😂

I would like to see him to go Germany

Come on you Spurs!!! Then Ange can do exactly what Alan Shearer advised him to do……as he’s walking out the door, he can turn tell them exactly where to strategically locate their club. The fact that Alan Shearer is a advocate for Ange, that to me speaks volumes.

Agreed!!!

Morning Stu,
What can I say, it’s been a dead set cracking season. The season has had everything. Falls from grace i.e. Adelaide, an expectation that Sydney would be in the finals, well can scratch that. Expected great things from Victory, who in my opinion, have been luke-warm so far. Coasties have seen a polar opposite outcome to last season’s championship, and my beloved Jets punched well above their weight. What a season!!!! Western United too good for the Reds if they play like they did against Auckland, and Wanderers to get up at home, they’re form team at the moment. Support Australian football lads.

I have to ask the question, is Valkanis, Vidmar 2.0. He’s taken his time, he’s spent time in Japan and Europe, and this might be the Vidmar/Aloisi moment for him. Is this where he proves he’s got what it takes? I really hope it is.

Tiger, mate you cannot image how happy I am for Viddy. The guy is the type to get our nation a damned fine reputation, instead of carrying on like a right pratt, as others are prone to do. Vidmar is going to do fine things for City and he strikes me as being meticulous in his preparation. I have this gut feeling that Vidmar being Vidmar, he’s been pulling apart Auckland to the point of knowing what they have for breakfast all season. He’s just keeping his powder dry until it’s time to roll out the ambush. If it’s City v Auckland for the Dunny Seat, and I was Corica, I’d be nervous because Vidmar is a cluey character and he has a cracking side at his disposal. He’s smarter than Corica. And just look at what the other Vidmar did with the U/20s at the Asian Cup. Those boys are going places. In my opinion, they seem to have taken their time, they’ve prepared themselves, they’ve gone out of their way to watch, learn, and seek knowledge before getting into the fight. Corica seems to have done just the opposite, and as a result, for me he doesn’t appear to have too much variation in his Gaffers tactical tool chest, but I might be wrong. Corica is the product of Arnold, and we all know how that panned out.
With the Vidmars, it’s exactly as they say, it’s always the quiet ones you have to watch!! My wife is a City fan and she’s over the moon. As a rusted on Jets supporter, I keep an eye on City and it’s vice versa with Mrs FIL. I just cannot understand why City don’t get bigger crowds. City are a damned fine team. Jets are on hols now, so come on you City lads!!!!

Mate, you are all over it, but the reality is the A-League is a relatively new thing in football context. The word is spreading about our league and I am so pleased that there is continued, and growing, interest from Japan. You look at Hiroki Sakai, Kota Mizanuma and even back to Shinji Ono. The Japanese play beautiful football, they’ve turned it into a fine art and can be considered serious business. they can teach us a lot and they can help us evolve. Personally, I’d love to see one or two, preferably the latter, Japanese personnel invited to be on the FA Board.

Grem, it’s not the club, the players, the supporters or the owner. What the club has achieved in its first year, is extraordinary. What they will achieve in the future, suggests that they will do some spectacular things including raising the bar. Do you remember the Auckland v Adelaide game, it was sensational in every regard. The only detraction for that game was Coria, and his cheap, crass behaviour to the main stand on live national television. That’s how you bring the reputation of the league, the club and yourself and the associated optics into a less than flattering frame. That whole episode spoke volumes about the man and his substance for me. And really cannot see that sort of display floating in the J-League for example. And imagine if he did that in Scotland, strike me there’d be lads looking for him after the game. Sorry but not tasteful mate.

Thing is Buddy, the signs are the league is only going to be more competitive in the future, and the young fellas are proving that in spades mate.

you know what Waz, that comment holds water mate. As I said in my post on this thread. The Gaffers who are proving to be the best are those with the ability to see the talent, to develop that talent and to have faith in their fearlessness to deliver. Anything is possible in our league and you have to love it. No one pony EPL type football here. This is a Man City free zone!!!. I was outta my chair on Saturday night when WU served it up to Auckland

And we’ve got the Championship starting on October 10, more football. How good is that!!!

Great Article and some interesting points contained. I am not sure if you agree, but watching the Gaffers on the sideline will afford you an education. This year has been a study in what an effective Gaffer is. Aloisi, Stajcic, Diles, Vidmar, Jackson, even Stanton to a degree, they seem to work with their players more than ‘command’ their players. Yes, your comment was that they were all seen to be inadequate as coaches, but knowledge is power, and how you employ that knowledge is the mark of the man. The optics suggest that with Corica, he screams, berates, demands, where as Vidmar is the utmost of concentration and minor adjustments, tweaks, advice. Aloisi, Stajcic, Diles are all in the same boat as Vidmar. As a player, which would you rather player for? The hyper-emotional or the controlled, thinking Gaffer. The thinking Gaffer was clearly illustrated on Saturday night when Aloisi’s boys tore apart Corica’s Seniors. The same thing occurred when City’s boys did a number on Sydney’s Seniors. I would not be too hard on Talay. Yes, he’s a watered down version of Corica emotionally, but he’s also proven his tactical nouse. I think he’s done extremely well. With both A-League and ACL2 on his plate, he got a team with nowhere near the funding of some Asian clubs, to the final stages and brought home nearly 3 million dollars to Sydney FC. Talay, Aloisi, Vidmar, Diles, and to a lesser degree Stajcic, have shown the insight and football intelligence to trust the young fellas like Kucharsksi and Segecic, Sapsford and Milanovic, Botic and Leonard, where as Corica has more Seniors than the Shady Acres Retirement Home. And Corica is sticking to his predictable modus operandi, by poaching Wootten from Nix. The optics suggest that Corica doesn’t have the time, the will or the patience to work on developing players. His mantra appears to be “Get me the Seniors so that I can get silverware”. Then there are the polar opposites. Jackson, at the start of the season had my vote to do reasonably well with a more youth filled team, but that’s not how it panned out. Stanton on the other hand, with probably the most underfunded, youthful team of the lot, showed exactly what a good Gaffer is. Gaffer of the year will go to who ever takes the Golden Dunny seat, but when a team of lads actually stand up and say they don’t want their Gaffer to leave, because of what he’s taught them, the culture he’s facilitated, the cohesion he’s brought about and the confidence and belief he’s instilled, there’s the Gaffer of the year right there!!! Football is so much more than just the scoreboard and the lad using his size 9 to put the leather in the net. The A-League is fascinating if you open yourself to observation, consideration and you look below the surface. WU will beat Adelaide, Wanderers will knock over Victory. Auckland v Wanderers will be a battle ground and City v WU will be a fascinating watch, providing great insight into the future of Australian football. Bring it on, it’s been a brilliant season. Support Australian football lads!!!

forgive me for being unaware, but fan incident?

and there’s the big right hook 😂

Josh I hope you are right mate, a strong Wanderers is a stronger league. I want you blokes to knock Auckland over and take the title.

I might be wrong, but to do that, sadly, Brisbane will need new owners, because the current ones don’t do much. A least that’s what the optics suggest. I feel for you blokes, being a Jets supporter I know what your going through.

Do you remember the sticker they always had on the back window…..If this vehicle’s rockin’, don’t bother knockin’ 😂

After playing football for Newcastle Olympic, a Greek derby will see the stadium rockin’ wherever it’s held.

Waz you’re my new best friend. I hope Roar absolutely give it to Jackson and his lads. They need a lesson in humility. Lovin’ the Cradle of Football comment. You look at Newy’s football history and it’s absolutely a spot on comment. Come on you Jets!!!!

Lovin’ the utes and panel vans comment mate. Remember the old Sandman Pano’s. Being a Newy lad, when I was younger, every Surfer worth his salt wanted one of those in the 80’s.

Morning Stu, morning all, you have to love this time of year. The weather’s getting cooler, my nephews are fired up knowing that their season proper is only weeks away, and we’re travelling at great velocity toward the A-League finals. Woo Hoo. And now my wife is fired up over the idea of Wrexham coming out for the pre-season. I not sure whether it’s the football or Ryan Reynolds she wants to see. And I don’t blame her, I have a head like a bulldog eating custard. I am still questioning her eyesight. Ok, so final round picks. Come on you Nix, they’ve just resigned Chiefy, so I reckon they are going to be fired up. Nix 3-0. Roar to give Coasties a serve. Roar 2-0. City v Sydney is going to be a cracker. 2-2. Auckland v WU, will be an interesting contest. At some stage, Auckland are going to stumble. I would prefer it to be during the finals. WU will be up for making their presence felt, and JA is a far smarter manager than that angry little man Corica. 1-1. Bulls v Wanderers will be a good confidence booster for Wanderers. They are playing awesome football, they’re full of confidence and they have a far superior squad to the Bulls. 2-0 to Wanderers. Lastly, Come on you Jets. I know the Victory are a damned good side, but our lads have done themselves proud. They’ve taken on the David role in a number of battles with a Goliath of different colours and have either held their own or gone down swinging. I’d love to say 2-0 to Jets, but my head says 1-1. Have a cracking weekend all and just soak up the football. By the way geez I hope Ange gets his lads to the Europa League title. Support Australian football lads. And thanks to Stu, Mike and all the contributors for their articles, life would be poorer place without you blokes. Cheers FIL

yep, and Trump is mentally stable

I need clarification here. You said Murdoch puts football on the back page of the relevant rags. Well firstly are we talking A-League or is it EPL news that he puts on the back page? It’s probably more like European Champions League. Why because he has a stake in it through Stan/Nine. And even if it’s both, what is the text space afforded to football inside the news paper? If football gets 50 words inside the publication, I will be the Capt of Man Utd next weekend. Murdoch and Stokes are predictable in that they will only do, what puts more money in their pockets.

And as for ignoring the A-League, the AFL and the co-opted media outlets go white at the thought of football’s continued growth. In 2024 AFL participation numbers were approximately 528,000. That’s almost one quarter of football’s participation and five times that of rugby league. When you think that football’s participation rate is almost 20 times that of rugby league, then you start to understand why the co-opted media, and the anachronistic mindsets of Murdoch and Stokes do what they do to try and combat football. They must be spewing at the thought of Auckland doing so well in it’s first year.