maybe that's got a lot to do with the fixation on finals football.

Yawn

the numbers are in, so this becomes the appropriate thread.

penalties should not count towards the golden boot.

Im glad its here tbh

i miss ardtho.  

You don't have to.

All you need to do is pick a user, any user and pretend it is draupkick trying to be clever because he is a fonetik wonderchild trolling this forum to write a Ph.D. thesis on how easy it is to trick people online...

I think big name marquee players are a waste of money and add very little to the league other than a couple of column inches. 

Better off getting an above average player that fits into the team and helps you win rather than a big marquee player.

ADP may be the exception but I'm still not convinced he was worth the cash. But I'll leave it as debatable. 

Ono was the best marquee so far for me. Followed by Thompson. 

I'd say in the long run ADP was worth it commercially. The attraction of being associated with ADP apparently more than doubled the worth of Sydney's shirt to advertisers. Something they have been able to maintain and build upon leading to Sydney, in the last few seasons, being much closer to breaking even than it was previously. Predicting going close to making a profit for the first time next year rather than $10m losses.
If ADP had been backed up with another high paying marquee rather than a squad controlled by Arnold I have my doubts whether it would have turned out as well as it has.

You've got Aus Football Fan, at least.

I kind of miss taking Horto to town on the regular, but he really was fish in a barrel and more so a general pest to the forum so I'm glad he's out.

Nah, top bloke imo.

His work is done here anyway. SMFC united the sleeping titans. Spearheaded a 100 club revolution. The heros we needed. Shame horto copped a lot of flack for pointing that fact out.... relentlessly.. until the eve of the revolution. Theres no more fish to shoot. Thrill is gone. Apparently.... so I've heard.

And youre right in that your opinion is an unpopular one...right thread is what im saying. 

Ps. Whats noteworthy is that he influenced the language of some of the key stakeholders - his "Geelong wil be Victorias CCM" echoed by the SMFC president was particularly amusing.

If thats what you call a pest, then we need more of those.

I remember a run in you had with horto about how leo should show more respect (re refering to real football clubs as "real football clubs" and franchises as "franchises"). Good thing he didn't, and that he persevered against the grain, thumbing his nose, and that his club was instrumental in forming the AAFC (read real football clubs that arent franchises/rekindled the hopes and dreams of the Australian grassroots community and set course for the betterment of the entire Australian game).

One mans pest is another mans prophet

I've been on this forum for nine years, and of the very, very many multis who have pretended to have nothing to do with another account that was recently banned, this is by lightyears the most egregious. The claim of "influencing the language of key stakeholders" just made it a bit too sad to read, tbh.

It's frankly an insult to the intelligence of everyone here that you actually expect anyone to believe that you are not my old mate Horto.

I for one am delighted SM are a big part of the new AAFC, a great step for egality in Australian club football, and the best thing we can do for that mission to succeed is to curtail the lunatic fringe of their support that makes them look bad, just like how more sensible SM posters on here didn't want anything to do with Horto.

Dont know what youre talking about. You’ve lost me sorry. Im just a long time admirer of hortomajiko. Its a shame he was banned imo.

Id hardly call leo Athanasakis a lunatic...and id hardly call him fringe.... hes the president. You made no secrets about your feelings toward him. And he and horto singing from the exact same hymn book. Thumbing their noses.

And as far as "influencing the language of stakeholders"... its all documented and time stamped here on these very boards. There is a post in the Expansion Thread thread where HortoMagiko coins the term "Geelong will be Victorias ccm" that predates the article in which Leo uses the EXACT SAME metaphor... and HortoMagiko acknowledges this in the comments section. 

I can provide all links if youd like. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong.

Its just facts. Documented and undeniable. Thats all. 

And i didnt hear a word from any smfc fans "not having anything to do with him".....unless you can provide links to any comments from smfc fans, id happily stand corrected. And anyway, its naive imo to assume all south fans are a monolith. We all have differing views, not unlike every other club in existence. Some are pc and non confrontational, others not so much.

Theres no more of a lunatic fringe at smfc than any other club. And certainly none as bad as mvfc and their assault on smfc fans with chemical weapons.... And in the same way mvfc shouldn't be judged by the actions of a few....or more accurately...these mvfc thugs and bleach wielding actual lunatics do your club more damage than what one guy says on the internet.

Ok, i have no interst in making this personal. I think the overidding points here are; 1)its intellectually dishonest to group ardtho5000 and HortoMagiko....and 2)that smfc (and their president Leo) are effectively the saviours of Australian grassroots football, and are the heroes we needed.  We are all well aware that theres no way the AAFC would have conceptualized let alone materialised without their unwavering defiance/initiative/organisation/collaboration.  With no AAFC thered be no unequivocal FIFA support of AAFC.  And subsequently zero hope of a div2 and p/r. Thank god for smfc and the "real football clubs" after all eh? And thank god there are those out there with substance who speak the uncomfortable truths, instead of kowtowing to bent ideologies and popular fallacies.

Marquess are not even marquees anymore.  they are just players outside of the salary cap.  

the cahill rule bought in the only actual marquee we currently have.  we can no longer compete with china and mls for genuine marquees.  time to:

-scrap the marquees,
-only have one the fits the cahill rule so clubs actually invest in big marquees,
-double the existing salary cap so we can till get in the 2nd/3rd tier spanish and german league rejects like castro, berisha and fornaroli.

I'm saying a simalar thing but I'd rather keep the marquee system just drop the idea it must be a 'big name player' rather than raising the cap. 

And I don't think Cahill as been worth the investment.  I can't think of anyone in world footbal who would be. Anyone that would generate enough hype would cost too much to make it worth it. 

Australia joined the AFC so Westfield could make business contacts. 

When crowds are above 30k, the SFS is a sensational A-league ground.

Don't think that's unpopular, most of the complaints are about the pitch itself.

we got and extra 3 or 4 thousand memberships and a fkton of free press.  ive also seen more advertising on the street since cahill came than ive seen in my previous 3 years in melburn.  that's a ROI if you ask me.  

has anyone got the stats on city away games crowds this year with cahill?  would be interesting to compare them to last year when melbourne city was actually a better team.  

personally i just appreciated being able to see our best ever footballer play competitively in a few league matches.

This was the worst A-League season in history, or at the very least in the last 6 or 7 years.

Football in Australia is not benefiting from being in Asia as much as people would like to think.

ACL is a cost and effects the league in a negative way. Prize money may come in the future but they have been sheepish about equal distribution as eg China generates so many more viewers. It will be very hard for an Australian team to win the entire tournament again.

Oceania would prove-

-Access to youth tournaments and Olympics
-Club World Cup every year. So SFC fans could start getting excited about facing possibly Real Madrid Juve etc

Also that tourbament gives prize money
- wouldn't be restricted by 3+1 rule
- Oceania will get a direct WC spot in the future.
- Our players would no longer be the +1 and would remain in Aus go to Europe or still be a visa player in Asia , which is less likely.

All with NZ as the only speed bump

Agree, this has been the worst since the Del Piero era began. 

P&R would've meant an absolute rollercoaster at the bottom.

After watching a replay of the grand final - Jarred Gillet does not get enough kudos for his refereeing. For such a big game and the pressure that comes with it he was brilliant. Best ref in the country

The advantage for the first goal he played was a highlight.

We should be having news story after story about 2 new expansion teams this break as promised by FFA, instead we are stuck with FIFA talk and Wilkshire. What a time to be alive. 

Love Australian football and my team and I love Star Wars, but the Star Wars round idea is obviously cringe; but if the teams walk out to the Imperial March soundtrack I might just change my mind about all this.

Got to admit that would be hilarious, I know Spurs walked out to 'Duel of the Fates' from Star Wars when the players walk out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB-QXaCKhQ4