What is he? 32? His run at the EPL unfortunately is too late.

Cut to the chase. Just drive into the carriage and park. The passengers will scatter like seagulls. No casualties, no problem.

Underlines the importance of a pro second division.

More like winter in Game of Thrones. And when it did come, it was a. huge disappointment.

I suggest that the main point here is that the football ecosystem nurtures these players, but the A League gives them a destination where they can become professional footballers at home. We need both, and I agree that in an ideal world the development clubs should be rewarded for their work.

The foot speed of the Saudi players was seriously impressive. They were noticeably faster than our players overall.

Agree 100%. This is part of the broader cultural, poltical, and economic myopia that holds Australia back in so many ways.

Punching above our weight, true or not (I think not, personally) makes no difference if the public perception is of serial failure.

Pretty much. There is a good argument for saying that the difference in large part is quality import players. Which doesn't mean hacks from League 1 or Championship castoffs.

I was referring specifically to the current A League coaches, not past.

Interesting reading - thanks for posting, SG. Daylight from the petrodollar clubs to everyone else. And people here think SFC are big spenders! In black and white, right there is why we can't complete. And it underlines the criticism - we are a relatively low standard league, like it or not...

Until our clubs perform decently in the ACL, the A League will get zero respect. Every year we see the same sorry results and every year those results are proof for the critics. And the problem is, they are right. ACL is an objective measure and it says coaches and our teams are lacking in...

Can someone please advise where the game can be watched? Thanks

We are all guessing, but based on early GC United, 8k av is a conservative expectation, with up to 12 for big games and 15k for the derby, perhaps more. I really do think people outside the Coast underestimate the population growth and the changes in the structure of the community. As for...

Having been a foundation member, I strongly and respectfully disagree. The support was there, but Palmer screwed the pooch, to borrow a line from All the Right Stuff. It is not at all accurate to say there was "no" support from grassroots. Secondly, the GC population is about 750k now, and...

I was a huge fan of Klopp when he was at Dortmund. When Liverpool appointed him, I thought, "this is going to be fun"!

The bottom line is that the only attractive proposition for an expansion club in Australia, based on population, derby potential, and stadium is Gold Coast. No one should let Palmer's mess convince them that a GC club can't work. It can and it would. I'm going for gold and blue vertical...

Watching Liverpool since Klopp has been one of the pleasures of my life. I still think the Klop team that won the League was the best of the lot so far.

I'll use an analogy. I recently surveyed 115 publishers in the UK. Only five said they would accept the submission of literary fiction novels that didn't come from an agent. A closer look at those 5 showed that NONE of them are accepting unsolicited manuscripts from writers. That means that...

Same with the talk about Tasmania. I mean, seriously, who is going to stump up 20+ million to put a team in Hobart to pull 3k per game in a state losing population (Decentric, I checked the most recent stats and population line is now negative) and zero capacity for financial growth? Is...