Melbourne Victory Managing Director, Richard Wilson, has urged fans to turn out in force in a fortnight’s time for what will almost certainly be club legend, Kevin Muscat’s, last game on Australian soil.
Melbourne Victory Managing Director, Richard Wilson, has urged fans to turn out in force in a fortnight-s time for what will almost certainly be club legend, Kevin Muscat-s, last game on Australian soil.
While Melbourne Victory is still confident it can qualify for the knock-out stages of the AFC Champions League, the Round of 16 matches will be hosted by those teams that win their respective groups. Unless results go Victory-s way, it would be unlikely that they could finish top of Group E, meaning a second place finish and an away fixture is probably the best case scenario.
“I’d hope we’d get a big crowd to the Gamba game on Wednesday week.” Mr Wilson said on Thursday.
“It’s most likely going to be Kevin’s last game in Melbourne, so I’m sure the fans will turn-out in force to say thanks and farewell to a legend of the game.
“His contribution to football in this country can’t be underestimated – he’s done so much, for not only Melbourne Victory, but the A-League in general.”
Last night-s result against Tianjin TEDA keeps the club in contention to get past the group stage for the first time in 3 attempts – something that clearly delighted Mr. Wilson, “To beat a big Asian club like Tianjin was a tremendous effort from the all of the boys.
“We went over to China a couple of weeks ago and thought we were a bit stiff not to get the win then, so to come back to Melbourne and take all 3-points was very pleasing.”
As an inaugural Director at Melbourne Victory, Mr. Wilson has witnessed first-hand the terrific support provided by the club-s loyal band of supporters over 6 seasons, and he was pleased the North Terrace was back in full voice last night, “It makes such a difference to the boys when they can hear the fans cheering for them – it-s like having an extra man on the park.
“The atmosphere that is created when the terraces are singing is amazing, it can make a small crowd in numbers, seem very big on noise, and compliments the on-field action perfectly.”
Something Interim Coach Mehmet Durakovic agrees with, “When we were over there China a fortnight ago, they had over 25-thousand fans in the stadium and the atmosphere was unbelievable.
“It was hostie and the boys did an amazing job to get a point and to be fair, with a bit of luck, we should probably have won.”
“It would be fantastic if we could play in front of a massive crowd against Gamba Osaka on May 4 in what will probably be Muscy-s (Kevin Muscat) last game on Australian soil.
“Hopefully we can provide him with a fitting send-off. He-s been an absolute legend of the game in this country.” Durakovic added.
Tickets can be purchased via the Ticketmaster website or by calling 136 100.
AFC Champions League – Match Day 5
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Melbourne Victory v Gamba Osaka
Kick off, 7:30pm at Docklands Stadium.
