Brad Norton signs on for 2021 season

Apart from whatever Football Victoria thinks it can concoct in terms of a short-forum tournament for the tail-end of this miserable year, it appears that the rest of 2020 for South fans will be spent like this - ticking off signings and re-signings for season 2021. And maybe the announcement of some sort of limited edition merchandise if we're lucky. Who knows how this year's AGM will get held, but I'm sure people will figure it out.

Anyway, not a new signing this time, but another re-signing, with Brad Norton committing to South for the 2021 season, which will be his tenth in blue and white. It's been a very long time since we had a ten year player at the club, and Brad has done well to last as long as he has. Think about this - he's not only survived the last two and a bit seasons of upheaval (in some respects for him, the easier said than done bit), but he's survived the clean-out that accompanied Chris Taylor's arrival.

So who was the last ten-year player at South? From the players who played for us only post-NSL, Fernando de Moraes managed nine seasons; among the next best, Ramazan Tavsancioglu, six. The best of the rest probably somewhere around that five or six year mark. 

Then there are those players who spent time with us both in the NSL and after it. Tansel Baser had five NSL seasons at South, and two more in the VPL era for a total of seven - there will be those who think that Tansel could've made it a few more, had he not been shuffled out the door perhaps before his time was done. Someone saw his injury riddled body and made a decision, which in hindsight turned out to be wrong, as Tansel had a good few years at Hume City after us.

Con Blatsis, like Baser, was part of that mid-1990s Frank Arok-era youth intake. He also had five NSL seasons at South, and played in our first two VPL seasons; but while remaining on our senior list from 2007-2009, Blatsis never managed another game due to injury.

Vaughan Coveny had racked up nine NSL seasons at Lakeside, and three more in the VPL in stints broken up by his participation in the A-League, as well as the 2004 season spent with Essendon Royals - so twelve seasons all up, including three erratic VPL seasons, which gets Horsey comfortably over the line. 

The other player that comes to mind is Dean Anastasiadis, who had four mid-1990s NSL seasons with us, and two more seasons right at the end of the NSL at Lakeside - though in the 2003/04 season he appears not to have managed a game, with most goalkeeping duties taken up Eugene Galekovic, and the remaining handful by the artist formerly known as Michael Theoklitos. In our hour of need after the NSL however, Deano came back for four more season to make it to ten years all up, even if we might have been better off with a different keeper in the last couple of those seasons. 

So there it is, or perhaps (fingers crossed) there it will be - our first post-NSL era ten-season player. If all goes to plan, Norton will be our first ten season player since Dean Anastasiadis; the first player to play ten consecutive seasons at South since Vaughan Coveny, if we leave out the necessity of players like Coveny having to play elsewhere in 2004 following the dissolution of the NSL, (Anastasiadis also played with Coveny at Royals that year).

Figuring out this stuff is not the worst way to pass the pandemic time.

Rama Rumours Run Rampant

So the story's going something like this.

Eddie Krncevic has stripped the captaincy off Ramazan Tavsancioglu and given it to Steven O'Dor, for reasons which have not emerged yet in any official capacity. Since then, the situation has deteriorated so much that Rama is out of the side altogether. Rama is a free agent and assessing his options - with a return to South under Eddie's tenure almost impossible. Naturally this has set off a massive torrent of support for Rama and a heap of abuse against Eddie Krncevic and the board. But it's never so cut and dried.

Eddie's appointment as coach was not a universally popular one. His previous stint at the club back in the NSL days ended in controversy, with rumours of transfer impropriety, which it must be noted, have never been definitively established in the public sphere. More recently, with his work as a player agent, it has been assumed that he would try and get work for some of his clients, even though as a coach he can no longer be an agent. Bringing over his son Jesse, despite Jesse's undoubted quality as a striker and our desperate need for one, is just another target to aim at for his detractors.

In his first stint as coach at South, Eddie took over after Mike Peterson upped and left for the Football Kingz - Eddie was left with a weakened squad, and after the betrayal of a favourite son, was granted a bit of leniency. For his second stint as as coach at South, Eddie has replaced Vaughan Coveny, whose contract was not renewed. This time will not be easier. Of course, Horsey is a 'club legend', and all sorts of rumours started about how he was treated poorly by the club. All this ignores the fact that the style of football we played was atrocious, regardless of earning enough points to finish in the finals.

Add in the anti-board agendas of several groups, of whom few have had the temerity to actually say something at an AGM, where they did actually attend; the fact that before this situation started, half the Greeks of soccer-forum.net and even some non-Greeks wondered how a 'Greek' club could have a Turk as captain, a tune which has now changed to focusing on the club's apparent betrayal of Rama. And lastly for now, the fact that Rama's uncle was providing sponsorship to the club as well, and it keeps getting worse and worse.

Now if Eddie's goal was to stamp his authority on the team - and I seriously hope it was - he's seriously messed up this situation. If it's merely a case of not rating Rama as a player, Eddie has obviously gone about conveying that message in the worst possible manner, and it has only emboldened those who had him as a marked man even when his appointment as coach was still an internet rumour. It's also interesting to note that Rama has still been appearing at our Hellenic Cup fixtures, while at the same time also acknowledging that the rest of the squad has not risen up in rebellion against Eddie's decisions and processes. Why this is the case, I do not know.

For what it's worth, I like Rama. He seems to genuinely care about the club, has improved his disciplinary record a great deal, and the players generally seem to look up at him. However, there is also the playing side, which I;'ve felt for some time hasn't improved significantly. His crossing is still very poor, which nullifies his effectiveness as an overlapping player. And he's still having difficulty judging balls going over his head, as well as getting dragged towards the middle far too often. But Eddie's also cut James Stefanou and Eddie Cetkin from the side, meaning that experienced defensive stocks are thin on the ground, and that perhaps Eddie's squad management and people skills aren't exactly crash hot.

Should Rama not return this season, will it mean more opportunities for players from our youth squad, such as Josh Colosimo and James Riccobene? I certainly hope so. Krncevic, as coach of Carlton, despite having a large budget for which to purchase high profile players, which he certainly did, also gave opportunities to young players such as Marco Bresciano, Simon Colosimo and Vince Grella. Several young players have been trialled against the lesser likes in the pre-season, and our under 21s did of course cruise to the title last season, playing some attractive football. And isn't this what having sttrong junior sides is all about? Using them to rebuild and replace without needing to shop around?

I'd say this is going to be fun, but it obviously won't be. Once upon a time this club even sacked Paul Wade, who was the Socceroo captain at the time. In part this was because the coach at the time, Frank Arok, felt Paul Wade wasn't up to it any more; and surely an additional reason would have been because Arok wanted to create his own group with new leadership. I hope that this is what Eddie has been aiming for, and that his methods are proven right. Getting rid of a captain and player with several years at the one club is never easy, and Eddie's success and legacy may well rest on this issue alone. The old maxim that no player, no coach and no fan is bigger than the club is about to get a massive work out.

Meanwhile, I'm going to be in my bomb shelter until this thing blows over.

Eddie Krncevic back as South coach

Ok, so the official site has announced it - but pretty much everybody seemed to know the facts of the matter a long time ago. The question of who leaked it - maybe even how many leaked it - is impossible to know, but it's the return of a bad old habit, one that I wish would go away.

Anyway, what to make of the disengaging of Horsey? I'm not one for syaing a first year coach coming in straight after finishing their playing career will always be a liability. That's a nonsense argument, and there's enough bad coaches who get job after job in this state to render it even more stupid.

Horsey has a reputation for being a tough negotiator, as well as stubbornness, certainly when it came to signing his last playing contract with us, and I would not expect that to have changed in his time as coach. He's obviously keen on making coaching a serious career - he's been racking up coaching licences - but the never ending circus surrounding the assistant roles never gave much confidence in regards to who was actually in charge and with whom the buck stopped - David Lugli got the arse, Joe Montemurro was often given credit for 'the right moves' and the other bloke 'Franz' did I know not sure what.

Of course, the six point deduction will come up and complicate matters. With those points we would have finished fourth - better than missing out on the finals and dealing with the interminable 'what could have been' argument. And the momentum kicked out from under you, and the sucker punch of having to deal with that for close to a whole season, something that was out of your control is still hurting the players - it was readily apparent at the MVP night.

But having said all that, the team should have done a lot better than it did. The forward problems never got solved, defensively we were a mess, and our brilliant fluid football which appeared every now and again made that all the more frustrating. Too much was left to too few this season - particularly Fernando's surprisingly good season and Peter Zois' pulling off several amazing saves to get us over the line or keep scorelines at least respectable. Some of the substitutions and set ups in particular seemed to boggle the mind. The insistence of still playing Gianni De Nittis alone up front for much of the year; the putting on of attacking wingers - notably Kyle Joryeff - when we were in the lead and needing to shut down the game; the often and obvious defensive incoherence, torn apart most notably by Northcote who made a mockery of the high line and offside trap style we attempted to play; and perhaps most tragically, the disappearance of last year's MVP winner Sebastian Petrovic off the face of the earth, in relative terms at least.

So, having said that all that, I'm personally not disappointed that Vaughan's been shown the door. But what of his replacement and his credentials? He coached a cashed up and professional Carlton, got them to a grand final, and then 11th. Coached Marconi, who by that time were making the finals and not much else. Of course, everyone will remember that Eddie coached us for a season in 2001/02 - the season after Mike Petersen (and several players) ditched us for the Football Kingz. But even more so, that season will be remembered for Con Boutsianis. It was Con's return half way through that season that turned around what was looking like a bottom two finish. Sure a lot of youth got blooded, but that was by necessity. Eddie didn't come back the next year.

For most of the past few years, he's been the player agent business. He obviously has to let go of that pursuit now that he's a coach, but it could well mean the addition of several clients to our playing roster, and possible, foreseeable complications. My opinions of him as a coach are, at best, cloudy and tainted by factors outside his control. It could be refreshing though to have someone with his sense of style back at the club - there was a guy with a gay leather biker jacket at the MVP night yesterday - not that there's anything wrong with that. How about that though? Bamboo Harvester replaced by Mr. Ed.

SMFCTV Oakleigh vs South highlights

Excuses, excuses - video of our recent disaster against Richmond

The Peter Zois Show - with special guests

I know that official club communications to the plebeian mass have to be, gah, I hate this word, 'positive' - but surely even the great unwashed out there in internet land can see from this footage that, while yes we had chances, we were incredibly loose at the back save for one man, the great Peter Zois. Also another new commentator. One gets the feeling that everyone left at South will get a go soon at this caper, even the proverbial inanimate carbon rod, before I get anywhere near the microphone. Feels like the succession line for the British throne is shorter. I'm not complaining though, because being a republican one would have to knock back any royal favours and titles which may end up coming my way. It's a matter of principle don't you know.

Seriously, what a joke

Osagie only gets a yellow for his studs up tackle on Rhodri Payne, goes down like sack of spuds for the first penalty, and Recchia gets called for a handball when the ball has hit his chest and when the ref is blindsided. Footage also includes stunned mullet interview with Joey Yousseff and umming and ahhing chat with Horsey.

Highlights from Altona game

A different commentator, a few goals, perhaps a little downhill skiing. Interviews with the usual suspects as well as debutant Jason Ricciuti.

Hightlights from Bentleigh Greens catch up match

Singapore Cup special part 3

Vox pops with Kyle Joryeff, Rama, Daniel Vasilevski, Joseph Youseff and Horsey and Rhodri doing the haka.

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.

Yes? What happened? When did that happen? How much of it? Oh my goodness, I'll be right up.

If Sydney United and Melbourne Knights could get the backlash they did for farming kids off to Croatian clubs, I wonder what kind of stick we'll get for allowing this sort of blatantly treasonous behaviour. And is the club getting paid? And will they move with us to wherever the fuck we're going after this week? And will we quickly become hoof and hope afficionados because of this relationship? If so, the blame shouldn't be on Vaughan Coveny's head - he is after all, entitled to try and sneakily increase the chances of his homeland at whatever cost - but instead, squarely at the feet of Football Director Ange Dallas if anything should happen to our precious jogo bonito.


Soccer: DIY All Whites hit on unusual way of preparing for Cup
By Chris Rattue

Shane Smeltz is among a group of five All Whites who have set up their own training camp in Melbourne. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Welcome to the DIY All Whites.

Members of New Zealand's World Cup-bound soccer side have taken themselves to Melbourne to keep in shape for the tournament in June.

Tim Brown, Ben Sigmund, Leo Bertos and David Mulligan from the Wellington Phoenix and Shane Smeltz from Gold Coast United designed the 12-day camp to negate the long break before playing Australia on May 24.

Brown and Sigmund hit on their own camp concept after the Phoenix's A-league campaign ended last month.

"We're supplying the food but New Zealand Football came to the party with money for airfares, accommodation and a rental car which we are really grateful for," Sigmund said.

"I suppose what we have done is unique ... but we desperately needed to get away from distractions and be focused on football."

The five train in the morning under Phoenix assistant Luciano Trani using programmes set by All Whites trainer Kenny McMillan, then work with Victorian club South Melbourne.

"Other World Cup teams get paid a lot more money and get everything you could possibly need," said Sigmund.

"We've heard England have three pitches at their base in South Africa mapped out to the size of the fields their group matches are on. Those are things we could never dream of."

Most of the All Whites will go into camp in Auckland on April 28

Hyperbole Station - Gully game highlights

Includes chit chat with Peter Zois, Rama, Nando and Horsey.

Round 3 Highlights

Notice the nice layoffs by De Nittis and Gasparis to set up a couple of those goals. The offside call on the third Northcote goal is at best, inconclusive based on the footage. One thing you won't notice is that in his brief post-game interview Daniel Vasilevski, is apparently not wearing any pants. Or so I've been told.

Altona away highlights

A new year, with new graphics and a slightly new aesthetic - in terms of having crowd noise in from the get go. Also includes Coveny and de Moraes interviews.

Part 2 of Gala Ball interview compilation

Vaughan Coveny talks about All Whites qualification chances

A nice interview with Vaughan Coveny by Daniel Phan on Goal.com yesterday, talking about the All Whites' world cup qualification campaign, his coaching ambitions and New Zealand football and the AFC. Needed to be proofread though. I ain't doing it. Here it is in its entirety, but click on the link anyway, there might be other good articles on there too.



New Zealand is in pole position to defeat Bahrain in the second leg of their 2010 World Cup play-off on November 14 in Wellington, claims former All Whites striker Vaughan Coveny.

Speaking exclusively with Goal.com, the Kiwis’ all-time record scorer expressed cautious confidence ahead of his nation’s clash with Bahrain in the return leg.

The first leg ended goalless last month.

“The guys did really well to get a great result to take back to New Zealand. As long as everybody involved stays fit. I believe we are in pole position to qualify,” Coveny told Goal.com.

“Firstly, we are playing at home in what will be a packed stadium and we’ve got the players capable of scoring a goal at home.”

“However, I don’t want to say we have one foot in the door already.”

The first leg in Manama ended 0-0 – with Bahrain enjoying the bulk of possession in front of their rapturous home crowd, however, the South Melbourne player-turned-manager expects the tide to turn come next month’s reverse fixture.

“It was always going to be tough. These games played over 180 minutes – your just two games away from the World Cup with not many scoring chances,” he began. “The home team will always have the crowd behind them and it was tough for our boys given the hostile environment.

He added, “We did well not to concede – and even had a couple of half-chances ourselves.

“I’m looking forward to our home leg as I believe we got the players in Rory Fallon [of Plymouth Argyle], Chris Wood [of West Bromwich Albion], Shane Smeltz [of Gold Coast United] and Chris Killen [of Celtic] – all goal scorers that are in form.”

Long-Term Asian Test?

With Australia defecting to the AFC (Asian Football Confederation), much has been said about New Zealand potentially following its trans-Tasman rivals into FIFA’s largest confederation.

Coveny is in favour of a potential link-up with Australia in the AFC, although concedes the unlikelihood of such a move eventuating.

“New Zealand would love to move into Asia if they gave us the chance to do so.”

“It will improve us as a nation and football side. “We’re in Oceania and that is the way it is at the moment so have to do everything by the rules.

“I agree it’s not a strong federation but others can come up with suggestions to make it more make it more difficult.”

But with New Zealand 90 minutes away from a place in the World Cup finals, Coveny has no complaints of the qualification pathway handed by FIFA.

“At the moment Asia is where we have to go qualify through, and it’s an easier pathway we must admit rather than playing the fifth placed South American team.”

Wellington Phoenix

Before returning to South Melbourne, Coveny spent two years at A-league club Wellington Phoenix.

There are lingering doubts surrounding the club’s long term future – with less than two years remaining on its A-league licence, and Coveny insists that the FFA (Football Federation Australia) should continue with the New Zealand franchise beyond the two years remaining on its license.

“I would love to see Wellington [Phoenix] continue [in the A-league],” he started.

“It’s good for the game in New Zealand. I know there’s a little bit of rivalry where I don’t think a lot of Aussies like them being in the A-league.”

Despite competing in an AFC registered competition, Wellington are unable to qualify for the Asian Champions League given its geographic representation being outside of AFC territory.

However, the All Whites legend wants the AFC to compromise its stance against Wellington Phoenix due to the fact it is New Zealand’s sole professional club.

“In terms of the Asian Champions League issue – that’s a tough one. I accept that we’re not part of Asia,” admits Coveny.

“But it’s the only professional team in New Zealand so why not give them a little bit of flexibility and allow them to compete in the ACL?

“I just hope people can sit down and sort it out. It’s a funny one because we’re part of Oceania and they are part of Asia – it’s a real sticky point.”

Coaching ambitions

When asked if coaching in the A-league or international arena with New Zealand was on his radar, Coveny nodded in affirmation.

“Definitely,” he said. “I do have ambitions to coach at the highest level.

“I’ve always been involved in the professional environment working with elite athletes and I’d love to give back something back to New Zealand – even if it was at the youth level; get involved in some capacity,” he continued.

“We’ll see what happens after this World Cup game [against Bahrain] – some doors may open.”

Daniel Phan, Goal.com

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.

Coveny appeal succesful

The remaining portion of his suspension, three games, has been negated, and he'll be free to play this week against the Knights.