The Melbourne City Thread

[pantskyle]

Just dropping by to say congrats. I remember that day fondly when I woke up and won the football equivalent of the lottery, there's nothing like it.

However, I've been with MV through thick and thin and nothing will change that. It's good for football in this country, and it's good for the rivalry (even if I enjoy watching Heart trip themselves up).

Quiet troll.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I don't know what to say to anybody who actually believes that within two years the "club" won't be Melbourne City FC, playing in sky blue, with Etihad across their chests, and constant references to Man City.

It's the global branding of Man City - they want it to be the biggest sporting brand on earth and they've been very clear about that. Furthermore they're attempting to vastly increase the business networks and global business reach of the United Arab Emirates. This huge global brand is going to be a tool for that.

Part of it is a presence on every continent through satellite franchises. They're doing the same thing in New York, and over the next decade they'll do it again in Asia and possibly Africa if they can find any stability.

The Heart is dead, don't doubt that for a second. All they want is the license and access to a great modern stadium. The rest will go either straight away or gradually. It'll be Melbourne City, the Australian operations of Manchester City.

 

[Kangapirate]

Well it makes sense, this is Man City's attempt at cracking it in Asia/the new york version for north america, i dont see how the name Heart and the red/white colours fit in, if i was a betting man i'd put money on melbourne city being the name of the franchise next season strutting a typical sky blue playing kit. From what i've read and my understanding is that Heart basically shut up shop yesterday when sidwell co got their millions in the sale and its now very much Man City's club. Heart as we know it appears to be doomed at seasons end.

Also its worth keeping an eye on the new york version as well, they have already got a coach and its a domestic american coach and the technical director and staff are all Americans, of course the difference being that wasnt a takeover but a brand new franchise.

 

[polo9]

Am i the only that thinks that this is potentially going to be a brand new franchise? .

no but you are right

 

[Kangapirate]

no but you are right

glad its not just me, all i've heard the past 2 days is how lucky Heart are and how its a new leaf for the struggling club and how heart are suddenly rich, then i stop and think but hang on this wont actually be Heart, its a foreign club buying out Heart, the Heart investors got their 11 million never to be heard of again...it will be a man city satellite franchise, Heart goes with the sale into oblivion.

 

[polo9]

glad its not just me, all i've heard the past 2 days is how lucky Heart are and how its a new leaf for the struggling club and how heart are suddenly rich, then i stop and think but hang on this wont actually be Heart, its a foreign club buying out Heart, the Heart investors got their 11 million never to be heard of again...it will be a man city satellite franchise, Heart goes with the sale into oblivion.

bingo

 

[Contador]

glad its not just me, all i've heard the past 2 days is how lucky Heart are and how its a new leaf for the struggling club and how heart are suddenly rich, then i stop and think but hang on this wont actually be Heart, its a foreign club buying out Heart, the Heart investors got their 11 million never to be heard of again...it will be a man city satellite franchise, Heart goes with the sale into oblivion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

At what point is it no longer the same club?

It will be a re-branded franchise under the control of a group of businessmen, as all a-league clubs are. It will be interesting to see how much they change, and in what ways we can maintain a connection with our short history. The only thing that's pretty much certain at this stage is the name change.

 

[Kangapirate]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

At what point is it no longer the same club?

It will be a re-branded franchise under the control of a group of businessmen, as all a-league clubs are. It will be interesting to see how much they change, and in what ways we can maintain a connection with our short history. The only thing that's pretty much certain at this stage is the name change.

Interesting, so one day in and we can pretty call it that the Heart name already will be thrown in the bin? even David Gallop seems to be backing such changes. I think this club will have enormous potential, just dont feel when its all said and done that it will have anything to do with the Heart of today. Even more surprising most dont seem to care...at least in terms of the name. I suppose when a club has a short history it doesnt sting as much, i think we are essentially seeing a brand new club here.

 

[moomba]

I think people are making a lot of presumptions here. Right now its Melbourne Heart playing in red and white.

Everything else is speculation (wishful thinking?) although I'm sure changes will be made.

As I'm sure has been pointed out Manchester City started out as St Marks (Gorton) playing in black shirts. Still part of the history of the club and if you go to the stadium today you'll find a huge photo of that St Marks team on the exterior wall.

As a City suporter I've seen five different owners, as a North Melbourne supporter I've seen us go from North Melbourne to Kangaroos and back again. I've also seen us play home games in different states and in different colours.

None of that has defined the clubs I support, that comes from the stands.

 

[Dan Cooper]

Yep agree with you a complete rebranding should be the new owners objective.

That is the logical progression now that Man City have taken over the club. In very little time the name Heart, and what it stood for, will be about as fondly remembered as the Brisbane Bears.

 

[Dan Cooper]

I don't know what to say to anybody who actually believes that within two years the "club" won't be Melbourne City FC, playing in sky blue, with Etihad across their chests, and constant references to Man City.

It's the global branding of Man City - they want it to be the biggest sporting brand on earth and they've been very clear about that. Furthermore they're attempting to vastly increase the business networks and global business reach of the United Arab Emirates. This huge global brand is going to be a tool for that.

Part of it is a presence on every continent through satellite franchises. They're doing the same thing in New York, and over the next decade they'll do it again in Asia and possibly Africa if they can find any stability.

The Heart is dead, don't doubt that for a second. All they want is the license and access to a great modern stadium. The rest will go either straight away or gradually. It'll be Melbourne City, the Australian operations of Manchester City.

Hard to argue with that.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Got to wonder if all these Victory supporters who are so concerned about the (speculated) loss of the club's identity (as by the sounds of things, Heart will face a challenge to change both the name and to sky blue as the primary colour - and that's still assuming they want to - by the teams that established them first) are the same ones who have been saying for years that Heart has no identity and like to chant that 'There's only one team in Melbourne.'

Talk about wanting to have it both ways...

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Just ignore him MC Dollop. If he isn't purposely winding you/us up then I have fears over his mental state.

Done. Boy, that's cleaned this thread up.

It will be very interesting to see how things pan out. The Man City fans that have posted about the issue have all been full of praise for the owners, and have been very clear that no changes were made without paying proper respect to the clubs history and fans views, and that the money poured into not only the squad, but facilities, youth academy and even infrastructure (train and tram lines to grounds, building shop communities etc.) was phenomenal and transformed the area.

I remain slightly anxious over what could happen regarding the clubs colours, I'm not particularly a big fan of the sky blue and certainly don't want it as one of our main colours, but I realise the commercial reality is that they will be included for "brand cohesion" or some shit like that.

Very exciting though, and looks to be a good match for the original promises Heart made pre-Aloisi of youth and attacking football.

There are a lot of presumptions being made, mainly based on what's happened with New York City FC. Difference being, New York is a brand new franchise, whereas Melbourne Heart has been purchased. It's been reported that Melbourne City FC is already a done deal, though the current Melbourne City FC will have to be appeased in some way. To me, the sky blue is potentially a bigger issue and Sydney FC will be sure to kick up a stink about that. I would much prefer to keep the red and white and with soccer clubs, there are, of course, alternatives (using either sky blue or the existing home shirt for away games). At the end of the day, you're wearing one for 50% of the games and the other for the other 50%.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Looks like sky blue will actually come into the equation.

I kind of thought it was a little idealistic to expect an entity to 'grow their brand' for $20 million, but not enforce their biggest identifier and allow Heart to keep red and white. I mean would Real Manchester wear red and white? Would Melbourne Arsenal disregard the white sleeves? These big clubs don't care about the identity of a younger one, especially when the Heart have like six years and 6,000 members...

It is also understood the new owners are hoping to change the Heart's colours to sky blue in accordance with the parent club, Manchester City, as part of their plans to establish franchises across the globe. Manchester City have also founded a team in the US, New York City FC, which will also wear sky blue in its debut season in the MLS in 2015.

A subsequent logo change would then be a formality due to the other adaptations but must first be signed off by the FFA. A spokesman from Australia's governing body confirmed that the owners cannot make any changes without the FFA's approval, but chief executive David Gallop is happy to discuss the potential for a rebranding of Melbourne Heart.

The FFA sees no reason Manchester City cannot make changes to the identity of the bottom-placed A-League club, just as Newcastle Jets owner Nathan Tinkler was permitted to change his club's playing strip from gold to blue and red.

An FFA spokesman for told Fairfax Media that the FFA may take into account potential complaints from Sydney FC regarding Melbourne Heart changing their playing strip to sky blue, but there is no reason the A-League cannot have two teams with the same colour combination.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/...o-rebrand-melbourne-heart-20140124-31e4j.html

 

[Kangapirate]

It would have been so much easier if they just took over sydney fc, ultimately Man City can do as they please here, absolutely nothing wrong with 2 teams wearing sky blue, colour clashes occur all over the world, hell when melbourne city plays sydney fc they can hype as the sky blue derby or something, im sure they will come up with some sort of gimmick to turn it into a positive.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

It would have been so much easier if they just took over sydney fc, ultimately Man City can do as they please here, absolutely nothing wrong with 2 teams wearing sky blue, colour clashes occur all over the world, hell when melbourne city plays sydney fc they can hype as the sky blue derby or something, im sure they will come up with some sort of gimmick to turn it into a positive.

Pretty sure Sydney FC has already said that they're not happy with it and it's clearly been established as part of the club's brand, which would be expected to adversely affect merchandise sales. I'd expect Sydney's owners to get on the front foot and start lobbying with other teams to try to block it, again, assuming that's what MH is going to do.

 

[Dan Cooper]

Looks like sky blue will actually come into the equation.

I kind of thought it was a little idealistic to expect an entity to 'grow their brand' for $20 million, but not enforce their biggest identifier and allow Heart to keep red and white. I mean would Real Manchester wear red and white? Would Melbourne Arsenal disregard the white sleeves? These big clubs don't care about the identity of a younger one, especially when the Heart have like six years and 6,000 members...

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/...o-rebrand-melbourne-heart-20140124-31e4j.html

There's a big dose of reality in there. Anyone not expecting major changes is kidding themselves.

In a few years Heart will be about as fondly remembered as the Brisbane Bears - assuming anyone actually remembers them.

Hello City. Goodbye Heart.

 

[Kangapirate]

Pretty sure Sydney FC has already said that they're not happy with it and it's clearly been established as part of the club's brand, which would be expected to adversely affect merchandise sales. I'd expect Sydney's owners to get on the front foot and start lobbying with other teams to try to block it, again, assuming that's what MH is going to do.

Unfortunately i dont think the ffa will have the balls to tell Man City to move away from its sky blue. We have a club here thats on a quest for global domination, the sky blue is the centre of it all, they arent gonna run around in red or green colours, it defeats the purpose of what they are trying to do, unless of course they are happy to slightly alternate...unlikely.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Unfortunately i dont think the ffa will have the balls to tell Man City to move away from its sky blue. We have a club here thats on a quest for global domination, the sky blue is the centre of it all, they arent gonna run around in red or green colours, it defeats the purpose of what they are trying to do, unless of course they are happy to slightly alternate...unlikely.

I'm not disagreeing...but what happens if the FFA just bends over to every single demand that City makes? Pretty soon you'd have half the clubs owned by European giants if they see they can just buy a club in Australia and then do whatever they feel like.

From what I've seen, City has been publicly saying all the right things to keep the existing members onside (probably because they're smart enough to see that if they said that they're going to do whatever they want, as soon as the season finishes, current Heart supporters and supporters of the A-League in general might get their noses out of joint), so I think, as strong as our suspicions are, it's all speculation at this stage.

I only ever really remember the Jets as having the red and blue stripes; does anyone remember what the process was for that (quite significant) change? Specifically, was approval required, not just from the FFA, but from the other clubs?

 

[pantskyle]

If City want us to wear sky blue we will be, Sydney won't get a say at all.

 

[giggler99]

I'm not disagreeing...but what happens if the FFA just bends over to every single demand that City makes? Pretty soon you'd have half the clubs owned by European giants if they see they can just buy a club in Australia and then do whatever they feel like.

From what I've seen, City has been publicly saying all the right things to keep the existing members onside (probably because they're smart enough to see that if they said that they're going to do whatever they want, as soon as the season finishes, current Heart supporters and supporters of the A-League in general might get their noses out of joint), so I think, as strong as our suspicions are, it's all speculation at this stage.

I only ever really remember the Jets as having the red and blue stripes; does anyone remember what the process was for that (quite significant) change? Specifically, was approval required, not just from the FFA, but from the other clubs?

Nathan Tinkler brought the Jets he also owns the Knights that's why he changed the colours to blue and red.

 

[Magma]

i don't think our owners will change the home kit. maybe an away kit with a sky blue stripe in it.

 

[pantskyle]

i don't think our owners will change the home kit. maybe an away kit with a sky blue stripe in it.

Yeah will definitely be incorporated.

 

[Magma]

something similar to that as an away kit. maybe black/navy with the blue stripe. but our owners have been in no way intrusive with us, so don't expect there to be widespread changes. they're footballing people.

 

[giggler99]

something similar to that as an away kit. maybe black/navy with the blue stripe. but our owners have been in no way intrusive with us, so don't expect there to be widespread changes. they're footballing people.

Replace the black with red and I'll go with that as a home top.