Sydney FC v Melbourne City game thread

[dazby]

How has the change to Melbourne City been received? What sort of crowds are expected? Up or down? Has there been much interest generated in the media?

Melbourne Heart were an expansion club in the A-league. They joined at a time when Melbourne Victory were doing well, and The Victory are probably the best supported club in the league. As a result, heart found it hard to recruit support. But the City takeover has evened things up a bit. Interest is sky high, memberships are through the roof and interest in Villa and to a lesser extent Duff has got the league talking. But it's the possibilities that the $$$ could provide that has raised expectations. And yes, the media are on board.

Beefy, I don't know how to answer your questions. I can tell you that the league has a salary cap with provision for a marquee and a guest player. As a result, clubs with money have less of an impact. I'll be looking for City to specialise in developing talent.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Cheers Dazzler. I noticed ave att for Heart was around 10000, what sort of gates are they hoping to enjoy this season?
Victory are a bunch of twats with a stupid name btw. :)

[dazby]

It will be interesting to see what numbers they can draw this weekend. There's the "new" factor and the David Villa factor. What won't be a factor is the opposition. Newcastle aren't a drawcard club so there will be next to no away fans and they aren't a club that you necessarily want to watch play.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Villa is certainly getting people talking, but it's going to take years to make a difference.

52k watched the grand final 6 months ago in brisbane and we opened with a 16k gate yesterday. Australians are in general shit supporters unless you're winning something.

Sad but true.