Victory in Melbourne 

You may or may not remember but last year I launched a new independent football e-zine called the84thminute with lots of grand plans for it to be the fans’ voice of football. However, with increased pressures at work and scoring a writing gig for FourFourTwo Australia I was unable to give it the full attention that it deserved and thus it has gone neglected and now will longer continue.

It was fun whilst it lasted and I thank all those who contributed articles. Whilst it’s sad to not continue with this project, that sadness is balanced out by the fact that I have started a new architecturally based blog call i don’t wear black. And don’t worry this blog will never go neglected.

Australia’s No.1 Newspaper today is reporting that Melbourne will have a second elite football for the 2010-11 A-League season. And as the article quite rightly points out all it needs now

“is a name, colours, a coach and manager, some players, a ground, a chief executive, staff and a fan base.”

And it’s the final one that may prove the most difficult with the Melbourne Victory well entrenched in the Melbourne market. There has been talk of marketing themselves to the South-Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, but in all honesty I can’t see that working that well. But first things first they must ditch the Melbourne Heart tag and get themselves a decent name and then they can really start looking for fans.

Some may question whether or not Melbourne can handle having two football teams and that the supporter bases may be diluted. In response to that I have the following five words - sporting capital of the world.

So finally, in the word’s of Torrance Shipman, “Bring It On!”

It has been a big couple of days for Melbourne Victory with a series of big announcements. First up, we had the news that Michael Theoklitos would not be renewing his contract and would be heading overseas to try his luck.

This news is hardly surprising considering that the Victory had signed New Zealand international ‘keeper, Glen Moss before the end of last season. Theoklitos was one of the foundation players for the Victory and was a key component of the side for the last three seasons.

His stats for the record are: 72 games, 0 goals, 201 saves and 27 clean sheets. We wish him the best of luck with his endeavours overseas and I’m sure I speak for a lot of Victory fans when I say that we will miss chanting “Theo! Theo! Theo!” when a crucial save was made. “Moss! Moss! Moss!” or “Langerak! Langerak! Langerak!” just have the same ring to it.

My Michael Theoklitos highlights are as follows:

Favourite moment: Theoklitos’ crucial save in the dying moments of the 2006/07 semi-final against Adelaide shortly after we had taken the lead; Least favourite moment: Theoklitos’ brain snap that saw him stamp on Sasho Petrovski’s foot during last season; and the funniest moment was when he let Joel Griffiths know exactly how he felt about him by the use of an appropriate hand gesture.

Secondly, Melbourne finally confirmed the worst fears of all opposition supporters by signing captain, Kevin Muscat to a new three year deal. Only what’s different about this deal is that the deal is an one year playing and two year assistant coaching deal. So in many respects, this year will very much a testimonial year for Muscat although I am not sure how it’s going to work if (or should I say when) we progress from the ACL group stages next year.

Personally I think having Muscat involved in the coaching side of things is a good thing and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him take over the reins as Youth Team coach once he finally hangs up his boots. We definitely need Muscat for another year as we transition our defence to future years without him. It was also mentioned that Melbourne were sniffing around a state league player for their last signing. I would hazard a guess at it being some sort of defensive signing.

Finally, the other big news is that Melbourne Victory has finally joined the social networking scene by joining myself officially on twitter and also starting up an official Facebook page. So if you haven’t joined or started following them already - do so now.

The construction of Melbourne’s new Rectangular Stadium has captured the imagination of many a football fan in this town and in my latest au.fourfourtwo.com blog I put forward that this building is much more than just a stadium and expose myself as an architect in the process.

My 2009/10 Melbourne Victory membership brochure arrived in the mail today and it’s pleasing that Melbourne didn’t go down the path originally chosen by Brisbane Roar with only marginal increases in membership prices. With three extra home games this season the price of a General Admission has only risen $10 from $185 to $195.

That’s not the only benefit as they also introduced a “Reward & Recognition Program” which I reckon is a great idea to reward members and takes a leaf out of AFL membership packages.

In conjunction with our five-year anniversary, we have launched a new Reward and Recognition program, acknowledging members for consecutive years of commitment, and ensuring greater rewards for their support.

For every consecutive year of membership, your loyalty level will increase. However, your loyalty status will revert back to the equivalent of a first-year member if you lapse.

The Reward and Recognition program currently has four loyalty levels - White, Blue, Silver and Gold - and applies to all Adult, Concession, Student and Junior members who purchase a game day membership each year.”

The brochure also gives a hint to how the seating at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium will work with a priority model being used. Also of benefit to members is a 10% discount to all ACL matches and any international friendlies, like the upcoming game against Fulham. So overall it appears the Victory have done the right thing by their members.

Now I just have to find that $195 somewhere.

The worst kept secret in Melbourne Victory was finally confirmed today with the signing of Carlos Hernandez on a three year deal, thus making me one of the happiest Victory fans going around. It also means that the Victory will be getting a shirt purchase out of me for the upcoming season.

Also announced today was the signing of Thai international defender, Surat Sukha, from Chonburi FC (former home of Ney Fabiano) to bolster our weakened backline. It’s certainly a historical day for Melbourne Victory as they pay their first significant transfer fee and sign the A-League’s first player from South East Asia. Bring on the new season I say.

I have to say it was pretty poor form by Melbourne Victory fans who let off numerous flares at last night’s Bushfire Appeal Match at Olympic Park. Considering the reason for the match taking place you would have to say it was in poor taste. Melbourne fans have justified the flares by saying it was more of tribute to Olympic Park and the possibility that it would be the last time that the Victory would be gracing this stage.

So will they be letting off flares for the new stadium in our first ever game as a tribute to our new home game? Or were the flares that were let off at Green Gully last year a tribute to our first ever game at Green Gully Reserve? They may think that amongst their group that they have some reasoning for lighting but for many, myself included, most of the time it comes across as a pre-pubescent boys getting their rocks off in a deliberate attempt to provoke the authorities.

And yes I know it’s a bit of pot calling the kettle black considering I have a photo of flare going off as my avatar image

Photo courtesy of one22andan8th via the Victory In Melbourne Flickr Pool.

The VPL representative side for tomorrow’s night Bushfire Appeal Charity Match at Olympic Park has been announced and here it is:

Peter Zois GK (Richmond SC)
Jack Hingert (Dandenong Thunder)
Erhan Karahan (Richmond SC)
Steven O’Dor  (South Melbourne FC)
Ryan Davidson (Dandenong Thunder)
Dimitri Tsiaras (Richmond SC)
Mate Dugandzic (Melbourne Knights)
Matthew Grbesa (Melbourne Knights)
Hamlet Armenian (Dandenong Thunder)
Osagie Ederaro (Heidelberg United)
Joseph Youssef (South Melbourne FC)
Ramazan Tavsancioglu (South Melbourne FC)
Graham Hockless (Heidelberg United)
Frankie Lagana (Melbourne Knights)
Joel Nikolic (Green Gully)

Technical Staff

Coach:  Chris Taylor
Assistant Coach: Arthur Papas
Assistant Coach: Harry Bingham
Team Manager: Anthony Grima
Technical Director: Les Bee
Physiotherapist: Sharbil Wehbe
Massage Therapist: Jose Mansilla

Nice to see some Richmond Eagles boys get a run in the squad. Looks like I’ll have to wear both my scarves tomorrow night.

The select VPL team and the Victory will lock horns from 7.30pm, with the curtain raiser to begin at 6pm.

Entry is $15 for adults, $10 concession and $5 for children under 14 years old.

When word got out that Melbourne Victory was calling a press conference, it was with anticipation that maybe it was to announce the signing of Carlos Hernandez. However, it wasn’t to be and instead they announced a new major sponsor and an exhibition match against Fulham whilst showing off the new kit for the upcoming season. So all in all, it wasn’t such a bad press conference after all.

First off, the new major sponsor is to be Intralot Australia, who have signed on for two years with the option of a third. Intralot Australia is a subsidiary of Intralot S.A., who describe themselves on their website as:

INTRALOT S.A., a public listed company, is the leading supplier of integrated gaming and transaction processing systems, innovative game content and sports betting management, to state-licensed gaming organisations worldwide.

With presence in over 40 countries across five continents, with 4.200 people and revenues of over (AUD) $ 1.36 billion for 2007, INTRALOT has established its presence on all 5 continents.

It’s broad portfolio of products & services, its know-how of Lottery, Betting & Video Lottery operations and its leading-edge technology, give INTRALOT a competitive advantage which contributes directly to customers’ efficiency, profitability and growth.

Beginning operations in 1992 and floating on the Athens Stock Exchange in 1999, INTRALOT has grown to be the fourth largest company in Greece with a market capitalization of approximately (AUD) $3.7 billion.

Intralot Australia certainly doesn’t have the prestige of previous sponsor, Samsung and one could even consider it a little in bad taste considering last year’s events, it certainly is a sign that Melbourne can still attract a sponsor with an international flavour.

As for the new strips, the away kit is the biggest departure from its previous incarnation and looks quite impressive with the blue ‘V’ on a white background. The home kit is only a slight variation on last year’s one with the addition of some stripes on either side of the shirt. The stripes also make an appearance on the away kit. I’ll certainly be looking to purchase the new strip and hopefully I’ll putting Hernandez and No.16 on the back.

Also announced today, although not at the press conference was that Melbourne Victory would be making a return to Olympic Park to play in a Bushfire Appeal Match against an All-Star VPL side next Tuesday 12th May. Kickoff is at 7:30pm. It will be great see the Victory in action again and it will also be a chance to check out that new strip and in all the name of a good cause.

One of the big stories of the 2009 Victorian Premier League so far has been the rise of Dandenong Thunder. Playing their first ever season in the state’s premier football competition they have been a relevation remaining undefeated after eight rounds, with seven of those being wins. They currently sit on top of the table, six points clear of their nearest rival.

I had my first experience of the phenomenon that is the Dandenong Thunder on Friday night as they took on the Richmond Eagles at the Kevin Bartlett Reserve. In what was a highly entertaining match the Thunder ran out 3-2 winners. All the goals were of the highest quality, although I did think the first goal by Dandenong had a touch of offside about it as the Thunder caught the Richmond defence napping in the first minute. But that may just be my pro-Richmond side showing through.

Although disappointed by the fact that Richmond lost the match you had to marvel at the number of supporters that were there to support Dandenong. The Thunder, are a team that has a strong following in the Melbourne Albanian community, bring a huge amount of support to away games. Against teams such a team as Richmond, who have only a small dedicated group of fans, make an away game feel like a home game.

It will certainly be interesting to see how the Thunder progress through the remainder of the season, as the more experienced heads of the big name clubs will certainly look to bring them back to the field and try and cut them down to size. For my sake, I hope Richmond can bounce back from the defeat and maintain their position in the top five.