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.

A hearty congratulations to...

Our under 21s who sealed the championship weeks ago, but keep on keeping on regardless. Now, it's fair to say that much of the opposition is of a poor standard, but you can only beat with who's put up in front of you, or something. And the squad is like, young, too, which gives one a minor, cautious hope for the future. Their only loss thus far was in the very first game against the NTC. So here's to the under 21s, for going one better than last year, winning our first under 21 title since the 2004 NSL Southern Division youth championship. We went on to lose 2-1 to Canberra Deakin, the Northern Division winners, who featured one Nathan Caldwell (and for us, Steve O'Dor), sidelined for almost two seasons now. Is he ever going to come back?

South through to Hellenic Cup final after bruising win over Oakleigh

South Melbourne is through to the Hellenic Cup final next week after outlasting Oakleigh Cannons with a 3-2 extra time win. South were up 2-0, before Oakleigh leveled the game. Scorers for South were Fernando with one and Coveny two, including the last minute winner. The joy will be tempered though to what appears to be a serious and potentially season ending knee injury to Nathan Caldwell, after he was crudely tackled by former South defender Robbie Wynne.

Vaughan Coveny lobs the ball over the Oakleigh keeper to give South a 2-0 lead. Photo by Pavlaki.

South of the Border Awards for 2008

Yeah, yeah, time to do this again. Only I, Paul, had anything to do with this list. Except for the under 21 player of the year, which was handed to our own under 21 contributor of the year, Cliff. And his choice was a pretty good one, as well as his footage of our goal of the year.

Player of the year: Nathan Caldwell. Well duh. Put in plenty of effort throughout the year, set up some great chances, snagged a few goals, though he could've had more. Seemed revivatilsed by the arrival of Micky M. If anything, our most consistent player this season, when consistency was an attribute sorely lacking

Under 21 player of the year: Gianni De Nittis. Had a solid season particularly after the arrival of Micky M. Will be amongst the first signings of a Southern Cross team you'd hope.

Goal of the year: Not too many contenders, and some may think Fernando's free kick against Western Suburbs should be a shoe in, but no. The winner is Hamlet Armenian's goal against Oakleigh. Spectacular? No. From a short corner? Yes. 'Nuff said really. Now stop doing them.



Best performance over a whole match: Hmm, tough one. The Knights game at home, thoroughly enjoyed the game, even if we tired towards the end.

Best period of play during the season: Those two goals in two minutes against Preston at BT Connor. Probably.

Best away game: Richmond and Frankston would be right to feel jilted, where it for any other season where we didn't go to Canberra. Read all about it here, minus all the in-jokes that we just can't reprint.

Best call on the terraces: 'Why'? If you were there, you know what I'm talking about.

Chant of the year: Anything to do with this would have won


But best of all was the staccato, Pi O-esque oh. oh. oh. version. It was getting all literary and highbrow there for a sudden.

South defeat weak Northcote

Earlier this evening we defeated the Northcote City seniors 0-3. New South signing Petrovich (Who has played for South a few times in the past) scored the opener, with Caldwell scoring 2 goals in the second half to seal the game in our favour, including a great goal from a free kick. Recent signing Luca Napoletano was also said to have impressed and played well in the second half in which he was subbed on.

More details as they become available.

Trapped around the heards

Players changing numbers? Allegedly, Gianni De Nittis and Nathan Caldwell have swapped numbers. Pointless exercise or a signal of intent by the coach? Is the curse of the number 9, famously worn by Trimmers for so many years, finally going to be over?

Players sweating at training? Apparently it's all the rage these days down at Lakeside. Make of that what you will.

Angry beavers? An undisclosed amount of --- ----- have apparently told the --- to stick their new ------ ------ up their arse unless their ---------- are ---, and the ------- seem to be we won't help you unless we ---- --- -----. Or something like that. See what happens when silly people tell you what essentially anyone could have guessed anyway, and I assume was no secret in the first place?

And where the fuck is South going to find the money for all these players they're wanting to sign? And will some people just grow the fuck up? Hopefully something more substantial tomorrow. No guarantees though.

Pedestrian and awful - Hellenic Cup group games

This is basically a wrap up of the two remaining group games played over this weekend.

Saturday's match was against South Springvale Aris, a state league 2 outfit. Mix of regulars and ressies. Got there late, so missed Caldwell's opener. Caldwell also got the 2nd, and was denied a hat-trick by a spectacular save from a free kick by the opposition keeper. In general, South barely raised a sweat and rarely looked inspiring, but having said that, Aris never even got close. Ricky Diaco missed the game with a groin injury but should be right for the start of the season. Your correspondent had a terse conversation with Rockem Sockem Poutakidis about the whereabouts of Perth goalkeeping recruit Neill Young. Rumour is that he hasn't signed, unhappy about having to play second fiddle to Johnny A's brother Dean. "No comment" was the response, in my opinion more or less an admission that it was true. He stuck to his guns and I stuck to mine. I reckon I won that argument on a points decision, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, what with an experienced and seemingly quite capable keeper being let go for reasons other than talent.

Sunday's game was against amateur side South Springvale Serres. With the exceptions of Natsioulas and Tosic in goal, no one else could be considered even close to a senior player. Still, the performance was very disconcerting. A bunch of young, fit and allegedly talented guys struggled to put together almost any decent moves. Luckily, Serres almost never threatened to score, but still, Hellas needed a dubious penalty to make sure of the result. There were some bad tackles in this game, the one that will stick the mind the most is that of a South player lucky to stay on the field after committing an atrocious and plainly deliberate two footed studs up tackle. Johnny A's absence was also noticed by some supporters, and not with pleasure either.

South now goes on to meet Bentleigh Greens on Thursday evening, with the winner of that going through to the semi final on Sunday.

While you were sleeping, part 2.

2007

* During the pre-season, South defeats Oakleigh in the Hellenic Cup final on penalties, triggering the most half-arsed pitch invasion in history.

* Also during the pre-season, a young Dutch defender named Jasper Valentijn makes his mark, and is never seen again except in the annals of myspace.

* A highly professional membership drive (by VPL standards) is enacted, but despite the effort, the membership numbers remain essentially the same.

* A press-release is er, released, signifying South's intention of making a bid for the A-League. Lots of people get very excited, and hell, even optimistic.

* South gets off to a reasonable start, but poor squad management (everyone knew those players were going to leave for the A-League) coupled with a goalkeeping crisis, leads to some very inconsistent results, from which the side never truly recovers.

* Owing to a foofoorah between certain people at the Australian Open tennis and Water Polo championships, South decides to play its home match with the Melbourne Knights behind closed doors. The FFV says no. The Police have it both ways. The FFA looks the other way. South lose, as the game is never played, and the three points are awarded to the Knights, using some sort of FFV logic.

* A breakaway faction from the Clarendon Corner supporters group, calling itself Gate 1, forms.

* Despite playing pretty crappy football throughout the tournament, Australia almost in spite of itself, almost reaches the semi-finals of the 2007 Asian Cup.

* Halfway through the season South hosts the Melbourne Victory in a pre-season warm up match for the latter, and gets spanked 5-1, with Nathan Caldwell scoring for South. But the game will be remembered more for the large crowd (7,000), the large amount of flares ripped by the visiting fans, with one hitting fringe South player Andrew Bourakis in the head, and the argle-bargle which essentially lead to the dissolution of Gate 1, and which also earnt them the nickname, 'gate one game'. The optimism of the press-release dies a lonely death.

* South struggles to score for the rest of the season, except for a brilliant 5-2 thrashing of Oakleigh.

* South's finals chances come to a dispiriting end at Ralph Reserve against Western Suburbs, losing 3-0. A 2-0 win against Kingston in the last round follows, but no one really gives a toss.

* A bit of a clean out starts taking place.

* Some people, for reasons perhaps known only to themselves, start peddling the notion that 'big things' are in store for the club.

* In a rather strange coincidence, the club's coterie group is renamed Southern Cross, the same name as an alleged bid of the second Melbourne A-League license.

* South starts off preparation for season 2008 proper by winning two meaningless games against Altona Magic and Coburg United with a bunch of nobodies who still got to live one of my dreams by playing for South.