Victorious Brisbane Roar players celebrate winning the A-League minor premiership.
The massive turn around by the A League club, Brisbane Roar in season 2010/2011 is nothing short of astonishing. The previous season saw them on the brink of collapse, a new and very experienced coach was appointed, a deliberate and massive turnover of the playering roster was undertaken, not a whole lot of money to be going on with and that's before a ball is kicked in the competition.
There is a lot of lessons to be learned from the Brisbane Roar campaign this season that can be applied to your club.
There have been a couple of savage blowups among our Clubs in the off- season and in particular, one Premier League club. These unhappy times usually follow a lack of success the previous season. People leave declaring the club is "stuffed". Well, how could it be any other way when these all so important people depart??? But clubs soldier on and thank goodness they do. There is always another season. When the finger pointing has stopped and no one is interested in listening to the tiresome gossip eminating from the disenchanted departees, the club repairs and rebuilds. This can be done in a season, as seems to be the case with Brisbane Roar. Other times, particularly in community based football, it may take a few years.
No one gave Brisbane Roar a hope at the start of the season - now look where they are. They are a smart bunch up there in Brisbane.
A great Football story that resonates at every level in the game.
This short article (excepts from) captures the essentail elements.
Chemistry key to Roar success
Saturday, 5 March 2011
by Liam Daly, Sportal
A quality starting 11 and proven Hyundai A-League stars certainly aren't taken for granted by the Brisbane Roar, but coach Ange Postecoglou says an all-round team chemistry has been the key to their 2010-11 success.
The Professional Footballers Association named seven Brisbane players in their team of the year, and on that statistic alone it would be easy to assume that the quality of their roster has been responsible for their record-breaking, one-loss season. ......
But for Postecoglou (Coach), the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Offseason recruitment – and the Roar did plenty, bringing in 12 fresh faces – was more than a star search; it was a calculated mission to find complimentary talent.
"It's a little bit different (to picking a rep side)…with a rep side, sometimes you don't know if the chemistry's right. It's not just about having the best players," said Postecoglou.
"Sometimes, in terms of your recruiting, you fall into the trap of just going for the players who are good players, but do they necessarily fit into what you're doing."
"Our chemistry has been good all year, and that's the key to our success, it's not so much just having the quality of players we do have. And we do have great quality throughout our squad, but the chemistry's right."
"They all play our style of football and they all react well to one another, and I think that's the key for us." .........
"The big thing for us is that everyone's ready to go, and as we've proven quite consistently this year, and even in the last game, it's not just a matter of who starts, it's a matter of who comes off the bench that makes a big difference, and we've been better at that than all other clubs," he said.
"....... we've been good all year with people coming off the bench and contributing to the side. I'm sure come grand final day, we're going to have the 15 or 16 blokes who are selected ready to go and ready to make a contribution."