Money can’t buy a winning culture for Melbourne City

While money can buy success, it does not necessarily guarantee everything will be smooth sailing.

Referee Chris Beath shows a yellow card to Melbourne City’s Dean Bouzanis.Picture: George Salpigtidis

They are the richest club in ­Australia, backed by arguably the most powerful and influential ­soccer organisation in the world. When you are part of the City Football Group, as A-League club Melbourne City are, you want for nothing, from the exceptional training facilities to access to all sorts of sophisticated training and medical equipment. Nothing but the best for the best.

Eye-watering wages and infrastructure aside, it’s easy to see why top quality players are drawn to clubs such as Manchester City, New York City, Melbourne City and Yokohama F Marinos, who are all part of the UAE-funded CFG family that is spreading its tentacles around the soccer world.

But while money can buy success, it does not necessarily guarantee everything will be smooth sailing in the professional sporting environment.

What money can’t buy is culture, as defined by the values, behaviour, beliefs and ideals of a group of people.

And, as they stand now, Melbourne City, the club that was rebranded in January 2014 after CFG bought an 80 per cent stake in Melbourne Heart before taking full control 12 months later, are badly in need of sorting out an issue that, if left to fester, can badly damage a club.

Given the people behind it, the $12 million acquisition of the club was seen as a pivotal moment for the A-League.

The challenge had been laid down to the other clubs, especially Melbourne Victory.

Despite two finals appearances (2014-15 and 2015-16), City have yet to win a championship, but broke through for their first senior men’s trophy in defeating Sydney FC 1-0 in the FFA Cup final late last year.

Since then, however, City have struggled, losing coach John van’t Schip (for personal reasons) and winning just two games in their past 10 matches. The latest setback came in the bitter and controversial loss to Victory in the Melbourne Derby last Saturday night.

This was the flashpoint for City. The defeat brought out the worst in their playing group and it is just part of a litany of troubling incidents and reactions that have plagued the club this season and have put not just the players, but the management in some unwanted spotlight. No doubt the football side of things can be fixed up, eventually. But the culture issue might be harder to resolve.

The lowlight of the Derby confrontation was Dean Bouzanis ­racially abusing Victory’s Besart Berisha by calling him an “f---ing gypsy’’.

The goalkeeper paid a heavy price for the slur. Football Fed­eration Australia’s independent Disciplinary and Ethics committee on Thursday night banned him for five weeks.

However, the Bouzanis matter is not an isolated one. Consider the following:

• Accusations of diving involving Neil Killkenny, Fernando Brandan and captain Bruno Fornaroli (a situation, it has to be said, that is not peculiar to City).

• Fornaroli saying “and f--- off” at the end of his FFA Cup victory speech in November.

• City players often surrounding the referee after decisions go against them (again, not peculiar to City).

• Bouzanis charging out of his box to verbally abuse John Aloisi on the Brisbane Roar bench and Paul Okon on the Mariners bench.

• Kilkenny’s and Ivan Franjic’s narky post-match television interviews following games against Perth and Victory.

• Tim Cahill being sent off for dissent while waiting to get on the field as a substitute late in the Derby.

•  Five City players receiving their fifth yellow card of the season in the same game (last Saturday’s Derby), including Fornaroli, who was booked in the 94th minute.

•  Allegations two players almost came to blows at training last week.

Credit to the club for getting on the front foot and apologising the next day for Bouzanis’s outburst and to Cahill, who also issued a public apology for his behaviour.

But clearly, it is not a good rap sheet and the lack of discipline must be a great concern to City ­officials, who are working hard to make the club a big player in the tough Melbourne sports market.

To be fair, the CFG have been in charge for less than three years. While soccer-wise, there has also been success via the women’s and national youth teams, it takes time for a club to find its soul and to build a good culture off the field.

City, in their new guise, have not been around as long as their counterparts Melbourne Victory, a club that is ferocious in protecting its brand and who relentlessly strive for perfection on and off the field.

In the wake of the events of this season, there are valuable lessons to learn for City’s senior group and they need only to look in their own backyard at their women’s and youth teams for some ­guidance.

The NYL side won the title last week and the women’s side will play Perth Glory in the W-League final tomorrow.

City’s women’s player-coach Jess Fishlock is a shining example of the sort of culture that can make a club great.

The Welsh international was felled from behind by a cowardly attack in a game last week, but simply got up, shook her head and played on as if nothing happened.

Fishlock has heart and knows about culture.

Maybe City need to go back to where it started and rediscover some heart.