The Melbourne City Thread

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soupaman

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Still yet to ever beat an A-League opponent in a pre-season fixture. Incredible really.

The closest we have come is drawing with WSW in their first pre-season, and then winning the subsequent penalty shootout. But that doesn't really count.
 

The Coup

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That is some serious class up front with Villa, Kennedy (if it happens), Duff, Koren, Williams, Dugandzic.

I don't know what to make of any of this, I've never barracked for a team that had money before. It feels weird.
 

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Redalert

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No one cares if a side has a good or crap pre-season, the only thing that matters is how teams go when the actual league starts up. Competitive games are completely different, just look at Man United, put 7 passed Galaxy then conceded 5 against Leicester.
 

MC Extra Dollop

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That is some serious class up front with Villa, Kennedy (if it happens), Duff, Koren, Williams, Dugandzic.

I don't know what to make of any of this, I've never barracked for a team that had money before. It feels weird.
It looks good on paper, but I'd be pretty surprised if Kennedy and Villa are ever in the same lineup.

No one cares if a side has a good or crap pre-season, the only thing that matters is how teams go when the actual league starts up. Competitive games are completely different, just look at Man United, put 7 passed Galaxy then conceded 5 against Leicester.
The only genuinely disappointing aspect was the exit from the FFA Cup at the first stage. It would have been fantastic to win that (or at least have a deep run) and not hard to see that it would have had a very positive flow-on in terms of members signing up. Would have liked the team to actually play a few more of the home preseason fixtures somewhere in Melbourne. After having the ironic 'Heart' nickname for the past few years, we've now got a slightly ironic 'City' name, considering where we've been playing matches in the preseason.
 

Redalert

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The only genuinely disappointing aspect was the exit from the FFA Cup at the first stage. It would have been fantastic to win that (or at least have a deep run) and not hard to see that it would have had a very positive flow-on in terms of members signing up. Would have liked the team to actually play a few more of the home preseason fixtures somewhere in Melbourne. After having the ironic 'Heart' nickname for the past few years, we've now got a slightly ironic 'City' name, considering where we've been playing matches in the preseason.
I would've been disappointed with the FFA cup loss as well, but again that's because it actually affects something. I think you've to balance playing games in Melbourne with promoting the club in regional areas, as least this way City are expanding their supporter base beyond the traditional Victory/City Melbourne divide.
 

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I would've been disappointed with the FFA cup loss as well, but again that's because it actually affects something. I think you've to balance playing games in Melbourne with promoting the club in regional areas, as least this way City are expanding their supporter base beyond the traditional Victory/City Melbourne divide.
I wonder if changing the name to 'Melbourne City' is a good way to do that? It's been discussed before, but what is the combined Victory/City membership, in terms of the population of Greater Melbourne...like 1%? Personally, I'd prefer it if the club shored up its own backyard, as the priority.
 

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There's not much point in promoting the team to regional areas when we've hardly made a dent in the Melbourne market.
The Melbourne market was always going to be difficult because Victory had a headstart of about 5 years on you, that generally means that they had first crack at promoting an A-league club to supporters who would've been interested in following the domestic league. That's why I would've thought that other markets might be a better bet for building a supporter base, but maybe the City association will bring more people into the fold (I definitely hope so!).
 

pantskyle

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The Melbourne market was always going to be difficult because Victory had a headstart of about 5 years on you, that generally means that they had first crack at promoting an A-league club to supporters who would've been interested in following the domestic league. That's why I would've thought that other markets might be a better bet for building a supporter base, but maybe the City association will bring more people into the fold (I definitely hope so!).
It will.

Success will also come.
 

MC Extra Dollop

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The Melbourne market was always going to be difficult because Victory had a headstart of about 5 years on you, that generally means that they had first crack at promoting an A-league club to supporters who would've been interested in following the domestic league. That's why I would've thought that other markets might be a better bet for building a supporter base, but maybe the City association will bring more people into the fold (I definitely hope so!).
That doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Again, the combined memberships of Victory and City make up about 1% of the population. So, where are all these people that fill the MCG every time Liverpool, Juventus, or Manchester City (soon enough) come to town, coming from? Yes, Victory has done very well with its supporter base since the league started. But the Melbourne market isn't even close to being tapped. And if Melbourne City is able to offer its members things like discount/priority tickets to watch when Manchester City and New York City come to town, along with a consistently better product than Melbourne Victory, the difference in membership totals between the Melbourne teams will close rapidly. If a Melbourne City membership guaranteed a season ticket holder a seat at Etihad to see Melbourne City v Manchester City, the club would probably get a few thousand additional members right there.
 

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The Melbourne market was always going to be difficult because Victory had a headstart of about 5 years on you, that generally means that they had first crack at promoting an A-league club to supporters who would've been interested in following the domestic league. That's why I would've thought that other markets might be a better bet for building a supporter base, but maybe the City association will bring more people into the fold (I definitely hope so!).
I still think we have room to grow in Melbourne, play a pre-season game at Ballarat, sure, but the focus still needs to be on Melbourne.

Victory has what, a tad under 20,000, we have 9000ish. Surely there's more than 30,000 soccer fans in Melbourne.
 

BILC

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That doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Again, the combined memberships of Victory and City make up about 1% of the population. So, where are all these people that fill the MCG every time Liverpool, Juventus, or Manchester City (soon enough) come to town, coming from? Yes, Victory has done very well with its supporter base since the league started. But the Melbourne market isn't even close to being tapped. And if Melbourne City is able to offer its members things like discount/priority tickets to watch when Manchester City and New York City come to town, along with a consistently better product than Melbourne Victory, the difference in membership totals between the Melbourne teams will close rapidly. If a Melbourne City membership guaranteed a season ticket holder a seat at Etihad to see Melbourne City v Manchester City, the club would probably get a few thousand additional members right there.
Even non-soccer fans were interested in the Liverpool game, just for the spectacle.

Probably go close to filling the G if the Dallas Cowboys came to town, but I don't see a Melbourne NFL franchise working too well.
 
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