https://mobile.twitter.com/smfc/status/1344779535049342977
RIP Tommy Docherty. Legendary coach of both Manchester United and South Melbourne Hellas. For the youngsters, thats sort of like having Pep or Klopp coaching in the A league now.... 

Docherty also coached 2 pretty unsuccessfully years at my club Derby County after a truly great coach in Brian Clough who you could compare to Pep or Klopp.

But Tommy a FA Cup & 2nd division premiership with Man U (this is how low Man U were in the 70s), CANNOT compare with Pep 2 champions league, 3 La Liga, 3 Bundesliga & 2 Premier league titles & Klopp 1 champions league, twice runners up, 2 Bunesliga 1 Premier league titles.

Please, huge character, yes, but terms of coaching definitely no Pep or Klopp, maybe more Sam Allerdyce.

Yeah fair enough, maybe hyperbole to compare Tommy with Klopp and Pep,  Id say better than Allerdyce but get your point. Still impressive for me that a coach if his status came to the bad old wog ridden NSL (he coached Olympic and Hellas if I recall correctly) I suppose the ♻️league had Robbie Fowler for a few months ... 

Hey Waz or any of the other posters knowledgeable about QLD NPL.
https://mobile.twitter.com/smfc/status/1345241746410651649
Is Hore from the Lions any good? A few down here are talking up the Sawyer 
-Hore strike partnership, any inside info would be welcome.

Are they talking about Henry or Mitchell? I'd hazard a guess that it's Henry, as Mitch is more of a creator from midfield. Long story short: Henry Hore is very good imo. Spent time in the NPL set-up with Perth Glory, where he was highly rated, but couldn't make the next step up into the first-team due to the club overrating Jake Brimmer, etc.

From what I saw of the QLD NPL this season, I really wasn't all that impressed with Sawyer, and he looks to have regressed since his time in the Philippines and Hong Kong. He looked a lot sharper to me when he was there to me, did things instinctively, rather than having to think about it first. He's possibly put on some size [muscle] and lost a bit of his pace, which would also play a part in that.

Hopefully Waz can give you a bit more info :)

Acknowledged!!!!

Used to love watching boutsi. From memory saw him score direct from a corner after a few attempts before it. 

Thanks PIFA.. its Henry Hore btw looks like his brother is also coming to vic, I heard Bentleigh.  We didnt get too see much of Sawyer down here this year apart from pretty tame hatrick against Lions.. so keen to see what he can do with a strike partner.

Hahahah yeah Boutsi the "getaway driver" Oceans 11 it certainly wasnt.. silly boy got hooked up with the wrong crowd. He could swing his left leg like a f#ckin surgical instrument though... sweet sweet striker of the ball and scored form the corner a couple of times, anywhere whithin 40 yards of the goals was on for a shot..... He was a bit of a lad off the pitch though, I remember the Hellas boys at Chasers and the Bot after a big win but I prefer to remember his stellar stunt double work for Alex Dimitriades in "the Heartbreak Kid" heheheh
SERIOUS QUESTION for the A league fans, has any A league franchise ever been referenced in an Australian Movie or on TV shows like Hellas did?

Against Marconi, and he scored an even more absurd goal lobbing the keeper from way out later that game.

This was a memorable night as it was the only time I ever recall South pulling a large Friday night crowd.

The Code Series 4  - Life with the Mariners. 

Nice, wasnt aware of this doco and will try and watch the whole series.
I was more wondering about Soccer as a sport or Soccer teams in general being referenced in general shows as part of the narrative or even in passing rather than a sport documentary per se. Like how West Ham Untd is a major part of the lives of the characters in Green Street  or Man Utd fans are shown in Eurotrip (two fairly poxy examples I know -  or even something  as minor as Wheels in Degrassi Junior High wearing an Footscray VFL top in the 90s even though the show was Canadian). I think it goes a long way towards mainstream acceptance if it is shown on tv shows ... certainly couldnt do any harm. The only ones I have seen in the last 40 years on Australian tv or in movies are the below, im sure there must be heaps more and wouldn't mind some shout outs so I could look them up.
*Russel Crowe (pre Gladiator fame) played Danny O'Brien a fictional South Melbourne Hellas player on Acropolis Now a tv show on, of all places, channel 7. This show actually mentions South many times as both main characters where supposedly mad Hellas supporters. Also mentions Brunswick Juve and APIA from memory
* Alex Dimitriades' character Nick is a trialling player for the South Melbourne Youth team in the Movie Heartbreak Kid - scenes where filmed at Prahran High ( a couple of the "actors" where teamates of mine and regular South attendees) and at Middle Park.. check out the Boutsianis night training scene.
*Mustangs FC on ABC is a decent teen show for womens soccer (my daughter loves it) and I get a buzz when they shoot scenes at Lakeside..
*One of the contestants on "Married at First Sight" a few years ago was a passionate Western Sydney Wanderers fan and had hats and scarves feature pretty prominently in the show.

Henry looks like a very talented young player. Can play as deep as CM, or anywhere across the front-third from what I saw of him. Which admittedly is probably about 7-8 games over the years. His brother is all left-foot, so if oppo players force him to his right... he's effectively out of the game.


I remember when Boutsi signed for Perth they started a "We're gonna rob a bank" chant on the terraces. Used to make me laugh so much :laugh: phenomenal player in a technical sense, and doing very well with his own academy from what I hear.

Didnt he also have some sort of issue with Perth because he wanted to wear his Copa Mundials and their boot sponsor was Nike or somethjng like that? Hahah what a Boutsi. Yeah like a lot of ex NSL players and some A league ones I believe, he seems to be making decent coin fleecing cashed up mums and dads who believe little Johnny and Jenny will be the next Messi or Ronaldo.. At least somone is happy with the way Lowey "saved" soccer in this country

Can't remember that, but it did seem like he was in and out of the squad quite a lot at times. Always seemed to pop up with huge goals for us, and he never seemed to score a "boring" goal either.

I actually think the goal of his academy is to actually produce good footballers, rather than fleece cashed up parents like a lot of the academies that I see operating in Australia. Have heard a few families that I know are paying $150+ a week for their kid to be in an academy, and the sessions are usually around an hour, sometimes a bit over an hour. It's an exorbitant amount of money really, but it's their money to spend at the end of the day.

Oh, much love for Boutsi from me, sorry didnt mean to sound like its his fault the system is broken here and the nc coaching isnt teaching the kids enough. The guy is making an honest living and totally agree that if I was to send my kids to an ex footballer to teach them the game, his number would be the first one I called.  Everyone complaining about how expensive soccer is in this country needs to be reminded of how desperate some parents are to make their children somebody famous.... were f#cked as a society, in 20 years there wont be any doctors or teachers but we'll be drowing in influencers and youtubers.. FMD.

Don't need to check it out - I've watched it a number of times.

All good mate :D I could go on a giant rant about the state of academies in this country, but I'll refrain.

Getting back to Souths though: have you appointed a new head coach yet? I remember a while back seeing a job advertisement for the role, can't remember if a mate sent me it or not.

Yeah looks like we are giving Esteban a serious run at it this year as the squad seems to be pretty much at leat 80% his new signings. Apart from Schroen, Adams and Norton that he has inheritted from CT, the spine of the club is very different  and more than happy to give Sawyer and the new kid Hore a fresh chance to bang in some goals and show us what they are worth.. Schroen back from injury is huge as I can see him pairing well and mentoring Sylaidos in midfield. Elmazi is one of the shinning young cb for me of last seasons limited games and with new signing Jankovic from Bentleigh, who is a beast of a man and can bang in the odd header, looks like we finally have a back line with some strength AND a bit of depth in all 4 positions.... 
Ill keep my powder dry on Esteban for now, he seems a dedicated coach and a typical fiery Argentinean  but really seemed lost in big moments last year. Hellas have now (2020 aside) had 2 really atrocious seasons and ever since we sacked Chris Taylor the squad has been unsettled and the table shows that clearly...  A part of that was the playing group not respecting the seemingly endless procession of coaching "solutions" the board rolled out, lets hope that we got sone early runs on the board this season as South is one of those clubs that tends to implode easily when things dont go our way.

Just saw yesterday that Stuart Munro has departed the Knights and taken a TD position at Dandy Thunder. Good solution for all, he looked like a disaster in the games played during 2020, with the season being cancelled probably saving Knights from the drop. Diogo Ferreira has joined the coaching staff at MK, but unaware if it's as the head coach or not.

Whatever happened to that Billy guy you had up front? Played a lot of top league in Greece iirc, came in with big wraps.

i thought it was marconi. And thats right that lob. Forgot about that

Yeah I heard that. FMD the Knights are brutal on their coaching staff and demand success.  It hasnt been a good decade for them and last year was a pretty touch and go, almost like our year the year before.
Big Billy Konstantinidis, I believe is playing in 3rd division back in Greece somewhere..Looked really good in pre season, played for Aris ( Jeggos club) when they where second division with a few cameos for teams in 1st division and was a Melbourne boy so didnt count as a visa player.. played a whole season as a classic target #9 minus a few rounds for disciplinary reasons and only managed 3, 4 goals from memory... His wife wearing really tight pants used to be one of the only things keeping us warm in the middle of the arctic NPL winter so there was at least some concillation for him not scoring.... on the pitch 🤣

I was working and missed it..... spewing at the time......

I really don't like calling them MK tbh, when I was growing up we called them Melbourne Croatia and it wasn't a big deal. Them and Sydney United held a meeting last season I think about reverting to Melbourne/Sydney Croatia and both opted not to, which was a bit of a surprise to me. I used to love their older jerseys, been trying for years to get a classic Melbourne Croatia jersey!

I don't understand their demand for success, as they're really not a big spender at all. They typically have 2-3 pretty good players, and then the rest are just hard workers who can help you jag a result. I like Albano from them, but he's a bit of a one trick pony. Watson has gotten them goals in recent years, but I personally think he's a very poor player. I used to love it when big Ljubo was there, I went to his debut at Perth Oval all those years ago. Even back then as a teenager: he was already at a very high level.

Billy K, that's the one! Ah, so he went back to Greece, didn't hang around. I thought he was gonna be really good for you when I saw the announcement, but all I remember of him is one hell of an elbow that he threw :laugh:

Did you by any chance get to see Chris Duggan from Port Melbourne play this season? He looks a quality player tbh.

Yeah I know what you mean about the "old" names, it seems that modern Australian society has forgotten  our country's  promise of a true multicultural society for all and demands that  non anglos assimilate or die. Since the name changes happened almost 30 years ago very few of the youngsters from non NSL clubs understand what "Hellas", "Alexander" and "Croatia " mean to the members and fans of these clubs, and the history  pride and passion that brings with it and that circles back to Knights and why perhaps their  members demand success and respect for the shirt even though financially they are not in the same position as they where in  their glory days of mid 90s.
I am assuming you are a Glory fan from previous comments, is that right? I only ever came accross to Perth once, and loved it.. always thought I would have plenty of time over the years to make the away trip to Glory, we bad some pretty epic encounters with Perth and it was always a decently attended game down here  ...  Maybe one day soon in the FFA cup or something.....
I also dont rate Hamish Watson too much  if you want a better brutish target man I would pick Barnes from Dandenong Thunder as the pick of the bunch down here. Ljubo is a special cat I agree both on and off the pitch. As for Duggan from Port I cant say I paid much attention to him  seems tidy on the ball Ill keep an eye out this year... God last season "ended" in March and seems sooooo long ago.

I was born and raised in Perth until 12, when I moved to Queensland. So I was fortunate to grow up on the Perth Glory NSL years, and move away just as the A-League was launched :laugh: these days I'm no longer a supporter of any A-League club, but I still hope that Perth do well regardless. I'd probably describe myself as a MK fan if I had to "pledge allegiance" to a club based in Aus.

Not a fan of Barnes personally [he just keeps getting bigger and bigger!]. He scores goals, but I just think his all-round play is quite poor, and his movement these days... very slow or non-existent. Duggan was really good from what I saw of him, and I'm intrigued to see how Brockie will do for Bentleigh too. He's taken the U13 SAP squad there iirc, so he's obviously thinking ahead to "life after football" imo.

I just want to see NPL football return, it's been too long.

Not sold on last seasons Queenslanders, Sawyer and Clarke looked very average, need Hore to be an upgrade.

Of what we saw in the first 5 games last year Elmazi and Sylaidos were the clear stand outs but we are going to need a lot more then that.

Yeah I agree on "Virgil" Elmazi but I recall Gerrie starting the season pretty slowly, especially against Chokleigh I think he was poor. I dont know why we insist on Qld recruiting every year but willing to give Sawyer another crack, we only saw 5 games and he scored a hatrick in one of them. I dont think we was getting the balls in at the top of the box where he expects them and hope/think Schroen coming in and playing a little higher will push the wingers wider to feed him in. Hore scored a nice goal today in Sheparton, fingers crossed for the season.

Wow thats a bit of an unusal path to MK but more power too you... Do you ever get down to Melbourne for games? I must say, as much as our two clubs despise each other, the Somers Street away game is the first one I put in my calender every year.  Great cevapi and as it is usually a Friday night game i end up having 2 plus 3 or 4 scotches to wash it down 👍
As for Brockie at Bentleigh, hard to say, he hasnt played much from what I understand lately and NPL vic hasnt been too kind to ex Aleague players over the last few years...aoart from a brief cameo by Santalab and that other banana that Dandenong City brought in half way through the season to save them from relegation . South have had their smattering of A league rejects over the years, I think Howard was the last of them,  Archie Thompson at Heidelberg was hilarious for the few games that lasted.  

I typically live abroad, so getting to games is tough, but my family is now based on the east coast, so it'll be much easier when I'm able to visit them. Maybe time a visit around a derby or something along those lines ;) Souths are the first game I look for, quickly followed by Altona now. Altona will be an interesting prospect next year, they appear to have recruited quite well, and with Lozanovski gone: they could be a side to fear. His brand of football was good for getting them up the leagues, but it was dire stuff to watch in NPL imo. Same with what Stuart Munro had us playing at the start of last season: it was pure shite. What made it worse was his recruitment, which was shambolic.

Agree with you on ex A-League players not tending to do well. Howard was a disaster imo, how he got to the A-League... I'll never understand! Ross Archibald would be another player that has done well after falling out of the A-League, he could still do a job in it for me, as could Caio de Godoy who plays for Port Melbourne.