Holy Snapping Catfish! Man City just bought Melbourne Heart! (for the OzMates)

BiggyRat · January 23, 2014

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/f...-melbourne-heart/story-fni2wcjl-1226808309021

tommye · January 23, 2014

#franchised

Pat's Van · January 23, 2014

who the fk is Melbourne Heart and why didn't Everton buy him ??? can he play up front ???

barneygumble · January 23, 2014

I'm happy for it. You know for all the moaners City owners get, they've invested heavily in English, and then in two relatively raw leagues, which have bags of potential, and good on them. It's nice to see the owners so invested in the cause.

BiggyRat · January 23, 2014

Pat's Van said:
who the fk is Melbourne Heart and why didn't Everton buy him ??? can he play up front ???

Clearly not. They only won their first game of the season the other day. Minnows in a minnow league...but investment in the local league is good for Football here. Could make the transition a little easier for the next Tim Cahill...

noharmdone · January 23, 2014

Jack Rodwell will enjoy it.

Elong · January 23, 2014

They're absolutely turbo gash.

johnnydawg68 · January 23, 2014

noharmdone said:
Jack Rodwell will enjoy it.

He'll be in NY playing for the Cosmos and slaying birds.

BiggyRat · January 23, 2014

Elong said:
They're absolutely turbo gash.

No argument here. Personally, I follow the Victory but I've found that they best way to watch the A-League is to not watch Football from anywhere else in the world. It looks okay then...

Garrick · January 23, 2014

barneygumble said:
I'm happy for it. You know for all the moaners City owners get, they've invested heavily in English, and then in two relatively raw leagues, which have bags of potential, and good on them. It's nice to see the owners so invested in the cause.

Aye. My only complaint with New York City FC is that we really didn't need another club in NYC when there are so many other untapped markets, but I suspect that Don Garber and friends at the MLS office had something to do with that team's location.

WA Toffee · January 23, 2014

Pat's Van said:
who the fk is Melbourne Heart and why didn't Everton buy him ??? can he play up front ???

First of all, imagine a lower league team. Then think of the players who had trials with them, but got rejected. Then imagine those players putting on blindfolds and trying to play football. If they are wearing a poxy red and white strip, then you have just pictured Melbourne Heart.

cduff · January 23, 2014

I think the bigger question here is whether it is good for the local team/league and football in general for a big (rich) club to be investing in A-League/MLS etc? Looking at the local A-League forums then most local fans think it is a good thing.
I'm not sure why but my gut feeling is that is not a good path for football in general. To me it is just a further corporatisation of football. We already have most of the top leagues in Europe virtually being bought up already and putting more power into these guys hands will just add to the problem.

BiggyRat · January 23, 2014

WA Toffee said:
First of all, imagine a lower league team. Then think of the players who had trials with them, but got rejected. Then imagine those players putting on blindfolds and trying to play football. If they are wearing a poxy red and white strip, then you have just pictured Melbourne Heart.

Easy mate, that's a little harsh. The blindfolds are optional!

cduff said:
I think the bigger question here is whether it is good for the local team/league and football in general for a big (rich) club to be investing in A-League/MLS etc? Looking at the local A-League forums then most local fans think it is a good thing.
I'm not sure why but my gut feeling is that is not a good path for football in general. To me it is just a further corporatisation of football. We already have most of the top leagues in Europe virtually being bought up already and putting more power into these guys hands will just add to the problem.

You make a good point for Football in general, but the game really struggles here. It competes with the local codes that are all powerful, and is also struggling to shake an ethnic history which alienated many potential fans.

For a struggling code, this is a big deal.

lmurkder · January 23, 2014

BATMAN likes this thread

pfim · January 23, 2014

cduff said:
I think the bigger question here is whether it is good for the local team/league and football in general for a big (rich) club to be investing in A-League/MLS etc? Looking at the local A-League forums then most local fans think it is a good thing.
I'm not sure why but my gut feeling is that is not a good path for football in general. To me it is just a further corporatisation of football. We already have most of the top leagues in Europe virtually being bought up already and putting more power into these guys hands will just add to the problem.

Well, the A League and MLS need money to survive. This is a great way to get it. So it's either corporate football or no football.