Now after several very critical blogs about the Brisbane Roar my dear son Jacob is insisting that I write a positive one, and there was some real positives from last night so I shall concentrate on them. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), John over at A Seat At the A-league did a pretty good job of the negatives, so I get to play good cop. Click to continue reading...

36 year old Alexandre da Silva Mariano, a.k.a. Amaral, is not one player that you would expect to be the (unofficially) most polite footballer.

Previously playing in footballing danger zones such as Italy (Parma; AC Fiorentina) and Turkey (Besiktas), representing Brazil 31 times, and winning an Olympic Bronze medal (Atlanta 1996), nobody anticipated that the former grave digger would have written a thank you note to his most recent club, Perth Glory.

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The financial crisis has highlighted a dilemna in capitalist society, especially so in the United States. Simply put, some corporations and institutions have been deemed just too big to fail - the damage of letting their poor decisions break them would be so great for society that it is deemed in the public interest to bail them out. Click to continue reading...

In this week's Match of the round, we travel to Etihad Stadium, where Melbourne lost both a match, and their epic pride, going down 4-0 in front of 18,000 fans. A quiet first half and start of the second was ignited by a rampant Central Coast side.

Ernie Merrick left his side unchanged for his side's clash with Central Coast, the standout being Carlos Hernandez, who is in blistering form for the Victory.

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It is now up to the Gold Coast Fans to get off your bums, buy a ticket and come and support a really good football team. Our team has a real chance of actually winning this competition. I am not saying we will, but we have a great chance. Click to continue reading...

In the (self-dubbed) newbie derby, Gold Coast have been defeated by a rampant North Queensland Fury side. Robbie Fowler lead the team from start to finish, getting on the scoresheet twice. The defeat has added to the horrible week that the Gold Coast have suffered, including a 6-0 whitewash by Wellington, and a huge condemnation by the public over club owner Clive Palmer's (right) decision to cap crowds at 5,000 to save money.

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"Scrap the Cap", "Fans not $$ ", "Greatest Team Never Seen", "Football is for the fans, not greedy hands, Justice for the GCU", "Want bigger Crowds Clive, Ask us How". Click to continue reading...

Clive Palmer, owner of Gold Coast United

Gold Coast United, an expansion team in Australia's premier A-League, have already generated negative headlines it takes some teams decades to generate: "A-League may hit rock bottom thanks to the Coast," says Adrian Musolino in today's Roar, which also features another piece titled "Gold Coast "United" – How to lose fans and alienate people".

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Something to read while you enjoy the Top 30 A-League Goals of All Time (so far)... English football 1991-92 season in review (EPL Talk) FM2010: Digital Sunderland is the new digital Newcastle (Football Manager Offside) End of an era at Pro Vercelli (Run of Play) Ten players who played into their 40s (Podcast Offside) An alternative take on the Ballon [. Click to continue reading...

Something to read while you enjoy the Top 30 A-League Goals of All Time (so far)... English football 1991-92 season in review (EPL Talk) FM2010: Digital Sunderland is the new digital Newcastle (Football Manager Offside) End of an era at Pro Vercelli (Run of Play) Ten players who played into their 40s (Podcast Offside) An alternative take on the Ballon [. Click to continue reading...

Will Clive Palmer limit crowds to 5000 at Skilled Park? "We believe Clive's financial resources will support the bid – there's no question about that," Buckley said. "More importantly there's a demonstrated commitment to engage with the Gold Coast community. That's a very important part of the proposal as well" Courier Mail, June 3, 2008 "the club informed [. Click to continue reading...

They Think It's All Over... is sick of seeing Wellington Phoenix draw - it's time to get the best out of Chris Greenacre. Click to continue reading...

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Nationally we cover Fozzie on the Young Socceroos, A-League, crowds, Danny Tiatto, Robbie Kruse,how did that Ref miss the Perf goal, Alex Brosque, Chris Grossman, why the Celtic crowd are louder thanBordeaux, even Liverpool but it was The Cove who took Paddy's breadth away, W-League, quiz questions and more and Lucy Zelic thinks Melbourne will beat Sydney FC. Click to continue reading...

Not everyone is happy with the A-League right now. Attendances are down on last season, with average crowds of around 6,200. Football Federation boss Ben Buckley has tried to put a positive spin on those numbers, by (somewhat bizarrely) claiming it was all part of the plan: "If you look at the crowd numbers overall they [. Click to continue reading...

A novel "mortgage" system, one in which fans can buy their own piece of stadium real estate (their seats) over the course of a protracted term, just as they would a condominium, could change the way...

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Quiz questions, dedications and the best wrap in the world of the A-League!
And locally with the best coverage of local football in the Australian Capital Peter Funnell talks to Cap Football CEO Heather Reid on that A-League bid, High Performance, ACT Premier League and all things local football. Click to continue reading...

 A large number of good results this round, including an interesting match in Brisbane, with two disappointing defensive errors gifting a win to a deserving Perth Glory. Central Coast won the first ever Battle of the Coasts, in magnificent fashion. Sydney FC won by a narrow margin, but that seems to be a trend for the Sky Blues.

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They Think It's All Over... presents his latest column for VUW Student Magazine 'Salient', a summary of the Phoenix's A-League season so far. Click to continue reading...

SO we are a couple of days away from a pretty tough test against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp.
FP was having a flick through history (philosophically speaking, of course) and basically it says that the Glory sucks at Suncorp – we've never won a game there.
But records were meant to be broken, weren't they? Click to continue reading...

Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory

Hindmarsh Stadium

What will be a very tough encounter, on the basis of revenge. Adelaide losing in the finals of last season hurt, and will be out to challenge for the title this year. Adelaide so far have been underperforming, but only just however their performances are deserving of a better placing.

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Adelaide United 1-0 Central Coast Mariners

Hindmarsh Stadium, 10,262

Adelaide finally won a match, their first since round 1, and in great style in front of ten thousand fans at Hindmarsh Stadium. Travis Dodd was back from injury, making some quick zippy runs in the midfield.

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SO before FP gets into Perth Glory news for today, just a quick word on Eugene Dadi.
Remember him, that tall dark-skinned fellow who formed a pretty decent partnership with Nikita, and scored 10 goals last season (even though some were from penalties).
He's put in one 60-minute performance in Adelaide this season, but hasn't been heard from since. Click to continue reading...

SO it's Wednesday, and hopefully by now that bitter taste in your mouth has dissipated somewhat.
The sun is out, and it's starting to look and feel like spring again. Could it last? Apparently not.
According to the boffins over at the Bureau of Meteorology, this is the wettest September since 1915, and more bad weather is on the way. Click to continue reading...

IF you would have told FP at Sunday 2:30pm, that the final score would be Perth Glory 2 – Gold Coast 2, then he would have been over the moon.
But considering what actually happened, it's hard not to have a sour taste in your mouth.
If you're leading 2-0 at half-time, in front of your home fans, than surely you should be able to win, eh? Click to continue reading...

WHEN FP heard there was going to to be a pre-match press conference between the two owners of Perth Glory and Gold Coast United – Tony 'James Bond' Sage and Clive Palmer respectively - he thought their would be some fireworks.
When you have two men who are unafraid to speak their minds, and aren't dimwits in drumming up publicity, surely there would be some good copy flying around. Click to continue reading...

FP is sick – but he's not exactly sure why.
Maybe it's the seemingly legit Manchester United T-Shirt (with Rooney on the back) his brother received today which makes him wants to throw-up.
Or maybe it's the flu he's contracted at the start of spring, which has taken away his ability to swallow. Click to continue reading...

GOLD Coast United owner Clive Palmer once referred to his team as the 'Harlem Globetrotters' of the A-League.
Apparently, in his humble opinion, the Gold Coast would go around to all the other clubs and boost their attendances and make them money.
With that in mind, it seems a bit weird that the arrival of 'the New Bling' has been met with almost no hype at all here in Perth. Click to continue reading...

by Usman Azad, Football Perth Editor
RIGHTO, so FP is back again.
Having a cousin over from the 'Mother Country' coupled with writing a couple of articles for various fanzines (more on that later) have left the blog a bit unattended.
But all is well, so lets get into some Perth Glory news. Click to continue reading...

by Usman Azad, Football Perth Editor
Morning y'all. Hopefully this finds you well. As some may have noticed, FP has deliberately stayed away from posting for a couple of days after that tragic loss to the Central Coast Mariners on Friday.
He could have throw something, choked someone or kicked anything after that game. Click to continue reading...

by Usman Azad, Football Perth Editor
Central Coast 2 (Wilkinson 42, Simon 89)
Perth Glory 1 (Sterjovski 82)
Crowd: 5193
A HARROWING mistake from young goalkeeper Tando Velaphi has resulted in another loss away from home for Perth Glory in the A-League this season.
Both teams were level on the scoreboard late in the game, when Velaphi misjudged the bounce of a long ball into the penalty box, slipped over and watched helplessly as Central Coast Mariners striker Dylan Macallister squared the ball for an easy tap-in for Matt Simon. Click to continue reading...

They Think It's All Over... is well and truly pissed that the referee denied Wellington Phoenix a win against Adelaide, but can draw some consolation from the performance of the Kiwi side. Click to continue reading...

by Usman Azad, Football Perth Editor
WELL, FP is back for another day - after spending a few hours yesterday with his cousin trawling through Perth like a couple of wizened tourists.
Though FP was playing the role of the embarrassed tour guide, his cousin was genuinely fascinated by the city. Click to continue reading...

by Usman Azad, Football Perth Editor
THERE seems to be a quiet lull on the western front, a bit curious considering the Glory face Central Coast on Friday night - just a couple of days away.
But getting straight into the scraps of the Glory barrel today - the first bit of news comes from the good folk at AAP. Click to continue reading...

by Usman Azad, Football Perth Editor
Here's a bit of a fun fact for Perth Glory fans.
Apparently Perth has never won three games in a row since the Glory opened it's eyes in the A-League.
Why this is could be anything from the ridiculous scheduling from the FFA, the mismanagement of the team under certain regimes and coaches, or the power of some voodoo witch doctor. Click to continue reading...

by Usman Azad, Football Perth Editor
WELL, all in all, it was mixed weekend for FP. Arsenal self-destructed against Man United, but Miron's mob Gold Coast United were finally brought back to earth with a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle.
And due to a couple more results in the A-League, the Glory climb to fourth position on the ladder after their win over Melbourne - though Perth fans shouldn't be breaking out the bubbly just yet - there's still 23 rounds to go, plenty of time before the ladder really matter. Click to continue reading...