I expect that the agenda for the February executive meeting at Sydney FC contains just 5 letters.  SNAFU.

I am happy - thrilled in fact, that Sydney played hard to keep Alex Brosque.  More on that later.  But there needs to be an inquest and an explanation of the circumstances that led to our best player, freshly signed to a lengthy and lucrative extension, being snaffled from Sydney for the measly sum of $400K.  Whether it was inadvertence, sloppy drafting or just plain old mistakenness, the failure to close off the loophole under which Brosque left was a terrible error at the worst possible time; just when things were getting good.

It finishes what can only be described as the season of SNAFU.  The club has made important steps forward; but every step forward has been matched by a step backwards.  That won't keep up with the clubs who have made giant strides. While we are still (at the time of writing) on track to finish undefeated in 2011, Sydney must compete in the finals. We won't and that means the season is a failure. 

The club has inched in the right direction this season.  They have tried to give fans what we wanted.  But from the pre-season Festival of Football, to the building of a potentially very good ACL team, every great thing we have done has been matched with a SNAFU.  The main goal for Lugt, Barlow and Lavicka in 2011 is to eliminate the SNAFUs - and they are going to have to take some serious decisions to do that; because from the scouting of Thiam, to the Brosque contracting process, to our media and publicity effort, it hasn't worked, and we have scrambled to catch up.  

Yes, Cazarine is great, but was signed two months too late.  It took us until the last Melbourne game to read the already clichéd memo that being on twitter isn't a media strategy - social or otherwise  (and asking plaintively "Who is coming to the game" every week is possibly the opposite of a media strategy in the current circumstances) - Edwin, as the most interesting bloke at the club, the publicity mic is yours. 

Which brings us back to Brosque - where once again, the club is doing the right thing, but far too late.  The Brosque incident is pretty important for Sydney and for the A-League and there are hard yards to be done both in scouting and in general football politicking, to put things right.  We are now almost seven years into the league and both as a club and a league it's time to gain some respect, including most importantly some self-respect. We have some serious football people at the top of the club and they ought to work every angle to ensure that Shimizu is rebuked and a message is sent that Sydney and the A-League are not Asian football's op-shops.

It also has to start with us.  From the fans to the media and commentators, we need to start taking our league seriously.  The biggest and most oft-repeated lesson from the Asian Cup is that the A-League is worthy, but it's a fragile message often contradicted the moment it is uttered.

Even so, I was gobsmacked by the attitude taken by the football press to the Brosque transfer.  The consistent message was that Sydney was morally obliged to let a good player, freshly signed to a lucrative and lengthy deal, leave for peanuts because he wanted to.  Take a re-read of Les Murray's blog on the incident. Seriously, what the? 

But it got worse on twitter:

@dorozario, 27 Jan 2011: @lesmurraysoccer: re Brosque - would your argument be the same if AB had sgnd a 4 yr cnct with another a-league club, not an ext'n with Sydney?

@lesmurraysoccer, 27 Jan 2011: @dorozario: Yes.

That's right, A-league fans of all colours, forget everything you ever thought about football transfers, because any contract your club signs with a player is apparently subject to uncompensated gazumping by any club with an extra zero in the budget.  I pick on Les, because he is the doyen and the emeritus, but the message was not that different on Fox Sports or in the papers. 

It goes without saying that the clubs and the league cannot operate on that footing, which is why it's important for Sydney FC to go hard at Shimizu.  In doing so, they should have the support of the FFA, the A-league and the football media.  That will put this latest Sydney SNAFU right.  Then, it's up to Barlow, Lugt and Lavicka to make sure that 2011 is a year of giant strides and Mr SNAFU is nowhere to be found.