This is probably in here somewhere but just in case - Adam Griffiths cleared to play for Adelaide United in Asian Champions League - just needs his ITC now. No reason given why he's eligible for ACL but not A-League...or "Go figure!" as soneone at the club put it. ACL does run from northern spring to autumn so maybe that was enough to differentiate it.

I'm unable to access the story. From what I can gather they are going to sign him but not for ACL? So if previous stories are true where he's already signed for Sydney FC next season, what are we signing him for? Surely its the ACL otherwise is he signing for Vidmar's team bike rides to Glenelg?

Yep, looks like they are just going to force us to have the FFA issue a provisional ITC after the 30 day period. Which will of course mean he wont be able to play in the ACL group stages - but if we get past the group stage and into the round of 16 he will be able to play. So if they don't want to have him be able to play against any western AFC nations it isn't going to work.

http://www.the-afc.com/en/inside-afc/676-afc-news/26954-adelaides-vidmar-needs-a-licence-says-afc

KUALA LUMPUR: AFC has informed AFC Champions League side Adelaide United that Aurelio Vidmar (Australia) is not eligible to be registered as the head coach as he does not fulfil the minimum coaching criteria for AFC Champions League.

In a letter sent to the Football Federation Australia (FFA), AFC said Vidmar would need to complete the FFA/AFC ‘A’ Licence course (or any coaching equivalent to the AFC ‘A’ Licence) before he can be registered as head coach for the club.

However, Vidmar can be registered as an Assistant Coach to participate in the AFC Champions League.

Adelaide United, who reached he 2008 AFC Champions League final, are in Group H of this year’s tournament with Shandong Luneng (China), Pohang Steelers (Korea) and Gamba Osaka (Japan).


it gets worse for you lot!

If that is a legitimate article then I'm flying to Asia to shake hands with the AFC. Even they can see Vidmar is not qualified to coach! haha.

All we need now is the AFC to:

State Leckie is not qualified as a striker and is infact a Midfielder.

State Dodd is not fit to be captain.

State Cristiano is not fit.

State Cassio is not only a calculator but also a mediocre Brazilian football player.

State Alemao is a car rental company in the USA.

State Pantelis is registered for season 3 of Nerds FC.

The link looks like its from an official website but the article also states that we are playing Gamba osaka in our group which is clearly wrong.

If they got something as simple as group opponents wrong perhaps that is as well....

Didn't he complete the FFA 'A' License last year already? And anyway, it's like a 2-day course - a week at most - so Viddie can step out from Hindmarsh to do the study easily before Feb 17.

I remember an article stating he was doing the A level license some time ago...

also: Leckie's stocks continues to rise

Adelaide United teenager Mathew Leckie's meteoric rise continues to gain momentum with the 19-year-old becoming the latest player nominated for the NAB Young Footballer of the Year award.

Leckie, who has played 19 games and scored two goals for the Reds in 2009-10, has come a long way since being plucked from the Victorian State League back in September.

"There were never any expectations when I came to the club, I thought when I was coming here that I would be training with the first team and playing youth football," Leckie recalled.

"But I came on against Melbourne (in Round 7), that was my debut, and obviously Viddie (coach Aurelio Vidmar) may have seen something he liked and we've just moved on from there."

"I didn't think the opportunity would come across but I know that I'm confident in myself and what I can do and I believe in my ability."

Initially an impact player coming off the bench, Leckie has become a critical member of United's starting 11. In the last couple of weeks he's been the go-to man up forward as the squad's more experienced strikers have looked on from the bench.

Vidmar says he's 'impressed' by Leckie's progress and feels the 'sky is the limit' if he continues to work hard on his game.

"He's got his head screwed on properly and I think that's really important, keeps his feet on the ground, he doesn't get carried away with too much, he's aware of the areas he needs to improve on and improve in," Vidmar said.

"Once he lives a little bit more through experience and can suck up some of those experiences and learn from them then he's just going to be a terrific player."

"We think he's got enormous potential. If he can refine his game in certain areas then the sky is the limit for him."

Leckie's next challenge is performing in the Asian Champions League and Vidmar said it was unlikely the speedy teenager would be overawed by the occasion.

"You want to compete against the very best and the very best in competitions and for us it's the Asian Champions League," he said.

"He doesn't care who he plays against, he could play against the best player in the world tomorrow and he'll try and run him ragged, that's what he's like."

Leckie, who was judged on his performances over Rounds 22 to 26, is the sixth and final nominated player for the award. The other nominees are Sydney FC's Kofi Danning, Melbourne Victory's Leigh Broxham, Brisbane Roar's Tommy Oar, North Queensland Fury's Rostyn Griffiths and Newcastle Jets' Ben Kantarovski.

The overall winner will receive a $10,000 personal investment portfolio, a NAB Private Client Manager to assist with a range of banking and financial services, and the inaugural NAB Young Footballer of the Year Award.

To acknowledge the role junior football clubs play in the development of today's young stars, NAB will also present a $3000 equipment pack to Leckie's nominated junior club, Bulleen Lions Junior Football Club.

Christ #-o

I guess I was a fool to be happy and mildly optimistic since Saturday night.
This Vidmar news is just more embarassing bullshit we have to deal with now. ](*,)

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

So Viddie apparently was granted exemption to coach in 2008 under the proviso that he be up to scratch by 2010. Cicarello says we have no need to feel embarassed and that Viddie has tried to get his credentials but we had no off season last time etc etc etc and that it was impractical for Viddie to go off and spend 2-3 weeks doing this course during a season B-B-B-B- BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well I, as a fan, AM VERY MUCH EMBARASSED CICARELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think Vidmar has had to take that much time off before just for running his stupid mouth off about Saudi Arabia has he not????? Now coincidentally we need a Saudi club to get Griffith's papers through in time. HA!
Vidmar is an arrogant twat of the highest order. They knew for 2 years he had to do this and they didn't. We came bottom this year. Im sure the club would have survived for two weeks without him and as i said we had to for other reasons anyways.
Perhaps he was just shit scared that if he went off and did this, and Adelaide magically started winning and playing to win, then his job may have been even less secure.
I felt sorry for Vidmar for a second there because I though these rules were just now being put in place. To have known for two years and to have been arrogant enough to ignore it is just too much to handle.
Either he knows he is gone in 6 months anyway or he is dumber than i EVER gave him credit for.
Piss off Vidmar once and for all.
Maybe mullen could do better anyways
Rant over!!!!!!

Another signing, another edition of "What's your line-up?":

------galekovic
--mullen ruden fyfe
-griffiths---marrone
leckie flores dodd
-- owusu --van dijk

Oh, and yes, Boogaard is also available for ACL selection as the Mariners are now no longer in contention for the Finals.

And meanwhile, we finally won two games in a row this season last night! How bloody amazing is that?? haha

And that was with no real striker up front either! Like what roar4ever said in the match thread, we looked our most dangerous in the last two weeks when neither Owusu or Cristiano were on the field. Who would have thought? Hopefully van Dijk will again add something different. We have very quick mobile midfielders in Dodd, Barbiero, Pantelis, Flores and Leckie to provide and flood forward. Hopefully, they'll be practicing this in the next 11 days before we take on Pohang.

Somehow I think Rudan's mouth and simmering leadership style has got him offside with some backroom boys - anyway Flakes & Fyfe seem to be a better combo.

Too bad there's not 3-4 more rounds. With a decent midfielder it seems Barbiero is confident enough to make runs to partner Leckie.
Viddie's stubborness in playing Hughes has seen United F.C. play ALL bloody season with 10 men. Now with Flores we really finally have an active mid-field group who ake things happen

Mentioning Leckie and Barbiero's runs, I also loved the interplay between Flores and Dodd, and whoever else was quick enough just outside the 18 yard box. We finally looked dangerous in front of goal, especially stringing passes together and biding our time whilst still maintaining pressure on the opposition defence.

Galekovic
Mullen - Boogaard - Griffiths - Jamo
Marrone
Barbiero - Cassio
Flores
Leckie - van Dijk

No Dodd, which most will disagree with. I think he has lost his edge, or at least, he thinks he is quicker than he is. He has been 1m short of the ball all season, and I've never thought he was a spectacular captain. I'd say Hugene should be captain.

Call me a wooden spoony

You're a wooden spooney :d :-"

Richard

This is probably a little bizarre, but does anyone else hope we don't get bumped off bottom spot?

Sure, there's a certain amount of shame in coming last, but just as the Lantern Rouge in the Tour de France (the last man in the race on any given day) is afforded some affectionate respect (provided he keeps fighting), so 'winning' the wooden spoon with the season we've had, coupled with a couple of great wins at the end, isn't such a bad fate. Coming second to bottom is just a crap season but 'winning' the wooden spoon off wins in the final two rounds is worthy of bragging rights at least. Hell, I hope someone in the club has the balls and initiative to get a suitably carved wooden spoon made for the club trophy cabinet (provided we win it of course) just to remember the year from hell and our resurgence from that year.

Richard

yup, I've got me tickets for the ACL - have you?

I've bought my tickets, but I still haven't received them. Starting to worry... maybe I'll give Ticketek a call on Monday.

You're a hard man Bill, but looking at your team, I can't work out where you'd put him. Maybe to replace Barbiero who is still hot headed enough to be a liability at times but that's a reflection of my lingering respect for Dodd, not any slight on Barbiero who is and will continue to be a valuable part of the club.

I'd also question the Jamo/Cassio placements - logic would suggest you're right (oh okay, logic screams that you're right) but Cassio prefers the full back position and sometimes, that preference should be honoured as it produces a better effort from the player. In either case, both players are automatic starts in my team.

Maybe switch Marrone and Griffiths?

Anyone else feel that the best thing Griffiths can do for the club is to get Hughes off the pitch?

What about the bench? I can remember sitting at the games and watching the team displayed on the score board before turning to my son and saying: "that's a bloody strong bench". Sadly, that hasn't happened this season where just about any selection from the bench weakened our team.

This season, they've even changed the contractor for the Yiros stand, a negative step that has turned us to buying those giant sausages instead :-({|=

Richard

i don't know about the Wooden Spoon...i think that if the winner gets the "Toilet Seat", then the loser should get the "Toilet Brush".

I'm concerned about that too. There's going to be one hell of a queue at the ground for the first match. Get there really really early ;)

I thought Venutix were bad but the Ticketek balls up makes your average soap opera look like real life. I watched the lass serving me at my local Ticketek agency fighting with the computer and the 'help line' (my purchase required three phone calls to the help line) and damned near felt guilty for wanting to buy the tickets in the first place. What is it that's so difficult about buying tickets these days? I'm just glad I knew what the real ticketing situation was because initially, her computer was telling her the entire stadium was reserved seating only and completely sold out :shock:

Richard

oh, if you haven't bought your tickets yet, make sure you've got your membership card because the system still imagines it can only sell to members ... and aliens ... or GCU supporters which are the same thing really [-x

Okay so I'm looking at our opponents from Asia, and let's see what we're going to be up against:

Pohang Steelers
Current Asian champions.
- their squad includes Mota (who was with Seongnam Ilhwa last we played them), Kim Jae-Sung (recent national team call-up and has already scored once in his 3 caps) and Seol Ki-Hyeon (former Wolverhampton, Reading and Fulham player - capped 83 times for South Korea)
- we have defeated them in both home and away legs in the 2008 group stage

Shandong Luneng
Our sister club in China
- we have lost both our previous games against them in the 2007 group stage (one game due to a Valkanis own goal... oops! :p )
- they have just signed a young Dutch striker on loan just for the ACL - Fred Benson - how ironic that we also just signed a Dutch striker for the ACL too.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Viddie's old club
- never played them before
- I watched a few of their bigger league games last season, and they were definitely mixing it up with the likes of Gamba Osaka, Kashima Antlers and Urawa Reds.
- most notable player might be Hisato Sato - being capped for the national team.

Overall, I believe each team is winnable for us. The fact that we've played against two of the clubs before, and the third one Vidmar is familiar with, I'm sure we can do well in the group stage.

So anyway on the topic of tickets for the ACL, I finally emailed Ticketek to ask where my tickets were. Here's the outcome:



This was followed by the automated reply:



So I thought, 'Great, they didn't read my email...' Until I received this:



So going by that, all pre-ordered tickets should arrive in the mail this week. The tickets for the Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Shandong Luneng games are still suppressed by the AFC, and won't be available until later for pick-up from the Hindmarsh outlet or by post.

Hope that clears it up for everyone else going through the same problem as I did.





Edited by RedsUnited: 15/2/2010 07:00:27 PM

adding a couple of points,

Pohang- Kim Jae sung scored a beauty against Japan yesterday, bringing his talley to 2 goals in 4 games, they also have Noh byung joon, who was ACL MVP last year, and Shin hyung min who is a capped international. Seeing as how Pohang's key players would be tired as hell from national team duties, and seeing as this is a completely new team from last year, I think AU is going to beat them next week.

Shandong- AU actually held them in China for the 2nd leg. From what I've seen, this is a ridiculously dirty side, and grassrolling is its second nature. It is going to be very important not to concede first. Considering internal turmoil in the CSL and it's affects upon clubs, I think Shandong may be the surprise weak link in this group.

Hiroshima- no idea...but I assume they are good.

did anyone hear anything from the fight anyone get suspended etc fifa and the afc would not have liked what they saw players with chairs and shit haha

I bought my tix @ members day, got a receipt, but as yet no tix posted to me! Boy, do I miss venuetix.

Richard I agree with lantern rouge similie. Everybody remembers " Eddie the eel " and that skier from Gt Britain who entered the Olympics but was utterly hopeless.
However, let's hope the backroom boys at Hindmarsh don't think this way!!