A Heartfelt Plea From an Anonymous Reader

Not sure why this couldn't just have been posted in the comments section, but one of our readers pleaded for us to have this posted as open-letter, so here goes.

3-0 loss to Northcote, eh? You fucken recycled sods. Pull your fingers out of your asses and play some football. I am sick and tired of excuses from the top down. The fish rots from the head, and after Sunday's loss, Gus has shown he lacks in the substitution department once again. The sub he made in regards to Keenan off Cartanos on was a joke of the highest order. Firstly, Keenan tweaked his hammy at training on Friday night, secondly, when he did it again on Sunday the bench had no idea, thirdly, you have an experienced Fernando, and instead you bring on a raw Cartanos. This is where the game was lost. I’m not having a go at Cartanos for that, I am having a go at Gus. What the fuck are you doing?

How could you play an injured Keenan? How could you not see when he did his hammy? Why not bring on Fernando? I can’t wait to hear your excuse on SMFCtv on Wednesday night. Don’t blame injuries, or suspensions, every team needs to go through those. Blame yourself. You have no faith in the players you have. Cliques have formed in the team and you are doing nothing about it.

The players also have a lot to answer. None of you realise how good you have it at South. From the changerooms right down to the TV shows, and the rest of the professional setup at South. You fucken arrogant showponies. You’re all fucken talk. You couldn’t play yourselves out of a paper bag at times. Some of you shouldn’t even be allowed to watch the games from the grandstand. You can’t handle the abuse from the fans, yet you don’t play decent football. This is South Melbourne, we expect wins, especially when you're all apparently ‘excellent’ players. I use the word ‘excellent’ very loosely. You ungrateful plebs.

The fans are reaching boiling point. I have no idea where the reaction will occur first. You people are playing with people's passions. Yet, none of you spineless pricks have any passion. You’re all happy to get your pay cheque, yet don’t give a flying fuck about what you’re actually doing out on the park. If I was the board at South, I wouldn’t pay you clowns a cent until the end of the season, and that’s only if you make the Grand Final.

Solution: Sack Gus, and about 4 players. None of them are worthy of representing South at A-N-Y level.

Byles, Matthews, Keenan, Mattei, Payne all apparently sacked

Huge news! I have no idea of the why, the who etc - only an oblique rumour as to the existence of a 'clique', which might not even exist, let alone include all of the above mentioned players. More news if it comes to hand.

Questions that need to be asked

A suitable image stolen from a Lutheran site. 

Just kicking back today, trying to keep it real, but as always, against my will, also thinking about the big questions dealing with our existence. This was prompted in part by my bumping into an old bloke called Thanasi, a Heidelberg fan who I see at Altona East PAOK on occasion, and who loves to get me riled up about South's fortunes - apparently having two players sent off doesn't make copping five goals acceptable, or even plausible. Amazingly, he only seems to surface when South is on a lean run. Still, browsing the forums and thinking back to what's happened over the season thus far, several other questions have also come up. Here's a sample.

• Is Joe Keenan still at South Melbourne? If he is, is he ever going to come back?
• Galanos (rinse repeat)?
• What kind of idiot declares themselves both an ardent monarchist and a fan of Celtic?
• When we are we going to relocate permanently to SS Anderson Reserve?
• When are we going to finally get conned out of our forty year lease at Lakeside?
• Who is really the coach at South? Is it Eddie? Is it Joe? Is it Ange? Whose hand am I supposed to shake first in the event we win the title? Whose head do I call for in the event of a disastrous second half of the season?
• Was Simon Colosimo protesting outside John Cain Memorial Park with the Dandenong Thunder fans last week?
• Does Peter Zois still love this club? If not, which club does he love now, and are they treating him better? 
• Under which circumstances is it appropriate to throw a glass bottle at your brother's head?
• If you come from Glenroy and have a Dickie Knee hairstyle, is it appropriate for you to pay out on someone from Dandenong for having a rattail?
• Did a dingo really take Rama's baby?
• What's the difference between Harriet Tubman and the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

2011 squad lists released

As seen here on the FFV's site. Some interesting names on and not on the South list - and that of several other clubs. The big surprise is seeing Trent Waterson's name on our list - yes, that Trent Waterson. Some may recall Waterson having a sort of breakout season in 2006 for Sunshine in the VPL, including scoring the winning goal against us from an unmarked header in the six yard box at Chaplin Reserve. He joined us the following season, but was never really able to on a consistent basis recapture the form that brought him across in the first place. Then as several players have done in recent times, he went from South to SouthLite - aka Oakleigh - and had their relevance disappear off the face of the earth, and in Waterson's case, even had him being asked - let's just say politely, for what it's worth - by a fan to give back the trophy he was awarded by Clarendon Corner. With so many midfielders in the squad, you have to wonder what people are thinking in bringing him back.

The big story player wise this off-season has been the Ramazan Tavsancioglu saga. Not wishing to revisit the gory details - you can do that elsewhere on this blog - he's found his way to Oakleigh. But in a surprise, Peter Zois, who left us hanging prior to our Singapore Cup quarter final, is not on their list. As aren't Joe Keenan and Yianni Galanos on our lists. Keenan perhaps is still technically regarded as an Adelaide United player, and rumours have circulated that Zois will be a permanent number two at Heart, although as their still current number two he may still be registered there. There's also no Nathan Caldwell - is this the final admission that his playing career, which was halted by a stray Robbie Wynne tackle during the 2009 Hellenic Cup, is never to resume? If so, it's a sad end to what should have been a tidy career at this level - here's hoping I'm wrong.

But what of Galanos? Is his injury so severe that he won't be available for the entire season, as previously rumoured but quickly quashed by the South media machine? Is this why Watersin has been brought back into the fold? And what of the several rumoured super signings waiting in the wings at several clubs? What's the point of putting up a list if there's going to be more added to it and the people you thought were going to be on it aren't on there? Once again, I just don't know how this is all meant to work - but that's part of the fun I suppose.

Joe Keenan injured while on loan

Star left-winger Joe Keenan has apparently broken his ankle while on loan to Adelaide United, in their match against Brisbane Roar. The preliminary diagnosis seems to be a 6-8 week layoff, which means he'll miss most if not all of the pre-season schedule. Just more bad luck for Keenan, who missed much of the opening half of the 2010 season after having his appendix removed, as well as succumbing to other injuries.

Keenan to Adelaide United as injury replacement

Joe Keenan signs up with Adelaide United, as a four week injury replacement for some guy called Nigel Boogaard. We'll still have him for Singapore Cup, my sources have assured me - at least this way he keeps match fit, maybe. Thanks to Johnny for the tip, and Cuddles for the clarification.

Row, row, row your boat, do we have a stream?

I don't know. The club ain't providing a screening, which is a pity, but understandable considering the cost. Live updates may be available on Kallang Roar or on the S-League website. If I find a stream, I'm posting details here. The game is on tonight at 9:30pm Eastern Standard Time (the best kind of time). Apparently no Keenan or Fernando, which means we're screwed. Oh well. In the meantime, enjoy this piece on the S-League website focusing on, and seemingly replete with information taken from my various postings on here and other places - which I don't mind, informing the public is what I'm here for.

Highlights and interviews from the Georgies game

Some tidy goals, lousy marking, and interviews with Gasparis, Keenan, Yusef and Horsey. Just in case you missed the game or forgot to record the smfctv 31 show.

Welcome to Jazz Club - Nice

Whoa. This week's edition of SMFCTV has taken a turn I didn't quite expect. The combination of commentary and music makes it sit halfway between an Aural Text spoken word beatnik piece (wonderful Triple R programme which I had the honour of being on last year) and The Fast Show's Jazz Club skits. Some other things worth noting, maybe:

• Steve O'Dor's nickname must be livewire or something similarly suitable. 
• There's a weird light on Joe Keenan's head, which often illuminates his right ear.
• Vaughan Coveny endorses pitch invasions! Ok, that's probably a bit disingenuous from me.

South's new signings talk to smfctv

Not for the squeamish.

More signings

Joe Keenan onboard to 'enhance' our attacking stocks. We'll see about that.