Damn post-agm angst

So some you want more detail. Seems like initiating helpless infants into fringe Medditerrean cults is more important than turning up to super cereal meetings.

Anyway, we have a new football ops due. Ange Dallas is his name, been arpund the club for like, years man, and we've gone about signing up and re-signing players. Most of our squad seems to have be re-signed or has agreed to terms. This is where we say goodbye however, to Sam 'Rockem Sockem' Poutakidis, whose second stint at the club has come to an end, as he has been released.

Venue management was the big ticket talking point, with an increase on venue hire being made, as well as the prospect of future increases next year. Greg Kaias was also the recipient of some negative feedback, for his Melbourne Hearts thing. And the Lakeside thing is still being negotiated. Chances are we won't play out the entire season at Lakeside. 

Ex-South People *Heart* Melbourne Heart

So former prez Greg 'don't swear please' Kaias is on the backpage of Neos Kosmos, officially as part of the Heart consortium. After churning through Heidelberg, Collingwood Warriors and ourselves, is this the kind of person that we should be looking at for the future health of soccer in this country? I suppose if you've still got Remo Nagarotto out there, the Constantines, Catalano who's ditched the Royals and Victory, and Lowy who's old team dropped out one round into the 1987 season after they'd done a review culling half the teams, well I guess everyone's welcome. Well almost everybody. Even Trimmers is onboard, apparently praising them yesterday on SEN, though not having heard it myself, I'm wary of going on the advice of biased, lying, shit-stirring (poorly) knobjockeys and folks who had screaming kids in the car while it was on, no offence to anyone. Well, now they've got to sell it to the world, and not the just the FFA (though as they've not been given the licence yet, they still have to do that), so we'll get to be knowing them more and more as time passes. Maybe they'll find a way to use us too? Hmm.

Jumbled notes from listening to the radio

The message on the forum went out, Southern Cross is going to be discussed on the radio, 3XY Radio Hellas to be exact, at 8:30pm. So I switch it on, and hear that they're going to be talking to Aki Ionnas and Johnny A', who actually got the coaching job at Oakleigh don't ya know, replacing another one of our ex-coaches Stuart Munro. Anyway, rather bland interview that, though one had to chuckle when the host was talking about how players were hard to keep at South during Johnny A's time at the helm, specifically mentioning the A-League, but not his current employer's love of taking on anything to do with South Melbourne, player, fan, coach, sponsor, you name it.

Anyway, the following notes were done on the fly for those without 3xy access or maddd greek skillz bro.

Leo Athanasakis and George Parthimos were representing the club and/or Southern Cross FC, at times the lines were a bit blurred.

Host opened up with a retarded question about the coaching change - Leo sounding like he's at a kafeneio - which'd be ok if he was at a kafeneio, but he's not. Host also didn't realise at first that we'd missed the finals two years in a row.  Leo mentioned that we signed up Micky M for two years. But you already heard that here second.

There was some crap about the summer league, nothing new, usual innuendo about South being in it as itself and not as part of a consortium.

Lakeside talk followed, with nothing new really, just general agreement that it's a good thing and talking about details everyone knows about, except for the social club revamp, which people might not. Still thoigh, nothing earth shattering revealed.

A-league stuff finally came about- I'm not sure even they know how the relationship between Sexy FC and SM Hellas will work - they know it will be separate but beyond that nothing new.  

George Parthimos wished his dad a happy name day. Meh. Chit chat about McNamee and Murray - about how they wouldn't put their names to something without substance. No decision yet on South's percentage .

Assorted crap about Melbourne Heart - bagging it, saying that it has no football peerage, trying to dance around Greg Kaias possible involvement with the Heart consortium, but being ultra carful not to mention his name, like he's Yahweh or something.

Sexy FC rreckon they've shown that theirs in the best solution for the 2nd licence. 

Then I kinda fell asleep for a moment. 

Minor talk about the A-League getting boring with the same old teams, and the difference in demographics between Sydney and Melbourne. Talk about Sexy FC being broadbased, not Hellas based, and how the FFA are talking to us, they're not locking us out.

Conclusion: It's not South Melbourne, FFA rules need it to be 'broadbased' and based on private capital - talking about the difficulty of being a member run club these days.

Cue Ricky Martin's Maria

Two Great Scottish Names Join Southern Cross Bid Team

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Meanwhile, Schwab's predecessor at Melbourne, Paul McNamee, has been appointed interim CEO of the Southern Cross FC consortium, which is bidding for the second Melbourne franchise in the A-League.

The group, which plans to base the club at the newly refurbished State Athletics Centre at Albert Park if it is successful, but play matches alongside Melbourne Victory at the new stadium at Olympic Park, has also engaged SBS broadcaster and soccer identity Les Murray as "football ambassador".

Meanwhile, the crew at Southern Cross, who have an address and phone number now by the way, are starting to come out of their turtle shells and make some noise. But what kind of noise does the hiring of Les Murray and Paul McNamee make? Les Murray does not command the respect he once did - indeed, he and SBS, in their simultaneous peddling of an anti-A-League and 'NSL, what was that?' party line over the last few years, have just about alienated most football supporters in some way or another. One local football philosopher made the comment that either he's been doing everything right, or charting the only course possible. Personally, I reckon Les didn't know what to do. SBS was no longer the centre of attention, their core 'wogball' audience was no longer being represented, and Foxtel had what the newbreeds wanted, and perhaps more importantly, how they wanted it. Spotlessly clean, and relentlessly upbeat.

And for all the praise that Murray gets from traditionalists, one can't but help remembering SBS's pro-Sydney, anti-everywhere else but especially Melbourne agenda. With Johnny Warren already being beatified by the newbreeds - and it not mattering one iota that the enormous complexity of the man has gone missing in the process - is Murray looking for something similar? To feel loved, or at least respected, as he once was? Because even SBS's centrepiece football show, The World Game, is on at a time when most people are going to or from VPL games, or are watching A-League contests either in person or on the idiot box. What is it exactly that the Southern Cross bid team think he will bring as an 'ambassador'?

As for Paul McNamee's involvement, while that has its more obvious and dare I say, more tangible benefits, in terms of his contacts and networks built over a large period of time, his experience in his other sports administration endeavours don't give me the same sense of peace of mind that others have seemed to have pounced on. For starters, while he did do a good job in managing the Australian Open - particularly in getting the big name players to come down here - it has to be said his job was helped by a resurgance in Australia's tennis playing stocks, which has disappeared now. Not forgetting that the Open is under the increasing threat of being shipped to the more lucrative Asian market, though what anyone would be able to do about that is debatable. And then he had a stint at the other Australian Open - the golf one - well, that was bound to end badly, with even most golfers figuring out that it's deadly broing game to watch, either in person or on tv. His Melbourne stint, all four months of it ended up with him doing not much at all, what with Jim Stynes always seeking to replace whoever was in there. Still, he's been around the block a few times, he must know something; and goodness, football knowledge is hardly an essential quality of the new regime, otherwise would Murray's standing as a icon/commentator/guardian be as low as its ever been?

So is this me just trying to talk down the whole operation? After all, why are we - oops, Freudian slip there - I mean why are Southern Cross resorting to such tactics, especially the heightened public relations campaign, while the other mob, which allegedly includes former South president Greg 'Chaos' Kaias, keeping their cards so close to their chests? As usual, what do they know that Southern Cross don't? Time will be the great judge on all that they do, and time is a harsh and lousy judge most of the time, kinda like those ancient Athenian war veterans who were required to be on juries so they could get their injured veterans money and who mostly fell asleep during the trial of Socrates.