Melbourne City were deserved winners of Saturday night’s A-League Men grand final, but the real question now is whether the club can use it to try and broaden their fan-base.
Before we crack on with the debate around what was one of the uglier deciders in recent memory, we should first extend our congratulations to Aurelio Vidmar and his all-conquering Melbourne City squad.
Not only were City the better team in the grand final, but along with Auckland FC, they were also the most consistent outfit in the competition all season.
Vidmar is one of the nicest guys in football, but his team had to fight for every ball in what was a war of attrition in front of a record crowd for all codes of 29,902 fans at a heaving AAMI Park.
It looked like 95 per cent of the fans in attendance were supporting Melbourne Victory, but the fans in navy blue saw their team pegged back by an incisive opener.
It may have been finished off by City’s Israeli winger Yonatan Cohen, by the goal owed much to the inventiveness of Aziz Behich – a player who always seems to fire up against his former employer, Victory.
It was Behich’s clever back heel that released Andreas Kuen, and while the Austrian’s cut-back was clattered against the crossbar by Max Caputo, the rebound was duly tucked home by Cohen.
Aziz Behich holds aloft the A-League Men trophy (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
It had been all Victory up to that point, but after taking an early lead, City did everything within their power to protect it.
Did referee Adam Kersey lose control of the game?
He let things flow early on, but after only handing out one yellow card in the first half – to Cohen, no less – the lack of cautions perhaps came back to haunt him as the game devolved into a spiteful, foul-infested dogfight.
Even then, City still had the better chances to double their lead – and they really should have done so when Caputo snatched at a half-chance on the turn with the unmarked Cohen standing right beside him.
The Israeli should have done better himself when he headed wide from a pinpoint Marco Tilio cross late on, but one goal was enough to seal just Melbourne City’s second championship at the sixth time of asking.
The question now is: can they use it as a springboard to find a few more fans?
There was a decent turn-out in sky blue on the night, but the truth is practically the entire stadium was supporting the other team.
City’s average attendances fell to just 6192 fans throughout the regular season – a figure inflated by Melbourne derbies.
So what does the club need to do to attract a few more fans through the gates, when pretty much everyone in the city already supports their AAMI Park co-tenants?
They should start by signing a genuine marquee player.
Melbourne City chief executive Brad Rowse can claim all he wants that it’s not his club’s way, but all he’s really doing is admitting the City Football Group are happy to live in Melbourne Victory’s shadow as the city’s second team.
And that’s all they’ll ever be until the City Football Group makes Melbourne – not Montevideo or Mumbai or New York City – a priority.
Not that the club’s powerbrokers will care too much about that now, after claiming just their second ‘toilet seat’ since that COVID-affected title win in 2021.
It remains to be seen what the future holds for the likes of off-contract import Cohen and on-loan Celtic attacker Tilio, with the latter joining Behich in linking up with the Socceroos to face Japan in Perth on Thursday night.
It was the end of an era in many ways on Saturday, with Network 10 and Paramount+ commentator Simon Hill announcing before the grand final that he’s heading back to the United Kingdom.
Hill has been one of our code’s most trusted voices since moving to Australia, and his staunch advocacy for the game will be sorely missed.
But it’s also the end of an era for me, as this is my final column for The Roar.
Having written almost 1200 columns over the past 16 years, it’s time to move on to pastures new.
I’ve enjoyed every conversation they’ve kick-started.
Mike Tuckermanhttps://https://ift.tt/r1qzVDf City deserved the A-League title, but must win over more fans. Here’s what they should do next
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