The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz

Did Harry score?

Really enjoying this story so far. Glad to see an A-League story on here!

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I received a text message from Brian Marwood the morning after flying back from Abu Dhabi. In my confused, jetlagged state, I didn't recognise the name before one of those startling, vivid memories came to the forefront of my mind.

"Of course, I have more important matters to deal with for the majority of the time so you will be mostly dealing with the club's regional chairman, Brian Marmwood."

Marwood was the second-in-command at Melbourne City after moving over from England, and was in charge of the day-to-day running of the club. Obviously Al Mubarak himself chose the managers, but then left the rest to Marmwood. Interesting set-up.

"Will be a pleasure to meet you Harry, please come into the offices at 2 and we'll set up the press conference for 3," the text read. I looked over at the clock. 12.30 pm. Fuck.

---

An hour and a half later I stroll into the executive offices of the club looking surprisingly good for a man who woke up in a state of shellshock. I'm immediately greeted by a man with a distinct British accent, in a suit as crisp as mine.

"Brian Marwood."

"Harry Kewell." We shook hands.

"Pleasure to meet you Harry. Welcome to the club. I'd love to show you around but unfortunately our press conference has been pushed forward an hour."

"You're kidding me. I only just woke up in time to be here now."

"So sorry Harry but we gotta get out there now, the cameras are rolling."

I think he saw the look of angst on my face and laughed.

"Don't worry, just answer the questions honestly and you'll be right."

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"Harry, how do you feel taking charge of the club despite having no prior experience?"

Wow, talk about coming in hard early. "I feel like Melbourne City have put a lot of faith in me and that I have the necessary skills to repay that faith."

"Do you believe you can get the club off to a good start?"

"I think the changes over the off-season have enabled us to have a fresh start and I really think we can push onwards and made our maiden finals series appearance."

"You're renowned as one of the greatest Australian players of all time; do you think your past experiences will help you motivate the players and spur them onto success?"

"I think with the right guidance anyone can be successful, my hope is to just do my best to turn my players into winners."

"Do you think the purchase of the club by Manchester City will help the club."

"Certainly, the club needed a fresh start and the investment by Man City could just be the catalyst for better days."

"You certainly seem to be well-spoken and professional but do you have belief that you can deliver on the big days?"

"Well I actually woke up about 2 hours ago and I'm here answering your questions so I guess I can respond well under pressure."

The journalists laugh, and I relax a little. I'm actually getting quite into it so it's a shame when the press officer ends it. I walk out of the room and back to Marwood.

"Great work Harry. I can now officially welcome you to Melbourne City FC."

wot

That place looks familiar.... is it in Hungary?


Good to see Harry embracing his new situation

Pauker ...

Justice Wow I try to find a conference room without any logos and I accidentally copy yours xD

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So my new era had begun, and it was time to prepare the team for the season ahead. The odd scheduling by the FFA meant that we actually played 2 competitive matches in our pre-season, the 1st and 2nd Rounds of the FFA Cup (whoops spoilt the first result) but nonetheless it was all a warm-up for our league campaign. Let's see how we did. Oh, and of course, who we signed.

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Leaving the club, due to some salary cap difficulties, were a lot of youngsters on pro contracts and a couple of senior squad players in Iain Ramsay and Safuwan Baharudin. Ramsay, a Filipino-born left winger, was behind star Damien Duff in the pecking order along with Ben Garuccio and I therefore deemed him surplus to requirements. Meanwhile, I also felt I had enough depth to replace Baharudin, who was simply wasting one of the foreign spots.


The only incoming transfer I made was in part due to the Ramsay departure, or vice versa. With Ramsay gone, Ben Garuccio (a left back/winger) would be playing second fiddle to Duff at left wing. Therefore, I brought in promising young left back Brad Smith on loan from Liverpool to command that left flank. One of the most promising Aussies abroad, he should benefit immensely from the gametime I give him.


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We opened our pre-season with a competitive match, the first round of the FFA Cup. Due to some odd scheduling, we played the match almost a month before any of our other friendlies. Swan Hill United were our opponents, and we outplayed them as expected in a 3-0 win. Vice captain Erik Paartalu scored a penalty for our first goal of the season, whilst Patrick Kisnorbo and Jason Hoffman also scored.

We then played a pre-season friendly with our archrivals Melbourne Victory, and a couple of quick goals to them were enough to beat us 2-1 at AAMI Park. Then, we travelled to beat Ballarat 3-0 and drew with Dandenong 0-0.

We were drawn against another non-league side in the 2nd round of the FFA Cup, this time Sydney outfit Manly United. This time they put up more of a fight but we still ran out 3-1 winners thanks to goals from Kennedy, Dugandzic and Hoffman.

To finish off the pre-season, we played a couple of games against local Melbourne teams Richmond and Hume City, finishing 2-0 and 0-0 respectively.


Mate Dugandzic picked up my inaugural POTM award after a couple of inspired performances in our 2 cup games. In the season opener, he picked up the best-on-ground award with a great performance on the right wing picking up an assist while in the 2nd round he lifted his game and got a goal and an assist to once more be named best on ground.

Very nice preseason. Love it how you released like 20 players but signed only 1

Are you hoping for a big FFA cup run or is this a cup you'll use to get the youngsters some game time

Good pre-season how come you've released so many players?

Walter Haha yeah twas indeed a good pre-season

TMO I think it'll be more of a rotation option seeing as my board doesn't place any importance on it

Cappy13 Well the thing is in the A-League, if you're on a pro contract you must be registered otherwise you'll be released. I didn't mean to release them all but I made my 23 man squad without them so they were released

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October 2014. Perhaps one day historians will look back on this month in awe, as it was the month that I, Harry Kewell, potential manager-extraordinaire, took my first steps in the brutal game that is football management. Did I do well? Well, soon-to-be historians. You are about to find out.


I got my season off to a ripping start over a strong Sydney FC side at Allianz Stadium. A cracking long shot from Jason Hoffman started proceedings, whilst Paulo Retre had a superb match at right wing collecting a goal and an assist for the man of the match award. A great opening day in anyone's book.



I endured my first 'bore-draw' of my career hosting the Newcastle Jets, who have never been renowned for their attacking prowess (I mean, they signed Heskey). Just 4 shots on target were registered over the entire game and in the end fizzled out into a 0-0 draw.



The first loss of a manager's career is always a bitter pill to swallow and losing in the biggest Melbourne City game of the season is even harder. The Melbourne Derby attracts huge crowds to AAMI Park and are usually great games, with this one no exception. Both teams played openly attacking football, resulting in great attacking movement. Melbourne Victory struck on either side of the half but we looked right in it, reflected by a thrilling Kennedy goal. In the end, both teams came close to scoring in the dying moments but the Victory hung on to record a classic 2-1 win.



The FFA Cup quarter final against the semi-professional Far North Queensland FC was used by me as a chance to give a few rotation options a run, with Ben Garuccio and Connor Chapman impressing in a comfortable 1-0 win which sees them through to the next round.



We once more constricted our opponents but were unable to score as we played out a scoreless draw with Adelaide United. Erik Paartalu's stellar performance was the only standout in a match which saw just 5 shots on target.


After 4 games, we sit in 4th position although they have a game in hand and could (theoretically) drop to as low as 8th if results go against us. However, the likelihood is that we will finish in approximately 6th after round 4 - a good representation of our season so far.


In what was not a month full of highlights, Aaron Mooy was the standout playing in 4 of the 5 games and registering 2 assists and a MOTM performance. Mooy is current teaming up well with midfield pair Erik Paartalu and Robert Koren and hopefully they can continue to be a source of creativity.


A good start to the season in my opinion, we continued our streak in the cup and made a good account of ourselves in the league. The win over Sydney FC was a big positive and although the derby loss wasn't ideal we played very well against an admittedly superior side. At the moment, the only struggle is scoring goals but if Josh Kennedy and Jason Hoffman can start firing we have the defensive capability to hold anyone.

Not a bad start to the season, what position are you playing mooy in? DLP, RPM?

An average start. I'm sure if the goals start to come you can win games because you kept clean sheets against Adelaide and Newcastle, meaning it's just some more clinical finishing that is needed. Awesome update!!

TMO I'm playing Mooy as a DLP next to Koren as an AP

Walter Yeah the attacking is the problem atm but defensively we're good