Premier League Clubs Looking Local For Success.

Despite football clubs always on the look out for big name signings to not only perform on the pitch but also help sell merchandise off of it, a recent report has shown that home grown talent is in fact proving a very successful and beneficial way to go for many clubs; a fact many fans have been promoting for years.

Manchester United were the first club to show what home-grown talent could achieve, when the likes of Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Gary and Philip Neville broke through and lifted the Champions League title.

How times have changed since then, when Manchester United played Tottenham Hotspurs a fortnight ago they had spent GBP149million over the Summer on their squad. Tottenham on the other hand had five players who had come through the juniors sides at White Hart Lane.

As one of those young players said in the national press in England, it is harder for youngsters to break through than in other European nations, where they actively promote local talent.

“There are a lot of talented players who are not given the chance and then they get lost in the system and maybe things don’t work out for them in football.” Ryan Mason was quoted as saying. “The more clubs who give players these chances the better.”

Mason praised coach Mauricio Pochettino for giving youngsters a chance at Southampton, and carrying on that ethos at Tottenham. Mason said that he believed that England had the depth of playing talent, but that many managers opt for foreigners to fill key positions rather than entrust that responsibility to a local player.

Interestingly Paul Scholes, a player who knows the importance of being given a chance when young has backed Mason to break into Roy Hodgson’s England squad sooner rather than later. Mason may not have made the recent squad but his Spurs team mate Harry Kane aged 21 did.

This season Tottenham has given five local players who came through their youth system and who are aged 24 and under regular starts. Arsenal have given 8 players who came through their youth system games, the oldest player being 25 year old Kieran Gibbs, while Ainsley Maitland-Niles is the youngest at 17. QPR has given three local players games, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Chelsea two each.

With a shift to local talent being given a chance one has to question the benefit of young Australian players heading to Premier League clubs and their chances of breaking through. As Massimo Luongo has shown, having come through the Tottenham youth ranks, a move to a lower division side and playing regularly for that side may be the better option in the long term. Luongo showed in the Asian Cup that he can step up and perform at international level and with consistent performances at club level has a number of clubs in higher divisions monitoring his progress. As the old saying goes all that glitters is not gold.

It will be interesting to watch in the coming seasons whether the trend being followed by Arsenal and Tottenham is taken up by other clubs. Is buying big still a guarantee for success?

Postal Damage

In 1991, Crystal Palace chairman Ron Noades made a statement that rocked the football community. Noades was a much respected Chairman of a Football League club, but his comment was downright racist. Noades had said, “The black players at this club lend the side a lot of skill and flair, but you also need white players in there to balance things up and give the team some brains and some common sense.”

Noades survived this scandalous comment and remained at Selhurst Park until 1998, before he moved to Brentford where he became, Chairman, and believe-it-or-not even first team coach; He steered Brentford to promotion and won a Divisional Manager of the Year award.

There was no social media back then. Had there have been Noades would no doubt have been hounded out of the game.

Since the dawn of social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like the world we live in has changed dramatically. Sportsmen and women have to be very careful what pictures the publish or send to friends, or even if they have pictures posted of them drinking alcohol. Many have fallen foul of a rash comment made in the heat of the moment.

The truth is if you wish to be a professional athlete or administrator, or hold any position in society you must be careful what you put out in the world of social media. Instead of think before you speak, think before you tweet, or post!

There is an understandable backlash in Western Australian football about comments made on Facebook, a very public forum, by a president of a state league club.

Calls have been made for the FFA or local body Football West to take action and ban the said individual. Yet neither honestly has any power to do so. The FFA would be entering a hornets nest as their own National Club Identity Policy has been accused as racist and as we discussed would struggle to stand up in a court of law. (Football Cleansing – A Step Too Far).

What can Football West do? In the last eighteen months they tried to fine a club for bringing the game into disrepute, when a player from that club was involved in a brawl in a nightclub. This decision was quite rightly challenged and the ruling was Football West had overstepped its jurisdiction. So what action can they take against an individual who writes opinions that are his own on a social media site, and a thread that has nothing to do with football?

Ultimately it comes down to the club with whom he is connected. Do they feel that the comments have come back and hurt them? They also need to remember that the club concerned represents a region, and carries that region’s name. If the individual’s comments and views have been associated with their club and in their opinion caused a negative effect then they must take action. If people from that region, or the football community as a whole feel that the comments are inappropriate from one holding such a position, then they too have every right to air those views and make the club or the individual aware.

Is an apology acceptable? Should the individual concerned do the honourable thing and step down?

Whatever the outcome this situation should be a lesson to all who like to use social media or comment on public forums. Comments that may have gone away in Ron Noades day, are now there for posterity and can frequently come back to haunt you.

Heroes and Men of Valour

Today the world reflects on those who served in the War to end all wars, and so we should. Sadly few lessons have been learned and wars still are being fought on the battlefields and in the minds of those who return from such conflicts.

At the time of the First World War Australia’s population was just around four million and a total of 416,809 Australians enlisted in the Australian forces, of which 32,231 were from Western Australia. Australia suffered its highest ever mortality rate, with 61,720 being killed and over 156,000 wounded, many of whom died within 18 months of returning home.

Sport has played a big part in keeping the sports up in war time. There was the famous rugby match played beneath the Pyramids in the Great War, as well as games of football between British and German troops during a ceasefire. In the second World War sporting events were used to keep everyone’s spirits up and war time internationals were held in Britain; caps of which are not on the official record.

According to Australian historians football, or soccer as it was then known, was regularly played by Allied troops at Gallipoli and also amongst Australian troops based at Lemnos in Greece in 1915. In fact Victorian Sports historian Dr Ian Syson has revealed that records show an extensive and co-ordinated soccer programme within the Australian forces – and there was even an Anzac “Ashes” series between Aussie and New Zealand troops. The prize was a silver razor tin case, containing cigar ashes from one of the soldiers who landed at Gallipoli.

There have been many sportsmen who deserve to be remembered for their heroics in the face of war. We thought we would share some with you.

Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, VC and bar, MC, RAMC. He is a man begging to have a movie made of his life. He is one of only three individuals to be awarded the Victoria Cross and Bar (Two Victoria Crosses). Chavasse was medical officer of the 10th Battalion, the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment and was initially best known as an outstanding athlete at Oxford University, going up to Trinity College with his twin brother, Christopher, in 1904. It was there that Noel studied medicine and was a key member of the Oxford University athletics and lacrosse teams. He represented Great Britain in the 400 metres at the 1908 Olympic Games in London, finishing second in his heat which was not enough for him to qualify for the final.

Lieutenant General Sir Philip Neame, VC, KBE, CB, DSO, Chevalier Legion d’Honneur, Croix de Guerre (France), Croix de Guerre (Belgium). Neame is the only man to win a Victoria Cross and Olympic gold medal. He was a lieutenant in the 15th Field Corps of Royal Engineers. He was an outstanding sportsman at Cheltenham College, and was one of 14 old boys from the school to win the Victoria Cross. His Olympic gold medal came in the 1924 Paris Games in the four-man running deer team competition, when Great Britain won from Norway and Sweden.

From the world of football we have Second Lieutenant Donald Simpson Bell, VC. Donald Bell was the first professional footballer to enlist for the First World War, with the 9th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, and he is the only professional footballer to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Bell was a gifted all-round sportsman who played for Crystal Palace, Bishop Auckland and Newcastle before turning professional with Bradford Park Avenue in 1912. He died five days after the heroics that won him his Victoria Cross and many felt his efforts on that day warranted a second.

From the Equestrian sporting world came Brigadier General Paul Aloysius Kenna, VC, DSO. Paul was awarded the VC in 1898 after serving in Sudan and was killed at Gallipoli in 1915. He was thought by many at the time to be possibly the finest horseman of his age. In 1893/94 he was the top-rated polo player in the British Army in India. He was also a jockey and rode over 300 National Hunt and Flat winners before turning his attention to show-jumping. He led the Great Britain showjumping team on tour to North America in both 1910 and 1911. He was also selected to lead the Great Britain team at the 1912 Olympics. Unfortunately they arrived in Stockholm late, and performed very poorly. Kenna wrote an angry report to the British Olympic authorities on how British teams should be prepared and trained for future Olympics.

In Rugby League comes Second Lieutenant John ‘Jack’ Harrison, VC, MC. John Harrison was one of the greatest players in the history of Hull Rugby League Club. He first came to the attention of York but soon transferred to his native Hull, where he scored 106 tries in 116 matches, including 52 in the 1913-14 season, a club record that still stands to this day, and is unlikely to ever be beaten.

Rugby Union has contributed four Victoria Cross winners, three Irishmen and one Englishman.

Lieutenant-Commander Arthur Leyland Harrison, VC. Harrison, was a promising England forward who had people talking about a long and fruitful career following his two appearances in the 1914 Five Nations Championship. He played in the back row against Ireland and then moved into the second row against France, when England won 39-13.  He won his Victoria Cross posthumously for his part in the Zeebrugge raid of 1918,

The three Irishmen are remarkably all from the same Rugby club in Dublin, Wanderers, and are to be the subject of a documentary currently under production by Ashley Morrison called “Fight in the Dog.”

Robert Johnston was not only a team mate of Thomas Crean but also a great friend. The two played for Ireland and then toured South Africa together in 1896 with the British and Irish Lions when, like Crean, he decided to stay on. With the Boer War imminent they joined the Imperial Horse (Natal). Johnston was 27 and a captain when he was awarded his Victoria Cross at the Battle of Elandslaagte, Johnston was badly wounded and was nursed back to health by Crean.

Major Thomas Joseph Crean, VC, DSO. He was the Richie McCaw of his generation, although slightly more boisterous off the pitch, where he had a reputation as a hell-raiser. He was a key player in two championship-winning sides for Ireland. He trained as a doctor at the Royal College of Surgeons and received the Royal Humane Society medal for saving a fellow student from drowning in the sea,

Brigadier Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey, VC, MC.  Harvey played for Ireland against Wales in 1907 and France four years later, before emigrating to Canada and embarking on a career in the military.

These are just some of the men from sport who won the highest military honour, there were many other unsung heroes, from the world of sport and from all walks of life.

Today we talk of epic battles on the sporting field, and of heroes coming to the fore, but today of all days we should put those words in context and recall those who really fought in epic battles or any battle, for all are heroes for giving us the freedom to enjoy life and sport the way that we do today.

Talent and Time, the Key to Success

They say that life is about learning from your mistakes and one looks at Perth Glory and hopes that this will be the case. Some cynics will no doubt ask which mistake?

The mistake in question is that of the senior coach. Let us go back to the A-League season of 2007-08. The previous season, the second of the A-League has seen the club finish as the last Australian team 7th in the 8 team competition, with only the Wellington Phoenix below them. Ron Smith was the coach, a man regarded by most in Australia as the best development coach in the country, having brought through many of the players dubbed ‘the golden generation.’ His task was to rebuild Perth Glory and bring through players who would be the foundation of the club in future years.

Players left over from the previous season included: Leo Bertos, Simon Colosimo, Jamie Coyne, Jamie Harnwell, Jason Petkovic, Naum Sekulovski, David Tarka, David Micevski, Alex Vrteski, Billy Celeski and marquee signing Stan Lazaridis. The last three players had all been signed the season before by Smith, although Lazaridis’s signature had been secured prior to his appointment.

The club had new owners who had bought the licence off of the Football Federation of Australia. Three men were to run the club, something that raised a few eyebrows as it appeared no one man was in charge, John Spence, Brett McKeon and Tony Sage.

New signings brought in were: Anthony Danze who was coaxed back to top flight football having been signed previously by Crystal Palace and who had shone in Australian youth teams. Dino Djulbic a virtual unknown from South Melbourne who had starred at Perth SC. Another unknown talent, Jimmy Downey from the AIS. The experienced Hayden Foxe returning from ten years overseas with clubs such as Ajax, West Ham United, Porstmouth and Leeds United, Nick Rizzo who also had spent time playing in Italy and England. James Robinson who had just won the A-League with Melbourne Victory. The young and raw Nikita Rukyavstya from the AIS and Perth SC. Defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley, an ex AIS player who had been signed by Sydney FC. Mitchell Prentice who was also ex AIS and had played in Scotland and Malaysia. Mate Dragicevic from Croatia, and goalkeeper Tando Velaphi from the AIS, and who had made one appearance for Queensland Roar.

Unfortunately for the club, its fans and coach, Stan Lazaridis was serving a 12 month suspension after testing positive to a drug test for anti-androgen Finasteride, a prescription alopecia medication, which was banned at the time. The marquee player was not allowed to train with the squad until the ban had been served, and ended up only playing two games at the end of the campaign.

Long standing number one goalkeeper Jason Petkovic was recovering from a broken leg that threatened to end his career and in fact would make only three appearances late in the season; which was a credit to him after such an horrific injury.

David Tarka who looked to be back to the form that saw him head overseas to Nottingham Forest looked to have put his injury woes behind him when in the opening game he tore his hamstring off the bone and took no further part in the season.

Hayden Foxe picked up a knee injury at the start of the season and was ruled out for several months. He too only played the last six games of the season.

So the coach had plenty of absentees amongst his senior players. Things however looked very positive for the club when in the pre-season tournament, despite playing only one game at home they progressed to the final beating, Newcastle Jets, Adelaide United, Central Coast Mariners and Melbourne Victory. They led at half time in the final thanks to a rare Leo Bertos goal, but ended up losing 2-1 to Adelaide United at Hindmarsh stadium. The signs were positive.

Mate Dragicevic, started the season up front but struggled and was soon released. Goal scoring was an issue. Yet defensively the team looked solid. The first three games ended in 0-0 draws.

The next two games were lost 2-1 and 1-0 before a 4-1 thumping in Wellington. Two more draws followed against Adelaide United and Sydney before a 2-1 loss to Melbourne Victory and another 3-3 draw this time with Queensland Roar. When the team lost 1-0 to Wellington Phoenix, Ron Smith and the club parted ways.

Smith had not won a game in the opening 11 games, yet he had not lost six of those games. Four of the five that he had lost were by a solitary goal. In the remaining games the club managed to win 4, lose 4 and draw 2.

There is no doubt that Football is a results based game, and if teams are not winning some fans opt to stay at home, but this was supposed to be a work in progress. Sure Smith signed a few players who did not perform as expected, sure he suffered with injuries, but if he was to lay the foundations of the club for the future surely he deserved more time? These were games being lost by just the odd goal. Arsenal fans will remember how under George Graham how they won the Championship on the back of many a 1-0 win. That is how finite the margins can be.

The question is were the players good enough?

Of the young players that Ron Smith signed Billy Celski went on to play for Australia and win the A-League Premiership and Championship. Danze retired a month after Smith left. The unknown-when-he-was-signed Dino Djulbic, also went on to represent Australia, as well as play in Germany, China and the UAE. Jimmy Downey was hampered by injuries, but moved on to play for two further A-League clubs as well as play in the Dutch Eerste Divisie with Sparta Rotterdam. Nikita Rukyavstya has also made the national team, and is one of the few AIS graduates to make it overseas, playing in the Netherlands and Germany. He is currently signed with Mainz, but on loan to FSV Frankfurt. Nikolai Topor-Stanley is on his fourth A-League club, Western Sydney Wanderers and will play in his second Grand Final this weekend, he too went on to represent Australia after leaving Perth Glory. Sadly for Tando Velaphi despite staying in the A-League his appearances have been limited at both Melbourne clubs since leaving Perth.

This shows that Smith knew how to spot talent. That talent may not have shone at Perth Glory, but it blossomed when it left. Who knows what could have happened had that talent been kept in Perth.

When Kenny Lowe was unveiled as the Perth Glory’s new coach club CEO Jason Brewer stated that “he is by far the best youth development coach in Australia, nobody knows the talent that we have in this state better than Kenny Lowe.” Hopefully if the club realises this, and it is not just rhetoric, he will be given adequate time to develop that talent. It is also hoped that the way games are lost will be looked at rather than simply the scoreline. Development takes time and as history has shown, Glory’s impatience, and the owners desire for instant success has cost them in the past. Hopefully the same mistake will not be made again.  Certainly the talent the club spotted by Smith, and which the club then let slip through its fingers would show that patience may well be the key.

 

 

 

 

Vale: Dylan Tombides

Western Australia has produced some outstanding footballers over the years and many have taken the route to the top via the West Ham United academy. One such player hoping to follow in the path of Stan Lazarides and Richard Garcia was Dylan Tombides.

It therefore comes as a huge shock to hear that his life has come to an end at the tender age of 20.

Tombides played youth team football with Stirling Lions in Western Australia and joined West Ham United aged 15. He Played for West Ham in their reserve team and was named in the first team to make his Premier League debut on 22 May 2011 versus Sunderland but remained an unused substitute.

In 2011 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer which was discovered following a random drugs test taken after he had played for Australia U-17 team in a 4-0 defeat against Uzbekistan at the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico.

In June 2012, he was told he was back to full health and returned to training. He celebrated in style making his professional debut on 25 September 2012 for West Ham in a 4–1 home loss against Wigan Athletic in the League Cup. He came on as an 84th minute substitute. It was to be his only appearance.

Sadly the cancer returned and he was forced to miss the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey, due to having to undergo surgery as part of his on-going battle with the disease. Everything looked to be on track as he was one of seven overseas based players in Aurelio Vidmar’s 23-man squad for the 2014 AFC U-22 Championships in Oman in January. It was a tournament, he hoped would help him stake a claim to be part of Ange Postecoglou’s World Cup squad, before heading to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.

Regrettably for fans of the game it was not to be. Today he lost his long battle with cancer and Australia lost a talent that was yet to shine on the world stage. Yet judging by the comments already coming from his club he touched the lives of many, and will hopefully not be forgotten.

Our thoughts at this time are with his family, friends and team mates.

West Ham United will show their respect with a minute’s applause ahead of Saturday’s Barclays Premier League fixture with Crystal Palace at the Boleyn Ground. The players will also wear black armbands in his memory.

Rest in Peace.

Marking Time.

So often in sport there are single moments that change a player or a coach’s career. Many claim that Lee Martin’s winning goal in the FA Cup final replay of 1989/90 for Manchester United, that saw them defeat Crystal Palace, was the game that saved Alex Ferguson’s career at Old Trafford; something sources at the club have always denied, well they would wouldn’t they.

The question is will Melbourne Victory’s Pablo Contreras be the man who will ultimately saved Frank Farina’s managerial career at Sydney FC? It was the Chilean international’s rash challenge on Alessandro del Piero that saw Sydney awarded a penalty, that del Piero convertedto give ten-man Sydney a 3-2 lead, after minutes earlier losing their two-goal lead. The team managed to hang on and record an historic victory.

Time will tell whether the moves that had allegedly taken place in the background will now ever come to fruition. The word is the powers that be at Sydney FC did not expect their team to be victorious and had already made plans for a change in management. Farina was to be shown the door and his replacement was to be announced as inaugural Sydney FC captain and Fox Sports analyst Mark Rudan, who recently steered Sydney United to the New South Wales Premier League title as well as the inaugural National Premier Leagues title. He was to be assisted by marquee player Alessandro del Piero.

 

If Sydney FC fails to continue its winning ways this change may still happen, and Rudan may well become the clubs 8th full time coach in the clubs ninth season. Proof that the Sydney FC coaching position is becoming one of the hardest to hold down in the A-League.

Will that foul by Contreras be the one that changes the club’s and Farina’s fortunes? Time will tell, but it has certainly meant that there will be no change at the moment.

Playing in a Trance

Now we have heard of teams putting their fans to sleep. We have also heard and seen boxers ‘putting out’ opponents but never a boxer knocking out a whole team, but that is what has happened at Premier League new boys Crystal Palace.

The team have called in a  hypnotist to help get them in the right frame of mind for their opening game against Tottenham Hotspur. The said hypnotist is none other than Glenn Catley who held the WBC super middleweight title 13 years ago.

Apparently since qualifying as a hypnotist he has been visiting the club on a regular basis since the start of pre-season training following a chance meeting with the Eagles Manager Ian Holloway.

The two who both hail from the West Country and were old friends bumped into each other when Catley was walking his dog. Holloway believed the players had plenty of talent but were letting a ‘few demons creep in,’ so invited Catley into the camp. Since then he has been putting the players into a trance on a one-to-one basis and has discussed their behavioural patterns and hopefully eliminated any psychological problems.

If Palace get off to a flying start on their return to the Premier League Catley could well be in high demand, all he has to hope is that the players don’t throw in the towel or put their fans to sleep.

 

Two ‘P’s For Top Job.

There are many in Australian football who are quick on the draw to gun down Socceroos boss Holger Osciek. His tactics were wrong, he picked the wrong team, he played the wrong formation, he played so-and-so out of position. Osciek like many coaches is bound to make mistakes, but we must never forget what he has to work with. Guus Hiddink was lucky that when he took over as Coach of the Socceroos he had a golden generation of players to choose from, who were all at or close to the peak of their game. Fifteen of the squad were playing regularly for their clubs in the top leagues in Europe while the support players apart from Mark Milligan, Archie Thompson and Michael Beauchamp, were all playing for second tier sides in Europe. These same players were on the wane when Pim Verbeek took over, and many have underplayed his achievement in having the team qualify for the World Cup finals without losing a game. Sadly he is remembered for saying that the A League was not of a suitable standard from which to pick international players, and Australia’s defeat against Germany. People are quick to forget that Germany also knocked four goals past England and Argentina.

Osciek, has not been blessed with such an array of talent, and has not had the benefit of a similar crop of talented players coming through at top clubs in the top leagues in the world when he needs them. He has also had to suffer the fact that many in Australia believed once the qualifying path was through Asia the country had a right to attend every World Cup. That is why the World Cup is such a big event, not just any country qualifies, you have to earn that right.

There is already a push for Australia to appoint a coach from within and it would appear, and one East Coast journalist picked up on this at the weekend, that Ange Postecoglou has certain media outlets already in his corner lobbying for him.

Many will forget that when Frank Farina was appointed Socceroos coach in 1998, Postecoglou was on the short list along with Eddie Krncevic and Dave Mitchell. He withdrew from the race saying that he lacked the relevant experience, despite his success with South Melbourne in the old NSL.

He has shown that he has matured as a coach since then but has continued to be successful as shown by his success in no time at Brisbane Roar and the ability to win them back to back Championships. What he has achieved at Melbourne Victory this season is also nothing short of remarkable. Last year they were a club in turmoil, now they are playing in the finals and it would be a brave man to bet against them.

His achievements this season have not attracted the attention that they warranted as up in Sydney, Tony Popovic has returned from an assistant role at Crystal Palace to take on his first senior coaching job at Western Sydney Wanderers and has taken the League Premiership at the first time of asking with a squad assembled in three months. A truly amazing achievement, and one that now has some people saying that Popovic is a challenger for the national job. He may not have key media outlets on his side as was pointed out at the weekend, but he is employed by the FFA who will ultimately make the decision.

There are however several questions that need to be asked before such an appointment. The first is would both give up the day to day running of a club side, with whom they have day to day contact and can influence their style of play and replace that for the sporadic coming together of players from many different clubs and styles of play for a fortnight, and try and mould them into the side they want? It is no easy task, and that is why some of the great club managers have shied away from International positions.

Popovic and Postecoglou are beacons when it comes to coaching the A League and would Australia not be best served to have them remain where they are at the moment and work towards easing them into a national role, having them involved with the national set up whenever possible. Graham Arnold has shown how much being around Hiddink and Verbeek has assisted in his development as a coach. At this point in time the last thing Australia needs to do is promote either of these talented coaches too early. Australia will no doubt one day again be coached by an Australian, but the timing must be right for the coach and the national team for it to be a success. Let us not be too quick to push for such a move, and should we fail to qualify for Brazil let us not take such an option for financial reasons. Let us make an Australian coach of the national team because the time is right, the coach is ready, and he is the best man for the job.

 

Popovic The Question

Let us state for the record that we are fans of Tony Popovic and the way that he has conducted himself throughout his career and as a coach.

In fact we were delighted to see him given an opportunity as an assistant coach at Crystal Palace in England, a club at which he had played. This was not only good for him but also good for Australia and future Australian coaches with ambition.

He was the only Australian holding down a coaching position in the United Kingdom. For Australian coaches to improve and if we are to see an Australian one day again lead Australia on the International stage we need more coaches plying their trade in the top leagues of the world. Popovic’s appointment at Crystal Palace gave many hope.

Several players who had successful careers in England and Scotland have opted to return, rather than get on the coaching merry-go-round in these two highly demanding countries. Many will tell you it was time to come home, and that is understandable. Some may have opted for the slightly more secure prospect of a coaching role in Australia, a country where the league is not really conducive to sacking a coach, when the sixth placed team can make the finals.

Tony Popovic is an intelligent man, and he would have thought long and hard before he resigned his position at Crystal Palace to return home.

You cannot blame him for deciding to return and take on the new West Sydney side. He has been offered a five-year deal, longer than any other coach has in the Hyundai A League. With the team being cobbled together at the last minute for next season, no one is expecting miracles, so he effectively has two seasons in which to make his team competitive; only in that second season will the pressure start to mount along with the expectations.

Also having been brought back by the FFA rather than a Franchisee, he puts himself in the box seat for a national team role if things don’t work out, as after all, he has helped them out and given them a marketable name on which to start building a squad.

It is probably a great decision for Tony Popovic and his family, but one cannot help asking the question has he returned too early in terms of beating a path for Australian coaches to be given a chance in Europe?

Maximising Exposure

Modern sport cannot survive without sponsors, all sports fans are aware of that, but should controls be tighter? There are already calls for the betting establishments to have restricted exposure as we see players accused of fixing games, betting on results of games they have connections with etcetera. It will probably not be long before we see these companies promotion being scaled back by responsible administrators as we saw with the cigarette companies. After all gambling is also an addiction and can destroy many people’s lives.

In various codes of football we have seen teams switch their standard shirt as a promotion for various charities, and it may sound churlish to criticize such moves, but they are sadly becoming far too frequent. A club’s shirt is exactly that, the club’s shirt, not the sponsors.

In the 1990 FA Cup Final a very astute Richard Branson – he was not knighted then – saw an opportunity to maximize Virgin Atlantic’s exposure. The logos on the shirts of the players were restricted to a certain size, so Branson shrank the Virgin Atlantic logo so that he could promote his new service to Los Angeles. He squeezed into the space allowed “Fly Virgin to LA.” By the time the players walked out there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

Picking up the West Australian newspaper today there is an advertisement for long time supporter and sponsor of Perth Glory, insurance company QBE, with a headline “125 years and still kicking goals.”

QBE have been an excellent supporter of football in Western Australia and especially Perth Glory, but they surely realized that the wording of this advertisement would get the backs up of those very people they are targeting. You do not ‘kick goals’ in football, you score them, and there is nothing more annoying to fans of the round ball game than hearing terms from another code being used in theirs.

However, if you read the small print beneath the headline, it states that “Perth Glory will wear a special edition playing jersey on Sunday 23rd October” to commemorate QBE celebrating 125 years of business.

The picture shows Shane Smeltz wearing a sky blue Sydney FC coloured shirt with 125 above the QBE logo. We are not sure if this is the shirt that will be worn on Sunday, but if it is why are the club not playing in their traditional colours? Should a sponsor be afforded a change of shirt to celebrate their milestone?

As stated sport needs sponsors, and QBE have been a superb sponsor of many sports in Western Australia and on many levels,  but what does that sponsorship entitle you to? We believe that the club whatever the code and the game must always come first, and administrators need to be careful how much leeway they give, those who support the various teams.