Hyundai A-League - Brisbane Roar

Hi all,

I haven't posted a story or anything before. But wanted to talk about my Brisbane Roar journey that I have just commenced on FM15.

The Brisbane Roar are an interesting team to take up in the A-League. They've achieved a lot of success recently, but are now falling quietly back to the pack as they are saddled with a few contracts which are a little high and some players who haven't panned out.

The first order of business, as the new head of the Roar, is to objectively look at the standard of the squad, the youth and experience, costs and contracts, and make some immediate decisions to take the club forward.

Those steps will be chronicled in the following posts.

Good luck mate I will follow your story

Good luck mate, great to see an Aussie story

Thanks for the support guys. For now I'll be posting via m ipad, and I'm only getting started so there may be a lack of images and pictures, but hopefully it's still interesting.

So the first order of business with the Roar is to analyse the roster. See the strengths and weaknesses and where improvements can be made. The following key points soon become clear.

A-League Foreign Player Rules
The A-League limits the amount of foreign players per team to 5 (out of a registered roster of 23). One of these can be elected as a Foreign Marquee player whose salary is not counted towards the salary cap. The foreign players on an A-League team can make or break a season. The Roar situation is as follows:

Thomas Broich - The Roars marquee player. 33years old and can play anywhere in the midfield. Broich has also just reached the Australian citizenship requirment of 1440 days in country, and is awaiting his paperwork for australian citizenship. The biggest issue I see is that he is signed through to 2017 at $350K per year. (note I work on australian dollar and annual wages, so I can compare these footballers to my own real life salary for fun. Hehe.) so he will be 36years by the time he's out of contract, which could prove expensive.

Henrqiue - A Brazilian midfielder who is actually an interesting case. He has met the citizenship requirements and will probably cease being considered a foreign player prior to the start of the A-League season (seeing as the paperwork often takes roughly a year to process).

Liam Miller - an Irish midfielder who is clearly on the decline at 33 years of age. Luckily, he only has a year left on his contract, so he will be coming off the books at the end of the season and I'm pretty sure this will be his final season with the Roar.

Jean Carlos Solorzano - probably our best striker on contract. A Costa Rican pure striker who will be depended on to play the bulk of our season up front and expected to perform. My one concern is his reliability, as he's proven to be injury prone and an injury of Solorzano could be devestating to the team. Certainly someone to keep an eye on.

Mensur Kurtisi - A Macedonian striker signed right before my arrival for a single season. He's rubbish. I can already tell. This currently poses my biggest dilemma as he does not fit into the big plans for the team, so I have to decide whether I utilise him for a single season or buy him out, accept the bad decision and move on to another more promising foreign player.

Next I'll briefly break down the Australian contingent of the team, not player by player but just the high points.

The Aussies on the team are led by Aussie marquee Matt McKay, a Brisbane Roar legend having been with the team since its first season, with a few loan spells and a season over in Scotland. He anchors the middle and should provide good veteran leadership to the team. He's also the highest paid player on the team, so he will be expected to perform.

The remainder of the team is filled with veterans and young up and coming players who may or may not pan out. Devante Clut and Dimitri Petratos look like a couple of promising midfielders, with Jai Ingham, jack Hingert and Corey Brown looking like interesting junior defenders. Kofi Danning is still on the team, with some promise but the Roar are still waiting for him to turn the corner.

The young squad is limited. apart from goalkeeper prospect Denver crickmore, and striker Matt Schmidt, the team could use an influx of youth into the youth squad.

This is one of my first orders of business, to bring in a few young Aussie prospects into the youth squad.

some of the targets include free transfer prospects Mitchell Oxborrow and Julius Davies. along with melbourne 16 year old jordan o'doherty as a midfielder prospect.

however, considering that Henrique could potentially become a Aussie citizen prior to the season, I will also go out and seek another foreign prospect for them team.

Nice start mate. Love a good A-League story! Like hearing your thoughts on the squad/players the lack of pics is definitely not an issue for me.

If you are interested & depending on the database you have loaded, there is a young keeper named Dennys Martin floating about in the State leagues. Dont recall which team he is with but he is definitely worth a look.

Nice start to the story good luck, I'm from NZ and support Wellington Phoenix

Good luck with your story, always nice to see an A-League story

Brisbane Roar 2014 Off Season Signings

Having assessed the Roar roster and potential, it was clear that it wouldn't hurt to add a couple of additional players. Seeing as Brazilian midfielder Henrique was on the verge of gaining Australian citizenship, a primary focus would be to seek a foreign addition to the squad.

The following additions were made:

Ante Rozic - Croatian/Australian Defender

Rozic was originally born in Australia but spend most of his life in Croatia. Luckily, he has retained dual citizenship and is considered Australian for A-League registration. Rozic, a 28 year old defender, will bring some added veteran talent to the squad, looking to line up with the likes of captain Matt Smith, Steffanuto, Jade North and the young Roar defenders. The added bonus is that Rozic was happy to sign a 2 year, $55,000 contract to get back into football.

Thomas Monconduit - French Defensive Midfielder

23 year old Monconduit comes to the side with high hopes. Certainly a potential up and coming star, Monconduit was struggling to find interest from other French teams for his services. A challenging negotiation, due to Thomas' inability to speak English, was short and Monconduit joins the Roar on a 5 year $55,000 per year salary. A right bargain if I say so myself!! Monconduit will look to anchor the defensive midfield, and also has the skills to push the ball if required. I forsee Monconduit to be a valuable and iconic addition to the Brisbane Roar in years to come, provided he can adapt and doesn't get homesick.

Brisbane Roar Youth Movement

One of the limitations I believe the Roar currently have is their lack of youth. There are only 13 players on youth contracts, and its my aim to get that up to around 18-20 players. As such, I went looking through the young free agents, and young players on Australian NPL teams who have hopes of being called up for the A-League. After much deliberation, the following youth players have joined the squad on youth contracts:

Julius Davies - 19 year old attacking midfielder
Davies is an ex-Roar player who's contract had run out. Although he's not the most consistent player, he still has potential and has been brought back for a final chance at A-League sucess.

Mitchell Oxborrow - 19 year old midfielder
Oxborrow hasn't had much success yet in his career, but I'm hoping under the mentoring of some older Roar players he can reach some of his potential and prove his worth to the Roar.

Jacob Melling - 19 year old midfielder
Melling is an Adelaide boy, so my wife likes him, but my aim is for him to add some youth depth and push the likes of Oxborrow and O'Doherty a little further through challenging competion.

Jordan O'Doherty - 16 year old midfielder/winger
O'Doherty is the prized catch of the youth moevement. He is lacking in talent, but has a tonne of potential. He'll be able to hone his skills over the next couple of seasons before expectations will start to surface on some time on the senior squad.

Christopher Cristaldo - 19 year old striker
Cristaldo projects to be a solid striker. He already has some skills to get a few call ups to the Roar senior squad, but will look to use this season as a chance to improve and see if he can earn a senior squad spot next season.

So after a week on the job, I've secured some new talent, added some coaching staff to help with the development and progress of both the senior and youth squads, and am now looking to develop 3 tactics for training in the lead up to the season opener to get the player familiarised and comfortable with my playing style.

Up Next - First game of the season against Fraser Park in the FFA Cup. Fraser Park should prove no difficulty at all, but being a squad from Marrickville Sydney, I'll have to be cautious of this rabble and their thuggish ways.

FFA Cup - Brisbane Roar Vs Fraser Park (19 August 2014)

The debut managerial debut came against the ruffians from Fraser Park, played in the heart of Marrickville Sydney, to a rabid and boisterous crowd. There may have even been a Jeff Fenech sighting too!!

But in the end, the Fraser Park boys were no match for the Brisbane Roar, as the Roar played their way to a 7-2 victory.

Player of the match Jean Carlos Solorzano put away two goals before being subbed off in the 72nd minute with a bruise that will force him to miss 9-12 days of action.

Newcomers Ante Rozic and Thomas Monconduit both started in the back field, with Rozic having a solid game and Monconduit having a brilliant debut including a rocket of a goal early in the second half!

The Roar opened the scoring with a header from Matt Smith opening the scoring in the 15th minute. However, Fraser Park stormed back with a goal of their own to equalise 1-1 after a costly mistake from Brisbane keeper Theo.

After that initial scare though, it was all Roar. With Smith (1), Solorzano (2), Monconduit (1), Danning (1), Henrique (1), McKay(1) all getting on the score sheet.

One of the only downsides was left fullback Steffanuto going down with a gashed leg which will force him to miss around 4-5 weeks, effectively meaning he will have trouble being match fit for the start of the A-League season.

Overall, a strong debut for the Roar and hopefully a good sign of things to come in the future.

After a short hiatus, I'm back for some more enthralling developments as I continue my first season as the head of the Brisbane Roar Football Club. After what can be described as a standard first couple of weeks, and a comfortable FFA Cup victory, the Roar were about to embark upon their first string of friendly matches, preparing for the new season. However, as is wont to happen, drama is always just around the corner.

The Bid

One the day prior to our first friendly match of the season, German club Braunschweig threw a spanner in the works with a transfer offer for Brisbane Roar marquee Thomas Broich.

Broich is signed for the club through to 2017 at $350,000AUD per season. His value is listed at $195K, and the transfer details were as follows:

Upfront Payment: $120,000
12 Month Installments: $80,000 (total)
After 50 League Matches: $31,000
Payment for each of first 10 Matches: $2,000 per match
Bonus on Promotion: $40,000

Potential Total: $291,000

Now, this is a pretty solid offer. I'm guaranteed $200,000 and possibly $220,000 because Broich will probably play 10 games quite quickly, and the remaining $71,000 is just icing on top. I wouldn't count on the $40,000 promotion bonus because that is too much of a risk. But this offer is something I really need to consider. Here are some factors that swim through my mind:

* $350,000 per year until 2017 for a 33 year old midfielder might be a bit too expensive. I mean, Broich probably won't be the same player in the 2016-2017 season when he turns 36 mid-season. This could be a sell high situation.

* Broich is a fan favorite. They love him in Brisbane. He's also completed his time in Australia to be eligible for citizenship, but I don't think it would go through until probably the 2015-2016 season.

* For Broich, it gives him a final chance at German League success. After being so highly heralded as a youngster, he eventually didn't pan out and was seen as a failure in German football. He's resurrected his career in Brisbane, but part of me believes he'd still want that final shot in Germany.

Luckily, I'm able to stall this decision until after the friendly against the Brisbane Strikers coming up on Saturday. So I'll focus on the match and leave the decision for tomorrow.

Big decision mate!

As midnight approached on Sunday 31 August 2014, it was clear that the Brisbane Roar season was about to undergo some further major change.

Friendly Match (Vs Brisbane Strikers) - Roar Wins 4-0

The friendly match was a pretty standard affair from the point of view of the scoreboard. Brisbane dominated possession, and put away some easy goals behind Kofi Danning and Dimitri Petratos filling in for injured striker Solorzano.

However, the biggest news of the match was the first appearance and subsequent injury to Macedonian striker Mensur Kurtisi. Kurtisi was always going to be a backup to Solorzano, and I frankly wasn't too impressed with him taking up a crucial foreign player slot on the team. During the week Henrique received his citizenship papers, effectively cancelling him as a foreign player for registration purposes, so I figured I could now register both newcomer Thomas Monconduit and Mensur Kurtisi.

In light of this development, I decided to start Kurtisi up front against the Strikers. Tragedy struck not even 20 minutes into the match, when Kurtisi went down with an injury and had to leave the match. Nevertheless, the Roar managed to make some good strides towards match fitness and tactical competency of the 4-4-1-1 formation I will be using as a primary tactic.

Kurtisi Injury Tragedy

After the match, the report came in. Kurtisi had torn a ligament and would be out of action for between 5-6 months. This effectively sealed his fate. Signed only to a one year deal, I wasn't about to waste a foreign player slot on a player sitting injured until possibly February/March 2015.

Calling Mensur into the office on Monday, I explained the situation and offered him a mutual termination. His response was quite abrasive, as he flatly refused the mutual termination agreement. On the stop, I followed up by simply releasing him and paying out the remainder of his contract. Good riddance.

Now my attention turned towards the looming transfer offer for Thomas Broich.

The Farewell

On Monday 1 September 2014, the Brisbane Roar accepted a transfer deal from German side Braunschweig for German midfielder, and Brisbane Roar icon Thomas Broich.

Broich would be returning home for a final chance at league glory, and leaving behind some great and powerful memories here in Brisbane.

Following this decision, the fans expressed their discontent. They were frankly not happy with the decision made to sell Thomas Broich. In addition, goalkeeper Michael Theo approached assistant manager Ron Smith, wanting to speak to me about the state of the team. I sat with Theo to listen to his concerns.

Echoing the view of the fans, Theo was clearly confused by the decision to sell Broich. He was integral to the team, and whilst not a captain nor vice-captain, his influence on the team was great. Cautiously, I assured Theo that the decision was not an easy one, and that I had some big moves planned for the future direction of the team.

This seemed to please Theo, and he went away in good spirits. But I had promised him, and effectively the fans, of something big on the horizon. And now I had a marquee spot to fill, and another foreign player spot to fill.

Here's hoping I can deliver.

For anyone wondering, I tend to write these new posts on the Brisbane Roar from work when I'm feeling lazy. I play the game at night (depending on my free time and how annoying my wife or kids are being) and then add to this story. Currently, I'm about a month ahead of where I am in these updates, hence why I sometimes get confused between the past, present and future tense. I hope anyone reading this (and I really thank you if you are), is okay with this and it doesn't detract from your enjoyment of my ramblings. Anyway, on with the show!!


The Search for a New Marquee

While the focus of the week is to get prepared for the next friendly against the Western Pride, a feisty team from Ipswich, one of the classier suburbs of Brisbane, all thoughts where on who would be the next Brisbane Roar marquee. Scouts were hard at work, finances were scrutinised, and after a couple of days a shortlist of the following players was provided:

Brazilian Striker - Andre Lima
Iraqi Striker - Mahmoud Younis
Argentinian Midfielder - Pablo Aimar
Spanish Midfielder - Fran Merida
Malian Midfielder - Kalilou Traore

After initial approaches, both Andre Lima and Mahmoud Younis expressed their salary desires which were far in excess of the type of salary budget I had planned on. These two players were instantly excluded. Fran Merida was not even willing to discuss contract terms, saying a move to Australia and the A-League would not be a sound career decision, choosing instead to remain in Europe to pursue his football career.

This left Pablo Aimar and Kalilou Traore. After initial contact, it was clear that both these players would be interested in joining the team as marquees, and at a budget that suited the Brisbane Roar finances.

As I began to look more deeply into each players abilities, history and potential, it was clear that this would become a very interesting decision.