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Wondered what he has been up to, found this and a few other stories, thought I'd share Ljubo Milicevic loving life as character on the NPL stageLocal Sport OPEN ARMS: Ljubo Milicevic during Charlestown's win over Maitland on Sunday at Lisle Carr Oval. Picture: Sproule Sports FocusLJUBO Milicevic has always played the game, on and off the field, his way.
And after two successful appearances on a smaller stage with Charlestown, the larger-than-life character is loving every minute of it.
The former Socceroo has helped the new-look Blues make a flying start under coach David Tanchevski with wins over Hamilton and Maitland. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the ex-Jets skipper, who missed a tackle that led to Hamilton’s opening goal in round one.The 37-year-old copped plenty from the Darling Street Oval crowd but he and Charlestown had the last laugh, and he made sure the Olympic fans knew about it.The exchanges came as no surprise to Newcastle football fans, who lifted Milicevic to cult status during his time with the Jets in 2009-11 because of his passionate and outspoken approach.“I’ve been copping that my whole career,” Milicevic said. “It’s one thing for 20 blokes to have a go, but I had 20,000 people boo me down in Melbourne when I went to play Victory, so I don’t really give a s--t now, and I didn’t then. It’s all a laugh.“They all know me and they know what I’m like, it’s all in good fun. With me it’s not personal, and with them it’s part of the theatre. And the more of it, the better.”
He believed it was an aspect of the game needed more at the top level.“I tend not to watch a lot of the A-League these days because it’s become so boring and mundane,” he said.
“A lot of the clubs through their CEOs and coaches, they’ve made it bland to watch. You’re not allowed to be a character.“When I first went back to Victory, they were trying to tell me what to say in an interview. I said, ‘That’s cool, it’s nice to know what you think’. I’m going to go up and say what I want to say. “It’s like when you go to watch a movie, it’s for the characters. You don’t watch a bland movie, so why would we want to watch our sportspeople, our entertainers? Why do we want to sanitise them so much?“It just adds to it. They are having a crack and you have a little bit of a crack back. It’s all good. No harm, no foul, as long as everyone after the game is smiling.”And there has been good reason to smile at Charlestown. The return of strike pair Kane Goodchild and Scott Smith from Hamilton and a host of new faces have lifted expectations on the Blues, who were eighth in 2017.
“The boys are quality and it’s obvious that they’re seasoned in that league,” Milicevic said. “Tanch has done well to bring them all together again. A lot of the boys have played over 100 games for the club, so there’s a really good vibe amongst the boys. Everyone puts in that extra effort for their teammates.“We’re gelling together better and better each game after a lot of us missing games in pre-season. I don’t think we played one game with the full 11, so I guess people didn’t really know what to expect from us and maybe we didn’t necessarily as well. But even after the first training session with the boys, it was pretty obvious to me that we had a bunch of great guys that were committed and wanted to put in for each other, and that’s the basis of any good team.” “I think that’s all showing now that we’re all on the park.”Milicevic is in his second season back in football after a three-year absence. He played last year for Dandenong City in the Victorian NPL second division and said the standard among NPL competitions was similar.
“What I always loved about Newcastle during my time at the Jets, especially with the people from that town and the region, they are down to earth and they’re up for the challenge,” he said.
“So you don’t have anyone shirking a moment where they have to run and chase back for the team, and that’s led by our captain, Matty Tull.“You see the way that guy works in midfield, tirelessly, always covering ground, always chasing back. Everyone follows on from that and that’s what I always loved about Newy – that down-to-earth mentality and approach to life where everyone’s just willing to have a crack.”Charlestown are away to last-placed Lake Macquarie on Friday and Milicevic expected the Blues’ attack to continue to improve after 3-2 and 3-1 wins to start the season.“Every time we go forward with the likes of Kane and Scott, and also Rene [Ferguson] and Riley [McNaughton], we honestly look like we’re going to score every time,” he said.
“The stronger we get as a team, the more dominant we’re going to become and we’ll finish off teams quicker I think.“From the first week to the second week, we’re already much better. Apparently the second week we were meant to be playing a stronger side and it actually felt easier for us, in the sense that we are getting better. The same 11 played two weeks in a row, we’re understanding each others’ movements and football qualities. I think it’s only going to get better.“I’ve been loving it. It’s been really good. I really enjoy playing under Tanch, and Charlestown as a club have been super welcoming. Even little things on the weekend, getting the under 9s to hold our hands as we walk out onto the field. And a few came in after the game when we sang our celebratory song. All those little things make it a good place to be.”
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“I tend not to watch a lot of the A-League these days because it’s become so boring and mundane,” he said.
“A lot of the clubs through their CEOs and coaches, they’ve made it bland to watch. You’re not allowed to be a character.“When I first went back to Victory, they were trying to tell me what to say in an interview. I said, ‘That’s cool, it’s nice to know what you think’. I’m going to go up and say what I want to say. “It’s like when you go to watch a movie, it’s for the characters. You don’t watch a bland movie, so why would we want to watch our sportspeople, our entertainers? Why do we want to sanitise them so much?
I'll just leave this here
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I love the LubeMobile.
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Hard to disagree
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