Weren't sitting on anything, Heart had 6190 members, not City.

-PB

When did Olympiakos move to the A-league?

Heart folded. This is a whole new company.

This, I supported Heart. Don't get me wrong, I loved supporting them (despite the lack of success of silverwear) but I had fun going to the games and having a good time. BUT reality is we are city now. We are a different brand all together. Onwards and upwards.

memberships rolled over automatically from the previous year.

Give it up guys! I don't really give a shit what you guys think or want to think, but Heart didn't fold, it has evolved. You can say whatever you want to make yourselves feel better about your own clubs, or lack there of for PB.

We still have the heart logo on our new badge, we still wear the red & white stripes and most of the personnel has stayed the same so for me and most of those 6,190 members (at this time last season), it's the same club with a whole lot more money to our disposal ;)
If the new name and home kit means we can get more members and more wins then I'm all for it.

Melbourne City will always be The Heart of the city!

nah brah

Yeah my membership card says I've been a member of the club for four years so I'll go with that.

I was under the impression that that's exactly what didn't happen....

Hey guys! I'm getting an up-to-date list of the player contracts for all HAL teams. I was wondering if you could run your eye over the below, and tell me if I have left anyone out, if anyone in the list has left, if a player is/isn't a marquee/foreigner and I haven't listed it appropriately, or if any of the contract lengths are off? Any help would be hugely appreciated!

Note:
LEGEND
* Denotes NYL Youth Contract
(V) Denotes Visa Player
(M) Denotes Marquee
(A) Denotes Aussie Marquee

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2142680

MELBOURNE CITY
Head Coach: John van 't Schip 16/17

2014/15   
Damien Duff (V)
Mate Dugandžić   
Jonathan Germano (V)   
Patrick Kisnorbo   
Massimo Murdocca   
Iain Ramsay   
Pablo Retre
Tando Velaphi   
Rob Wielaert (V)   
Liam Miller (V, injury replacement)   

2015/16   
James Brown
Connor Chapman
Jack Clisby   
Jason Hoffman
Robert Koren (V) (M)
Marc Marino*
Stefan Mauk   
Jacob Melling*
Aaron Mooy   
Andrew Redmayne   
David Williams   

2016/17   
Ben Garuccio   

2017/18
Eric Paartalu

Just get rid of Liam Miller (who's officially left the club to join Irish side Cork City), and put Joshua Kennedy (A) under 2015/16 and the list is 100% accurate.

So here we are on the cusp of the a league coming back...with franjic hopefully coming across on loan. Koren getting games under the belt & Mooy bossing the mids and last and not lease Jesus Kennedy to come in. Will be interesting to see how we go. The victory home derby (at Etihad) and Wellington away are the very lows the XMAS derby and Newcaste away are the highs.
We have no middle ground we have either been very good or very shit.
hopefully the 2nd half of the season brings up more Ws than Ls .

Do you support the Company, the License or the team ?

I support the second franchise in Melbourne who has new owners with the same philosophy on playing football as the previous owners.

Its the A-League FFS-there are no clubs, there are no members.

I reckon the team was so inconsistent over the first 13 games of the season because the team didn't have much depth over those games, due to injuries to multiple key players (Koren, Chapman and Williams and Duff for periods). I mean the Melbourne City XI that started in the last Melbourne derby had no marquees or even Visa players (and the team still won)!

Now as the second half of the season approaches the team includes 2 quality marquees in Koren and Josh Kennedy, whilst Chapman, Williams and Duff are fully fit. Also Germano, Murdocca and Hoffman (our only RB ATM, please sign Franjic!! [-o< ) are also fit again.


I'd say those several inclusions set the team up for a strong finish over the remaining half season, and provide depth throughout the squad that'll lessen the likelihood of losses (esp. bad losses, like the Wellington game) and will see that the team gets a good amount of wins to solidify a finals spot.

Agree, I would hope we are really going above and beyond to sign some more defenders. But if we land franjic all be it on loan its a start.

The trip to Dubai hopefully has helped the team somewhat so will be interesting to see how they go once returning.

Kennedy and Partalu at the corners will be a great combo. I used to hate us with set pieces now I am confident we can score from them - 2 big towers of Jesus and Partalu will be dangerous.

The big hope for me is Mate can improve and be a consistently good player.

Chapman and Melling will have a huge 2nd half to the season

You don't need any more defenders. You just signed Jack Clumsby from Perth Glory.

http://instagram.com/p/yElo9mnhJl/

Lampard and Silva must be pinching themselves

Edited by stefcep: 21/1/2015 06:14:09 PM

Also interesting to see if willo stays or goes now Kennedy is coming in.

Game day cant come quick enough. Interesting to see weather they unleash Jesus this round.

What's everyone's thoughts for our line up this weekend?

Solid.

Clisby was good last week. Going to be a good game this week. Could be won and lost in the midfield.

One day they might even move up to a first name basis.

Agree, need to nullify the supply to Berisha and/or Thompson.

Will Kennedy play?

Save yourself typing out this question over the next two years by just assuming he isn't playing.

When he does start, it'll be a nice surprise.

The glass half empty kind of outlook on life? lol

Tando didn't pass the fitness test so won't play - http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/vant-schips-pre-derby-boast-city-can-beat-any-team

Kennedy will play. Although he'll come off the bench, like Koren did when he debuted in the last derby.

Clisby looks set to start in place of injured Garuccio, and I'm tipping Williams to start as the left winger in place of Ramsay. Ramsay's confidence is shot to pieces so he shouldn't start, and Williams would have to be really unfavoured by van't Schip if he's to remain on the bench again like he did last round against WSW.

So my predicted City lineup for tomorrow:




With Kennedy coming off the bench, the team should be pretty solid in attack and defence. Should be a good game.

Edited by Murfy1: 6/2/2015 09:59:29 PM

Edited by Murfy1: 6/2/2015 10:00:39 PM

Any word on this "College of Football" business supposedly launching @Trinity Grammar on Monday?

Interesting to hear there's apparently some launch at Trinity Grammar on Monday.

I'm not exactly sure what it could be. The club does have a College of football, which is run together with John Fawkner College: http://www.melbournecitycollegeoffootball.com/melbourne-city-college-of-football-at-john-fawkner-college/ .

Technically I'm pretty certain it was launched last year (http://www.jfc.vic.edu.au/?gallery_page=slideshow&pp_gallery_id=1381797511). However it does seem to me that there's been a few launches or quasi-launches of this college, which were maybe more to announce new facilities and host information days for prospective students/players.

If I had to guess what the Monday launch is about, I'd guess that it's related to some new pitches and facilities that were fully completed earlier this month (http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/about-council/news-media/news-and-notices/cb-smith-sport-and-education-facility.html). Also perhaps it could be another information day/recruitment day to get students/players registered for the next semester.


The College of Football is an interesting project, and I'm not sure I'm 100% up to date to on the latest with it, but I do know that there's already been some recruitment from the College of Football to Melbourne City youth teams. Perhaps in the future Melbourne City will more often recruit from its recently established College of Football.