Reviled by his opponents, revered by his own. Melbourne’s Kevin Muscat might divide opinion like no other player, but one thing’s for sure: you’d want him in your team.
For Melbourne Victory skipper Kevin Muscat some things never change.
In nearly a decade in English football the combustible Australian international was a hate figure for home fans whenever he arrived to play in an away game for one of his three clubs – Crystal Palace, Wolves or Millwall.
Muscat’s reputation as a fearsome hard man made him a poster boy for ugliness in the English game, particularly after one of his crunching challenges ended the career of Charlton Athletic’s Matty Holmes.
In a sad and ugly denouement the Holmes affair went to court, with Muscat having to pay damages to the midfielder to compensate for the ending of his career. Little wonder that, for a while, he was dubbed the most hated man in English football as the media went to town on the pugnacious Socceroo who took no prisoners on the field and asked for little quarter for himself either.
These days Muscat remains a larger than life figure in the Australian game, but his image is rather different.
Of course he is still booed by opposition fans whenever he leads Melbourne Victory out at A-League grounds outside Victoria. But these days the catcalls are now more affectionate than malicious. The contemporary, made-over Kevin is less Hannibal Lector, more pantomime villain – the sort of knowing, worldly wise bad boy that the competition might have had to invent if he didn’t already exist.
It’s almost as if fans should be shouting “He’s behind you” when the grizzled 33-year-old prepares to launch himself into a tackle in the centre of the park, the domain he has made his own this season after a late career switch to midfield paid spectacular dividends.
Off the field Muscat is a different kettle of fish. His years abroad and his success have given him a confidence and swagger. He is very much a leader at Melbourne Victory – as he has been almost everywhere he has played, including for the national team – but he is also one of the lads.
Fiercely competitive on the park, he is a frequently grinning presence off it, always quick with a sharp retort and smart one liner, a man capable of thinking quickly on his feet. Muscat is, perhaps, the best example of the impact of white line fever there is in the game.
This is no tongue-tied footballer, but a street smart individual brimming with the sort of self confidence borne from surviving a decade-long examination in the toughest school of all. Ask Muscat if he has any concerns about his image, whether he was upset when reviled by so many in the English game, whether he is disappointed with the legacy he may leave behind and the answer is as honest as it is expected.
“I can’t have any regrets. I don’t think I can. If I had one or two incidents again,” he says, his voice trailing off slightly. “You don’t like to see anyone getting injured,’’ he adds in reference to Matty Holmes, before adding “I can’t regret it because I didn’t mean any...”
The Muscat philosophy about the game is simple. Go out onto the pitch, give it 100 per cent, and then some more. Stretch the laws to the limit, get away with what you can if it benefits your team because if you don’t the other side will.
It might sound like dog-eat-dog, but for all but the most extravagantly gifted its the reality of professional football, certainly in the brutally competitive top European leagues.
“I don’t regret going out and playing as hard as I could,” he admits. “I have gone on record saying that I pushed the envelope as far as I can to the white line. There’s no two ways about that.
“My image? So be it. I maintain that every club I played for I could walk back in there tomorrow and be welcomed. I was well appreciated and well respected at all the clubs I was at because I had a stubborn attitude. I turned up on a Saturday afternoon to impress one person, and that was the manager.
“I would go out and do as close to what I was told as possible, and try and have an impact on games. It was in a different light but the fact that I could walk back to any of the clubs I have been at and be welcomed means more to me than the odd person or majority of people at other clubs who were happy to see the back of me when I left.”While he may still be a target for opposition fans he is loved by the hordes who pack out Telstra Dome for Victory games. They see in him the embodiment of what they want their team to be: hard, committed but skilful too, able to stop others playing but also able to create for himself and his team-mates. There is not a coach in the league who would not want Muscat in their side, not just for his presence and leadership but also for his footballing ability.
Former Sydney boss Terry Butcher revved up the Melbourne faithful before the light blues took on their inter city rivals in round 10 by declaring he would love to sign the Victory skipper, while Queensland Roar coach Frank Farina always picked him for the Socceroos when he was national team manager.
Victory coach Ernie Merrick describes him as the most wonderful leader he has ever dealt with, the man who sets the standards for the rest of the team. “What a leader. Kevin sets the tone, he is a winner,” Merrick declares quite simply.
He has certainly been a winner this season, his switch to midfield bringing him fresh accolades late in his career – and giving him the opportunity to remind people that he is not just a stopper, but someone who can really play. Melbourne have been unrecognisable since Merrick revamped his midfield, putting Muscat in the anchor role and pairing him with new signings Grant Brebner and exciting Brazilian Fred. It has given Muscat a new lease of life.
“I played predominately as a right back but I have really enjoyed the move to midfield. Having a full, uninterrupted pre-season with no injuries – the first time for three years – helped too.
“In the pre-season Ernie said he was going to try me in midfield for the first few friendly games. We played near enough every state league team in Melbourne and I was quite comfortable, and from there on in we decided to stick with it. I feel that I have been able to influence games and be involved a lot more. Grant and I enjoy playing with each other and complement each other quite well.
“I don’t think I have got too much slower, but now I feel I can get on the ball, be a bit more creative, be more involved rather than just stop people from getting crosses or shots in. All of a sudden Ernie has asked me to get forward and make things happen rather than just be a destroyer, and to be honest, I have enjoyed it. Over a period of time in Europe where the competition as a whole is probably a higher standard I probably would not have been able to play in there, but I have really enjoyed it here.”
While the standard of the A-League is obviously not at the level of the biggest leagues in Europe, the Victory skipper (who played in the Premiership and Championship, as well as Scotland’s Premier League with Glasgow giants Rangers) believes the level has lifted perceptibly even after just one season.
“All the teams have improved,” he declares, although nowhere as much as Melbourne, which finished season one as the worst Australian side and season two with the Premier’s Plate. “We learned so much on and off the park from the first season in a number of areas... in terms of the whole club, the way it’s run, our training facilities, the opportunities we have had. [From the start of this season] we can hold our hands up and say we are given the best opportunities that we can be to succeed, right from the facilities, the sports science, travel arrangements, everything. It’s been superb.”The emphasis on an holistic approach, especially to fitness, differs greatly from the UK where players play twice as many games in a season that stretches from early August to May, not late August to January/February. Ice baths and rehydration is very much the order of the day after a game – sliding off for a bevy with the lads has to wait.
“There is definitely a lot more emphasis on sports science and sports medicine, so much more than at most clubs in Europe. In recent years the top clubs have developed and invested heavily in it, but on the whole we are well ahead and way in advance than most of the teams in Britain anyway. The boys have really taken it on board. It was something that was foreign to myself and Grant Brebner because we had played in Europe. At the start we might have needed a slight bit of convincing, but I have no doubt there is room for it in our code.
“The fact that there are so many games over there means the emphasis is on getting you up for the next match, which is in three days time, whereas the emphasis here is that you are not shooting off home, you are not going to get a beer just yet, you have got to recover. That’s why I say we have been given the best opportunity. We are grateful for it and that’s got to have played some part in the success we have had to date.”
But, he says, it’s not the only reason for Melbourne’s transformation.
“I think that’s one of the contributing factors, another is that the younger boys who were here last year – and they were young boys – are becoming men. A good example of that is Adrian Leijer who was a young boy getting his first kick in senior football then and he has gone on to become a regular and one of the top players in the league this season.
That combination of new faces and players [Brebner, Fred and Rodrigo Vargas have been the most significant signings] have allowed us to step up. The start we had also gave us a decent kick-off. We had a good start last season as well – we went top of the table after beating Sydney 5-0 – but weren’t able to maintain it. The experience of that helped us this year. We fell away then, we were determined not to this time.’’
Muscat came back to Australia at 31, knocking back a larger wage in England (he could have stayed with then Championship side Millwall) in favour of a return to his roots. He was nursing injuries – he had been forced to miss the 2004 FA Cup Final because of ligament damage – and has found the Australian system, with its shorter season, longer preparation and fewer games, has enabled him to become fitter than he has for years.
He may well have provided a template for several of his former team-mates who could look at his experience and learn that they should not leave it too late to come back if they want to have a significant impact on the A-League. “I think it may have extended my career. Players want to stay in Europe for as long as possible, and [for a long time] I was in the same position. I wanted to come back at an age and stage when I still had something to offer rather than at the end of my career. I have no doubt that if I had left it a couple more years, possibly it would have been too late to get the body back on track.“Everyone is different and makes decisions for different reasons. Some people are driven by their contract obligations. And the fact that you can still earn
a hell of a lot more money playing in Europe is critical too. I walked away from a year’s contract that was much more lucrative than the two years I have been here, so it wasn’t about the money for me.
“It was a gamble coming back to a completely new competition, but I had confidence in what was being set up in Australia. I had worked with John O’Neill and Frank Lowy while I was with the national team and I had no doubt that they would get the league right. At the same time I wanted to be part of developing it, having a say on and off the park in how the whole thing unfolded.”
The biggest disappointment of Muscat’s career was missing the World Cup. A regular under Farina, he was probably the biggest name omission from Guus Hiddink’s 23 for Germany. The Dutchman had made his views pretty clear right from his first camp in Holland in August 2005 when Muscat was not included, and he never got a look in afterwards.
Nevertheless, despite his personal feelings, he was an enthusiastic observer of Australia’s progress – and proud to see the strides the team made.
“If you are honest we worked so hard and we were just as good as all the teams we played. We carried a bit of luck here and there but it was deserved luck. We made it for ourselves.
“If you were to have said we would have played to the standard that we did and got as far as we did, saying we could and should have gone on to do so much more, you can’t help but be surprised. But being involved with that group of boys and seeing how determined they were and how much effort they put in I wasn’t surprised at all.’’
Not that he has given up on his international aspirations. Muscat always made it clear that he would never announce his retirement from the Socceroos: it was down to the coaches to either pick him or leave him out. And in August of last year, when Graham Arnold wanted an old head to lead an inexperienced squad comprised solely of A-League players for the Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait, Muscat was recalled to the colours and thrown the skipper’s armband.
Does he see an Asian Cup future for himself?
“Arnie makes the decisions and I am not getting ahead of myself. I would like to think squads should be selected on form rather than potential, on what people have done. All I can do is put as much pressure as I can on Arnie. The Asian Cup would be a great opportunity to play in a major competition. All season I have tried to play consistently to remind people I can do a job.”
Time is running out on the veteran’s career, and most expect him to one day coach Melbourne Victory. Although Merrick believes he can carry on for years yet, Muscat is not so sure.
“It’s all down to how the body feels. At this point I feel as good as I have for a few years, but I am not in a position where I am going to commit to a retirement age or a number on how many seasons I will go on. As long as I can stay out there and influence games I will be happy.”
One thing for sure, however, is that he plans to stay in his home city.
“Where will I be in five years time? I will still be in Melbourne, I have been away long enough. I might be biased, but if it’s not the best city in the world its certainly in the Grand Final.
Since I have been back I have been to the Australian Open tennis, the Formula One, and the Melbourne Cup a couple of times. Life could not have been better.
“I wanted to come back home and enjoy the last few years of my career. I have managed to get two seasons out of it, hopefully we will get a couple more.”
In nearly a decade in English football the combustible Australian international was a hate figure for home fans whenever he arrived to play in an away game for one of his three clubs – Crystal Palace, Wolves or Millwall.
Muscat’s reputation as a fearsome hard man made him a poster boy for ugliness in the English game, particularly after one of his crunching challenges ended the career of Charlton Athletic’s Matty Holmes.
In a sad and ugly denouement the Holmes affair went to court, with Muscat having to pay damages to the midfielder to compensate for the ending of his career. Little wonder that, for a while, he was dubbed the most hated man in English football as the media went to town on the pugnacious Socceroo who took no prisoners on the field and asked for little quarter for himself either.
These days Muscat remains a larger than life figure in the Australian game, but his image is rather different.
Of course he is still booed by opposition fans whenever he leads Melbourne Victory out at A-League grounds outside Victoria. But these days the catcalls are now more affectionate than malicious. The contemporary, made-over Kevin is less Hannibal Lector, more pantomime villain – the sort of knowing, worldly wise bad boy that the competition might have had to invent if he didn’t already exist.
It’s almost as if fans should be shouting “He’s behind you” when the grizzled 33-year-old prepares to launch himself into a tackle in the centre of the park, the domain he has made his own this season after a late career switch to midfield paid spectacular dividends.
Off the field Muscat is a different kettle of fish. His years abroad and his success have given him a confidence and swagger. He is very much a leader at Melbourne Victory – as he has been almost everywhere he has played, including for the national team – but he is also one of the lads.
Fiercely competitive on the park, he is a frequently grinning presence off it, always quick with a sharp retort and smart one liner, a man capable of thinking quickly on his feet. Muscat is, perhaps, the best example of the impact of white line fever there is in the game.
This is no tongue-tied footballer, but a street smart individual brimming with the sort of self confidence borne from surviving a decade-long examination in the toughest school of all. Ask Muscat if he has any concerns about his image, whether he was upset when reviled by so many in the English game, whether he is disappointed with the legacy he may leave behind and the answer is as honest as it is expected.
“I can’t have any regrets. I don’t think I can. If I had one or two incidents again,” he says, his voice trailing off slightly. “You don’t like to see anyone getting injured,’’ he adds in reference to Matty Holmes, before adding “I can’t regret it because I didn’t mean any...”
The Muscat philosophy about the game is simple. Go out onto the pitch, give it 100 per cent, and then some more. Stretch the laws to the limit, get away with what you can if it benefits your team because if you don’t the other side will.
It might sound like dog-eat-dog, but for all but the most extravagantly gifted its the reality of professional football, certainly in the brutally competitive top European leagues.
“I don’t regret going out and playing as hard as I could,” he admits. “I have gone on record saying that I pushed the envelope as far as I can to the white line. There’s no two ways about that.
“My image? So be it. I maintain that every club I played for I could walk back in there tomorrow and be welcomed. I was well appreciated and well respected at all the clubs I was at because I had a stubborn attitude. I turned up on a Saturday afternoon to impress one person, and that was the manager.
“I would go out and do as close to what I was told as possible, and try and have an impact on games. It was in a different light but the fact that I could walk back to any of the clubs I have been at and be welcomed means more to me than the odd person or majority of people at other clubs who were happy to see the back of me when I left.”While he may still be a target for opposition fans he is loved by the hordes who pack out Telstra Dome for Victory games. They see in him the embodiment of what they want their team to be: hard, committed but skilful too, able to stop others playing but also able to create for himself and his team-mates. There is not a coach in the league who would not want Muscat in their side, not just for his presence and leadership but also for his footballing ability.
Former Sydney boss Terry Butcher revved up the Melbourne faithful before the light blues took on their inter city rivals in round 10 by declaring he would love to sign the Victory skipper, while Queensland Roar coach Frank Farina always picked him for the Socceroos when he was national team manager.
Victory coach Ernie Merrick describes him as the most wonderful leader he has ever dealt with, the man who sets the standards for the rest of the team. “What a leader. Kevin sets the tone, he is a winner,” Merrick declares quite simply.
He has certainly been a winner this season, his switch to midfield bringing him fresh accolades late in his career – and giving him the opportunity to remind people that he is not just a stopper, but someone who can really play. Melbourne have been unrecognisable since Merrick revamped his midfield, putting Muscat in the anchor role and pairing him with new signings Grant Brebner and exciting Brazilian Fred. It has given Muscat a new lease of life.
“I played predominately as a right back but I have really enjoyed the move to midfield. Having a full, uninterrupted pre-season with no injuries – the first time for three years – helped too.
“In the pre-season Ernie said he was going to try me in midfield for the first few friendly games. We played near enough every state league team in Melbourne and I was quite comfortable, and from there on in we decided to stick with it. I feel that I have been able to influence games and be involved a lot more. Grant and I enjoy playing with each other and complement each other quite well.
“I don’t think I have got too much slower, but now I feel I can get on the ball, be a bit more creative, be more involved rather than just stop people from getting crosses or shots in. All of a sudden Ernie has asked me to get forward and make things happen rather than just be a destroyer, and to be honest, I have enjoyed it. Over a period of time in Europe where the competition as a whole is probably a higher standard I probably would not have been able to play in there, but I have really enjoyed it here.”
While the standard of the A-League is obviously not at the level of the biggest leagues in Europe, the Victory skipper (who played in the Premiership and Championship, as well as Scotland’s Premier League with Glasgow giants Rangers) believes the level has lifted perceptibly even after just one season.
“All the teams have improved,” he declares, although nowhere as much as Melbourne, which finished season one as the worst Australian side and season two with the Premier’s Plate. “We learned so much on and off the park from the first season in a number of areas... in terms of the whole club, the way it’s run, our training facilities, the opportunities we have had. [From the start of this season] we can hold our hands up and say we are given the best opportunities that we can be to succeed, right from the facilities, the sports science, travel arrangements, everything. It’s been superb.”The emphasis on an holistic approach, especially to fitness, differs greatly from the UK where players play twice as many games in a season that stretches from early August to May, not late August to January/February. Ice baths and rehydration is very much the order of the day after a game – sliding off for a bevy with the lads has to wait.
“There is definitely a lot more emphasis on sports science and sports medicine, so much more than at most clubs in Europe. In recent years the top clubs have developed and invested heavily in it, but on the whole we are well ahead and way in advance than most of the teams in Britain anyway. The boys have really taken it on board. It was something that was foreign to myself and Grant Brebner because we had played in Europe. At the start we might have needed a slight bit of convincing, but I have no doubt there is room for it in our code.
“The fact that there are so many games over there means the emphasis is on getting you up for the next match, which is in three days time, whereas the emphasis here is that you are not shooting off home, you are not going to get a beer just yet, you have got to recover. That’s why I say we have been given the best opportunity. We are grateful for it and that’s got to have played some part in the success we have had to date.”
But, he says, it’s not the only reason for Melbourne’s transformation.
“I think that’s one of the contributing factors, another is that the younger boys who were here last year – and they were young boys – are becoming men. A good example of that is Adrian Leijer who was a young boy getting his first kick in senior football then and he has gone on to become a regular and one of the top players in the league this season.
That combination of new faces and players [Brebner, Fred and Rodrigo Vargas have been the most significant signings] have allowed us to step up. The start we had also gave us a decent kick-off. We had a good start last season as well – we went top of the table after beating Sydney 5-0 – but weren’t able to maintain it. The experience of that helped us this year. We fell away then, we were determined not to this time.’’
Muscat came back to Australia at 31, knocking back a larger wage in England (he could have stayed with then Championship side Millwall) in favour of a return to his roots. He was nursing injuries – he had been forced to miss the 2004 FA Cup Final because of ligament damage – and has found the Australian system, with its shorter season, longer preparation and fewer games, has enabled him to become fitter than he has for years.
He may well have provided a template for several of his former team-mates who could look at his experience and learn that they should not leave it too late to come back if they want to have a significant impact on the A-League. “I think it may have extended my career. Players want to stay in Europe for as long as possible, and [for a long time] I was in the same position. I wanted to come back at an age and stage when I still had something to offer rather than at the end of my career. I have no doubt that if I had left it a couple more years, possibly it would have been too late to get the body back on track.“Everyone is different and makes decisions for different reasons. Some people are driven by their contract obligations. And the fact that you can still earn
a hell of a lot more money playing in Europe is critical too. I walked away from a year’s contract that was much more lucrative than the two years I have been here, so it wasn’t about the money for me.
“It was a gamble coming back to a completely new competition, but I had confidence in what was being set up in Australia. I had worked with John O’Neill and Frank Lowy while I was with the national team and I had no doubt that they would get the league right. At the same time I wanted to be part of developing it, having a say on and off the park in how the whole thing unfolded.”
The biggest disappointment of Muscat’s career was missing the World Cup. A regular under Farina, he was probably the biggest name omission from Guus Hiddink’s 23 for Germany. The Dutchman had made his views pretty clear right from his first camp in Holland in August 2005 when Muscat was not included, and he never got a look in afterwards.
Nevertheless, despite his personal feelings, he was an enthusiastic observer of Australia’s progress – and proud to see the strides the team made.
“If you are honest we worked so hard and we were just as good as all the teams we played. We carried a bit of luck here and there but it was deserved luck. We made it for ourselves.
“If you were to have said we would have played to the standard that we did and got as far as we did, saying we could and should have gone on to do so much more, you can’t help but be surprised. But being involved with that group of boys and seeing how determined they were and how much effort they put in I wasn’t surprised at all.’’
Not that he has given up on his international aspirations. Muscat always made it clear that he would never announce his retirement from the Socceroos: it was down to the coaches to either pick him or leave him out. And in August of last year, when Graham Arnold wanted an old head to lead an inexperienced squad comprised solely of A-League players for the Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait, Muscat was recalled to the colours and thrown the skipper’s armband.
Does he see an Asian Cup future for himself?
“Arnie makes the decisions and I am not getting ahead of myself. I would like to think squads should be selected on form rather than potential, on what people have done. All I can do is put as much pressure as I can on Arnie. The Asian Cup would be a great opportunity to play in a major competition. All season I have tried to play consistently to remind people I can do a job.”
Time is running out on the veteran’s career, and most expect him to one day coach Melbourne Victory. Although Merrick believes he can carry on for years yet, Muscat is not so sure.
“It’s all down to how the body feels. At this point I feel as good as I have for a few years, but I am not in a position where I am going to commit to a retirement age or a number on how many seasons I will go on. As long as I can stay out there and influence games I will be happy.”
One thing for sure, however, is that he plans to stay in his home city.
“Where will I be in five years time? I will still be in Melbourne, I have been away long enough. I might be biased, but if it’s not the best city in the world its certainly in the Grand Final.
Since I have been back I have been to the Australian Open tennis, the Formula One, and the Melbourne Cup a couple of times. Life could not have been better.
“I wanted to come back home and enjoy the last few years of my career. I have managed to get two seasons out of it, hopefully we will get a couple more.”
Related Articles
Threadbare Victory vow to fight
Muscat's five star reception for rivals
