Season 10 of the A-League was arguably the competition’s best to date. A thrilling finish to the title race, which saw a dramatic downfall from the Perth Glory and many more imports mark their name in A-League folklore.
It was also a big year on continental and international level with the Wanderers taking out the Asian Champions League and the Socceroos triumphant in the Asian Cup. Among all the highlights, Outside90 club correspondent Chris Matthews-Darby counts down the biggest talking points of the 2014-15 season.
A-League referee dives into unwanted controversy
Sebastian Ryall made headlines for all the wrong reasons this season. Big Blues are always filled with high drama and the Round 17 clash was no different. In the 70th minute, the Sydney right-back appeared to be fouled by Melbourne’s Gui Finkler. Strebre Delovski even pointed to the spot, which Shane Smeltz converted to level the score at 2-2.
But replays showed that the only contact was Ryall unintentionally tripping over Finkler’s feet. Ryall escaped suspension, but copped a mouthful by Victory attacker Kosta Barbarouses who said he lost respect for the defender.
“You lose a bit of respect for him and his reaction wasn’t great as well. Hopefully karma will come around, but that’s out of our hands again. It’s something they have to deal with in the culture of their [Sydney FC’s] team, not ours”.
Foreign imports up the ante
The A-League has had their fair share of quality foreign players. The likes of Thomas Broich, Patrick Zwaanswijk and Marcelo Carrusca have all blessed our shores with their talents, but the competition has really outdone itself this season. Andy Keogh, Fahid Ben Khalfallah and Marc Janko were all stand-out players for their respective clubs this campaign. Those three alone scored a combined 33 goals and produced many highlights (like the one below). The calibre of these players from the leagues they came from proved the A-League is more than capable of bringing high profile players to Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2rdgw8f7Vk
Adelaide United win inaugural FFA Cup
After years and talk, Australian football were finally given a domestic cup competition with the FFA Cup kicking off on a cold, windy Newcastle night as Broadmeadow Magic hosted the Brisbane Strikers. The A-League sides dominated the competition with the only upset coming from Adelaide City who defeated the Western Sydney Wanderers thanks to a dazzling individual goal from an unknown teenager named Thomas Love. Victorian Premier League side Bentleigh Greens earned plenty of plaudits as they were the last state league team standing, lasting until the semi finals where they lost 3-0 to Perth.
The Glory met Adelaide United in the final who won the inaugural final thanks to a 67th minute goal from Sergio Cirio, who finished as the leading goal scorer with six.
The amazing race to the Premiers’ Plate
At the end of Round 24 the Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC, Perth Glory, Adelaide United and even the Wellington Phoenix were all in contention to take out the minor premiership. And that was the case for most of the season. Perth lead the way for close to four months before running out of steam, then being removed from the finals. While Melbourne always looked like contenders from day one when they defeated Western Sydney 4-1. The race came down to the final 90 minutes, but Kevin Muscat’s men were able to hold for their third Premiers’ Plate.
The Jets implode from within
Another pre-season for the Jets began with plenty of promise and expectation. Aiming to avoid a fifth consecutive season without qualifying for the finals, the unestablished Phil Stubbins was hired after the club missed out on Graham Arnold. The former Adelaide assistant brought in many players who had success in the competition, such as Marcos Flores and Jeronimo Neumann, but things were not looking good at the midway point of the season.
It took 11 games for them to register their first victory, as drama behind closed doors came to light there were ominous signs as to what was to come. CEO Robbie Middleby and Chairman Ray Baartz resigned from their duties, then five senior players including captain Kew Jaliens and club legend Joel Griffiths were sacked. Several others left the club as players revolted against Stubbins following an embarrassing 7-0 loss to Adelaide.
https://youtu.be/xGms86rnWDo
After the flames had died down, the Jets attempted to get their season back on track. Enver Alivodic, Lee Ki-je and Daniel Mullen all added stability to the side, however, they only picked up a further two victories.
Brisbane part ways with Mike Mulvey
In the 2013-14 season, Mike Mulvey won the Premiers’ Plate with Brisbane by a whopping 10 points. An injury-time goal from Henrique then won the grand final for the side. Mulvey was on top of the world and ready to try his hand at the Asian Champions League. However, after four games, Brisbane had four losses to their name, an A-League record. A 4-0 win against Newcastle looked to keep his career at the club alive, but after a 1-0 loss to Melbourne the next week, the former Gold Coast United manager was shown the door just months after winning the double.
The rise and fall of Western Sydney
Despite only existing for two-and-a-half years, the Western Sydney Wanderers became the biggest club in Asia when they took out the 2014 Asian Champions League. A lone Tomi Juric goal was enough in the first-leg, but a daunting trip to Saudi Arabia to play Al-Hilal awaited them. Three contentious penalty calls went astray while an heroic save by Ante Covic assured Tony Popovic’s men held on to become the first Australian team to take out the continental competition.
Unfortunately, their A-League performances never reached the high standard they had set themselves in the previous two seasons. A disrupted run which saw them travel from Asia to Perth and Morocco to Wellington, clocking over 100,000 km in the process, meant the Wanderers never got the chance to get out of first gear. They only won four games this campaign, with their first not coming until February, consequently finishing just above bottom placed Newcastle.
A lot of key players are rumoured to be leaving, as could Popovic, which means a long rebuilding process is needed to return to the top-half of the ladder.
David Villa’s abrupt departure
When the City Football Group purchased the Melbourne Heart, a lot of big name signings were expected. English Premier League duo Frank Lampard and Damien Duff were the first to be rumoured to come over, the latter did sign, but the biggest news of them all was the 10 match guest stint by World Cup and La Liga winner David Villa. Villa was 32 at the time and still regarded as one of the best forwards in world football, so it came as a surprise to all that the former Barcelona striker would play in Australia this season. Lo and behold, it was that man who earned the re-branded Melbourne City their first points after scoring in his first two matches. However, two weeks later he was gone.
Unfortunately we never got to see what could have been for the biggest foreign player to grace our shores. The Spaniard failed to win a game with City and has since moved to his permanent club New York City FC.
Europe’s biggest sides come to play
At the beginning of the season, Serie A and Champions League finalists Juventus came out to play against the A-League All-Stars. That kind of match may not be taking place this season but there is plenty more happening to suffice. Sydney FC will host Tottenham Hotspur and English champions Chelsea within a matter of days, while Liverpool will make its second trip in as many years as it faces Adelaide and Brisbane. Those sides will also face La Liga outfit Villareal, and as if that was not enough, Australia was announced as co-host for the International Champions Cup, featuring Manchester City, AS Roma and Club World champions Real Madrid. All in a matter of months.
Melbourne’s biggest victory
The Melbourne Victory were crowned champions of Australia for a record equalling third time after a convincing 3-0 victory over Sydney FC in the grand final. Besart Berisha opened the scoring and became the first player to score in three A-League finals, before Barbarouses and Leigh Broxham scored late in the game, adding further insult to Sydney who lost Jacques Faty to a hamstring injury in the early stages. Kevin Muscat also became the first-ever person to win the A-League championship both as a player and manager.
A-League stars help Australia to Asian Cup victory
The A-League took a hiatus mid-season to make room for the Asian Cup which was hosted in our own backyard. The Socceroos dominated, winning five of their six matches, including defeating South Korea 2-1 in the final. There was something different about Ange Postecoglou’s side, and it was not the fact that they did not fully rely on Tim Cahill to score all the goals.
Out of the 23 players named in the side, 11 of those had started, or played in the A-League at some point in their career, seven were current A-League players. The manager, two-time A-League winning manager Postecoglou, and coaching staff were predominantly from the domestic competition as well. This was great sign of progress for Australia, which had featured only four A-League players in their 2011 squad.
Perth Glory kicked out of the finals
But the biggest story of the 2014-15 A-League was one of the last written ones. For months Perth Glory were alleged to be breaching the salary cap. On April 10th, those speculations became realisations and David Gallop removed the title chasers out of finals contention. Football Federation Australia found the Western Australian squad to be $400,o00 over the $2.55 million salary cap. It was also revealed they have been over the salary cap in two seasons prior.
This was a big shock in the league as Perth would have finished equal first otherwise. Irishman Andy Keogh was at the centre of the action, allegedly being paid off the books to make room in the salary cap or in order to escape the drama. A number of Glory’s talent are being linked to moves elsewhere, including Danny Vukovic and Jamie Maclaren who could both find themselves lining up for the Melbourne Victory next season.
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