Who said the mediocrity hasn't continued from previous years? I didnt. Just stated that it is another year....of the same. Fun times brother.....but as plague said it really is a laugh
Who said the mediocrity hasn't continued from previous years? I didnt. Just stated that it is another year....of the same. Fun times brother.....but as plague said it really is a laugh
I don't think there is any doubt Ernie is cutting a frustrated figure with the clubs ownership. At the time of him accepting the job here i don't think he would have even remotely thought the budget goalposts would move on him like they have from his first season to now having to do things on the cheap and not even replace long term injured players.
Ok I get that we are cutting back on things and can't have the cream we had when we had Vargas etc
But we still got to spend 90% of 3.2 million which is 2.88 million
We also ain't spending up on 23 players but on the basic 20 plus 3 scholarship for kids which we are mandated to do
Now I understand Dimi going to be on a good wicket
But exactly what the **** are we paying the other guys needs to be seriously looked at
You can't tell me we are not overpaying a pile if them if we splitting 2.88 million minus Dimis wage on 19 players ???
Then you throw in the quality of recruiting that we have seen and questions have to be asked of Bert regardless of whatever budget constraints we are under
Somewhere we have ****ed up our Salary Cap structure if the best we can to do recruitment wise is sign blokes like Fitzuseless Gypo Fullback who can't tackle and Ridenton
Where the **** has the money gone??
Not sure Vargas was "cream", but anyway...
When you think Sydney can fit Ninkovic, Barba, Brattan, Lefondre, Grant, Baumjohann etc under the same cap (take away a marquee), you're right, questions should be asked to the recruiting team at the jets.
Our only good signing was Millar - hey might not be the best defender but he's our best attacking player atm... from RB!
Vargas would be our highest ever paid player outside of Heskey I would safely guess, and you would argue with the FFA chipping in for Heskey that our club itself parted with the most cash for one player we ever had for Vargas. He was our first true marquee player in a long time and can't be considered anything other than cream.
No doubt other clubs fit some great players into their caps but they are utilising add-ons like both marquee spots, all of their scholarship spots, pushing the boundaries of home-grown allowances, visa loyalty discounts (Ninkovic a well documented case of this), etc. Baumjohann would be cheaper than his current form demands too, he was basically rejected from WSW.
The simple fact is there are so many loopholes and creative freedom with our current salary cap system that the big clubs willing to spend money can do so very easily and put together way better squads on paper than others.
Also don't discount the fact how much easier it is for Sydney and Melbourne clubs to attract players over other cities, particularly the regional clubs, we have to spend more money and work harder to entice players to us.
OK
Ernie has said a few times this week that our side against Glory was too young and inexperienced. The average age of our starting lineup was 26 years old. Is it fair to say that is too young?
OK
I think you raise some excellent points. I agree there is no way this squad is worth 90% of the cap unless Dimi and Arroyo both have there wages as part of the cap to meet that min requirement squad spend . The only possible way we could be hitting 90% and either Dimi and Arroyo's wages are outside the cap is if we have a few blokes in the current squad who have been here a few years and there contracts have been quite heavily back ended.
I watched one of the NBN reports with our Gypo CEO and toward the end of the interview he was really starting to lose it i thought. Started waffling about him hearing reports how some club supporters were wrongly inclined to think the club was still paying Joey, I immediately thought to myself i can't recall ( happy to be corrected ) anywhere on here or the people i chat to sitting around me at the games even suggest we were still paying Joey. What i have heard is many people ask why the funds set aside for Joey were not used to find replacement players for the long term injured when it was confirmed Joey will not be returning this season.
Sometimes the messaging from the Gypo CEO and Bert can be quite different.
Last edited by 380; 24-12-2019 at 12:41 PM.
As for Jowic
If the Gypo is so worried about rumours spreading then maybe he should look at his role in organising Jowics departure
The bloke had a contract with the Jets
He wanted to go do something else
Instead of holding Jowic to his contract or leveraging him significantly for a release deal heavily in the Jets favour he come up with some ****ed up convoluted deal where the bloke is apparently training on a daily basis able to come back at the drop of a hat if it falls over for him
That is his doing and has nothing to do with the fans. He is trying to sell us some BS that it was a win for the Jets by signing him to an extended deal. All I see is that we have let one of our brightest talents go for the season. Fair enough if he went overseas to another club for better football but Music FMD
I would offer we missed Jowic a hell of a lit last season and his extended absence was a big reason why we didn't make the 6. When he returned at the back end of the season We started to find some form but too late
The Gypo CEO and Bert are then whinging that blokes who are free agents take 2 to 3 months to get fit and up to speed so we aint bring in players mid season yet he trying to BS the fans that Jowic is not partaking in gangsta life over there and is living like a monk primed for action amonst all that booze drugs bitches etc
Also let me just point out this
We brought Fitzuseless in as Jowic replacement and we are playing Fitzuseless or Hoffman in the role Jowic would have in our side
That be like dropping Steve Smith from the Boxing Day Test and putting Shaun Marsh in his place
For mine, right now it's pretty much impossible to win the A League if your player budget is within the salary cap. It's simple and proven by Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory's recent success.
Clubs like the Jets and the Mariner's will struggle more season's then not unless they spend on a marquee or do some very good recruiting. A couple of seasons ago they hit the jackpot with Nabbout , O'Donavan, Vargas and McGree. But this year they have took a big punt on Fitzgerald to have a bumper season given his previous bumper season.
Miller has been solid, I assumed they originally got him to play right wing. Disappointed he has been stuck at right back.
I'm disappointed they didn't bring someone in, A player from the NPL would have been worth a crack. He couldn't have done as bad as what has been served up at times. After all Miller and Sheppard were playing NPL on 2 years ago.
Deep down I reckon Merrick is crappy that he can't get a marquee in, I reckon he knows he can't win the competition as well without one.
Haha, I didn't want to be too harsh. I'm hoping the Fitz comes good. A 2 year contract is ridiculous for a player that couldn't get a run with the wanderers last season.
His biggest problem is that we need goals. His A League record is poor, 13 goals in 167 games. 14 assist's again is too small.
The Jets have probably signed him on maybe 100-110? a year and hoping they could unlock his goalscoring issues.
The key to the city is not big enough to unlock that size issue.
Last edited by The Dunster; 26-12-2019 at 11:52 AM.