Can confirm this:Originally Posted by lil_masi
http://www.thebentmusket.com/2013/2/...ms-andy-dorman
Can confirm this:
http://www.thebentmusket.com/2013/2/...ms-andy-dorman
Middleby Gone
Lawrie Out
Hope they don't read this foz
If he wasn't gone in 7 weeks anyway i would be putting forward we crash the foz until the deal can go thru so as not to jepordise it falling through if someone came on here and found out what he was really like
Hope GVE doesnt read he has a good motor - will resign him for 2 years.
Thomas 477, good point about not just the lower Hunter.
An interesting question would be - how many teams would you have to have in Newcastle/Hunter, so that the average standard of those teams was equal to what Port, Coffs, Tamworth were able to put on the park?
Can't comment about the standard of Coffs, Port etc, but you never hear about their top division. Plus NBN is the NNSWF's top league, followed by NEWFM. But if you say that the average top is around ZPL/ low NEWFM, just in terms of spread of quality, we could assume that at least 10+ clubs around Newcastle alone (Magic, Olympic, Jaffas, ATown, Cardiff) are above the average from the regional areas. So for it to be fair, there would have to be incentive for players from the NBN to relocate to regions like Coffs and Tamworth. Plus dilute the talent pool enough for the competition to be competitive. IMO this would be more trouble than its worth.
Best off for our region, given the centralised location of our first division, is that the current clubs stay as are, and any regional team wanting to compete at that level applies through NNSWF and stringent checks are applied to ensure competitiveness at NBN level. Of course, finances will be important as wel, given all regional teams would have to travel 2hrs+ each week.
Anyway, that's just my opinion.
Middleby Gone
Lawrie Out
Bring back the old FYL!! Use to love traveling to Port Mac, Taree and Tamworth.
Can see it now, 15min in & GVE pintos Bridges, then watch for the mass wrist slashing from the western stand.Newcastle Jets turn to Michael Bridges for crucial clash against Melbourne Heart
Barry Toohey
The Daily Telegraph
February 15, 2013 12:00AM
Michael Bridges (L) will spearhead the Jets attack against Melbourne Heart. Picture: Waide Maguire Source: The Daily Telegraph
MICHAEL Bridges thought his papers were marked.
Having not started in an A-League game for 12 months and being told his services won't be required next season, who could blame him.
But with Newcastle's season potentially on the line against Melbourne Heart at Hunter Stadium tonight, the veteran English striker is the player Jets coach Gary van Egmond has turned to in his side's hour of need.
And while it's all about the team for Bridges, he admits the opportunity to send a message to the coach about his own worth to the club will also be uppermost in his mind.
In a match-up Jets fans have been crying out to see all season, Bridges, 34, will spearhead an attacking strikeforce up front alongside or just in behind Emile Heskey. Van Egmond has also promoted Socceroos striker Adam Taggart in a further bid to bolster his side's lacklustre attack.
After making just occasional cameos off the bench this season and being told he won't be offered another contract, Bridges admitted yesterday he wasn't sure his opportunity in the starting side would ever come again.
"It's tough and it was a hard pill to swallow, but at the end of the day it's a team environment," he said.
"I'm not bigger than this football club and the boys know that and if you're not in the team, you work damn hard to get back in.
"Gary's the manager and he picks the team and you've got to stick by that and hopefully your chance will come. If you toss it in, you won't get that chance."
Bridges is relishing the chance to play alongside Heskey again, 17 years after they were teammates in the England under-17 side.
"It's great that we're getting the chance to have a gig together again," he said.
The Jets are a point outside the top six and defeat would put the club under enormous pressure to make the play-offs.
So the budget cuts are coming, need the extra funds for all the better untraceable drugs for the knights now they are going to be tested.Melbourne Heart looking to bring down more pain on Newcastle Jets
David Davutovic
Herald Sun
February 15, 2013 12:00AM
Melbourne Heart coach John Aloisi admits his side do not travel well and it is time to start picking up points away from home. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun
MELBOURNE Heart faced a club in crisis last week - and tonight it has a chance to consign Newcastle Jets to a similar fate.
Perth's 2-0 loss to Heart led to Glory manager Ian Ferguson being sacked this week, and while a loss for the Jets tonight is unlikely to end Gary van Egmond's tenure, pressure is mounting on the coach.
Heart coach John Aloisi has his own problems; first and foremost addressing his team's terrible away record.
Sitting fifth, Heart is set to include experienced trio Fred, Simon Colosimo and Marcel Meeuwis.
Colosimo looks set to start in central defence, replacing David Vrankovic. Fred will start on the bench, with Aloisi likely to retain Nick Kalmar after last week's man-of-the-match effort.
Dutchman Meeuwis is also likely to be on the bench, having arrived from Europe on Tuesday.
Heart's home form has been solid, but its away record (one win, one draw, eight losses) baffles Aloisi.
"We'd love to win," he said. "Any result in Newcastle would be a positive outcome. They're around the same points as us. We haven't been great away from home, so it's time we start picking up points.
"If we want to make finals, we have to win away, so it's an important game for us.
"We prepare the same way we do at home. We don't try and play a different style. We don't defend any deeper. We want to try and play the same way, and if we do we will pick up points.
"Marcel's clearance has come through, so he'll play some part - he only got off the plane three days ago. Fitness-wise he's good, but is probably a bit jet-lagged."
At Newcastle, budget cuts are afoot and although Nathan Tinkler's Jets are in advanced negotiations with marquee striker Emile Heskey, it is understood the rest of squad will have to fit within the salary cap.
Van Egmond has recalled crowd favourite Mark Bridges - one of at least three inclusions, with Adam Taggart and Taylor Regan - but the coach made a point of saying he was not bowing to public opinion or pressure.
"Bridgey deserves it. It's not done for the fact that people think it should be happening," van Egmond said yesterday.
Hell if this is the best the club & GVE can do with a full budget what is going to happen when the cuts come in. Never mind the 20 year olds, its time to go after the Australian u12 squad, might actually have to start only signing visa player's GVE intends to play as well. I hear a ready made excuse coming on for failing to make the finals.
Mark Bridges - the Michael Bridges & Mark Bridge love child, oh the horror.
Pretty sure the budget cuts have already been going on for quite some time. As much as van Egmond does have a thing for boys with good engines, I don't think even he would have wanted to end up with such a juvenile squad as we have now. Our general recruitment policy these past couple of years has clearly been based on a calculated plunge into the dregs of the bargain bin of players with "potential". Heskey hasn't come cheap, but as long as the club signs one marquee player with a big name, they figure that we'll all be happy regardless of who makes up the rest of the team.
"Have to fit into the salary cap"? My arse. Have to fit into a fraction of the salary cap, more like it. I know the alternative is no team at all, but it's sad to realise that we won't challenge in this league again for a long time - not unless Tinkle Tinkle finds some serious cashish sequestered in his fat-folds.
why are they talking about budget cuts & the salary cap & whatnot, when all clubs salary caps are paid for next season with the tv deal? apart from marquees, how exactly are we affected by the salary cap anymore after this season?
if all clubs don't get two marquees then what exactly are they spending any money on?
OK
The minimum spend in the salary cap is still pretty large... think its $2.1m vs the cap of $2.4m. Though when you look at it like that, you are right... that's an extra $100k we could offer to 3 better players instead of relying solely on youth.
Would certainly be the right age for a GVE squad.Mark Bridges - the Michael Bridges & Mark Bridge love child, oh the horror.
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/13...change/?cs=306
OPINION: Jets crying out for change
By KEVIN CRANSON, Sports Editor Feb. 14, 2013, 11:41 p.m.
GARY VAN EGMOND
‘‘IF I listened to the fans, there is a good chance I’d be sitting with the fans,’’ Jets coach Gary van Egmond said on Wednesday after ringing the changes to his underperforming side.
For sheer bloody-mindedness, it’s hard to beat the Jets coach.
For nearly two seasons now he has stuck to his game plan, using the players he thinks fit the bill, freezing out the ones who don’t, and staring down the critics as the losses pile up.
But it appears someone at the club is listening, and perhaps that person has pointed out to van Egmond that if he doesn’t try something different, he may well find himself in the stands anyway.
It’s not the fact that van Egmond has made mass changes; he does that every week. It’s just that the changes involve players who have barely been sighted off Nobbys this season – Michael Bridges, Taylor Regan and Adam Taggart – and are the very changes fans have been crying out for as their frustration mounts.
The only thing missing was a recall for Kasey Wehrman.
It’s unusual for van Egmond to declare his hand so early in the week. Clearly the club is keen to get the message out before tonight’s match at home against the Heart, because not only are they losing games, they are losing fans.
Last week’s loss to Western Sydney was the tipping point, and not just because the Jets fell out of the top six.
The match highlighted two things: Wanderers have come a long way in a short time and the Jets have gone backwards.
When the Jets started the season with 12 points from six games there was cause for optimism – not because they were playing well, but because they weren’t. Marquee man Emile Heskey was also scoring goals. Imagine how things will go when we really click, was the refrain.
Meanwhile, Wanderers were looking like a side thrown together in a matter of weeks – as they were. It took them until the fourth round to find the net, and they had 10 points from their first nine games.
Yet rookie coach Tony Popovic was unmoved. They were proving hard to break down, he said, and the goals would come.
Fast forward to Saturday’s game, and if you had just landed from outer space and were asked to pick which was the start-up club, there would have been only one answer.
Since he took over from the sacked Branko Culina early last season, van Egmond has espoused a possession-based, up-tempo passing game.
When the side he inherited from Culina struggled to play that way and missed the finals, van Egmond had a clean-out and brought in a host of promising young players he thought could do the job.
Yet, as we approach the business end of the second season of his second stint at the club – his first brought the 2007-08 grand final victory – the most positive thing you can say about the Jets is that they try hard.
They had 65per cent of possession against the Wanderers but struggled to get out of their own half. Wanderers, as most clubs have done against the Jets this season, preyed on the fragility of the Jets’ passing and, when the inevitable turnover came, they counter-attacked down the channels left vacant by fullbacks committed higher up the park.
It has been the same story for two seasons.
In a conversation with a Jets fan this week, the topic turned to who had been Newcastle’s best player this season.
By process of elimination, we settled on goalkeeper Mark Birighitti. The club’s player of the year award last season went to the man whose spot he has taken, Ben Kennedy.
Now, you’re allowed to have a good goalkeeper. In fact, it helps enormously. And van Egmond has found a beauty in Birighitti, who was stuck behind Eugene Galekovic at Adelaide. But when your keeper is your best player week in and week out, you have problems.
One major problem with the Jets – and it’s not a new one – is that they don’t have a cutting edge. They don’t have a No.10, they don’t have anyone who is genuinely good on the ball, or anyone with a passing game that can hurt the opposition.
One class player – even one whose better days are behind him – can have a huge impact on a team, as Sydney have shown with Alessandro Del Piero. But to be a genuine contender you need a few.
Wanderers had Shinji Ono, Youssouf Hersi, Aaron Mooy and Mark Bridge constantly asking questions of the Jets.
And this isn’t the English Premier League, where a rich owner can buy a title.
The A-League is a level playing field. Each club operates under the same salary cap, is entitled to the same marquee player exemptions and can have five visa players.
Jets fans are entitled to ask where is our Del Piero, Ono, Hersi, Archie Thompson, Marco Rojas, Marcos Flores, Thomas Broich or Besart Berisha. Maybe they are here, but for whatever reasons – confidence, fitness, belief, opportunity – we are just not seeing it at the moment.
And yes, the Jets have Heskey. He is a great player who is really having a go. But he is a finisher, and if you can’t get the ball to him, you may as well play one of the Wiggles up front.
Fans have been asking why, despite van Egmond’s eternal tinkering, some players continue to get selected despite performances that are not up to A-League standard, while others are not given the same opportunities or patience.
They have been clamouring to see more of Bridges, but until this week he was going the way of Wehrman, who was deemed surplus to requirements last season and denied the opportunity to show that he still had something to offer.
Newcastle’s three clean sheets have coincided with two rare starts for centre back Regan, last year’s Ray Baartz Medal winner.
Then there’s young striker Taggart. Socceroos coach Holger Osieck thought enough of Taggart to select him in a developmental squad for the East Asian Cup qualifying tournament in December despite him not getting a run at the Jets.
Taggart scored two goals then found himself back on the Jets bench or playing in the youth team.
Van Egmond’s argument was that he has room for only one striker in his 4-2-3-1 formation, and that man is Heskey.
Now that he has found a spot for Taggart, would it be too much to ask to pair him up front with Heskey, as Liverpool did with Michael Owen, and maybe throw Bridges in behind them in a Del Piero role to open things up.
The season is not beyond salvation for the Jets, and fans will be happy to know that someone is listening. Will it be a case of too little, too late? Hopefully not, but at least we won’t die wondering.
lolololololHoly Marko Jesic, Batman - Trialist Marko Jesic, an Australian from Newcastle Jets in the A-league, impressed in his second half appearance. He showed a good motor, some technical ability, and a nose for the right runs at the right time. His final product left something to be desired, but he seemed to show enough to stay in camp for another game, at least.
Amigos Aarau
So tall skinny kid with a big egg on the back of his head and the dodgiest knees and ankles you have ever seen.Mark Bridges - the Michael Bridges & Mark Bridge love child, oh the horror.
Was that describing a football match or picking up?lolololololHoly Marko Jesic, Batman - Trialist Marko Jesic, an Australian from Newcastle Jets in the A-league, impressed in his second half appearance. He showed a good motor, some technical ability, and a nose for the right runs at the right time. His final product left something to be desired, but he seemed to show enough to stay in camp for another game, at least.
I read it as "can run around a bit, knows the rules and stays onside when we attack. However he couldn't hit water off the side of a boat"
Nah... hope he gets a gig over there because he'd be going stir crazy here and if he is goign to make a career of football, seems it won't be in Newcastle.
Last edited by Jeterpool; 15-02-2013 at 03:14 PM.
Where the **** is our colouring in comp to design our kit??Heart nets big rise in followers
15 February 2013-AAP-AAP
Melbourne Heart has netted a big rise in its fan base after printing player Twitter handles on the backs of its club shirts.
Heart replaced player surnames - ordinarily emblazoned across the back of team shirts - with their Twitter usernames during Saturday's 2-0 victory over Perth Glory at AAMI Park.
It was part of an annual league-wide initiative in which clubs are allowed to wear a one-off "third strip", designed by fans.
By Thursday, 14 of Heart's senior players had netted a combined 1608 new Twitter followers - with each recording an average 15 per cent rise.
It's unclear precisely how much of the rise is directly attributable to the shirt initiative, which is believed to have been an Australian first.
But players who featured in the Perth clash have recorded a significant rise in followers including Australia winger Richard Garcia (216 new followers) and goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne (148 new followers).
A number of players not initially recorded in Heart's official statistics also secured large numbers of extra followers - including rising star David Vrankovic, who had an excellent game in defence against Perth.
But despite the apparent success of Melbourne Heart's initiative, other A-League clubs appear unlikely to follow suit - at least not any time soon.
Newcastle Jets was among a number of A-League clubs which said they have no current plans to copy the initiative.
"It was a great initiative of Melbourne Heart and they should be applauded for their creativity," a Jets spokesman added.
It's rare for football clubs to tinker with their shirt design, but a number have done so to link with social media promotions.
Mexican Liga MX outfit Jaguares Di Chiapas is believed to be the first to replace players' names with Twitter handles, having done so in 2011.
Spanish La Liga club Valencia had its club Twitter handle @valenciacf emblazoned across the front of its shirts in 2011.
It did so because the club didn't have a shirt sponsor at the time.
Another Spanish club, Sevilla, charged fans $32.75 in 2011 to have their Facebook profile pictures included on their shirts.
Meanwhile, Sydney FC is auctioning off the fan-designed club shirts its players wore on Sunday against Brisbane Roar.
The proceeds from the auction, on the club's website, are going to the city's Children's Medical Research Institute.
We could be back playing in thenavy/gold or even going KB Style on the HAL.
Biggest **** up by HSG ever.
More disgraceful than handing back licence, resigning GVE, employing Craig Deans, not signing Griff etc COMBINED
Lol snake loves twitter
i trust you made a multi of the same quality as daniel_grommbridge
we will loose
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