YOU know, it’s a sign of the times when I think that David Carney might just have stuffed up.
Right up until this year, if the chance came up for any Aussie based in Australia to get a gig in Europe, I’d have said they should grab it with both hands, put it in a gimp suit, lock it in a dungeon and call it Charlie.
Now though I’m not so sure. For the first time ever, I really feel the A-League is a better showcase for Australian talent with an eye to the Socceroos than a minor European league.
The English Premier League is still the one to be in, of course. (Not necessarily because of the quality of football, but simply because of the exposure it gets and the absolute fitness it requires). That’s why Adrian Leijer’s move to Fulham is almost certainly the better one (providing he actually gets game time, unlike fellow Aussie at Fulham, Ahmed Elrich).
But in terms of exposure to whoever the Socceroos coach might well be, the A-League now knocks seven shades of shelving units out of most other leagues in the world.
I spent most of yesterday updating our Aussies Abroad feature yesterday. We now have 13 players in the English Premier League which is a fabulous number.
But we also have a lot of players playing in obscure leagues right around the world, from the MLS to the Romanian to Scandinavian to the lower British leagues.
Is Chris Coyne any good? I have no idea – and I doubt that many others do outside of Hatters fans at Luton Town and a few of their rival clubs plus Chris’s immediate family.
Wayne Srhoj? Jonathan McKain? Eddie Bosnar? Richard Garcia? Joshua Rose? Dave Williams? I don’t know – apart from perhaps a bit part in a minor Australia match, I’ve never knowingly seen them in action. I’ve never even seen a picture of Erik Paartalu or Dave Williams...
Time was when the fact that they played in Europe would have been enough to at least earn them a place on the bench of the Socceroos – ‘Oooh, they play in Europe!’.
But we’re a bit wiser now. The superstar efforts of Milligan and Carney have made us look in our own backyard for national team talent.
So now Carney might well have run off overseas at the first chance – and with the reported money on offer to him, it’s no surprise he did – but is it really the best move for him?
He’s gone to a team full of left-sided players. There’s every chance he won’t get regular game time. He’s a small fish in a big pond.
And then he’ll get a Socceroos call-up – and through lack of match fitness, he could well completely underwhelm compared to his tireless performance in Asia, jeopardising future call-ups.
Brad Jones's abysmal efforts between the sticks for the Socceroos showed how important it is to have regular first team appearances under your belt. And Brett Holman proved that even if you can knock them home in the Dutch Eredivisie, it’s no guarantee that you’re national team striker material.
And look at Nick Ward - once golden boy of the A-League, now in virtual obscurity being loaned out to minor clubs. No wonder he's being linked with a move back to Australia.
Alternatively Carney could have stuck with Sydney, been a big fish in a small pond, and been in peak fitness for the Socceroos where he could yet have impressed enough to get a Premiership place.
That’s not so far-fetched either. He’s only 23, he has years of improvement still ahead of him providing he gets regular game time. Warming a bench or playing in reserves won’t do that for him.
We still need to extend the A-League season, of course, to ensure match fitness isn't lost by the time the major tournaments come round, and increase the salary cap so players won’t be lured away by big money – but that’s an argument for another blog.
But playing in Europe at any cost is no longer the big deal it once was. Luckily for Sydney, Mark Milligan realised this just at the right time...
And if I were one of the Aussies stuck in one of the more obscure leagues around the world with an eye to career advancement instead of just short-term financial gain, I’d be on at my agent to find me a club in the A-League ASAP - just like Nick Ward is rumoured to be doing now.
++++
Talking of wasted careers, I give you Chelsea. How many potential international stars are to wither on the Chelsea vine? I’m convinced Chelsea has ruined more careers than any other club in the history of footy.
Stars who were once the great hopes for their national team have been allowed to waste away on the sidelines of Stamford Bridge.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, Glen Johnson, Paulo Ferreira, Scott Parker, Wayne Bridge...the list goes on and on and former Reading ace Steve Sidwell looks like the latest to be added now.
Chelsea have added greatly to the excitement of the Premiership over the past few years by providing a challenge to the Manchester United behemoth, but the cost to certain individuals has been great.
They’ve been attracted to the big salaries – but often have sacrificed their careers in the process. A-League stars eyeing up a move to Europe take note.
++++
Because of the vagaries of TV rights, I had to watch the Community Shield match last night on ESPN. Words cannot describe how much I hate watching football on ESPN. Or “soccah”, as they seem to call it.
They use American football terminology (“That’s a great play”- plays are things in theatres with stages), they don't understand the rules (“That wasn’t offside” – yes, it was, Cole was interfering with play, you eejit) and they can't even recognise the players (“Chelsea seem to have brought on a new ‘keeper for the PKs” – it was Petr Cech without his eppi hat. And they’re called penalty kicks or spot kicks, not fuggen “PKs”).
Worst of all, they don't even go to the damn matches. It’s just two blokes in a studio outside New York watching the game on the monitors and talking about it. I CAN DO THAT TOO.
Unlikely though it might seem, I’d rather have Craig Foster whinging on than two know-nothing Yanks.
++++
Finally, the David Carney transfer fee is a scandal. Sheffield United must be laughing all the way to the bank. Okay, in Australia, transfer fees are virtually nominal because there isn't the same money swilling around as there is elsewhere.
But I defy you to find a player that was a star for his national team, a national team that reached the knockout stages of the World Cup and Asian Cup and is the number one ranked team in its region, a player who was perhaps THE key player for his domestic club and who helped them win their Championship and who has Champions League experience, and who is aged under 25 and on a two year contract to his club...and that is available for sale for 50,000 quid.
Free transfers excepted, I doubt the Blades have spent less than 250,000 quid on a player in recent years. They paraded Carney next to James Beattie, a player they just signed for $15million next to one that cost them less than 1/100th of that.
Beattie has one more international cap than Carney and has scored only six more club goals than Carney in the last two years, despite being a striker and playing twice as many games.
If United had paid $1 million for Carney, they would still have won a watch by comparison. A paltry $125,000 for him is inexcusable.
You might yet not be able to stop the top A-League players wanting to go overseas, but it vital for the game back here that when they do, we make damn sure we get our money’s worth for them.
Sydney have been swindled on this deal.
Right up until this year, if the chance came up for any Aussie based in Australia to get a gig in Europe, I’d have said they should grab it with both hands, put it in a gimp suit, lock it in a dungeon and call it Charlie.
Now though I’m not so sure. For the first time ever, I really feel the A-League is a better showcase for Australian talent with an eye to the Socceroos than a minor European league.
The English Premier League is still the one to be in, of course. (Not necessarily because of the quality of football, but simply because of the exposure it gets and the absolute fitness it requires). That’s why Adrian Leijer’s move to Fulham is almost certainly the better one (providing he actually gets game time, unlike fellow Aussie at Fulham, Ahmed Elrich).
But in terms of exposure to whoever the Socceroos coach might well be, the A-League now knocks seven shades of shelving units out of most other leagues in the world.
I spent most of yesterday updating our Aussies Abroad feature yesterday. We now have 13 players in the English Premier League which is a fabulous number.
But we also have a lot of players playing in obscure leagues right around the world, from the MLS to the Romanian to Scandinavian to the lower British leagues.
Is Chris Coyne any good? I have no idea – and I doubt that many others do outside of Hatters fans at Luton Town and a few of their rival clubs plus Chris’s immediate family.
Wayne Srhoj? Jonathan McKain? Eddie Bosnar? Richard Garcia? Joshua Rose? Dave Williams? I don’t know – apart from perhaps a bit part in a minor Australia match, I’ve never knowingly seen them in action. I’ve never even seen a picture of Erik Paartalu or Dave Williams...
Time was when the fact that they played in Europe would have been enough to at least earn them a place on the bench of the Socceroos – ‘Oooh, they play in Europe!’.
But we’re a bit wiser now. The superstar efforts of Milligan and Carney have made us look in our own backyard for national team talent.
So now Carney might well have run off overseas at the first chance – and with the reported money on offer to him, it’s no surprise he did – but is it really the best move for him?
He’s gone to a team full of left-sided players. There’s every chance he won’t get regular game time. He’s a small fish in a big pond.
And then he’ll get a Socceroos call-up – and through lack of match fitness, he could well completely underwhelm compared to his tireless performance in Asia, jeopardising future call-ups.
Brad Jones's abysmal efforts between the sticks for the Socceroos showed how important it is to have regular first team appearances under your belt. And Brett Holman proved that even if you can knock them home in the Dutch Eredivisie, it’s no guarantee that you’re national team striker material.
And look at Nick Ward - once golden boy of the A-League, now in virtual obscurity being loaned out to minor clubs. No wonder he's being linked with a move back to Australia.
Alternatively Carney could have stuck with Sydney, been a big fish in a small pond, and been in peak fitness for the Socceroos where he could yet have impressed enough to get a Premiership place.
That’s not so far-fetched either. He’s only 23, he has years of improvement still ahead of him providing he gets regular game time. Warming a bench or playing in reserves won’t do that for him.
We still need to extend the A-League season, of course, to ensure match fitness isn't lost by the time the major tournaments come round, and increase the salary cap so players won’t be lured away by big money – but that’s an argument for another blog.
But playing in Europe at any cost is no longer the big deal it once was. Luckily for Sydney, Mark Milligan realised this just at the right time...
And if I were one of the Aussies stuck in one of the more obscure leagues around the world with an eye to career advancement instead of just short-term financial gain, I’d be on at my agent to find me a club in the A-League ASAP - just like Nick Ward is rumoured to be doing now.
++++
Talking of wasted careers, I give you Chelsea. How many potential international stars are to wither on the Chelsea vine? I’m convinced Chelsea has ruined more careers than any other club in the history of footy.
Stars who were once the great hopes for their national team have been allowed to waste away on the sidelines of Stamford Bridge.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, Glen Johnson, Paulo Ferreira, Scott Parker, Wayne Bridge...the list goes on and on and former Reading ace Steve Sidwell looks like the latest to be added now.
Chelsea have added greatly to the excitement of the Premiership over the past few years by providing a challenge to the Manchester United behemoth, but the cost to certain individuals has been great.
They’ve been attracted to the big salaries – but often have sacrificed their careers in the process. A-League stars eyeing up a move to Europe take note.
++++
Because of the vagaries of TV rights, I had to watch the Community Shield match last night on ESPN. Words cannot describe how much I hate watching football on ESPN. Or “soccah”, as they seem to call it.
They use American football terminology (“That’s a great play”- plays are things in theatres with stages), they don't understand the rules (“That wasn’t offside” – yes, it was, Cole was interfering with play, you eejit) and they can't even recognise the players (“Chelsea seem to have brought on a new ‘keeper for the PKs” – it was Petr Cech without his eppi hat. And they’re called penalty kicks or spot kicks, not fuggen “PKs”).
Worst of all, they don't even go to the damn matches. It’s just two blokes in a studio outside New York watching the game on the monitors and talking about it. I CAN DO THAT TOO.
Unlikely though it might seem, I’d rather have Craig Foster whinging on than two know-nothing Yanks.
++++
Finally, the David Carney transfer fee is a scandal. Sheffield United must be laughing all the way to the bank. Okay, in Australia, transfer fees are virtually nominal because there isn't the same money swilling around as there is elsewhere.
But I defy you to find a player that was a star for his national team, a national team that reached the knockout stages of the World Cup and Asian Cup and is the number one ranked team in its region, a player who was perhaps THE key player for his domestic club and who helped them win their Championship and who has Champions League experience, and who is aged under 25 and on a two year contract to his club...and that is available for sale for 50,000 quid.
Free transfers excepted, I doubt the Blades have spent less than 250,000 quid on a player in recent years. They paraded Carney next to James Beattie, a player they just signed for $15million next to one that cost them less than 1/100th of that.
Beattie has one more international cap than Carney and has scored only six more club goals than Carney in the last two years, despite being a striker and playing twice as many games.
If United had paid $1 million for Carney, they would still have won a watch by comparison. A paltry $125,000 for him is inexcusable.
You might yet not be able to stop the top A-League players wanting to go overseas, but it vital for the game back here that when they do, we make damn sure we get our money’s worth for them.
Sydney have been swindled on this deal.
