Western United fires early warning shot to Victorian rivals with fast start, but plenty of work remains off the field
Western United has fired an early warning shot to its Victorian rivals on the field, but a lot of work remains off it as three clubs battle for football supremacy.
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Competition (noun): The activity or condition of striving to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others.
The race for Victorian A-League supremacy is alive and well ahead of an intriguing fortnight of derbies.
Western United is firing on the field and the extra team has forced the incumbents’ hand and added a new narrative to the season, with Melbourne Victory feeling the early pinch and Melbourne City appearing refocused.
The A-League has generally endured a modest start, still paying for the effects of a multi-year political battle, poor strategic decision making and inertia.
Seven years of the same clubs and similar players has led to fan fatigue that will take time and boldness to overturn.
Refereeing and VAR initiatives have been central to the promotion of the 2019-20 season — but fans don’t come to watch referees.
It’s about the players. The quality of football is actually reasonably high, highlighted by a number of world class goals this week including Western Sydney duo Keanu Baccus and Alex Meier, Western United’s Panagiotis Kone and Sydney FC’s Rhyan Grant.
WINNING FANS
Western United’s arrival, as low-key as their lead-in has been, adds a new dimension and all clubs have upped the ante.
City fans — many kids included — were brought into the bowels of AAMI Park to meet their heroes and have noticed a change in attitude from club chiefs in the off-season.
“There is (good vibes). From pre-season, the fans have really made a positive step with regards to taking in the manager,” City captain Scott Jamieson said.
“Nothing to do with the previous manager (Warren Joyce), but you just sense the fans feel real important — that’s off the back of the club making a real effort with the community, with football clubs, with schools the last 12-18 months to find a connection.
“This is just the start. We can really build on crowds like today, but there’s a real positive wave and with the fans.”
Victory have been the trendsetters for years, with their membership edging towards 24,000.
Western United players — with the backing of coach Mark Rudan — stayed back well after the final whistle to sign autographs.
“Over time we’ll build a crowd and good corporate support and over time people will see Western United is here for the long journey,” Western United CEO Chris Pehlivanis said.
“We don’t really have expectations season one, but we’ll set a good foundation and we’ll be a brand in the community that people can trust.”
THE FUTURE
The crowds and TV ratings must improve.
A low-key pre-season build-up and the delay in transitioning to independence hasn’t helped, but no more excuses.
Nationally, this Saturday’s Sydney derby looms as a cracker at Bankwest Stadium, with Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers entering with 100 per cent records.
Locally, the three Victorian games over the weekend drew 31,518 (Victory the highest with 17,231).
Melbourne City’s and Western United’s 6888 crowds were underwhelming — with the latter indicating that the expansion club has a lot of work to do to entrench itself in Victoria’s western region.
Had they have been playing out of a 15,000-seat stadium, they’d be halfway there. But GMHBA Stadium is a 36,000-capacity (a fantastic one at that) stadium, and this surely must have factored into FFA’s decision-making.
The images coming from Leichhardt Oval, where 12,536 watched Sydney FC’s 2-1 win over Wellington, looked superb.
When is Australian football going to learn?
City’s many blunders over the journey, particularly the bitter and predictable fallouts with stars Tim Cahill, Bruno Fornaroli and Fernando Brandan, have cost them thousands of fans — some gone forever, others are on the periphery sussing out the new French coach Erick Mombaerts and his 2019-20 cattle.
Results will help each of them, and Western United is beautifully set up to capitalise in Sunday’s derby at GMHBA Stadium against a Melbourne City side returning from Wednesday’s FFA Cup final away to Adelaide United.
A Victory loss away to Brisbane Roar on Friday would pile on the pressure ahead of their home derby against Western United at Marvel Stadium on November 2.