Government support only really matters if the government are going to provide financial support. No where in this article does it actual state anything about government money. SM checks a lot of the right boxes, but they are let down by their stadium. If they can secure some funding and commitments to actual renovate and upgrade Lakeside to increase the capacity, then that will make them a real contender. The deal they have with Lakeside is good and all, but it only has a capacity of 7.5k seated, so they really need to secure some plans for expanding the stadium for them to be a real consideration.

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2018/05/14/violence-rioting-hff-won-wager-paok-vs-aek-cup-final-ends-chaos/

^^ It's a joke.   CALM DOWN.....

Did laugh when I saw the headline this morning though.  Flew in a Spanish ref and it still ended up a shit show.

Greeks.......they're great.

Some choice extracts....

Greek media reported “savage beatings” before the start of the match, poor crowd control,  burning cars (a particular feature of Greek football violence), and numerous fans with head injuries.

Inside the ground, immediately after PAOK took their winning 2-0 lead, the crowd became uncontrollable with AEK fans charging police and the in-gr website describing “the bleachers of the stadium resembling a war zone for five minutes. At the same time, PAOK supporters, instead of celebrating that their team won the cup, decided to start a new circle of clashes with riot police (MAT). That resulted in the firing of at least five flares” directly at the pitch.

Spaniard David Borbalan was picked to referee the game, and some 5,000 officers appointed to try and safeguard the game, a repeat of last year’s final.

The cup final marked an extraordinary a year for Greek football chaos in a country that had already set the bar for political infighting and entrenched factions. FIFA and UEFA have floundered hopelessly in the market, seemingly caught up by their own political requirements or perhaps the naïve belief that commonsense might prevail.

A league match between the teams in March was abandoned after PAOK’s Russian-Greek owner Savvidis entered the pitch bearing a sidearm, to threaten the referee. Both he and the club were sanctioned while the league was briefly suspended amid a warning from FIFA to the Greeks to get their house in order or risk being handed an international ban.

Perhaps the best thing that can be said about this season Greek football is that it is over.

The stadium is fine, seated capacity is not total capacity. The view is miles better than Etihad, the seated areas are more than enough to accomadate a growth of season ticket holders and the standing areas allow for cheaper tickets for casual fans.

Agree it is fine for a season or two, but they need plans in place now to expand the stadium. Without solid plans in place now they will never be in consideration.

I love finals football.  Passion expressed!

It was expanded fro Nitro Athletics, can't see why they just couldn't replicate that.

Absolutely it can be done, but what I'm saying is they need those plans in place as part of their bid if they want to be seriously considered. Unfortunately they would not be a preferred bid, so they will need to do absolutely everything in order to be considered.

It will be a very complex task to convert any current inner city football fans to choose them when they already have two choices from a/league ( that most would’ve chosen a team already) a d if they don’t follow a-league they probably already hate south :)

Hard to imagine south will be given a franchise on their own , their best bet is to harness their energy push more towards getting Football fans to demand a second division/timeline for pro rel

I think that the fact that they are already hated is one of the best selling points, as a Victory fan. We want those big derbies.

^ but only hated by npl clubs. I reckon the majority of MV fans (besides the die yards) could not care less. In fact I reckon most run of the mill types don’t even really know they exist or much much about them.

Western Melbourne (Werribee region) > South Melbourne. 

I know it was a decade ago but the friendly between the 2 clubs was a record crowd between an npl/A league non cup matchup. A match that meant nothing got 8,000 people. I think MV fans want this matchup more than the one against City.

The intetest/ hate factor is also huge, did anyone go on souths fb page/ffa cup page etc after the cup exit to hume? Hundreds of comments demonstrating their disgust or delight at the result, the type of stuff you would expect from a Victory or wanderers loss. By contrast the Wollongong Wolves were dumped by a team a division below them and only about 2-3 people bothered to comment on it.

I cant imagine team11 being able to trigger such emotion from fans and non fans alike. 

Lakeside gets a bad wrap because of the athletics track, but its only 6 years old and was built with expansion in mind, with or without souths incolvement it would be absolutely criminal if this venue was permantly used for npl level football only. The place would be rocking in summer, situated on the very vibrant clarendon strip with plenty of eateries and pubs people would flock here to watch summer top flight football.

20 years ago....

Last century's news.

No last century, no Ange, no Asian cup.

Ange - the worst record for a Socceroos coach in the last two decades.

A credible showing in Brazil just a few months after taking over a crumbling empire, winning the nations first major international trophy on home soil and somehow getting to another World Cup with probably the WORST SQUAD in the last two decades. When you throw in working for a bunch of morons and fuckwits at FFA land then Ange did ok.

Yeah but if SM = IN, and they will inevitably bleat on about being Oceania Team Of The Century or whatever, there'll be plenty of people wanting to put them in their place. You just can't buy that sort of history.

He didn't come up against a bunch of farmers in Oceania, of course his record would be worse with actual competitive matches with a shit squad.

Neither did Verbeek or Osiek.

Verbeek 18 wins, 9 draws, 6 losses, 54.5% win ratio.
Osiek 23 wins, 10 draws, 11 losses, 52.3% win ratio.
Postecoglu 22 wins, 12 draws, 15 losses, 1 walked out on the team, 44.9% win ratio.

Ange got most of what he wanted from FFA. Sure, a bit of a "difference of opinion" here and there, but he was well resourced to do the job. That's one thing FFA generally does well.

Have you got the figures without friendlies?  I really want to know.  I seem to recall Holger doing well in them and Verbeek not giving a toss.

He didnt walk out on the team. He left the FFA. 

Arnold 5 wins, 4 draws, 5 losses, 35.7% win ratio.

Ange actually won a trophy though which is all that really matters. 

Ange had 3 things to achieve, save the furniture in brazil in 2014, win the Asian cup, qualify for Russia, done, done and done. His relationship with the ffa deteriorated so be it. 

Was only a fill in.  Of the permanent Socceroos coaches since Rudi Gutendorf only Eddie Thomson has a worse win percentage than Ange.