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Australian Football Stuff - not worthy of a thread

Rowdy

Well-Known Member
Bleiberg calls for second Brisbane team to save Roar:
miron_.jpg


Former Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg claims to have found the panacea to rescue ailing Brisbane Roar: launch a second team in the city and create derbies in the Sydney and Melbourne mould.

FA wealthy businessman in his own right, Bleiberg – the inaugural A-League coach of the then named Queensland Roar from 2004 to 2006 – insists he would be willing to chip in $500,000 to be part of a consortium that launches a new entity in his adopted home town.

Bleiberg, 61, fears that unless Brisbane follows the example set by Melbourne and Sydney in creating vibrant local derbies, then the strife-hit Roar will remain on the nose of the Queensland football public as the club lurches from one financial crisis to another and struggles to retain the loyalty of its long suffering supporters.

With the Indonesian-owned Roar in the headlines for all the wrong reasons of late with the sacking of managing director Daniel Cobb after less than three months in job, players wages being paid late again and the three-times champions under-capitalised heading into the new A-League season, Bleiberg said: "It happens every year and because of that people get sick and tired of it.

"It's affecting the whole game in Brisbane and in Queensland. The best long-term solution would be FFA to put a second team in Brisbane and then both would thrive because at the moment it’s a dying breed.

“My business sense tells me to create more competition … at the moment you don’t have that and people are tired of the Roar and what has happened.

"They aren’t renewing memberships and many won’t be attending games. But, if you create a derby, you will see what has happened in Sydney and Melbourne in recent years.

“If FFA has a bit of commercial sense they will encourage another team from Brisbane

“And then they will find out all of a sudden that people from the Roar and team who don’t like the Roar will be coming to games and the league will be the winner."

Many, including the Roar’s fed up fans, are blaming owners the Bakries for the malaise which has gripped club as pre-sales of memberships tumbled to an all-time low.

Bleiberg has a different take.

“It’s wrong because nobody else has pumped $10 or $12 million into the club. So why blame them? They should be the ones you feel sorry for in this situation.

“But, from the other side this is what happens when you run a business from far away.

“They maybe should not have got involved from the beginning because they are in Indonesia and the Roar is in Brisbane.

“But they put the money in and I haven’t seen all the people bitching about them put any money in.

“Three has been mismanagement along the way but when you are dealing with a lot of money and the boss is far away that is what can happen. Not just in football but every walk of life.

“Obviously it would be good to have a local consortium involved because local people look after the milk better than those from far away.

“There are people in Brisbane capable of running the show, it’s just a matter of waking them up and to do that you need the competition of a second Brisbane team."

Bleiberg, who also coached the now defunct Gold Coast for three tumultuous seasons under the eccentric and erratic ownership of Clive Palmer, said he would be willing to help fund a new outfit.

"Yes, even yours truly could become involved financially…if you need $5 million then you can find 10 people to invest $500,000 each," he said.

“I am not the richest man in Brisbane, there are many richer than me … but if you ask me whether I would consider getting involved in a new club, I wouldn’t say no.

“You have to realise though that football is not about making money….it’s a hobby. Some people invest in a yacht, some in a house or a ski resort and some in football."

Meantime, Bleiberg believes the Roar are facing an uphill fight to win back a cynical pubic.

“People don’t like to be associated with a troubled body, it smells bad and is affecting the game in general," he said.

“It’s a pity because we all want strong football in Brisbane … and you can’t blame the coaching staff and the players. Last year they had a good season.

“But people like to be associated with success on and also off the field, and want to see the place run properly. Every pre-season the it's the same drama at the Roar."
 

Rowdy

Well-Known Member
You'd have to say that ol' Miron is talking some sense on the Qld situation, unlike a lot of his old post match interviews. ;)
 

Tevor

Well-Known Member
Agree Rowdy it makes sense and when watching the FFA Cup the other night the Strikers seem to be a pretty financial club that could possibly take the leap to A-league level. The commentators even mentioned that early in the A-League they wanted to be a JV with Roar but it was knocked back.
 

dibo

Well-Known Member
That comes down to a long-standing rivalry between Hollandia and Strikers - in Adelaide they got City and West together for Adelaide United but they Hollandia had the rails run in Brisbane and didn't want to let Strikers in.
 

Rowdy

Well-Known Member
I think Miron broke it down really well and in simple terms:
x10 like-minded business people with a passion for Football need to kick in just $500,00 each, to get it up and running.

The Brisbane Strikers could be 'one' of those 10 - playing the lesser games vs opponents like Wellington, CCM, Jets out of the Perry Park facillity (after some infrastructure upgrade)

The Strikers could then in effect 'earn' some revenue through the leasing of the ground to this new A-League entity for these games.

The 'rent' paid for these A-League games, coupled with possible additional revenue from office space, training ground leasing, alcohol, food&beverage provides a good income that would easily service the debt of $500,000. They could even go for a higher stake dare I say.
 

Rowdy

Well-Known Member
Forgot to mention that they could just share Suncorp with the Roar for the bigger teams Syd, WSW, Melb.Victory & City.

And of course the 'Banana Derby' reaping the ca$h rewards when its 'their home game' out of the bigger stadium.
 

Rowdy

Well-Known Member
Dodd philosophical about horror end to his comeback:
161786876_0.jpg


Former Australia representative Travis Dodd said he had no regrets about making a comeback despite it ending horribly when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee again.

Dodd sustained the injury just two minutes from full-time in a South Australian NPL elimination finals game last Sunday.

The former Adelaide United and Perth Glory star was playing for MetroStars SC when he felt his knee go. He was stretchered off with his team 1-0 down to Birkalla, which held on to win.

It was a torn ACL to the same knee in March, 2013, playing for Perth, that ended Dodd’s A-League career when he was 33.

He spent more than a year trying to recover sufficiently from that to get back into the A-League and play out his career out there on his own terms, but was unable to.

Dodd, though, remained determined to get back on the field at some level before finally giving the game away and made a comeback with MetroStars this season.

He had decided six weeks ago that he would retire at the end of this season and was, incredibly, just minutes away from doing that without incident when the injury curse struck him again.

But the 36-year-old is philosophical about it all as he prepares for surgery, as well as a move into coaching as an assistant at MetroStars next season.

He also has a new career off the field as well, as a business development manager with the NAB bank in Adelaide. He has been working there for several months.

“I’m handling it better than the first time around. I’m like a veteran at this now,” Dodd told The World Game.

“It’s frustrating that I was so close to walking away from my playing days unscathed and now I’ve got an annoying 10-month reminder of my last game, that being the rehab that is ahead, so I’m not thrilled about that side of it.

“But I’m doing the surgery because I want to make sure I get my knee right for life after football in terms of kids and social activities and that sort of thing.

“The dramas I had three years ago, when it looked like ending my career originally, that was a bitter pill to swallow. This time I have to admit that my initial concern was around work, because I started a new job a few months ago and I was worried how it would affect my getting around.

“But for now it’s fine and I’ve got the surgery scheduled for the second week of October, after getting a few commitments out of the way. I’ll just be off for a couple of weeks and then I’ll be able to get back into it.”

Dodd recounted the moment when he felt his knee go and it sounded fairly innocuous, just like the circumstances surrounding so many ACL injuries seem to be.

“We were playing on artificial turf in our first final of the campaign and I’ve just gone to reach out for a ball and push off and turn and I’ve just parked my foot in the ground and my knee has just gone and that was it,” he said. “Two minutes away from retirement, I was.

“I’ve seen a video of it. I was reaching out to my left to try and block a pass and the defender sort of cut back inside and I guess I’m already trying to transfer my weight before my left foot is firmly planted and maybe it didn’t make proper contact with the ground and just buckled under me.

“I’d been a bit concerned about playing there on the artificial turf after the knee problems I’d had in the past, but maybe it was just bad luck, I don’t know.

“Not an ideal way to end my career, again, I guess, but it’s one of those things, unfortunately. You can’t do much about it.

“I told the club six or seven weeks ago that I’d be retiring at the end of the season. We all knew it was our last game should we lose and unfortunately the injury right before fulltime rubbed salt into the wound even more.

“But I wasn’t too emotional. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to play again. I wanted to know myself that the first reconstruction wasn’t going to stop me completely from playing.

“I knew I was going to be done and dusted if we lost that game anyway and now I’m looking forward to getting on with the next chapter of my life.”
 

Rowdy

Well-Known Member
Unlucky bastard. :(

Did enjoy his commentary in the few games he did in the A-League last season, if the NAB can still accommodate it. ;)
 

Wombat

Well-Known Member
Dodd philosophical about horror end to his comeback:
161786876_0.jpg


Former Australia representative Travis Dodd said he had no regrets about making a comeback despite it ending horribly when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee again.

Dodd sustained the injury just two minutes from full-time in a South Australian NPL elimination finals game last Sunday.

The former Adelaide United and Perth Glory star was playing for MetroStars SC when he felt his knee go. He was stretchered off with his team 1-0 down to Birkalla, which held on to win.

It was a torn ACL to the same knee in March, 2013, playing for Perth, that ended Dodd’s A-League career when he was 33.

He spent more than a year trying to recover sufficiently from that to get back into the A-League and play out his career out there on his own terms, but was unable to.

Dodd, though, remained determined to get back on the field at some level before finally giving the game away and made a comeback with MetroStars this season.

He had decided six weeks ago that he would retire at the end of this season and was, incredibly, just minutes away from doing that without incident when the injury curse struck him again.

But the 36-year-old is philosophical about it all as he prepares for surgery, as well as a move into coaching as an assistant at MetroStars next season.

He also has a new career off the field as well, as a business development manager with the NAB bank in Adelaide. He has been working there for several months.

“I’m handling it better than the first time around. I’m like a veteran at this now,” Dodd told The World Game.

“It’s frustrating that I was so close to walking away from my playing days unscathed and now I’ve got an annoying 10-month reminder of my last game, that being the rehab that is ahead, so I’m not thrilled about that side of it.

“But I’m doing the surgery because I want to make sure I get my knee right for life after football in terms of kids and social activities and that sort of thing.

“The dramas I had three years ago, when it looked like ending my career originally, that was a bitter pill to swallow. This time I have to admit that my initial concern was around work, because I started a new job a few months ago and I was worried how it would affect my getting around.

“But for now it’s fine and I’ve got the surgery scheduled for the second week of October, after getting a few commitments out of the way. I’ll just be off for a couple of weeks and then I’ll be able to get back into it.”

Dodd recounted the moment when he felt his knee go and it sounded fairly innocuous, just like the circumstances surrounding so many ACL injuries seem to be.

“We were playing on artificial turf in our first final of the campaign and I’ve just gone to reach out for a ball and push off and turn and I’ve just parked my foot in the ground and my knee has just gone and that was it,” he said. “Two minutes away from retirement, I was.

“I’ve seen a video of it. I was reaching out to my left to try and block a pass and the defender sort of cut back inside and I guess I’m already trying to transfer my weight before my left foot is firmly planted and maybe it didn’t make proper contact with the ground and just buckled under me.

“I’d been a bit concerned about playing there on the artificial turf after the knee problems I’d had in the past, but maybe it was just bad luck, I don’t know.

“Not an ideal way to end my career, again, I guess, but it’s one of those things, unfortunately. You can’t do much about it.

“I told the club six or seven weeks ago that I’d be retiring at the end of the season. We all knew it was our last game should we lose and unfortunately the injury right before fulltime rubbed salt into the wound even more.

“But I wasn’t too emotional. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to play again. I wanted to know myself that the first reconstruction wasn’t going to stop me completely from playing.

“I knew I was going to be done and dusted if we lost that game anyway and now I’m looking forward to getting on with the next chapter of my life.”


I like Travis Dodd.
 

midfielder

Well-Known Member
Just sharing ....

As I guess everyone knows the Drive Bys V Flying Circus is on the opening Saturday night at Homebush.

With Homebush being reconfigured to I think around 70 K, this is one of the few times left to drag in a huge crowd i.e over 80K.

Would love just to stick it up some of the other codes to have a huge crowd at this game and we [4 of us] have decided to attend to say I was there and maybe to be part of history.... anyone else thinking of doing the same...
 

Tevor

Well-Known Member
Yes I already have my tickets, need to get an a-league fix and since we do not play at home for some time thought this would be an event worth attending.
 

Rowdy

Well-Known Member
Talay replaces Okon as Young Socceroos coach:
gettyimages-109168834_1.jpg


Football Federation Australia (FFA) have announced Ufuk Talay as the new coach of Australia's Under-20 side, replacing the newly-appointed Central Coast Mariners boss Paul Okon.

Talay has been involved in the Australian National team structure as assistant coach of the Under-17 side, the Joeys, and at the FFA Centre of Excellence program at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

FFA chief executive David Gallop said Talay’s appointment as Young Socceroos coach was a glowing endorsement for the structures put in place, which underpin the Australian football setup.

"(Talay's appointment) shows the pathway is in place for not only players but coaches to progress through the National team structures as part of the National Team Unit’s strategy," Gallop said.

"When we became aware of Paul’s decision to take up the role at the Central Coast Mariners, the National Team Unit headed by Luke Casserly, Ange Postecoglou and Eric Abrams identified Ufuk as the best man to take the position and we are pleased we have been able to ensure a smooth transition."

Talay, who was apart of Sydney FC’s inaugural Championship-winning A-League team and enjoyed a successful playing career overseas, said he is thrilled with the opportunity to lead the Young Socceroos in qualifying for the next FIFA Under-20 World Cup.

"This is a huge honour for me to be named coach of the Australian U20 team," Talay said.

"It’s a step forward and I look forward to working with the players to play the type of football our National Teams have been playing and qualify for the U20 World Cup.

Talay will start working with the Young Socceroos immediately and will lead a 23-man squad to Bahrain for the AFF Under-19 Championship in Vietnam from 11-24 September.

The team leaves on Tuesday 6 September and will play matches against Cambodia (12 September), Myanmar (14 September), Indonesia (16 September), Thailand (18 September) and Laos (20 September).

The Young Socceroos will then take part in the AFC Under-19 Championships in Bahrain from 13-30 October 2016, where they will face China PR, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the group stages of the 16-team tournament.

The top four countries (excluding the Korea Republic) will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, to be played in the Korea Republic.
 

Rowdy

Well-Known Member
Junior makes it !
& former Mariner Dejan Pandurevic

BUT
Budgie unfortunately misses out.

AFF Under-19 Championship - Young Socceroos 23-man squad:

squadd.png
 

Forum Phoenix

Well-Known Member
Hard luck for Trent. But he's in a good place to make his mark and position himself these next couple of years - provided we keep him beyond this season.
 

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