ICYMI: A recap of a huge A-League news week
Oh, A-League. Only you can have such a bustling week when no games are being played.
It's been a monster news cycle for the A-League, with the headline being the FFA and Fox finally reaching an agreement about televising the rest of the season, as well as the first matches in the restart being announced - Melbourne Victory and Western United will be kicking us off.
But there was far more which may have gotten lost amidst the news cycle. Luckily for you, I am here to provide a round up of what you may have missed over the past week.
First off, it’s all change at the Newcastle Jets. Import striker Kaine Sheppard and the Jets parted ways on the 18th, after a paltry 3 goals in 28 games. Newcastle also announced the retirement of veteran kiwi keeper Glen Moss. This is huge for us in NZ; Moss was New Zealand’s and the Nix’s No 1 for the longest time, he will be missed. The club could also be changing owners as Chinese millionaire Martin Lee may at long last sell his club with a Sydney based consortium being the most likely buyer - although there are others. This one is not just speculation as such articles tend to be, in the linked article Newcastle chief executive Lawrie McKinna speaks to SBS about it. Finally, the Jets have been boosted by the return of head coach Carl Robinson and assistants Kenny Miller and Darren Bazeley - who you may remember as Anthony Hudson’s assistant - to Oz. As we’ll soon find out, that will make them the envy of some.
Newcastle are not alone in the change game; Adelaide United have decided they want to play too. The South Australians announced Carl Veart as their new interim head coach until the season finish with Airton Andrioli as his assistant. Veart was former head coach Gertjan Verbeek’s assistant, and actually played for the reds all the way back in 2005. Adelaide football director Bruce Djite also seems keen to have him continue long term, and called this a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Meanwhile, Michaël Maria has departed South Australia, with Curaçaon full back deciding he and his family should head home. Understandable, but a shame to see him leave.
Newcastle and Adelaide may be seeing players depart, but the Brisbane Roar can’t get their manager to return home. Robbie Fowler - who still hasn’t apologized to Ladies League contributor Nerisa - returned to England because of that whole pandemic thing, but despite the Roar being back at training remains trapped in England. Brisbane are frantically trying to get him and assistant Tony Grant back before the A-League restarts, something which is further complicated by the need for a fourteen day quarantine. Naturally, as a foreigner he is not the top priority, so for the moment assistant Darren Davies is taking training. Davies was the caretaker manager for much of the 2018/19 season, so he will at least have experience in this area.
It seems as if the border is open to everyone but Fowler as the Wellington Phoenix touched down in Sydney on Saturday. Naturally it was not without drama however. A decision on whether they would be allowed into Australia was initially expected Monday, but said decision was not finalized until Friday, in which time the Nix aired their frustrations to which an exasperated FFA complained about the Nix complaining. After everything was finally sorted, pre flight the Nix had a few standups at Wellington airport of which Phil Rollo has a good read on the return of the long injured right back Louis Fenton. I was also at the standups, so whenever I stop being lazy there should be an article with quotes from Nix players here on Total Football. Imports Ulises Dávila and Gary Hooper who were in Mexico and England respectively will unfortunately have to self isolate away from the rest of the team. We also at long last have a response to Tim Payne and Oliver Sail’s quarantine-breaking golf cart joyride; the pair will serve a four match ban. The end result of this is that third choice goalie Zac Jones will be heading to Oz alongside the rest of the Phoenix squad.
Oh, and just before we leave Wellington after a mammoth section, don’t read this next line unless you want to be sad: Roy Krishna is not returning to the A-League.
Over in Perth, things are all ok on the financial front. Apparently. The West Australians were widely reported to have taken out a million dollar loan from the FFA to cover leave and superannuation payments thanks to the lockdown. However, chief executive Tony Pignata said this was simply money which the FFA was going to give Glory later down the track but which Glory requested now. Ok then. Money matters dominate the news in the Glory, with their owner Tony Sage calling the new deal with Fox “a disgrace.” It’s worth remembering Sage tried to sell Perth to the London Football Exchange just a few months ago, so they are probably hyper aware of any financial issues.
Some bits and bobs with no common theme to round out the article: Eun-Sun Kim and Chris Harold will not finish the season with the Central Coast Mariners, with Kim returning home to Korea while Harold bows out for personal reasons. It’s not clear whether they will be back for next season. There is more clarity around Western Sydney Wanderers goalie Daniel Lopar however, who’s staying in Switzerland until the start of 2020/21 while Pirmin Schwegler will stick out the season with the Wanderers. Staying with Western Sydney, The Irish Sun of all places has an interview with their general manager on how the red and black are preparing for a safe restart. If you are curious about Melbourne Victory’s new interim manager Grant Brebner (who took over from their previous interim manager, Carlos Salvachúa), their website has an article on Brebner’s six years as a Victory player. Finally, Sydney have gotten off lightly in regards to players leaving and in quarantine, as for them it’s just Ryan McGowan. However he needs a treadmill in isolation, so Sydney are having to try and fetch one for him.
That’s it for this round up, if there’s popular demand I could be interested in making this a weekly article. Certainly some interesting reads in all of this.
