Victory in Melbourne 

Before there was “The Special One”, there was Brian Howard Clough, who was considered by many to be of the greatest managers of the English game and the greatest English manager never to manage the national side.

Despite his success with both Derby County and Nottingham Forest, its Clough’s spectacularly disastrous forty-four spell day at Leeds United in 1974 that provided author David Peace with much fodder for his fictionalised account of the events in The Damned United.

The book which was originally published in 2006, was released this year as a feature film with Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon, The Twilight Saga: New Moon) in the lead role. Now that I have read the book and seen the film I thought it would be an appropriate time to review them both.

As I alluded to before, The Damned United tracks Clough’s unsuccessful stint as manager at Leeds United and in particular his obsession with his predecessor at the Yorkshire club, Don Revie. This obsession can be traced back to Clough’s time at Derby County, with events from this time being interspersed with those happening at Leeds United, providing much background to why Clough is the man that he is. It also focuses on Clough’s close relationship with his Peter Taylor, who was his assistant at Hartlepools, Derby and Nottingham Forest with whom he had a falling out over his choice to manage Leeds.

And I must note that the performance of Michael Sheen is absolutely brilliant and should be worthy of an Oscar nomination, or at the very least a BAFTA. He captures the very essence of Brian Clough - the arrogance, the charisma and the biting wit. Another who’s performance is worthy of note, is that of Colm Meaney (Star Trek fans/geeks will recognise that name) as Don Revie, in fact he is the spitting image of him. When I saw the real Don Revie in the clip below I couldn’t believe my eyes.

As with all film adaptations of books there is always and discrepancies and differences between them, the most glaring of which is the film’s failure to acknowledge Clough’s well documented drinking problem, of which there is constant reference in the book. However, both are brilliant works of fiction (with some basis in fact) because at its heart lies a great story and a charismatic lead character. Both the film and the book will appeal to football fans the most, even my contemporaries who may only have a vague idea or memory of who Brian Clough is – although I’m not sure if the many Leeds fans out there will want to see it.

Not everyone was as pleased with the work as myself, with Johnny Giles successfully suing David Peace and the Clough family also expressing their displeasure at the portrayal.

Don’t forget that Victory In Melbourne can now be found on Facebook and you can become a fan. It’s only just started and there is not much to look at, but you can check it here and more importantly become a fan.

On a fairly regular basis I visit the construction site for the new rectangular stadium as part of my bid to capture the whole construction process (you can view my photos here). What I have noticed in recent visits is that construction (only from an external point of view as I haven’t been inside) has slowed and it worries me a little that the stadium won’t be completed in time for its proposed opening in May.

As a person who works in the construction industry, in my very limited experience that the finishing touches to a project take longer than expected and I don’t think the four months will be enough for the completion of the stadium. I hope to be proved wrong but I don’t think it will meet the deadline somehow.

On a slightly different note, in my latest blog for 442 I come up with some highlights of the year that passed and as per usual there is a heavy bias towards my favourite player of the current squad, Carlos Hernandez. If you want more details, check it out here.

After what was a successful year for the Melbourne Victory, Saturday night’s performance against the Fury was a disappointing way to end the year. It was a match where the Victory never really looked in the contest and thanks mainly efforts to the efforts of Mitchell Langerak, we were lucky that the damage was not more than the one goal.

For all my thoughts on the game you can check out my latest 442 blog, entitled “The Lost And The Furious”.

Welcome to Victory In Melbourne’s minute by minute analysis of Melbourne Victory’s clash against North Queensland Fury at Dairy Farmers Stadium, kickoff at 9pm AEST.

(Note: This page does not automatically update so you are going have to keep hitting that refresh button to see what’s going on.)

Congratulations to Matthew Foschini on his starting debut. Langerak (gk), Muscat (c), Kemp, Thompson, Vargas, Pondeljak, Foschini, Kruse, Ward, Leijer, Suksomskit. On the bench, Brebner, Moss (gk), Pilkington and Elasi. That’s one attacking starting XI.

8:57pm: Sydney defeat Adelaide 1-0, meaning that the Victory need to win to stay on top of the table.

Starting XI for the Fury. Pasfield (gk), Middelby, Tadrosse, Spagnuolo, Fowler (c), Brockie, Busch, Grossman, Daal, Smith, G., Smith, M. On the bench: Henderson (gk), McBreen, Kohler, Cooke

3 mins: Langerak almost gifts the Fury a golden opportunity as he looks to escort the ball out of bounds. Not long after Busch puts in one of the most ordinary tackles you will ever see. Lucky not to pick up a card.

7 mins: Very scrappy opening with neither team holding possession for more than a few seconds.

9 mins: First shot for the Victory with a long range effort from Pondeljak that goes well wide.

10 mins: Middleby makes some good space for himself in the penalty area but his shot is straight at Langerak.

12 mins: Thompson picks up a free kick in a dangerous position after being fouled by Spagnuolo. Free kick taken by Sutsomkit, cleared by the Fury.

15 mins: Muscat puts a brilliant through ball to Kruse, but Pasfield was out quickly to deny any scoring opportunity. Melbourne starting to get on top.

18 mins: Vargas almost puts the ball into the back of his own net after a somewhat innocuous clearance. Langerak breathing a definite sigh of relief.

24 mins: Muscat cops a Jeremy Brockie drive straight in the head. Like the true champion he is, just gets up and keeps playing.

28 mins: Langerak makes a brilliant save to deny Jeremy Brockie after the ball takes a deflection off Vargas.

31 mins: Goal to North Queensland Fury as Dyron Daal puts it past Langerak. You could almost see that one coming. Melbourne certainly have some work to do having barely touched the ball in the last five to ten minutes.

39 mins: Melbourne currently playing without a midfield at the moment and is a key reason why they aren’t creating any decent chances on goal.

40 mins: Vargas puts a header wide of the mark after getting free of his marker at a corner. Will definitely be disappointed that he didn’t find the back of the net with that effort.

45 mins: That’s the first half done and dusted. It has been a disappointing performance so far by the Victory and it’s definitely time for one of those half-time sprays from Ernie Merrick.

46 mins: Grant Brebner comes on for Sutee Suksomkit at the break. Hopefully that brings some steel to the Melbourne midfield. It also means the last appearance for Suksomkit in Victory colours as his loan spell comes to an end.

47 mins: Thompson forces a save out of Pasfield after being put through by Kruse.

50 mins: Plenty of free kicks going the way of the Victory at the start of the second half as they look to impose themselves on the game.

51 mins: I give Daal 5 out of 10 for that dive. Very lucky not see himself going into the book for that one and didn’t Muscat let Peter Green know about it as well.

56 mins: Green misses a fairly obvious handball in the box after Thompson looks to fire a ball across the penalty area. Must be the week for referees missing handballs, but to Melbourne’s credit they didn’t actually appeal for a penalty unlike the Mariners. Wouldn’t mind seeing Elasi getting a run about now. Could definitely cause some problems to the Fury defence.

60 mins: Daal somehow manages to beat three Melbourne defenders but thankfully doesn’t get his shot on target.

66 mins: Langerak makes a crucial block to deny Brockie. After an early period of dominance by the Victory, the Fury are well and truly back in the swing of things and causing some headaches for the Melbourne defence. This performance is very reminiscent of efforts against Perth in recent seasons.

71 mins: Time to give Kruse a rest, his first touch for most of the second half has been woeful. Merrick replaces Foschini with Football Superstar winner, Luke Pilkington. Not the change I would have made.

75 mins: Melbourne’s continual use of the long ball is starting to look a little predictable with no real chances ever being created from them as the Fury defence clean them up time after time.

78 mins: Pondeljak, who has largely been ineffectual tonight, has been replaced by Elasi. On another note, how are we losing to a team that has Beau Busch playing for it.

87 mins: Rather tame effort from Elasi leaves Pasfield with an easy save. Game has rather petered out with both teams not producing any real highlights - it’s also probably the reason why I haven’t added anything for nearly ten minutes.

89 mins: Contrary to what Messrs Cockerill and Harper just said, McBreen did make a play at the ball as he run right passed it and was like only two feet away from the ball. It may sound like sour grapes, but our two esteemed were definitely against the Victory right from the get go.

90 mins: Three minutes of added time, it looks likes Melbourne will surrender it’s lead to the boys in baby blue. But we do have a game in hand.

90+3 mins: And there goes the final whistle. A disappointing performance from the Victory where we never really looked that threatening in the final third of the pitch. Certainly missed the influence of Hernandez in the midfield as without him it was pretty much non-existent. Definitely not the way we wanted to finish off 2009, especially surrendering the league lead to Sydney.

A few weeks back I finished reading Eduardo Galeano’s seminal piece on football, “Football In Sun and Shadow”. Galeano, one of Uruguay’s finest writers and a football tragic to boot, has written a book that contains a series of vignettes about players, World Cups, goals and any aspect of the game that has captured his imagination over the years.

Originally written in Spanish in 1995, the edition that I read has been updated to include Galeano’s thoughts on both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and the problems he sees with the current game. Obviously, I was reading the English version, but I do hope that one day my Spanish will be good enough so I can read the original. Also it appears that my version was published with an American (or maybe Australian) audience in mind as football has been replaced with soccer in the translation.

Overall, I thought the book was brilliant as Galeano’s choice of the vignette as a method of description allows him to cover a broad range of events and topics in what is not really a large volume. It also captures one man’s obsession with a game that he couldn’t quite master as a player and he writes in his introduction:

Like all Uruguayan children, I wanted to be a football player. I played quite well, in fact I was terrific, but only at night when I was asleep. During the day I was worst wooden leg ever to set foot on the little football fields of my country … Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football. I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: “A pretty move, for the love of God.”

As you would expect the book has a distinctive Latin American flavour, and being a big fan of football on the South American continent and a bit of latinophile I definitely lapped this up. One aspect I particularly enjoyed was when Galeano was writing about the World Cups, he would give a description of world events at that time to give the event its context. It also allows Galeano to provide us with some humour as in his description for every World Cup from 1962 onwards he writes:

Well-informed sources in Miami announced the imminent fall of Fidel Castro, it was only a matter of hours.

So it goes without saying that I highly recommend this book to all football tragics like Galeano and myself, you won’t be disappointed.

Victory In Melbourne can now be found on Facebook and you can become a fan. It’s only just started and there is not much to look at, but you can check it here and more importantly become a fan.

Whilst it was disappointing not to take all three points against the boys in baby blue on Saturday night the fact that there wasn’t a repeat of our last encounter was very welcoming as was the maintaining of our three point buffer at the top of the table.

What was really disappointing was the actions of a small minority of Melbourne fans who thought it was cool to be a hool’ and caused some some problems both before and after the game. For my full thoughts on this issue, you can read my latest 442 blog.

As for the game itself, Archie Thompson was immense creating numerous chances for both himself and his team-mates. However, unlike recent games, the goal of Clint Bolton lead a charmed life and the back of the net could not be found. Other standouts on the night were Matthew Kemp, who is in career best form, and Nick Ward who seemed to be everywhere and was providing that all important link between defence and attack. Ward has been a real revelation since returning to the squad and his form will be all important in the lead up to the finals campaign.

I was very disappointed not to see Kevin Muscat’s name not appear under the Sport category of The Age’s Melbourne Magazine’s Melbourne’s Most Influential People.

For a player who is constantly accused of influencing referees and match officials; getting away murder on the field; having more power than Ernie Merrick; and is despised by every other opposition fan surely would get on the list.

On a more serious note, you would think that Geoff Lord should have been on the list, considering that he has taken the Melbourne Victory from nothing to be the A-League’s most successful team both on and off the field.

Instead we had five out of the eight people have some relationship to the AFL. Considering that the three of the members on the selection panel (Jake Niall, Bruce McAvaney and Peter Hanlon) of the Sports category have some sort of AFL affiliation it’s hardly surprising. Surely you would have Michael Lynch or someone of his ilk on there to balance things out.

Getting the three points against Central Coast on Saturday night was almost sufficient payback for our two home defeats against the Mariners.

The match highlighted that our tactics in our previous two encounters were way off the mark. Straight from the kick off you could see that the Victory wouldn’t be sucked into trying to match the physicality of the Mariners. If it wasn’t for some incorrect calls from the linesman we may very well have hit the lead much earlier than we did.

The three goals were brilliant examples of great team goals and surely Thompson’s role in two of the three surely would have caught the eye of Pim Verbeek, who was watching from the stands.

Another who may have caught his eye and the eye of many others would have been Mitchell Langerak. Since getting his opportunity after Glen Moss was “rested”, Langerak has made the position his own. On Saturday night, he pulled off a number of great saves and we could be seeing Moss spending an extended period on the bench with performances like that.

For more of my thoughts on the game and my gentle swipe at Lawrie McKinna’s tweeting, check out my latest 442 blog.

With Etihad Stadium management showing their hand and siding with the AFL (who would have thought) is it now time for the FFA and Melbourne Victory to review their decision to play our biggest matches there from next season in protest. To be honest we don’t need to play matches against Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne Heart(?). A 30,000 seat stadium will do us just fine. Now whose stadium will sit empty during those summer months not for two or four months, without anyone purchasing a single slightly warm mid-strength beer.

And who would have thought Melbourne Victory fans would have needed extra incentive not to like Etihad Stadium.