Let me preface this blog by apologising for my lack of recent blogging activity; my wife and I are in the middle of an interstate move, plus uni exams, etc. Hopefully things are settling down now and we can get back to focusing on what is important.
The same can be said for the very club I support. 2010 has been tumultuous and painful for any NQ Fury fan; our very existence was first at threat before this season started, and now we're merely hours from getting a better idea if we're around next year (I write this on Thursday afternoon, not far from the fateful WC2022 decision). Through all this we've endured an almost total squad clear-out, the arrival of a charismatic new manager, torrential downpours scaring off supporters, frustrating dilly-dallying from our benevolent FFA owners, enjoyable on-pitch performances, and a few hair-tearing ones.
And still here we are, weeks away from the end of the year, and still gunning for the guys in green. No amount of pointless pondering from FFA will hide the fact that at least 90% of our future prospects rest on their ability to win the World Cup from the footballing superpowers USA and ...er... Qatar. I'm a patriotic Aussie and I hope Australia gets the nod for all the good it will bring the game in this country; however my biggest wish for getting old Sepp Blatter to blurt out "Australia" is that it will surely secure our future and allow us to move on.
I have read with interest some FFT forumites having a crack at the Townsville faithful for not turning up to support Fury. While crowd figures are overall disappointing, I just don't think people understand what position the club is in - no guarantee of survival next year, games played in timeslots that are not friendly to families and fans traveling hundreds of kilometers, and of course the ever-present rain we're experienced from an early wet season. Our crowds stack up just fine to some of our rivals. For example (and sorry to kick the old dog while it's down), I had to squint to see the fans in the GCU v NQFC game last night, although on closer inspection I did see fellow blogger Max bouncing around with a few mates. Sydney fared little better, defeating Wellington in front of a parochial and raucous crowd of... um... 4000?
As I've been off the face of the blogging planet the past few weeks, let me take a quick look at our last three UNDEFEATED(!) games and examine our community ownership model a little closer.
Brisbane Roar
I got some angry messages via the FFT forums from delusional Brisbane Roar fans, incensed that little old NQ Fury had the temerity to go to Suncorp and defend. Well excuse us for not rolling up our man-skirts and inviting the pumping we may well have received if we had tried to out-football the Roar. Since the club came into the comp the Fury has not exactly been a yardstick for defensive assuredness, but in Brisbane we put in a committed tactical display that may very well have given us three points (I trust Jason Spagnuolo still wakes up screaming in the middle of the night over THAT miss). It would've been nice to hold on for the win, or get that second counter-attack goal, but every Fury fan would've taken a point before this one, and it was a point well earned.
Perth Glory
One of the odder games of football I've witnessed. I'm not sure what happened but we didn't turn up at the start of the match and were rightly punished by that old Scouse geezer (to be fair: quality header Robbie). Gareth Edds then demonstrated that he's watched Spags too closely in training by hitting the post from about 12cm out. Fortunately for us Naum Sekulovski got skinned twice and obliged with two dumb challenges, and we were 11 on 10 for 40 minutes. Then Griffiths secured his own second yellow for kicking the ball away and it was 11 on 9 for about 25 minutes (as an aside, to Griffiths: the A-League referees are completely anal on kicking the ball away, and you do it under the referee's nose when you've already gotten a yellow? Really?). Unfortunately we seemed pretty rudderless, playing far too slowly and failing to stretch the Glory defence. Tactically it wasn't a masterstroke to send Brad McDonald on to target the young opponent Josh Risdon, but we had the chances to bury this one and had to settled for a point from the head of our next Scouse hero.
Gold Coast United
Well well, isn't it always nice to get a win, especially against GCU! Coming into this game I knew we had a chance, as GC were missing a raft of players and we had something to prove after the Glory disappointment. It seemed Lady Luck still had something against us after GCU opened the score early; rarely before has such a bad free kick ended up in the back of the net, and I'm not sure how Robson could rightly celebrate that - surely Simon Storey deserves the credit for the sensational backheel to sneak it inside the far post. Of course we got ourselves back into it, having a Dyron Daal poacher's goal wrongly disallowed for offside (luck again eh?), but finally the tide turned as Super David Williams scored a cracker, then Ufuk Talay produced a fine free kick to give us the three points. A good performance from all our players and, bizarrely, we've only four points off 6th place with games in hand on some opponents.
Community Ownership
We all know that the Fury administration have put forward a compelling community ownership model to the FFA, and we sit and wait now for news. Last week our CEO Rabieh Krayem rightly reminded me that this community ownership model is for everyone; for those who count Fury as their favourite team, or as their second favourite.
Essentially individuals can buy a stake in the club worth $3000, payable at $1000 per year over three years. Businesses can stump up a higher amount to contribute to the club's future. It's hoped that we'll secure over $6 million from the model and produce the A-League's first true 'community ownership' football club, a model the FFA are very keen on.
The model is sound and has come at the end of an enormous amount of work by the Fury administration. Now is the chance for us to show how much we want NQFC in the competition. The offer is open to everyone; for $20 a week are you interested in owning a piece of the Fury's future?
The option is there for every Fury fan, whether you be from Townsville or Cairns or Mount Isa or Sydney or Melbourne or Singapore, to buy into the club. To buy into something bigger and get your voice heard in the running of the club. To buy into the future of NQFC, a club and group of supporters that are hard to dislike (if I do say so myself).
So good luck to the Australian delegation in Zurich. Will we see you again in 2011? With a bit of luck and support, I sure think so.
