Attempted career reboots for the footballing pariah have amounted to little with his immense talent unfulfilledExplaining the thinking behind his move to Australia in an interview last December, Jack Rodwell professed to have been conflicted before agreeing to sign for Western Sydney Wanderers, the A-League side he had just joined following a two-week spell in quarantine at what was once an insalubrious miners’ camp outside Darwin. While the midfielder felt he had more to offer as a player in England or elsewhere in the European big leagues, the impression was conveyed that a lack of alternative options meant relocating to Australia had to be considered.The decision to move to Sydney was made easier by the fact that his wife is...
By moving to Western Sydney Wanderers the Serbian playmaker has ensured any bond built with the Sydney FC fanbase will evaporateWhat do Sol Campbell, Luis Figo, and Miloš Ninković have in common? They fill the not-so illustrious turncoat archetype; players that with one stroke of a pen abdicated their chances to become legends of their club and, at best, cast a cloud across their legacy. In swapping Sydney FC for Western Sydney Wanderers, Ninković has arguably come as close as any in the A-League Men to rivalling Campbell’s move from Tottenham to Arsenal or Figo’s switch from Barcelona to Real Madrid. Plenty have played on both sides of the Harbour City in the past, but none have possessed the kind...
There are bright sparks that can be built upon but the APL’s list of issues to address during the off-season is lengthyWinter has come. And with it, the A-Leagues’ season has come to a close. Western United’s 2-0 victory over Melbourne City in Saturday’s grand final provided the final chapter for the 2021-22 campaign as John Aloisi’s side won a championship in just their third season, going a long way towards establishing them as a true player in Melbourne’s ALM scene.It was a significant upset – a buoyant Aloisi observed post-game that oddsmakers had lost “a shitload” on the result – and provided a suitably unforeseen ending to a season that started off with so much anticipation and promise but...
The first-season coach may well have been one of the only souls to wager that his team would win the A-League Men grand final“Not even tonight were they tipping us – $5 [the betting agencies] were giving us,” said John Aloisi. “If I could bet – I’m not a betting man, but if I could bet – I would’ve put so much money on that. They must have lost a shitload of money on that.”Had Aloisi had a bet, he may well have been one of the only souls to wager that Western United would win the A-League Men’s grand final. Most did not think it feasible they would make it there in the first place. And, after seeing off...
Grand final victory over City will do much to secure the A-League Men expansion club’s place in Melbourne’s football hierarchy“We deserve to be in the grand final,” John Alosi boomed to the Western United dressing room, his voice raised to take command of a space that had burst into rapturous chants of his name as he entered.Earlier, the 46-year-old was sprinting onto the field and pumping his fists in celebration before being grabbed in a bear hug by his players. In the foreground, Connor Pain and Dylan Wenzel-Halls were sliding on their knees towards the United fanbase assembled in AAMI Park’s grandstand, celebrating the 98th-minute goal that lifted them to a 4-2 aggregate lead over Melbourne Victory and secured a...