Clive Palmer, The owner of new Australian A-League club Gold Coast United, is sick and tired of people not coming (they have the smallest average attendance in the league at 4,500) to see his team play in the 27,400 seat Robina Stadium that he's overpaying to rent for home matches, so he's opted to go with perhaps the dumbest PR move a club owner has ever attempted by closing all but one side of the stadium and only allowing a maximum of 5,000 people in for each game.

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After a poor start to the season, we can breathe easy again. Two wins on the trot has put Melbourne a point from first place, though the A-League is so tight this season that we're still only in sixth place. But it's good to see the team hit some form at last.

With a third of the season almost done, I thought I'd pop in to share my thoughts on how the mighty Victory are faring this year.

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Pedestrian. Lethargic. Boring.

A shade over 15,000 came out to watch 90 minutes of the dullest football I've ever seen at the Dome. It all went wrong about three minutes in when Billy Celeski went down and stayed down. No Celeski. No Hernandez. The only bright spark for me was Matthew Kemp, who was in fine form after a couple weeks away.

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That's Robbie Fowler pulling off a gymnastic Chuck Norris move in an A-League match to kick Gold Coast United's Anderson in the face in the 85th minute of his North Queensland side's 5-0 loss on Saturday.

Despite the awesomely vicious nature of this impressive maneuver, Fowler did not get booked, nor did he get punished afterward by the match review panel because the referee ruled that it did not warrant punishment.

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One point from two home games is hardly something to be pleased about, but last night's comeback draw felt like a win. The revamped back line was quite atrocious at times in the first half, but tightened up considerably in the second period. Not coincidentally, Melbourne showed a lot more class going forward after the break.

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Robbie Fowler got off the mark on his A-League debut last weekend, although his North Queensland Fury fell to a 3-2 home defeat against Sydney FC. Fowler, formerly of Liverpool and made club captain, converted a penalty after an hour to level the scores at 2-2. However, former Portsmouth man John Aloisi scored a winner [. Click to continue reading...

A special edition of the New Additions feature here on Les Rosbifs. Thanks to the wonderful people on the SI Games forums, most notably their Australian researcher 'Roger', a whole host of Englishmen have been dredged up and not just in the A-League. A whole host of English footballers are kicking about in the [. Click to continue reading...

The latest batch of new members of Les Rosbifs includes a batch of coaches who have not been mentioned previously. Slipping under the radar for the past few months was Craig Short. The former Everton, Derby County and Blackburn Rovers defender is assistant manager of Ferencvaros in Hungary who, as we all know, are back [. Click to continue reading...

There's been a clear out of Les Rosbifs in recent days, what with the transfer silly season in full swing and approximately six weeks of the transfer window still to run. Even though a number of Englishmen abroad are contracted to their clubs, it gives their owners the prospect of a payday if they can [. Click to continue reading...

Australian A-League side Adelaide United have officially released their new kits for the 2009-10 season. The launch took place on top of the Montefiore Hill in the northern part of the city. The home shirt ( modeled by Travis Dodd in the photo below), is red in colour and will be worn for the first time [. Click to continue reading...

A-League side Gold Coast United have revealed their shirts that will be worn for their 2009-10 league campaign. The Queensland based side are making their debut in the 2009-10 A-League season. The home shirt is yellow in colour, with blue shorts and royal blue socks completing the outfit. Gold Coast United have gone for an all white away [. Click to continue reading...

A-League side Brisbane Roar ( formerly known as Queensland Roar) have unveiled photos of their new home and away strips for the 2009-10 season. Made by Reebok, the Roar will wear the new strip for the first time on July 12 in a pre season friendly against Celtic at the Suncorp Stadium. The new home shirt is [. Click to continue reading...

A League club Perth Glory have unveiled their new 2009-10 home strip. The shirt was officially released by club owner Tony Sage, and features vertical stripes for the first time in the club's history. The new 2009-10 Perth Glory shirt is manufactured by Reebok. It has white stripes against the traditional purple background. Click to continue reading...

A-League club Melbourne Victory have unveiled their home and away strips for the 2009-10 season. The club have also announced a new multi million dollar deal with Greek lottery company Intralot, who replace Samsung as the sponsors of the club. The deal is reportedly worth $2m ( AUD) over two years, with Intralot having an option [. Click to continue reading...

On Saturday night, in front of a packed house of over 53,000 at the Dome formerly known as Telstra, the Melbourne Victory became the first club in A-League history to win the Grand Final twice and to win all three trophies in a single season (Pre-Season Cup, Premiers and Grand Final Champions). It was far from [. Click to continue reading...

Call me crazy, but I think the only thing that could undo the Melbourne Victory tomorrow night is complacency. Melbourne faltered at times during season 4 of the A-League - especially against teams propping up the ladder. For the latter half of the season, this became the pattern: solid wins against top of the table sides, [. Click to continue reading...

Adelaide put some demons to rest on Saturday night as it beat Queensland Roar 1-0. Disappointing for Queensland fans, and a surprising finish for many who wrote off Adelaide after the hiding in Melbourne and Aurelio Vidmar's rant. Adelaide now get a chance for redemption. I thought I'd take the occasion to compile a bunch of [. Click to continue reading...

Another embarrassing thrashing of Adelaide United in a finals series, another coach's outburst. No evil forces conspiring, just the city of Adelaide, a "piss-ant" according to Aurelio Vidmar. After Vidmar's hissy-fit, it's hard to see how Adelaide are going to regroup for their semi-final against the Queensland Roar, who put the Central Coast Mariners away 4-1 [. Click to continue reading...

If statistics are anything to go by, things aren't looking good for Adelaide United. They haven't beaten Melbourne since the Pre-Season Cup. Melbourne has won all of its last 6 games at home. And Adelaide has a 2 goal deficit to make up for; meaning, in short, that it must score at least three times [. Click to continue reading...

First of all, I hope that you and your friends and family have all remained safe this weekend. My deepest sympathies go out to anyone who has lost a loved one in the bush fires. It didn't feel quite right to start this blog post without pausing to acknowledge what's currently happening in our fine [. Click to continue reading...

And so it begins. The Queensland Roar got the ball rolling last night with an all-important 2-0 away-from-home win against the Central Coast Mariners (report). Attention now turns to tonight's affair in Adelaide. Melbourne have had the edge over Adelaide all year, with three wins from three. That may, as Kevin Muscat suggests, give us a [. Click to continue reading...

Round 20 and 21 have been a little like a penalty shoot-out. Melbourne lines up; shoots; scores. Adelaide's turn; they shoot; score. Now back to Melbourne. It's far from a perfect analogy, but I think it may help those disgruntled by the fact that the final round of the A-League is staggered - rather than having [. Click to continue reading...

I'm happy to say that all the hackers' damage has been removed from the site, so you are once again free to visit MVFC Blog. My apologies. The site should be much more secure now. Let's hope this never happens again. Last Friday's game against the Central Coast Mariners was, of course, a wonderful night for [. Click to continue reading...

Dear readers, I'm afraid MVFC Blog has been the victim of some wily hackers. I have done just about everything I can think of to fix it, but Google still seems unconvinced. Please do NOT visit MVFC Blog at the moment, as it may not be safe for your computer. I'll keep you posted. For [...] Click to continue reading...

Dear readers, I'm afraid MVFC Blog has been the victim of some wily hackers. I have done just about everything I can think of to fix it, but Google still seems unconvinced. Please do NOT visit MVFC Blog at the moment, as it may not be safe for your computer. I'll keep you posted. For [...] Click to continue reading...

The Victory are back at the top of the table, with their third win over Adelaide United this season. Nice one. It was a top-of-the-table clash, with first place up for grabs, but I was still surprised at crowd attendance. Over 27,000 on a Tuesday night is a great turn-out by any stretch of the imagination, [. Click to continue reading...

The Victory are back at the top of the table, with their third win over Adelaide United this season. Nice one. It was a top-of-the-table clash, with first place up for grabs, but I was still surprised at crowd attendance. Over 27,000 on a Tuesday night is a great turn-out by any stretch of the imagination, [. Click to continue reading...

Number 1 meets number 2 at the Telstra Dome tonight, as Adelaide United and the Melbourne Victory go head to head to determine who takes the top of the ladder. A win for Adelaide, giving them a 4-point lead at the top of the table with a game in hand, would all but guarantee them the [...] Click to continue reading...

Number 1 meets number 2 at the Telstra Dome tonight, as Adelaide United and the Melbourne Victory go head to head to determine who takes the top of the ladder. A win for Adelaide, giving them a 4-point lead at the top of the table with a game in hand, would all but guarantee them the [...] Click to continue reading...

If 2008 ended with a bang, 2009 began with a dull thud. Melbourne Victory rose to the top of the table, albeit only for a night, with a 2-1 win over the Queensland Roar, but it wasn't pretty. Queensland and Melbourne, ranked second and third on the ladder before this round started, were as evenly balanced [. Click to continue reading...

If 2008 ended with a bang, 2009 began with a dull thud. Melbourne Victory rose to the top of the table, albeit only for a night, with a 2-1 win over the Queensland Roar, but it wasn't pretty. Queensland and Melbourne, ranked second and third on the ladder before this round started, were as evenly balanced [. Click to continue reading...

The Melbourne Victory hosts the Queensland Roar tonight, in what is a critical juncture of the A-League season. The Roar sit on equal points with Melbourne, but edge us out on goal difference. A win tonight for either side would go a long way to ensuring their finals aspirations. The Central Coast Mariners have already played their [. Click to continue reading...

The Melbourne Victory hosts the Queensland Roar tonight, in what is a critical juncture of the A-League season. The Roar sit on equal points with Melbourne, but edge us out on goal difference. A win tonight for either side would go a long way to ensuring their finals aspirations. The Central Coast Mariners have already played their [. Click to continue reading...

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It started badly. A strike in the 30th second from Shannon Cole; another one from Brendan Gan three minutes later. Sydney 2-0 up. But that just set the stage for one of the greatest comebacks in Melbourne's history. Sydney may feel robbed, but Melbourne absolutely deserved the three points. The turning point? Click to continue reading...