Melbourne Victory FC
| Melbourne Victory FC Logo | |||
| Full name | Melbourne Victory Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Victory | ||
| Founded | 2004 | ||
| Ground | Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne | ||
| Capacity | 18,500 | ||
| Chairman | Geoff Lord | ||
| Manager | Ernie Merrick | ||
| League | A-League | ||
| A-League 2005-06 | 7th | ||
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Melbourne Victory FC is a football (soccer) club from Melbourne, Australia. It was selected as Melbourne's entry in the re-vamped national league, the A-League.
Currently, the Victory play at Olympic Park Stadium. The club is planning to move to a brand new stadium to the east of the current Olympic Park complex, which will be shared with rugby league side Melbourne Storm. It will be rectangular, seat approximately 20,000 and is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2008-2009 campaign.
On the 27th of October 2005 it was revealed that Korean electronics giant Samsung had become the club's major sponsor in a 2 year deal, believed to be the largest in Australian domestic football history. Multinational fast food giant KFC have also signed on as a secondary shirt sponsor for the 06/07 season.
Melbourne Victory's colours are navy blue and white, the traditional state colours of Victoria. Their badge displays the "V", a symbol that has long been an identifier of Victorian sporting teams. On 2 August 2006, the club's new away strip was revealed, which also contains the "V".
2005–2006 Season
Before the start of the inaugural A-League season, Melbourne Victory were considered to be one of the future 'powerhouse' football clubs in Australia, with Socceroos Kevin Muscat and Archie Thompson returning to Melbourne from successful club careers in Europe. It was widely believed that they would be contenders for the 2005–2006 title.
Melbourne had a steady start to the season with a run of draws to sit mid-table after four matches. The side then embarked on a streak of four wins in a row, peaking with a 5-0 thrashing of eventual champions Sydney FC. Soon after this result, the Victory fell into a poor run of form, earning only one point from a possible 15, and scoring only one goal in five consecutive matches, including four matches at home. Coach Ernie Merrick came under increasing supporter pressure during this period.
Melbourne then won away against bottom-of-the-table New Zealand Knights FC on 26 November 2005 and supporters hoped this would mean a return to form for the fledgling club. However, Melbourne then lost away to Sydney FC in the following match. After the mid-season break Melbourne drew and lost their first and second matches respectively. Facing Queensland Roar FC in a do-or-die clash at Suncorp Stadium on 15 January2006, Melbourne kept their finals hopes alive by winning the match 1-0.
That ultimately proved to be a sad day for Melbourne, as their star striker Archie Thompson played his last game for the club before leaving on a six month loan to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.
During negotiations with PSV Eindhoven, Melbourne took a very strict approach and did their best to get the most out of the deal, determined not to be pushed around by the European giants. Because of this there was media speculation the deal would not go ahead, resulting in Thompson lashing out at the club, accusing them of ruining his chance to play for a top European club. He also said he couldn't see himself coming back to the club if the loan to PSV Eindhoven didn't go ahead. The next day Thompson held a press conference and apologised for what he had said just 24 hours earlier. The loan to PSV Eindhoven went ahead soon after.
Melbourne finished in 7th place out of 8 teams in the inaugural A-League season, missing out on a finals berth by 5 points. Interestingly, they still managed to maintain the 2nd best defensive record in the league, superior even to the eventual champions.
At the Melbourne Victory Medal Night, Kevin Muscat won the Victory Medal, Adrian Leijer won the Best Clubman Award and 'Players' Players of the Year Award, and Richard Kitzbichler took home the Union Player of the Year Award.
At the end of the season, Melbourne said goodbye to fans favourite and former Austrian international Richard Kitzbichler, who returned home to a player/coach role with Austria Salzburg. Original squad members Andy Vlahos, Ricky Diaco and Carl Recchia were also released. Chris Tadrosse was allowed to sign for then German Regionalliga club KFC Uerdingen.
2006-2007 Pre-season
Melbourne have started their 2006-07 pre-season with a number of matches against Victorian Premier League clubs. These have included a laboured 1-0 win over Richmond SC, a 2-2 draw against Bulleen Zebras, a 4-0 demolition of Green Gully, a 7-0 thrashing of Kingston City FC and 3-0 victories over Altona Magic and Oakleigh Cannons.
Victory also won the QNI North Queensland Trophy by beating leading Chinese Super League team Changchun Yatai 6-1 in the final. Michael Ferrante scored twice early on and then-trialist Grant Brebner added a spectacular thirty-yard free-kick to make it 3-0 at half-time, while Danny Allsopp scored three times in the second half to seal the win. The competition featured fellow A-League side Central Coast Mariners(Victory won 4-2 on penalties), the Young Socceroos (Victory lost 5-6 on penalties), and Changchun Yatai (Victory won 3-1 in the first meeting).
Along with the return of top scorer Archie Thompson from his World Cup duties and loan spell at PSV Eindhoven, this season has noted the arrival of three Brazilian players - Fred, Claudinho and later Alessandro Viana da Silva. Experienced Scottish midfielder Grant Brebner has signed on with the club, having gained a release from Scottish Premier League outfit Dundee United. Melbourne have also made two signings from the local market - Adrian Caceres from fellow A-League club Perth Glory, and Roddy Vargas joins from Victorian Premier League side Green Gully.
Melbourne kicked off their A-League Pre-Season Cup campaign with a disappointing 1-0 loss to Adelaide United at Launceston's Aurora Stadium in front of 6,834 spectators. The second match saw them play out a 1-1 draw away to Perth Glory, with Daniel Allsopp scoring Melbourne's only goal. Back at Olympic Park for the final group match, they were soundly beaten 3-1 by the Central Coast Mariners, ending the club's hopes of progressing to the next round of the competition.
Fanbase
Melbourne Victory is the only A-League team based in Victoria, and have a dedicated fanbase - shown through consistently good attendances for the club's home games in the compact Olympic Park venue. Despite the team struggling to find a goal during the latter part of the 05/06 season, crowd numbers never dropped below the 10,000 mark.
Melbourne Victory has a number of supporter groups, each group with its own style of support. These groups include BWB (Blue & White Brigade), M7C (May 7 Crew) and SDC (Southern Death Crew). All of the supporter groups stand in the North-East Terrace (Swan Street end) of Olympic Park, except the SDC who stand in Southern End.
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Past Players
- Richard Kitzbichler - Red Bull Salzburg
- Chris Tadrosse - KFC Uerdingen 05
- Andy Vlahos - Released, now Heidelberg United
- Ricky Diaco - Released, now Bulleen Zebras
- Carl Recchia - Released, now Fawkner-Whittlesea Blues
Managers
Ernie Merrick - 2004-Present
Records
- Record Victory: 6 - 1 vs Changchun Yatai, QNI North Queensland Trophy, 24 June 2006
- Record Defeat: 1 - 3 vs Central Coast Mariners, 27 January & 29 July 2006
- Undefeated Streak: 5, 18 September 2005 – 23 October 2005
- Record High Attendance: 18,206 vs Sydney FC,16 October 2005
- Record Low Attendance: 10,078 vs New Zealand Knights, 4 February 2006
- Highest Season Average Attendance: 14,157 - A-League 2005-06
- Top Scorer: Archie Thompson - 8 Goals - A-League 2005-06
Honours
2006 QNI North Queensland Trophy Winners
External links
- melbournevictory.com.au - Official website
- mvfcfans.com - Melbourne Victory FC Fans
- www.melbournevictory.net - Unofficial Melbourne Victory Fans Forum
- ESPNsoccernet - ESPNsoccernet Statistics for MVFC (2005-2006)