Someone Up There Hates Me

Seriously? This guy?

Only 20 minutes before I began writing this very piece, Sydney FC confirmed the news that was being reported that Frank Farina would officially become the new coach of the club. It was only a couple of weeks ago that I wrote the following:

“Obviously several locally based managers will apply for the job. I would imagine former Socceroos coach Frank Farina will be interested but to say I would be upset if they hired him would be an understatement. After his Socceroos stint, I want nothing to do with supporting a team he coaches ever again.”

When I saw the news tick across the bottom of the screen watching Question Time on Sky News this afternoon, I instantly texted a friend telling him about it and the reply I got was “Oh f*ck” but without the *.

Whilst I didn’t agree with hiring Ian Crook in the first place as I thought the club needed someone better and could certainly get better, I didn’t for the life of me think that they would replace him with truly one of the worst football coaches I can remember. Frank Farina was truly awful as Socceroos coach and replacing him with Guus Hiddink was like upgrading from a Datsun to a Rolls Royce. I have never had a conversation about him where someone has defended him, which says a lot.

Then he coached the Queensland Roar before they changed their name to Brisbane. They weren’t terrible but certainly not very good and certainly not particularly entertaining. Once again as soon as he was sacked, he was replaced by someone competent and the team turned into the juggernaut that went on to win back to back titles. Not to mention he was fired for getting done for drink driving ON THE WAY TO TRAINING.

I don’t know Frank Farina as a person and he might be a terrific bloke, but to be honest I really don’t care about that. What I care about is that Sydney FC are in a situation where they need to capitalise on the godsend they received by having Alessandro Del Piero agree to play for them and when Ian Crook resigned they had the opportunity to take a step in the right direction. Del Piero is no spring chicken and as I wrote about previously, this is a win now situation.

Then again maybe Sydney FC are geniuses. Whoever replaces Farina seems to have great success, so if he coaches for simply one game and then is sacked, perhaps the next coach will turn the club around. Or you know, perhaps this will be a wasted season where the A-League took steps forward and Sydney FC, despite having the best player in the league, took major steps backwards.

I can’t imagine Del Piero staying on past his two year contract, so if this season is a bust – and right now all my money is on it staying that way – I hope they find a suitable coach and recruit players to make the club successful in 2013/14.

I might be proven wrong and Sydney FC might turn it around under Farina and yet I will still disagree with hiring him in the first place. All you can go on is history and there is nothing suggesting this is a good decision.

It’s hard being a fan sometimes.

Carpe Diem A-League

Del Piero introduced to the media

So now that it is the Friday after the Grand Finals it is finally sinking in that footy season, at least AFL and NRL season really is over. Sure it leaves a hole in my heart but the sun is shining and more important I’m genuinely excited for the start of the A-League season.

I, like many people I know, do like the A-League, want it to thrive and desperately want Australia to be a real power in the biggest sport in the world. However, unlike most of my other teams, I can’t claim to go to many games, buy merchandise or buy a membership. I’m a casual fan and I must admit that despite the fact that I want Sydney FC and the A-League to succeed, I don’t do all that much to support it. I’ve been to a couple of games and watch them on TV, but that’s not going to help pay the bills.

This season however really could be the making of the A-League. See whilst the A-League has had marquee signings before that have worked out, such as Dwight Yorke and even Robbie Fowler, what I think was missing from making it really help the league was having multiple star players across the league. The signing of Alessandro Del Piero for Sydney FC is obviously massive in-and-of-itself, but I think the reason this time it might lead to real success for the league is because other teams are also making waves. Newcastle has signed Emile Heskey, the new Western Sydney Wanderers looked close to signing Michael Ballack but have at least ended up with Japanese star Shinji Ono and the pressure is going to be on other teams to start looking for their own big money man.

The MLS in the States has finally caught on and has a loyal fan base and even gets decent coverage on ESPN. They pulled this off both by targeting cities starved for a team to support, but also by bringing in not just David Beckham, but plenty of other big names on the backend of their European career like Thierry Henry and now our own Tim Cahill. Now any game you go to has not only some good local talent, but likely also some guys you used to have to watch on TV as they played in the best leagues in the World.

I already have my tickets to the Sydney FC home opener to see Del Piero vs. Heskey and I’m going in a group with friends who are all equally excited not just for the game, but the season as a whole. The A-League might finally convert us casual fans into fans that actually make a dent in the revenue column.

Of course all this couldn’t come at a more important time for the FFA and the A-League. The existing TV deal is expiring and the league needs serious numbers to justify being paid the serious money it requires to cement itself as one of the premier sports in the country on a professional level.

Were this season to have similar crowd and TV ratings as they have had in recent seasons, I highly doubt the TV contract the sign will meet expectations. I also hope the A-League gets to move on to free-to-air TV as unfortunately not enough people in Australia have Foxtel and to get the mainstream publicity on a regular basis, not just for news stories and player signings, but for the matches themselves, the league needs to get onto FTA TV.

But for the first time, I am confident the A-League can pull it off. After years of teams struggling to pay their bills, changing owners or going under, the 2012-13 season is make or break and I’m actually putting my money on ‘make’.

Hopefully new CEO David Gallop gets to walk into a league with increasing revenue, ratings and crowd numbers as a shiny new TV contract (which he interestingly has been actively left out of, but that’s another story).

The season kicks off tonight with the Melbourne Derby and I hope it’s the start of something big.