Melbourne has long been heralded as the Sporting Capital of Australia. 10 AFL Teams, The Commonwealth Games, World Swimming Championships, two sudden-death World Cup Qualifiers and a British Lions Rugby Union match are just some of the events that this city has recently been given. All sporting organizations in Victoria have competent and profitable boards, accomplished coaches and brilliant players. Yet in the World Game, which also happens to be the most played sport in Victoria, the one football team from this town has become an embarrassment to Victorians. The Football Club has been able to do what Rugby League has long envied- getting hardcore AFL supporters to come along to games. Devoted fans such as myself have followed the boys around, witnessing some astonishing performances as well as some disgraceful ones. In fact, many supporters from our diehard supporter groups travel all over Australia to support the boys. And the club has been around for one year! Yet it must be asked how long can this patience last? Even the most ignorant of football supporters would know that a team that takes 8 rounds to choose which goalkeeper will be it’s No.1 and stands by a useless striker can realize that there is something wrong with the brains trust. We've been getting sell-out crowds but will it last if Merrick continues to play his boring style of football, which, without goals, will fail to get the turnstiles ticking over in 2006-07. Currently, two teams from towns with populations of around 300,000 are ahead of us. Namely, they’re the Central Coast and Newcastle. The only real competitior to Victoria in the sporting capital stakes, Sydney, are second on the A-League table. Melbourne are seventh. In sport, the blame gets passed around in media circles. But all agree that the buck has to stop with coach Ernie Merrick.

We, the fans of Melbourne Victory Football Club, ask the chairman, Geoff Lord, and the Football Manager, Gary Cole, to bite the bullet and deliver what we have come to expect as trademark performances from Victorian teams in any sport. Efficient, exciting, and brutal in demoralizing opposition teams. The fans have delivered in every game this year, with all games having attendances between 11,000 and a capacity 18,500. The experiment of four Friday Night Games in a row paid off with fans (well, decently anyway), but Victory obtained just 1 point from those four games, without troubling the scorers. Who is to blame for our terrible form and ugly style of play, the type you’d expect to see in the terribly lob-sided Scottish competitions? Is it our star striker, Archie Thompson, for scoring 8 times in fifteen games? HELL NO! As I’ve said before the buck stops with Ernie Merrick, and he’s to blame for our poor performances. Do we want someone like him leading this club forward, or do we want a proven coach. Many say the A-League is a leap forward from the old NSL. Hell, if we’re talking in the coaching department, then we’re a fair way off the mark. Many better coaches from the NSL have been left unemployed due to Victory’s decision to employ this ignoramus. We’d hope an e-mail like the one below is delivered to Merrick’s computer.

To: Ernie Merrick

From: The Fans, Geoff Lord and Gary Cole

Subject: Eviction Notice

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