{"id":20398,"date":"2016-10-01T23:15:16","date_gmt":"2016-10-01T13:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=20398"},"modified":"2016-10-02T21:59:46","modified_gmt":"2016-10-02T11:59:46","slug":"a-league-season-12-preview-and-predictions-legacy-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=20398","title":{"rendered":"A-League Season 12 Preview and Predictions: Legacy Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tagfootball\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"aleaguecahill\"<\/a><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he twelfth\u00a0season of the Hyundai A-League has arrived! \u00a0After another interminably long off season, Australia\u2019s premiere national football competition begins anew on Friday with Brisbane Roar playing at home to Melbourne Victory in a repeat of one of the matches in last year’s finals series.<\/p>\n

As has become tradition on The FAT Website, this season preview will provide some comically inaccurate predictions charting the Brisbane Roar\u2019s prospects, the fortunes of the other teams in the comp and which individual players will emerge as stars.<\/p>\n

\"13669141_10154456761612728_4173520031277039360_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Season 12 of the A-League is beginning under a cloud with much grumbling from the competition’s fan base. \u00a0So what else is new? \u00a0Hopefully the FFA won’t disengage its fans to the\u00a0level it achieved\u00a0last year which ultimately lead to widespread walkouts from its most die hard supporters protesting the incontestable banning laws for fan misbehaviour. \u00a0After a couple of rounds of fixtures being played in front of near-empty stadiums, the FFA finally relented and reviewed its draconian laws.<\/p>\n

So what are A-League fans crabby about this time?<\/p>\n

In short, lots of things<\/em>. \u00a0Generally, the overall vision for how the administrators and custodians of the domestic league plan to grow the competition has been disappointing limited. \u00a0After twelve seasons, fans are getting impatient for expansion. \u00a0Ten teams for a national competition is too small. \u00a0Where are the opportunities for clubs representing Canberra, Woollongong, Tasmania and Far North Queensland? \u00a0When will the league introduce promotion and relegation and interconnect with the state leagues around the country?<\/p>\n

When the A-League announced that Melbourne City had signed Tim Cahill on a newly created ‘guest player’ position that allowed the cashed up club to circumvent the previous salary cap rules, many fans groaned. \u00a0Firstly, the promotion of ‘Tim Cahill returning home’ seemed disingenuous and cynical. \u00a0The general feeling is that the 36 year old Socceroo had only returned to Australia after he had bled dry every last drop of opportunity at clubs abroad. \u00a0Secondly, it seemed incredible that the FFA would contribute to Cahill’s multi-million dollar deal when they shrugged their shoulders at the financial turmoil currently embroiling clubs like Brisbane Roar. \u00a0Lastly, fans groaned as FFA CEO David Gallop referred to Cahill’s signing as ‘#1 on the wishlist<\/a>‘. \u00a0It fit the current narrative that the leaders of the FFA don’t appear to have a Big Picture plan for the competition going forward.<\/p>\n

These sentiments aren’t just being discussed by fans online. \u00a0Journalists, former players and coaches and even current Socceroos national coach Ange Postecoglou have all echoed these sentiments. \u00a0The league shouldn’t be consolidating its tiny footprint. \u00a0It should be dreaming bigger.<\/p>\n

\"newroarlogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Brisbane Roar<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Coach: \u00a0John Aloisi<\/em><\/p>\n

Ins:\u00a0Brett Holman, Thomas Kristensen, Jacob Pepper, Joey Katebian, Manuel Rodriguez<\/em><\/p>\n

Outs:\u00a0Henrique, James Donachie, Corona<\/em><\/p>\n

Last Season: \u00a0Third<\/em><\/p>\n

Another season and yet more chaos and instability at Brisbane Roar. \u00a0For the second off-season in a row, the club failed to play its players on time. \u00a0Its reviled owners, the Bakrie Group, were again making the headlines for their incredible mismanagement. \u00a0Once again, as a direct result of this instability, the club ended up losing players, loyal backroom staff and they haemorrhaged season members. \u00a0For all the incredible accomplishments from the club on the field in the last five years, the tiresome\u00a0mismanagement off it has left the club with the smallest number of season ticket holders in the entire competition.<\/p>\n

Nothing highlighted the woes of the club any more than the short and sad story of Daniel Cobb<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0Cobb was a businessman from South Australia who claimed to have a consortium of buyers who would take the club off of troubled Indonesian owners The Bakrie Group. \u00a0No one is entirely sure of the full story but needless to say, Cobb lasted all of two months, then was sacked by the Bakries, then pretended he quit and the club was once again back at square one – stuck with their old owners who clearly have no love for the club and are desperate to offload them.<\/p>\n

For now the FFA appear either unable or uninterested in stepping in and stripping the license off of the Bakries. \u00a0So we’re left with a club running on fumes, with a supporter base that shrinks every season despite their on-field successes.<\/p>\n

Last season, despite all their troubles, the Roar came extraordinarily close to making it to the Grand Final. \u00a0What will happen in 2016\/17?<\/p>\n

No doubt the biggest loss in the off-season for the club was Henrique who had a short stint in Malaysia before eventually signing with reigning champs Adelaide United. \u00a0He’s been worth around 8-10 goals a season for the last three years and made a habit of scoring off the bench and saving the team when they were in a hole. \u00a0The club will need one of their new young strikers to step up big time and help Jamie Maclaren with the goal scoring responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Jacob Pepper not withstanding, most of the signings in the off season have been attacking options. \u00a0There is a positively crowded midfield with Broich, Oar, Holman, McKay, Borrello, Petratos and Kristensen all battling for spots. \u00a0Sadly, this will be the last season for club legend Thomas Broich who has been instrumental to the club’s fortunes in the last five years.<\/p>\n

My prediction for where the Roar will finish this season? \u00a0I expect a slight drop off from last year but not by too much.<\/p>\n

Prediction: \u00a0<\/strong>Fourth<\/p>\n

\"aleague12\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A-League 2016\/17<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Predicted\u00a0Standings<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1. \u00a0Perth Glory
\n2. \u00a0Adelaide United
\n3. \u00a0Melbourne Victory
\n4. \u00a0Brisbane Roar
\n5. \u00a0Western Sydney Wanderers
\n6. \u00a0Melbourne\u00a0City
\n7. \u00a0Sydney FC
\n8. \u00a0Wellington Phoenix
\n9. \u00a0Newcastle Jets
\n10. \u00a0Central Coast Mariners<\/p>\n

General Predictions<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Besart Berisha<\/strong>\u00a0will be the top scorer in the competition.<\/li>\n
  • Graham Arnold<\/strong>\u00a0will be the first coach to lose his job during the regular season. \u00a0(Scott Miller was sacked by the Newcastle Jets \u00a0and Tony Walmsley was sacked by the Central Coast Mariners in pre-season)<\/li>\n
  • The final will be between Perth Glory<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Melbourne Victory.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Melbourne Victory<\/strong> will win the FFA Cup for the second consecutive year.<\/li>\n
  • Tim Cahill<\/strong> will score ten goals this season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What to expect in the 2016\/17 edition of the Hyundai A-League<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[218,342,1929,2408],"class_list":["post-20398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-a-league","tag-brisbane-roar","tag-thomas-broich","tag-tim-cahill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20398"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20413,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20398\/revisions\/20413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}