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Post by clueless1 on Oct 28, 2016 14:32:58 GMT
well it was a fascinating week in football here. With City quickly becoming the most hated club right now. With both Lowe and Muscat claiming double standards (with Muscat getting a fine, Lowe getting suspended for 2 weeks), city players diving more than ashley young as well as the awful ad campaign that was Yoshi (yes the poor kids parents named him after a super mario character), ending with him choosing City to literally no ones surprise. It was met with the standard trolling (well so was the poll to choose the team for him, everyone voted mariners) City are really trying to get them over as a big club (don't blame them, Cahill is there and they need to actually do something). In fairness they do have 11k members, strange thing is they only got 8k to their home match.
Anyway onto this weeks action
Melbourne City 2-1 Adelaide United
City are lucky Brendan and Kilkenny didn't get sent off, i don't think we'll have 3/3 this week as Amor won't say anything about the referees. Either way Fornaroli is the best striker the league has ever seen, he is a class above, If they sold him he'd go for plenty, but since he's the marquee they're going to do gangbusters with him. Adelaide did well with a depleted squad, Choi looked solid on debut for them but without their star players it was never going to be enough. Still though City are back in the winning books in the league which is important, 3-4-3 may leak goals but with their attacking prowess it doesn't matter.
Crowd: 10,053 (marginal improvement over last week but they really need to be doing more than this, they have the best squad ever assembled, FFA and Oil money help plus a ton of marketing and this is all they can do, this is on the back of 2 derby wins against the Victory, this is only like 500-1000 more than the heart days, and still a good 1k less than their members, city need to find an identity and fast).
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Post by clueless1 on Dec 15, 2016 1:08:19 GMT
Oscar apparently is 90% heading to Shanghai SIPG for $76 million (60 million pounds, 524 million yuan). Insane fee if true, does make you wonder what Chelsea are going to do though, they won't sit back. I fully expect them to go out and and get a replacement or someone who plays a different position but is of that class or better (maybe Marco Reus to the premier league actually happens now).
for SIPG, well i do wonder what on earth they're doing paying 60 mill for Oscar but hey, not like they're cash strapped. They finished 3rd this season but 12 points behind Guangzhou so they need to come up with a solution
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Post by clueless1 on Dec 15, 2016 1:20:11 GMT
On the Expansion front in the a-league, its confirmed 2 teams will get in for 2018/19.
The bids so far:
- Cronulla/Sutherland (i'd say a 75% chance of happening, i don't like this bid but Gallop loves them)
- South Melbourne (they've been making a lot of noise and the football romantics choice, for me, if there is a third Melbourne team, this is it, they've also stated they'd get marquee's, my bet on that is Giorgis Samaras, i would of had them in ahead of the Heart to be honest)
- Tasmania United (probably the best bid overall, they've been making all the right noise, have gotten government support from the likes of Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie and even has the support of the PM, i think they're a good chance actually, even going as far as targeting Graham Arnold to be their manager)
- Casey/Dandenong (they did make a fair bit of noise for a while but i doubt they're getting in now)
- Geelong (they've been lobbying for one for years, however since its all about TV viewership mostly and sponsorships this time they may have a good chance)
- Brisbane strikers (came in looking the most likely, however after saying that they'd have to play out of Suncorp Stadium and really are offering nothing new, their bid has died off somewhat, basically smells like Heart mkII but with a bit more history)
- West Adelaide (yes, the old Adelaide Galaxy, they wanted Robbie Fowler as their manager in a push)
- Wollongong (would get in if i had my way, they've stated they want to bid, not too much noise, maybe told they don't have a chance, which is a shame since they'd be more popular than any team out of Cronulla)
- Canberra (ok this is the laziest, not even a bid, more a decleration of interest if the finances came in, in otherwords, weak)
I honestly see the FFA stuffing this up and pissing off the entire A-league fanbase with this, if they go with Geelong and South Sydney over South Melbourne and Wollongong (let alone the really strong Tasmania bid) then Gallop is going to catch it (i also cringe at the idea of South Sydney vs the Wanderers, sounds like a disaster waiting to happen).
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Post by clueless1 on Dec 15, 2016 2:30:41 GMT
Second tier is being brought to QLD.  Its about time too, hopefully it means Rochdale Rovers, Lions, Capalaba/Eastern Suburbs and maybe some other Brisbane Premier League clubs come in. Also would like to see some other regional teams like a new Rockhampton/Gladstone team, Bundaberg (especially since it has produced some good players in the past) Mackay etc. |
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Post by clueless1 on Dec 21, 2016 11:12:13 GMT
FFA and fox sports have agreed to a 6 year, 346 million dollar deal (57 million per year) for the broadcast rights to the a-league and w-league as well as the internationals which will remain on pay-tv.
This deal doesn't include the digital rights and doesn't include FTA rights which is for the saturday night game, yep, blockbuster games are coming to Free-to-air tv, so the melbourne and sydney derbies, the big-blue, melbourne-adelaide etc will be on FTA. That is going to be huge and will probably fetch a fair bit (expected somewhere between 15-18 mill, with digital rights going for between 1-1.5 mill).
Its not a bad deal, but its a bit below par (like i was expecting 60 mill since the FFA were talking about 80 mill overall) and 6 years is a long time, especially since we're getting new teams in. Well i guess it is long term security.
The deal already puts us third though behind the AFL and NRL tv deals (though the AFL is getting 417 mill per year and NRL 360 mill so a very very distant third) and probably makes us the third major code now, with this deal already surpassing the Rugby Union deal (which is also coming mainly from overseas).
Still, given fox is getting to pick and chooose the two expansion teams i would have expected more (fox better have some sense and go with one of Tasmania and/or South, ideally both. though i do imagine tasmania would be one since they apparently have the lowest subscription percentage to foxtel out of any state, oh and they have exactly 0 teams from the major codes which is a collosal fuck up by the AFL in my opinion, a-league comes into tasmania and the afl you best believe will be scrambling to save the market).
Also the FTA provider won't be decided until after the big bash is sold (most likely to 9 since they're the richest and biggest network, only 7 could really match them financially, 10 i think are almost guaranteed to lose it). Ideally i would want it on 10, they're the reason that the big bash has been so succesful, they've done a fantastic job in promoting the BBL. Also they don't have a major competition that lasts for an extended period of time (BBL lasts 8 weeks) so this could be their answer to 7 having the AFL and 9 having the NRL. Plus i'd trust 10 moreso than 7 (who have already killed the NSL) and 9 (who are just collosal fuck ups of anything they touch). Also saturday night football on 10 sounds right.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 7:56:02 GMT
Up early and nothing better to do so watching some of the Chinese Super League game between Guangzhou and Tianjin. Witsel and Pato both playing for Tianjin.
Pair of pathetic mercenaries. Neither team can string much more than 5 passes together, the pitch is atrocious with the ball bobbling around, very difficult to control and players look openly tentative about exerting themselves too much, probably because of the risk of injuries.
No club in Europe should ever buy a player who's gone to China. Any player who's gone there has clearly shown what matters most to them in their footballing life.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 10:25:31 GMT
Up early and nothing better to do so watching some of the Chinese Super League game between Guangzhou and Tianjin. Witsel and Pato both playing for Tianjin. Pair of pathetic mercenaries. Neither team can string much more than 5 passes together, the pitch is atrocious with the ball bobbling around, very difficult to control and players look openly tentative about exerting themselves too much, probably because of the risk of injuries. No club in Europe should ever buy a player who's gone to China. Any player who's gone there has clearly shown what matters most to them in their footballing life. Scared me dude, I thought Spens was back when this thread got bumped. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 10:57:01 GMT
Up early and nothing better to do so watching some of the Chinese Super League game between Guangzhou and Tianjin. Witsel and Pato both playing for Tianjin. Pair of pathetic mercenaries. Neither team can string much more than 5 passes together, the pitch is atrocious with the ball bobbling around, very difficult to control and players look openly tentative about exerting themselves too much, probably because of the risk of injuries. No club in Europe should ever buy a player who's gone to China. Any player who's gone there has clearly shown what matters most to them in their footballing life. Scared me dude, I thought Spens was back when this thread got bumped.  I must admit I was a little reluctant to post it in here, was going to just put it in the random football thread. Good old Spens.. Was on a different forum I was on for years. Never changed! |
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Post by WhatsTheMata on Mar 4, 2017 11:13:05 GMT
Up early and nothing better to do so watching some of the Chinese Super League game between Guangzhou and Tianjin. Witsel and Pato both playing for Tianjin. Pair of pathetic mercenaries. Neither team can string much more than 5 passes together, the pitch is atrocious with the ball bobbling around, very difficult to control and players look openly tentative about exerting themselves too much, probably because of the risk of injuries. No club in Europe should ever buy a player who's gone to China. Any player who's gone there has clearly shown what matters most to them in their footballing life. Scared me dude, I thought Spens was back when this thread got bumped. Same. I'm more puzzled now as I thought he had been banned for some reason after seeing his name as 'clueless1' but it turns out it is an active account. |
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Post by WhatsTheMata on Mar 4, 2017 11:15:39 GMT
Scared me dude, I thought Spens was back when this thread got bumped. I must admit I was a little reluctant to post it in here, was going to just put it in the random football thread. Good old Spens.. Was on a different forum I was on for years. Never changed! Did he posted a lot about the Australian league? |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 11:22:33 GMT
I must admit I was a little reluctant to post it in here, was going to just put it in the random football thread. Good old Spens.. Was on a different forum I was on for years. Never changed! Did he posted a lot about the Australian league? Yeah and it had the same impact as this. Australian bloke mainly rambling to himself about Australian (sometimes Asian) football. Nobody took much notice but he wasn't doing any harm so let him get on with it. Pretty much the same as when he talks about other footballing topics. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pop back though. He used to sometimes go away for a while then appear again. |
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Post by WhatsTheMata on Mar 4, 2017 11:33:49 GMT
Did he posted a lot about the Australian league? Yeah and it had the same impact as this. Australian bloke mainly rambling to himself about Australian (sometimes Asian) football. Nobody took much notice but he wasn't doing any harm so let him get on with it. Pretty much the same as when he talks about other footballing topics. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pop back though. He used to sometimes go away for a while then appear again. I am all in for listening how football works everywhere. Every single team is special and has inspired someone. Also, paying attention to leagues outside Europe is what brings loads of young talents too, football cool stories (the bizarre to the underdog somewhere reaching the impossible) etc. I just think it's strange he never posted elsewhere other than this thread. I mean, nothing on match threads, general United, transfer threads. He just liked our posts. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 11:37:16 GMT
Yeah and it had the same impact as this. Australian bloke mainly rambling to himself about Australian (sometimes Asian) football. Nobody took much notice but he wasn't doing any harm so let him get on with it. Pretty much the same as when he talks about other footballing topics. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pop back though. He used to sometimes go away for a while then appear again. I am all in for listening how football works everywhere. Every single team is special and has inspired someone. Also, paying attention to leagues outside Europe is what brings loads of young talents too, football cool stories (the bizarre to the underdog somewhere reaching the impossible) etc. I just think it's strange he never posted elsewhere other than this thread. I mean, nothing on match threads, general United, transfer threads. He just liked our posts. Mainly because his opinions are that nonsensical that when he did post in another thread he just got slaughtered. |
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Post by WhatsTheMata on Mar 4, 2017 11:39:29 GMT
I am all in for listening how football works everywhere. Every single team is special and has inspired someone. Also, paying attention to leagues outside Europe is what brings loads of young talents too, football cool stories (the bizarre to the underdog somewhere reaching the impossible) etc. I just think it's strange he never posted elsewhere other than this thread. I mean, nothing on match threads, general United, transfer threads. He just liked our posts. Mainly because his opinions are that nonsensical that when he did post in another thread he just got slaughtered. On the other forum? What would he post? He should join an A-League forum or Reddit. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 11:43:38 GMT
But yeah he never seemed as dedicated to United and watching us as other fans from similar far away parts of the world.
I always have huge respect for fans outside of Europe who try their damnedest to watch us. As much as some kick off times for me, most in the UK and other parts of Europe can be far from ideal, I've never had to get up at 3am/4am to watch us. So I can completely understand if people can't watch us all the time but I find it odd that someone would be a member of a Man Utd forum and never bother watching us play or even trying to find highlights of games. Forming opinions purely based on the back of other's opinions.
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