heart of the Northern Suburbs. There are still a lot of questions being asked about the management of that club.
Yet, more importantly, is the marketing of the A-League and its ability (or should I say currently inability) to provide exposure. This has been, from the beginning of the competition, its biggest bugbear. Hopefully, with a new organisation, now separate from the FFA, this will alter. It took years, nay a decade at least, for any games to be shown on free-to-air (there is no license fee in Oz). When compared to League, Union and even aerial ping-pong, football is so far behind when it comes to marketing and presenting free viewing of the game and getting fans interested. That is one reason why those who attend these days tend to be those who have in the past and know or keep an eye on what is happening with games to be played. Until (a) there is a proper and, may I say, an in-your-face marketing plan and (b) more FTA games, people will not get interested in the local product.
Finally, one has to remember that football in Australia is not the primary sport as it is in the UK, in Europe, in South America and Africa at least. Nay, it is well down the list of competing sports for the poor amount of sponsorship and support that may be present. AFL is a long way ahead and League is nearly as well-supported/covered. just look at the Australian newspapers and you will see football getting a look in a few pages back while League (in Sydney and Brisbane) and AFL everywhere else gets massive coverage, even when there it is off-season. There is a mind-set that has developed amongst the sports editors that football will not sell newspapers unless it is something controversial or there is a tour of a massive UK/European team. Until we see an alteration in the way the media treats football, that will also be a hindrance to the development of the game in Oz.
That is, while it is good to state that the clubs are a problem or not, there are, as I feel, somewhat more important issues that require airing to discuss and resolve prior to football in Australia becoming truely patronised and a truely exciting product to view.
During the close season, when I was a kid, I used to follow an Australian club called Park Rangers. Also hated a club called Chelsea who alternated divisions with them rather like us and our west London counterparts back in the day.
Anyone know what happened to the Australian incarnations?
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