yeah we keep hearing all of talk aout how they will start sharing information in the new year. but its been pretty much bugger all. 

Hutch confirmed, will be interesting to see if they give Antonee Burke and Jesse Daley contracts seeing as they were with him at seattle.

Both connor pain and jason davidson out of contract at seasons end, pretty good left side and both are from melbourne as well.

Davidson has roots in the west as well, so he'll definitely be a target you would think. 

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos is set to sign.

Val reported it again.

They did say they didnt want to recycle to much from other clubs here and may look to target Aussies Aboard

I think they should push hard for Seb Pasquali on loan at the very least, if they cant sign him on a deal. 

Would like to see them follow what sydney fc did with regards to their salary cap allotment and have a larger proportion of their salary cap for their first 11 and then have depth come from youngsters and NPL boys

don't you mean Melbourne Victory? that has been our template for years. 

Similar to what Victory has done as well - you concentrate maybe two thirds of your budget into perhaps your 13 best players (with two marquees this makes 15 decent squad members) and then sign NPL or youth prospects on minimum chips to pad out the squad. Seems to be a winning formula, not to mention you always run the possibility of finding a gem among the minimum chips players.

Can backfire if there is a desperate injury crisis (probs 4+ players injured) but it's the smart way of managing the cap imo.

According to the Herald Sun, WMG have signed Panagiotis Kone as a marquee for next season.

I can’t read the article as it is behind the paywall, but interesting signing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panagiotis_Kone

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/western-melbourne-s-kardinia-park-plans-uncertain-20190131-p50uwe.html

Also an update on the Kardinia Park situation for the club.

If they can only get a limited amount of matches at Geelong, they might as well call themselves the Western Nomads as there aren’t a lot of options left.

I can see he following occurring as Plan B:

- Play as many matches as possible at Geelong
- Play 1-2 matches at Ballarat
- Play 1-2 matches at Avalon Airport Oval in Werribee

As much as I would like to see them play at the Whittern Oval as a backup plan, the stadium really isn’t up to it. Green Gully and Somers Street are also not well connected with Public Transport.

It’s going to be very hard work for this club to gain traction.

Apparently they're running an online poll for name/colours this Sunday.

An online poll? On their website or via a media outlet like I seem to remember Melbourne Heart tried in the Herald Sun.

Their engagement strategy has been poor. Time to lift their game.

They chucked it up on their facebook...and it's with the Herald Sun lol. And I completely agree, they need to step up and start making a whole lot of noise.

I saw a page on the Herald Sun with a poll but link was closed until Sunday.  In can't find it at the moment.

Thanks for that.

It didn’t work for Melbourne Heart so no idea how they thought using the same strategy would be a winner :(

Think they will have to settle for playing what matches they can at Kardinia.....and the rest at aami Park.....maybe one or two in Ballarat......majority of stadiums out west aren’t really suitable for one reason or another. Not going to be smooth sailing for them that’s for sure......

Can’t see them playing at AAMI Park. It’s simply just too big and not in the region they claim to represent.

I tend to think their only course of action is as you say to get all the matches they can at Kardinia and then use smaller venues like Ballarat and if they can Avalon Airport Oval for the rest of the matches. The council connection to the latter should open some doors as a Plan B at least.

The only way I can see West Melbourne working in the short term is if the backers use some of their millions to refurbish the Knights Stadium and play out of their. It's in a shit location with basically no public transport and parking, but we're really scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point.

It wouldn’t be a popular decision but they should swallow their pride and head straight for aami Park.

1) they will be closer to the inner west core suburbs

2) being centralised will bring in people from all parts of melb to have a look, hell id turn up a couple times

3) playing in a decent stadium.

Not only is Kardinia Park scheduling a major issue for the upcoming season, the following yr with the t20 World Cup will see them potentially locked out of the ground the entire summer.

I'm so pissed off this bid won the right to enter the league next season. If true that they intend on building a new stadium which would be ready in 3 years time, than the obvious thing to do would have been to grant them a lisence for the next expansion phase, and make it by the time the stadium is built. 
There is just so much wrong with this bid. Playing in an oval shaped stadium that's shared with AFL and Cricket, and at 36k capacity is just crap, not to mention the stadium being in a different city to Melbourne.
In the end when you really think about it how is this bid any different than that other flop of a bid Southern Sydney playing out of 3 different stadiums and representing two cities until their new stadium at Loftus was to be built?
It's pretty much the same garbage bid from another city at the expense of a proper bid from Canberra that was easily the best bid in my opinion. 
People have rocks in their head of they think expansion will help next season. It only helps of done right. When WSW came into the league there was a huge positive impact, the same can't be said about GCU and NQ Fury, and I'm pretty sure this pathetic bid will be just as bad. 
What's the bet West Melbourne won't engage with the public like they should, will get fuck all crowds, and after 1 season the owners come out and say fuck this we won't spend 150 million on a new stadium of no one is coming, and basically be a hindrance to the A-league in the same way Clive Palmer was with GCU.

Season doesn't start until October and the hate for this bid is classic.

Western Melbourne ole.

🤣🤣🤣obvious  multi is obvious 

I do agree that choosing Western Melbourne for next season sounds like a mistake, but I’m sorry to say Canberra also cane with significant risks. No bid was without pros and cons and far above the others.

As much as I am for increased pathways and geographical growth of the competition, Canberra is actually a relatively small market with a limited corporate base, which would be needed to make such a club viable.

I love the passion that seemed to come from the bid, just as I did from my preferred option of Team 11, but the Canberra bid’s overall metrics looked very weak, and those were a major factor in the decision making process. FOXTEL plays a part in the decision too, and a small market like the ACT was always on the back foot there.

I want to see Canberra in the competition, but realistically it was not the strongest bid on paper. It should get a chance next, along with another Brisbane team, but strengthening the position in the largest markets is likely going to be a priority they will still chase.

Western Melbourne makes sense only with a stadium in place though, which is why it seems such a mess at this stage as they tru to get the jigsaw puzzle pieces in place.

Robstazzz .....”What's the bet West Melbourne won't engage with the public like they should, will get fuck all crowds, and after 1 season the owners come out and say fuck this we won't spend 150 million on a new stadium of no one is coming, and basically be a hindrance to the A-league in the same way Clive Palmer was with GCU.”

****

It’s a worry. Important that they start building the stadium ASAP so that they are committed to seeing the project through.....pretty sure that was part of their pitch and acceptance. And funny to think that G.C.U. had a stadium all ready to go for them....and still failed.

As ive said just play at AAMI Park. Any backlash coming of 3 teams at one venue will be offset by playing in a venue ppl will want to go to..particularly those in the heartland western suburbs.

they have apparently signed Panagiotis Kone.

I'm inclined to agree with this - if they are deadset in moving to their new stadium in three years, than new fans will swallow playing at AAMI Park much more readily than playing in Geelong.

Of course, you run the risk of them pulling the pin on the stadium and then having three teams playing at AAMI Park.

it would be great to see them pack out knights stadium.  it prob wouldnt cost too much to bump up the capacity a touch.

i wish city would do something similar.

it almost seems like Kardinia Park boss Michael Brown doesnt want Western Melbourne games there (or he's posturing for a good deal). From October til May there will probably only be about 9-10 events at Kardinia Park. 1 x Victory home game (it seems like it will continue), 2 x BBL games, approx 3 x AWFL games and approx 3 x AFL games. Plenty of room for at least 10 Western Melbourne games. The only real down time is January when they need a cricket pitch for the BBL.

Geez this is going to be ugly

I reckon it's more about the fee. WMG know they can't even come close to filling a 36k stadium so I reckon they would most likely be seeking a lower fee at Kardinia. Hence why 'Victory are welcome', as they can get a decent attendance and pay the appropriate fees.