Brisbane Roar-ful
Utrecht have become fond of the Roar after purchasing three Brisbane players - Tommy Oar, Michael Zullo and Adam Sarota - in the off-season for $1.8 million, money that proved to be vital in securing the ailing Roar's future.
Young guns Oar and Sarota have already played first-team football for the Eredivisie outfit, with Utrecht understood to be keen on establishing a feeder club relationship with the Roar.
In return, Brisbane could become home to a Utrecht player unable to cement a first-team spot in Holland.
Talks are at an advanced stage, with Utrecht officials expected to be in Brisbane by November to inspect the club.
Brisbane board members will also fly to Holland's fourth-largest city to potentially seal the deal.
It is understood the current Roar directors, Coffee Club barons Emmanuel Drivas, Emmanuel Kokoris, and Luxury Paints brothers Claude and Serge Baradel, will only agree to the deal if Utrecht don't push for majority ownership.
Drivas, Kokoris and the Baradels are willing to sell 40 per cent of the club's shares to Utrecht, keep 40 per cent for themselves and find another investor to buy the remaining 20 per cent.
Football Federation Australia, who continue to financially assist the Roar as well as totally fund North Queensland Fury and Adelaide United, have encouraged Brisbane to accept a Utrecht offer.
Utrecht are an ambitious outfit formed in 1970 when the city's three clubs DOS, Elinkwijk and Velox merged.
Since being formed 40 years ago, Utrecht have never been relegated from Holland's top flight and have won the Dutch Cup three times.
They finished seventh in the Eredivisie last season and made the group stages of the Europa League after knocking out Scottish giants Celtic.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27668218-5000940,00.html
their movement on and off the ball is definitely a feature of their game. and it suits Kosta a lot more than the way we play
This is from a Brisbane based Rovers fan I follow on Twitter:
#BRIvADL Long hard season ahead for #brisbaneroar Bakri group need to invest in players. Quality of recruits is getting poorer and poorer
#BRIvADL #brisbaneroar bench today was weak again - no game changers there NYL, State Lge & young Asian loanees will not take club forward
I do think he has a good point. Since the Indonesians took over the Roar, the recruitment hasn't really been that great. They have gone from a purring engine to a spluttering one because they haven't been oiling the parts.
Berisha out injured for the Roar, guess that explains why he had a poor game against Adelaide. Looking at their squad, they don't seem to have another striker. Meyer hasn't made the squad, so who will play up front for the Roar?
4-6-0 FTW.
No talk about Rado being 'moved upstairs'?
Glad to see Mulvey back in charge of a team. No offence intended to the Victory Women & W-League, but he showed that he is capable at a better level.
Hadn't seen it. Wow.
Vidosic said he was thrilled by the opportunities presented by his new position.
"It is with great excitement that I have accepted this new position with Brisbane Roar and the wider Pelita Jaya Cronus football group," he said.
Weird thing to say when you've been comprehensively sacked as coach. It's either a brave or a foolhardy decision - I can't decide which. Probably the latter.
So that's the last 3 assistants promoted to manage fired? Only Ian Ferguson has managed to make the step up, and even he was on the edge of getting the boot last season.
A slight change from when Brisbane walloped Melbourne V 5 zip in the early days this season. Then it was all about Rado (not Ange) being the real reason behind Brisbane's style/success*.
Maybe not, they are now suggesting.
(accompanied by Rodin-like pondering gesture)
1 Ange Postecoglou leaving: The Roar have not recovered since the architect of Brisbane's back-to-back championships left for Melbourne Victory.
2 Appointing Rado Vidosic as head coach: Having been assistant coach for seven years, Vidosic was too close to the players and did not command the same respect as Postecoglou in the dressing room.
3 Handing players too much power: Vidosic was overheard at the season launch saying he planned to give players more power than they had under disciplinarian Postecoglou. It backfired spectacularly.
4 Signing a host of experienced players on long-term deals: Older players that had been pivotal to Brisbane's title-winning efforts are now in comfort zones after signing lengthy contracts during the off-season. It is showing all over the park.
5 Failing to sign an adequate replacement for key defender Mohamed Adnan: The Roar had a golden opportunity to snare Socceroos defender Michael Thwaite in the off-season but refused to come up with the cash. They have belatedly acquired Jade North but it's far too late.
6 Wasting two visa spots on unproven imports: Your foreign players are supposed to be better than your Australian talent, but the Roar instead brought in teenagers Yuji Takahashi and Do Dong-Hyun. Takahashi has already been sent back to Japan while Do has failed to have an impact.
7 Lack of football knowledge in front office: While Postecoglou's departure was shattering, the exit of football manager and former Socceroos striker Paul Trimboli also hurt. Trimboli's replacement Nigel Hooper and general manager Sean Dobson don't know enough about the game.
8 The Vidosic sacking fiasco: Dobson's handling of Vidosic's dumping as coach last month was comical, as was the club's declaration that Rado had been "promoted" to a technical director's role. There would have been no "promotion" had the Roar been doing well.
9 The appointment of Mike Mulvey: A guy who was not considered good enough to be on Vidosic's coaching staff months earlier, and who only won once during his seven-game stint as Gold Coast United head coach, was suddenly the man lift to Brisbane out of the doldrums despite the claims of Ernie Merrick and Aurelio Vidmar.
10 Lack of motivation and hunger: Having won successive titles, the Roar squad no longer has the desire that existed during Postecoglou's reign and it has been been evident all season.
Points 4, 6 and 7 apply directly to us as well.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1136712/Paartalu-banished-by-Roar
Fuck me. Get him on a flight here.
I will qualify that by saying he has behaved a bit petulantly this year so may not be much of a team man.
When you are at the bottom, results are important, no cocks rule can be bent.
How about when you're 3 points away from the playoffs?
4 points out of 5th and the top half of the table?
I will qualify that by saying he has behaved a bit petulantly this year so may not be much of a team man.
Erik Paartalu signs a two-year deal with Chinese Super League club Tianjin Teda. Story on News Ltd websites shortly.
Lustica, 21, will reunite with his former Gold Coast youth team coach Mike Mulvey where the captain-coach combination won successive youth titles.
Dutch media has reported that the 24-year-old PSV Eindhoven forward has joined the Roar on a four-month loan deal.
Option to buy him also.
Mulvey confirmed for 2 more seasons.
That's a big call.
That's a big call.
That's a big call.
Lets hope that he does not show much on Sunday. He seem pretty confident.
Stefan Nijland signed for PEC Zwolle.
Miller confirmed this morning, no link up yet.
Some quality keeping here ...
some OG too.
Lolz. Strikers look like they'd struggle in Central League.
Lolz. Strikers look like they'd struggle in Central League.
They are not the top side and I doubt it.
McKay has penned a two-year contract that will see him back in Brisbane until the end of the Hyundai A-League 2014/15 campaign as the Roar’s Australian marquee player.
McKay has penned a two-year contract that will see him back in Brisbane until the end of the Hyundai A-League 2014/15 campaign as the Roar’s Australian marquee player.
Not really a surprise but a good signing for Roar.