Things appear to be settling down on the Archie front, but a great big question mark is still looming over Ljubo Milicevic’ future with the Melbourne Victory.
Earlier this week, Archie Thompson expressed his anger over the suspension, suggesting that he is willing to return to Europe if the “right offer” should arise. But after meeting with the other members of Melbourne’s leadership group yesterday over – you guessed it – breakfast, Archie returned to training today, making an official apology to his team mates and Victory officials (the Age).
(As an aside, I was interested to learn that the leadership team includes Rodrigo Vargas, Grant Brebner, Danny Allsopp and Kevin Muscat, as well as Archie, of course. Any surprises there?)
Ljubo Milicevic, on the other hand, has not made a noise this week, instead preferring to send all questions over to the Professional Footballers Association, his union. The Victory also appears hesitant to make any declarations about whether Milicevic’ will be staying or going. Of course, this in itself suggests that an early exit for Milicevic is a realistic possibility.
Meanwhile, a rather curious article in The Advertiser yesterday suggested that there may be talk of Milicevic moving over to Adelaide United. Adelaide have their fair share of injury problems at the moment, so it’s not surprising that they’re on the prowl for defenders. But Ljubo? Surely his performance on Friday night wasn’t impressive enough to warrant such interest?
2 comments ↓
Can I just point out that Archie’s quote about (paraphrased) ‘Moving to Europe for the right team’ was taken COMPLETELY out-of-context.
A friend of mine in the media had access to a full transcript of the interview, and he explained the context (again, paraphrased):
‘So if you were no longer able to play for Victory, would you play for another A-League team or consider going back to Europe?’
‘I’d love to go back to Europe, if it was for the right team.’
The media has blown this completely out-of-proportion. No MVFC official has EVER said that Ljubo was leaving, or even that he was on his “last legs”. The media has combined two separate, publicly-known disputes between Ljubo and MVFC and has blindly speculated that his days in Melbourne are over.
I’m absolutely disgusted with the way the media has handled this. Two players broke the rules and were suspended. There was never any real chance they’d miss a game – the media has turned this into a circus.
I just hope Ljubo can pull his head in and realise that this mountain is really a speedbump, which to that freakin’ giant would be more like a garden hose.
Ahh the media.. unfortunately most of the population’s skewed perception of reality comes from the axis of evil, mind you, there seems to be no mention of the aberration/suspension on the official site, so misinformation rules =)
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