An enjoyable evening was had last night at Honey Bar, with the usual and requisite personal quibbles. Fernando won the golden boot award of course, as well as the Theo Marmaras award for player of the year. What was perhaps a little surprising to me was how close it was - he finished up with 63 votes, just four ahead of Steven O'Dor and Peter Zois, and only overtaking those player with a nine point haul in the final round against Sunshine. I suppose it summed up the kind of year it was, where we flirted with both finals and relegation at various times during the year, playing at the extremes of appalling and brilliance often withing minutes of each other.
Fernando gave quite an emotional speech. The thing that was only semi-danced around, and not very well for most of the night, was the six point deduction. No sign of Horsey there - the rumours of his being sacked have been very strong, but nothing has been confirmed yet, no matter how strong the rumours are of Eddie Krncevic making a return to the South helm are. The notion of hiring of 91' championship hero Joe Palatsides has been been been buried - he's been having too good a time of it apparently coaching lower leagues sides in Greece, mostly recently at Karditsa in the Greek second division.
Lots of thank yous dished out. Echoing somewhat the omission of Kevin Nelson's name from the 2006 championship commemorative t-shirt, David Lugli didn't get mentioned. Maybe I don't have the stomach for such political antics, maybe he committed war crimes in the Sudan or something, but it seemed awkward. As did the somewhat cocky attitude of the players towards the Singapore Cup tie against Bangkok Glass - me, I don't know, maybe I read too many south-east Asian football blogs.
I was also offended by one George Koukoulas more or less accosting me and then berating me for not knowing about previous winners of our best and fairest, and then asking me what kind of club historian I am. Well, I'm not the official club historian, John Kyrou is - maybe Mr Koukoulas should check the South website. And considering the appalling record keeping of such matters within the club (with the exception of certain isolated individuals over the years, and the recent great work of John Kyrou), I don't see how it could possibly be my fault that I only know Steve Iosifidis won the award I think in one of our back to back seasons. It was hard enough even finding that out
But to focus any more than necessary on such small, petty individuals for too long is tiring. Back to the coaching situation. Some people seem convinced that a decision has already been made, and that they know who will be coaching us next year, maybe even this year. In better news, there's word that memberships and merchandise may very well be available even as early as this year, towards December of course. Now that's a level of progress that was mooted early this year, but seems to have much more to back it up this time around. I didn't dare ask about whether we could have a shirt with hoops though - I doubt it'd get up anyhow.
Showing posts with label David Lugli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Lugli. Show all posts
Friday, 3 September 2010
Friday, 14 May 2010
Did you hear about Ol' Itchy Arm?
Assistant coach David Lugli that is. Well, former assistant coach David Lugli. Somehow he's been pinned for the our stuttering last few weeks, or the defensive mistakes, or something, by someone out there. And he's been sacked. I don't know by who. And it all seemed to be a match made in heaven. Now I have to wait for the stupid AGM to ask the damn question, to get an evasive answer.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Arounds the grounds with the youth and women's sides
I've neglected these two entities for different reasons so far this season, and perhaps it's time to rectify that situation.
The under 21s have been having a good season - the momentum gained from turning around the fortunes last year (praise be to David Lugli for making them watchable again), where they finished second to Heidelberg after a couple of seasons of serious below par-ness, has not been squandered, and they are currently sitting first on the table, under the managership of Joe 'Pepe' Montemurro. I had the opportunity to watch nearly the entire hit out against Hume - the only fault I could find was in squandering countless opportunities - but their commitment and class couldn't be questioned when they came back from a goal down to beat Hume 2-1. Rhodri Payne also got some game time as he makes his way back from injury, but no sign yet of Nathan Caldwell. It's a very far cry from the dark days of 2007, where a 9 man Kingston outfit - with an outfield player as keeper! - dragged back a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 at Kingston Heath, with some of our players on the bench laughing about it, as if it didn't matter.
As for the women, the giddy highs achieved last year appear to be a distant memory. They've lost all three games so far, having lost players of the calibre of Laura and Amelia Spiranovic as well as others to various forces of natural attrition, such as work, travel and becoming part of the women's NTC squad. As reported earlier in the year, it also appears as if they still haven't decided whether they are one of us - that is, the bigger South family - or a distinct entity. They still use the South name and a version of the South logo, but appear to be getting closer to declaring outright and full independence. Which is fine by me, as long as they get themselves a new identity. While their links to South have always been viewed by some as tenuous at best, now that the club is bringing everything back into the fold, the way things once ran, logically, can't continue in the bold world of today. If they want to be a club solely for women, that's entirely their prerogative - but lose the South Melbourne name and let everyone get on with their lives.
The under 21s have been having a good season - the momentum gained from turning around the fortunes last year (praise be to David Lugli for making them watchable again), where they finished second to Heidelberg after a couple of seasons of serious below par-ness, has not been squandered, and they are currently sitting first on the table, under the managership of Joe 'Pepe' Montemurro. I had the opportunity to watch nearly the entire hit out against Hume - the only fault I could find was in squandering countless opportunities - but their commitment and class couldn't be questioned when they came back from a goal down to beat Hume 2-1. Rhodri Payne also got some game time as he makes his way back from injury, but no sign yet of Nathan Caldwell. It's a very far cry from the dark days of 2007, where a 9 man Kingston outfit - with an outfield player as keeper! - dragged back a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 at Kingston Heath, with some of our players on the bench laughing about it, as if it didn't matter.
As for the women, the giddy highs achieved last year appear to be a distant memory. They've lost all three games so far, having lost players of the calibre of Laura and Amelia Spiranovic as well as others to various forces of natural attrition, such as work, travel and becoming part of the women's NTC squad. As reported earlier in the year, it also appears as if they still haven't decided whether they are one of us - that is, the bigger South family - or a distinct entity. They still use the South name and a version of the South logo, but appear to be getting closer to declaring outright and full independence. Which is fine by me, as long as they get themselves a new identity. While their links to South have always been viewed by some as tenuous at best, now that the club is bringing everything back into the fold, the way things once ran, logically, can't continue in the bold world of today. If they want to be a club solely for women, that's entirely their prerogative - but lose the South Melbourne name and let everyone get on with their lives.
Friday, 16 April 2010
It's about time
There's an elephant in the room - and Coveny on another coaching vacation isn't it. Enjoy what you can of this, because they haven't even given us the point yet. Carl Recchia and David Lugli do the chit chat business.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Round 2 Highlights
The package and its presentation is coming along in leaps and bounds, a credit to the people working on it. Some other things you may notice.
- You can clearly see a gentleman clad mostly in black on Clarendon Corner call the handball before everyone else does, including the lineswoman. I agree with him, it was a good call.
- Johnny Sapasovski surely had to be a few metres offside for his run which eventually lead to a good save by Peter Zois.
- Where are all the bad tackles by Bentleigh? Omitted in the interests of good taste is the only reasonable explanation.
- Arthur Akritidis doing commentary in the background! Yes! Not gone, still around! Brilliant.
- Gianni De Nittis seems to be in a decent state of mind despite only getting a point. Think he's on his way back.
- David Lugli has a very itchy arm.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Coveny appointed as coach for 2010
They dawdled and delayed, but in the end the club decided to go for man considered as favourite for the task. I suppose this also means the end of Horsey's career - one which will not be remembered for any particular brilliance - even his highlights package is full of tidy finishes almost completely lacking in anything extraordimnary. A player best known for running in straight lines, hitting straight shots and often being used a sub during our glory days up front or on the wing.
And his longevity will not be appreciated in much the same way as that of other former greats. South is notorious for player turnover, but having played so much in the decline years means that Horsey will never get the mass appreciation he deserves. In many ways his career was one of accumulation and attrition - just hanging around for so long means that he will inevitably get some nice achievements - which for Vaughan include 2nd highest league goalscorer and 3rd highest games for South, and most games (64) and goals (28) for the All Whites (the games record is hanging by a thread - if Ivan Vicelich manages to play in both qualifiers against Bahrain he will overtake our man). The fact remains though, if he weren't a half decent player, he'd never have racked up that much game time in the first place.
Being the right man for the job is mostly about hindsight. Frank Arok built the nucleus of our last golden age team, but it's Ange Postecoglou who gets his name on the honour boards. Fernando's stellar 2006 season - 12 goals from midfield and who knows how many set up - carried that team, but John Anastasiadis as coach got his share of plaudits - and perhaps elevated his abilities in the public sphere to beyond those of the reality. Also left to the winds of hindsight are whether it was right to go for someone inxperienced in coaching as opposed to someone etsblished; someone from inside the club and close to much or some of the squad, as opposed to a clubman who has been away for a few years or a complete outsider.
It will be recalled by some that Horsey undertook AFC coaching licence exams during the season - causing him to miss three games - so at least you can see this is certainly something he has been thinking about a lot. On the other hand, much of the VPL is about grinding out results, not about pretty football - which is a problem at South, because the supporters also want something pleasing to the eye, the South tradtion being of attacking football and plenty of goals. David Lugli becomes Vaughan's assistant, after having taken the under 21s to their best finish in years. I wish them all the best of course - but a large part of that is also based upon them succeeding; their success will be the club's success; their failures, the club's also.
And his longevity will not be appreciated in much the same way as that of other former greats. South is notorious for player turnover, but having played so much in the decline years means that Horsey will never get the mass appreciation he deserves. In many ways his career was one of accumulation and attrition - just hanging around for so long means that he will inevitably get some nice achievements - which for Vaughan include 2nd highest league goalscorer and 3rd highest games for South, and most games (64) and goals (28) for the All Whites (the games record is hanging by a thread - if Ivan Vicelich manages to play in both qualifiers against Bahrain he will overtake our man). The fact remains though, if he weren't a half decent player, he'd never have racked up that much game time in the first place.
Being the right man for the job is mostly about hindsight. Frank Arok built the nucleus of our last golden age team, but it's Ange Postecoglou who gets his name on the honour boards. Fernando's stellar 2006 season - 12 goals from midfield and who knows how many set up - carried that team, but John Anastasiadis as coach got his share of plaudits - and perhaps elevated his abilities in the public sphere to beyond those of the reality. Also left to the winds of hindsight are whether it was right to go for someone inxperienced in coaching as opposed to someone etsblished; someone from inside the club and close to much or some of the squad, as opposed to a clubman who has been away for a few years or a complete outsider.
It will be recalled by some that Horsey undertook AFC coaching licence exams during the season - causing him to miss three games - so at least you can see this is certainly something he has been thinking about a lot. On the other hand, much of the VPL is about grinding out results, not about pretty football - which is a problem at South, because the supporters also want something pleasing to the eye, the South tradtion being of attacking football and plenty of goals. David Lugli becomes Vaughan's assistant, after having taken the under 21s to their best finish in years. I wish them all the best of course - but a large part of that is also based upon them succeeding; their success will be the club's success; their failures, the club's also.
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