Matt Simon signs with Sydney FC

[dibo]

There was an offer on the table, negotiations underway etc., and for one reason or another the deal was pulled by the club. He seems to have offered to play for minimum wage *after* the club had moved in another direction. We saw this happen with Anderson as well, though Arnie was keener for Anderson straight off the bat.

My issue with Matty is that I understand he played hardball with negotiations, lost out, and he's had a go at the club repeatedly in the papers. For a player who had a couple of good seasons with us mixed in with a lot of pish, that's not great. He was anything but prolific for us since coming home from Korea and you don't get a free pass for being a local.

When it was clear nobody else wanted him he rang Arnie at SFC. CCM took a gamble in not re-signing him, and it's pretty typical of a player to outperform against their former clubs. But I don't think he's going to be amazing this season and I still think we made the right call in not agreeing to re-sign him.

For what it's worth, he celebrated both goals against us so he's clearly not feeling any love for us.

 

[Big Al]

There was an offer on the table, negotiations underway etc., and for one reason or another the deal was pulled by the club. He seems to have offered to play for minimum wage *after* the club had moved in another direction. We saw this happen with Anderson as well, though Arnie was keener for Anderson straight off the bat.

My issue with Matty is that I understand he played hardball with negotiations, lost out, and he's had a go at the club repeatedly in the papers. For a player who had a couple of good seasons with us mixed in with a lot of pish, that's not great. He was anything but prolific for us since coming home from Korea and you don't get a free pass for being a local.

When it was clear nobody else wanted him he rang Arnie at SFC. CCM took a gamble in not re-signing him, and it's pretty typical of a player to outperform against their former clubs. But I don't think he's going to be amazing this season and I still think we made the right call in not agreeing to re-sign him.

For what it's worth, he celebrated both goals against us so he's clearly not feeling any love for us.

Agree with most of what you said but I'd hardly call his hand gesture a celebration, watch him celebrate the winner in the derby with the cove and he was very restrained. I was actually disappointed after the raspberry he received for who knows why I reckon he should have gone ahead and said stuff you but showed class in his restraint IMO. Probably smart enough to know the goals alone were a big enough kick in the teeth.

Some mates near me had a big blow up over him. One bagging him for no real reason than one to many beers and just being frustrated, his mate give it back saying what a good bloke he is and it wasn't his fault. Pretty funny ended with a hissy fit and walk off. Just goes to show how varied opinions can be.

 

[MagpieMariner]

I was disappointed to see him score against us, but I was expecting it. I won't boo him, he didn't leave us willingly (no matter the circumstances around his negotiations with the club, which I for one know nothing about), he was cut. That's the way it goes in professional sport (cf Jarryd Hayne). I just wish we could have given him the same service on the field that FC did, he would undoubtedly have banged in plenty.
I've said many times in the past, Matty needs another good striker beside him to really do the deed, he doesn't lead the line well on his own. His best performances for us were when he had Sasho & Macca with him; when they weren't there, not so good. The same thing will happen when/if the other strikers get injured/suspended/leave, he won't get that open space that we gave him Saturday and therefore won't do as well.
Still, whatever happens I wish him well.

 

[Wombat]

I will never boo Matty. The boos were very lightweight but maybe bought on by some comments in the press in the week prior to the game.

Arnie, on the other hand, acted like a complete dickhead.

 

[MagpieMariner]

Arnie's forgotten that without the Mariners, he wouldn't be coaching FC (or quite possibly anyone else).

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Arnie has done nothing but act like a complete twat since he's left us. He's a complete embarrassment, but carrying on like he did? No class, no professionalism.

No malice to Simon and I wish him all the best. I think there are a few different stories around about the circumstances of his leaving - but when you're a key player in a team and you leave, of course some people aren't going to like that. Some booing was probably to be expected.

There will be life after Matty at CCM.

 

[nebakke]

No malice to Simon and I wish him all the best. I think there are a few different stories around about the circumstances of his leaving - but when you're a key player in a team and you leave, of course some people aren't going to like that. Some booing was probably to be expected.

There will be life after Matty at CCM.

I struggle a little with the whole Matty thing... I would never boo him - I happily applauded him coming on, just because it's him - though I didn't applaud his goals obviously but...
I have only seen references to stories of his leaving, never actually seen anything saying anything about what supposedly happened, unless we're just looking at the the "he-played-for-more-money-was-rejected-offered-lower-and-was-still-rejected" thing... I think it was a bad decision, thought so then and now, but I'm not sure I think it qualifies as poor treatment in any way... Much can happen during negotiations, if he played hard ball and the club found an alternative in the time it took to sort him out, then those are the terms of negotiations aren't they?
If the club kept stringing him along, then dropped him or something, that's a different story of course...

At the end of the day though... He hasn't been fully match fit ever, since returning from Korea I think... That might've changed, with our new conditioning coach etc, but I thought the club seemed to do right by him, in terms of training him after Korea, parental-leave-type-stuff and generally trying to look after him while he was unavailable... All the more reason why I really don't understand why they wouldn't at least have signed him on a minimum or, as was suggested here, on a small contract with large goal-scoring bonuses.... But hey, there's a reason why I'm not a sports director... Well... There's more than one, but ONE of them is that obviously I don't know this stuff...

 

[dibo]

They told him in March that he was free to go - he then had until July to find a new deal, so that's *less* bad than simply running him out to deadline. They also put a quote from him expressing his disappointment in the press release and wished him well, etc. If they were really f**king him over they wouldn't have done either of those things.

I think at that point the door was probably open to a return on less money, but Simon's perspective was that if they were serious they were going to pony up some more cash.

Mismatch of offer and expectations, and we see the end result.

Did the club undervalue him? Hard to say, but it's true that any striker worth paying would've finished at least one (if not both) of the chances Matty scored from on Saturday. Neither was exceptional from him, more good plays leading to him being in space and finishing. Fair play to him for getting there and getting the job done, but that's what strikers are paid to do. The fact Matty's replacement absolutely bollocksed a 1-on-1 at the same end in the first half shouldn't be lost on anyone, however...

 

[Wombat]

They told him in March that he was free to go - he then had until July to find a new deal, so that's *less* bad than simply running him out to deadline. They also put a quote from him expressing his disappointment in the press release and wished him well, etc. If they were really f**king him over they wouldn't have done either of those things.

I think at that point the door was probably open to a return on less money, but Simon's perspective was that if they were serious they were going to pony up some more cash.

Mismatch of offer and expectations, and we see the end result.

Did the club undervalue him? Hard to say, but it's true that any striker worth paying would've finished at least one (if not both) of the chances Matty scored from on Saturday. Neither was exceptional from him, more good plays leading to him being in space and finishing. Fair play to him for getting there and getting the job done, but that's what strikers are paid to do. The fact Matty's replacement absolutely bollocksed a 1-on-1 at the same end in the first half shouldn't be lost on anyone, however...

Both goals were quality finishes. The fact that we were stupid enough to leave him unmarked twice.....we deserved to lose. Defensively we are the worst in HAL by a long way.....but we are slowly improving. (Or we dropped one problem and have one more to go)
For me Matty would still be with us (as would Duke) if Moss hadn't butchered our club for a season and a half.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

You know, for some reason I had genuinely forgotten that Moss had "coached" our team for a bit. I think I was repressing that memory. Now I'm going to have to go back into therapy, thanks wombat!!

The funny thing is, every goal in that game was scored in a similar fashion - striker dropped back off the sweeper to create space for himself with the sweeper doing something useless between the striker and the goals. Matty, you're probably better off staying in his face than dropping back (although Matty is now such a physical player that he may have been all over the defenders anyway), and our defenders should have been prepared in that fashion, IMO.

 

[Wombat]

Mate if you had been at that preseason game at Lisarow when we got smashed by a state league side........you would be going to the same therapist as me.
Matty didnt play that game but was there to support the troops. We shook hands and he and most of his team mates looked shell shocked.
Mossy looked clueless and was totally out coached by his state league adversary.
That was a dark day...many fans looked shocked but didn't understand what we were in for but still looked deeply troubled.

 

[Gratis]

I was at that game alas

 

[Luca Brasi]

Did the club undervalue him?

My view is yes, there are not many A-League proven strikers under 30 with over 40 goals playing for not much more than the base salary.
His second mediocre stint can be attributed to injury after returning from Korea and his subsequent family issues.
The drum I heard was that he was offered 2 years at Perth but for family reasons wanted to stay close to the coast and declined.
At this stage we could have signed him for less than his expectation but was told the door was closed, he then was picked up by GA.
Potentially signing Matt could have led to another club legend and growing the culture of CCM as well as assisting with our depth/goal scoring.
TW obviously saw/was told otherwise, he is the gaffer and I respect his decision, 20/20 hindsight on my behalf after Saturday game.
I would see Heff as his direct replacement, not Roy.
GA reacting the way he did is consistent with what I heard about the relationship between GA/Moss and TW previously. For whatever reason TW was despised by GA/Moss, possibly because he was seen as a threat to Moss in the succession to the managers role.

 

[dibo]

Interesting - thanks for the insight.

 

[Wombat]

I have only seen TW and GA together once. It was in a Football setting and they seamed to get on well. TW was very matey with the first team players as well. Id imagine any animosity would have come via Moss and his insecurities.
Once TW game back and ousted Moss, I guess that would be when a hatred started.

 

[nebakke]

I have only seen TW and GA together once. It was in a Football setting and they seamed to get on well. TW was very matey with the first team players as well. Id imagine any animosity would have come via Moss and his insecurities.
Once TW game back and ousted Moss, I guess that would be when a hatred started.

Yeah I noticed that Arnie actually came over for a man-hug and a chat with TW and Hutvh before the game. All of them were all smiles, laughing and joking - I think it's safe to say there's no issue there ;-)

 

[style_cafe]

As I`ve said before I wasn`t a Matty fan at first but he won me over.
Since coming back from Korea he hasn`t been 100% & therefore his value would have diminished.
This is obvious as what he wanted & what the club was prepared to give just didn`t meet.
In saying that how do you value the other non tangibles he gave the club.ie his worth in the change room, his heart & sole to the team, his character & personality.
I would have liked to see him stay but I don`t know the ins & outs of the deal so cannot comment on the negotiations.
I can say though that if that was the best celebrations of two goals that he has ever done, then he has totally lost the plot. Agree or disagree I don`t really care but for mine he toned down his celebrations out of respect to the many fans that have cheered him over the years & for that he deserves our respect.

 

[BrisRecky]

To be fair Matt had been virtually invisible since his return from the k league, I thought the club done right by him with the little ones medical issues and what have you, I think he left his run too late, Mossy spent all the money on Bosnar and Sim (kidding)....I mean it's not like he scored multiple times in the grand final or anything....anyway, good luck to him, I think his only getting a run on derby days agin us anyway

 

[sydmariner]

Mat simon has just come on for smeltz

 

[Wombat]

To be fair Matt had been virtually invisible since his return from the k league, I thought the club done right by him with the little ones medical issues and what have you, I think he left his run too late, Mossy spent all the money on Bosnar and Sim (kidding)....I mean it's not like he scored multiple times in the grand final or anything....anyway, good luck to him, I think his only getting a run on derby days agin us anyway

Lol....with our defence....that should be enough to get him the Golden boot.