Chris Greenacre at Wellington Pheonix

[ross.mcfc]

I always had a soft spot for Greenacre. He never really made the grade at City despite banging them in in the reserves in a era when we were awful I dont think he ever got the chance he deserved and his record at the lower levels suggests he should have been given a better chance. He was also one of the very few youth products at the time that saw the light of day. I might be wrong but I think he was a local lad that suppourted city as well.

I went along to watch him play for the Wellington Phoenix today, he's banging them in over here and by the looks of the amount of jerseys I saw with his name of the back, a fairly popular lad amongst the locals. The standard of the A-League varies between League 1 and League 2 imo, roughly the level where Greenacre had quite a lot of sucsess but I would much rather be a star over here than plying my trade at Yeovil or Huddersfield. The game was won in penalites by Wellington. Slightly against the run of play as well. Greenacre opened the scoring.

It's very rare I enjoy going to football outside City and Scotland and the later doesnt really bring me much joy in general but I really enjoyed it today other than having a ex city man to root for. I think Brits in general are a little mocking of new leauges or emerging footballing countries (see the stick americans get on here) but I was really impressed by the entire set up. I bought one of the best tickets in the house for 35NZD (15gbp) sat in the sun and drank beer from my seat whilst watching a highly important game to the retrospective teams. It drew a crowd of 25 thousand which is very impressive for a team that didnt exist 3 years ago in a country noy known for its love of football. The atmosphere was much better than most of the run of the mill City games I have been to in the past few years.

Looking forward to the next game now.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

25k? To be fair, that's quite impressive.

[StrikeAnywhere]

Having just started a new job this past week I was unable to make the game but Greenacre has had a very good season for Wellington.

Its very much a one team one town type mentality with them and the 24k+ crowd they got for the game reflects that. Heres hoping I will be able to get time off for the next semi final in two weeks time.

Ross are you currently on holiday in NZ?

[ross.mcfc]

Having just started a new job this past week I was unable to make the game but Greenacre has had a very good season for Wellington.

Its very much a one team one town type mentality with them and the 24k+ crowd they got for the game reflects that. Heres hoping I will be able to get time off for the next semi final in two weeks time.

Ross are you currently on holiday in NZ?

Im here for a year.

[pears12]

I watched the game on foxsports today.. I was happy Wellington Phoenix won, considering it is their first finals and they are not too bad too watch. I enjoy watching Ifill playing although he wasn't at his best today he still came 2nd or 3rd in player of the year awards after hernandez. But I agree it is around about league one/league two standard but I think it has come a long way in 5 years it has around. This is a very big year for NZ football with the WC in June and the Phoenix doing really well

[Ted Hughes]

I thought Greenacre was close to being a top player, very good footballer. If he'd had genuine pace I think he would have made it at the top.

[ross.mcfc]

I watched the game on foxsports today.. I was happy Wellington Phoenix won, considering it is their first finals and they are not too bad too watch. I enjoy watching Ifill playing although he wasn't at his best today he still came 2nd or 3rd in player of the year awards after hernandez. But I agree it is around about league one/league two standard but I think it has come a long way in 5 years it has around. This is a very big year for NZ football with the WC in June and the Phoenix doing really well

I missed the start of the game, Who was the number 12 for Perth? He was a class above everyone else on the pitch.

[StrikeAnywhere]

Tis great for the sport in general. Otherwise it is like this as far as sports go 1. Rugby 2. Rugby 3. Rugby... etc

Its great to see youth taking it up a lot more, pity a few more aren't city supporters rather than rag fans...

[StrikeAnywhere]

I watched the game on foxsports today.. I was happy Wellington Phoenix won, considering it is their first finals and they are not too bad too watch. I enjoy watching Ifill playing although he wasn't at his best today he still came 2nd or 3rd in player of the year awards after hernandez. But I agree it is around about league one/league two standard but I think it has come a long way in 5 years it has around. This is a very big year for NZ football with the WC in June and the Phoenix doing really well

I missed the start of the game, Who was the number 12 for Perth? He was a class above everyone else on the pitch.

scott neville. agreed he was a cut above today in a losing cause.

[pears12]

The number 12 on Perth Glory was Scott Neville, he is only 21 so I think his future is quite strong according to wikipedia he had a trial with Rangers so I think it only a matter of time before he moves on to Europe.. He was class today, it was a pity Mckain got a red card tho saying that I think Burns was lucky as it looked like ref was gonna give him a 2nd yellow then decided oh I can't send him off and just gave a throw in

[ross.mcfc]

Tis great for the sport in general. Otherwise it is like this as far as sports go 1. Rugby 2. Rugby 3. Rugby... etc

Its great to see youth taking it up a lot more, pity a few more aren't city supporters rather than rag fans...

This I was obviously aware of before coming here but I was surprised by how small crowds there were at the super 14 game last season, first game and all that.

I was impressed by the amount of families and women were at the games, yet it didnt seem to lose any of the atmosphere because of it either. I think British clubs who have tried to go down the family route automatically lose there atmosphere.

There was a ugly chubby little kid infront of me with a Rag top on. He kept beating his stick against railing but dropped it at my feet so I chucked it away. A few of my friends were surprised by how mean I was but I explained that if he been wearing any other top he would still be holding his stick.

[ross.mcfc]

The number 12 on Perth Glory was Scott Neville, he is only 21 so I think his future is quite strong according to wikipedia he had a trial with Rangers so I think it only a matter of time before he moves on to Europe.. He was class today, it was a pity Mckain got a red card tho saying that I think Burns was lucky as it looked like ref was gonna give him a 2nd yellow then decided oh I can't send him off and just gave a throw in

Strange, normally those on trial at Celtic and Rangers who dont make the grade get passed down to the other Scottish clubs and from what I've seen he is more than capable playing in the SPL for a Kilmarnock or Motherwell. Shame about the name though.

[Esky]

There are quite a few ex City players in and around the A League - Greenacre at Wellington, Tiatto in Queensland, Blobby at the other Queensland, Colosimo in Sydney. Danny Allsopp did well for Melbourne last year too before moving on to America.

I've read quite a few times that the whole league is about the equivalent of League One. Not bad given that the system's only had five years to get off the ground.

[ross.mcfc]

I've read quite a few times that the whole league is about the equivalent of League One. Not bad given that the system's only had five years to get off the ground.

Id say the better teams are off mid table League One standards and the rest are off League 2 level. Greenacre only ever banged them in league two and there are some very average ex SPL players doing the rounds in there to but your right at an early stage it is quite impressive espically to pull a crowd such as yesterday and I imagine a Sydney Melbourne match would pull easily 40k.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

I got free tickets to every Roar game this season (did a bit of work for em) and went to all but 2. Sadly The Roar were pretty much shite this season and the hugh attendance drop relfected this.


That said I did an away day for the 1st time to the Gold Coast and the pre match and 1st half atmosphere was the closest I've seen to back home over here, including internationals I've seen here. We took about 7k of the 10 that were there and had the whole stand behind one goal and the singing and chants were pretty decent, actually felt like a derby. Hope this builds in years to come.

[xavi6]

I watched the game on foxsports today.. I was happy Wellington Phoenix won, considering it is their first finals and they are not too bad too watch. I enjoy watching Ifill playing although he wasn't at his best today he still came 2nd or 3rd in player of the year awards after hernandez. But I agree it is around about league one/league two standard but I think it has come a long way in 5 years it has around. This is a very big year for NZ football with the WC in June and the Phoenix doing really well

I missed the start of the game, Who was the number 12 for Perth? He was a class above everyone else on the pitch.

Scott Neville is a very good player. My club here in Perth played against him in the semi final of the state cup two years ago when he was with one of the local sides. Excellent prospect and would make it overseas.

Gutted Glory lost cause there was a crew of going to go for the semi final had they got through.

[Tokyo Blue]

There was a ugly chubby little kid infront of me with a Rag top on. He kept beating his stick against railing but dropped it at my feet so I chucked it away. A few of my friends were surprised by how mean I was but I explained that if he been wearing any other top he would still be holding his stick.

Are you proud of that?