Luke Wilkshire

[Red Wardy]

To say that Aussies are ignorant to football is in itself an ignorant comment.

Our downunder chums proved themselves in the recent world cup and did just as well as England. Likewise Luke proved himself on a world stage, he can certainly do the job...." When he puts his mind to it ".

To say Aussies don't know who Bristol City are, is equally as ignorant. How many City fans know about the Aussie football league set up, or its status in the Asian cup.

For a country with a relatively small population, around 23million, they consistantly outperform England in the Olympics, Cricket, Rugby League and now are breathing down our necks in football.

My son works in a large production company and he and his co workers regularly stay up to watch the English football live and direct on saturday nights. They have their favorite teams, and I was pleasantly surprised as to how many of them knew about Bristol City. The main Sydney papers print all top four league results and tables with highlight match commentaries. That goes for the major euro matches/tables as well.

There is now a huge football infrastructure for the kids from under 6's at a,b,c,d,e,f and g grade as required, in all city suburbs and most country centers. Harry Kewell, Liverpool, Cahill, Everton, even the Championship league are on Foxtel every week

Its all about perspective, and football is alive and well downunder.

Hey, I was Aussie bashing a bit, but no more than they deserve

I have to disagree with you though. Australia punched way above their weight at the World Cup with the World's greatest International coach, an aging team and Luke Wilkshire (where are the future stars?). The fact that your Son and his friends stay up late to watch "their favourite teams" is also telling. Armchair supporters are no good for the game anywhere.

[Rednready]

Hey, I was Aussie bashing a bit, but no more than they deserve

I have to disagree with you though. Australia punched way above their weight at the World Cup with the World's greatest International coach, an aging team and Luke Wilkshire (where are the future stars?). The fact that your Son and his friends stay up late to watch "their favourite teams" is also telling. Armchair supporters are no good for the game anywhere.

I think the quote was they watched english football at midnight.....there is a time difference. Their state football league draw far more than City, and they have drawn 80-100,000 for internationals in the past 2 seasons.

As to the new Aussie stars, this weekend should give us a good idea. A virtual Uraguay first team is playing an Aussie B team, mainly local league players and a few overseas lesser lights. I believe Luke is in the squad ?

[bh_red]

To say that Aussies are ignorant to football is in itself an ignorant comment.

Our downunder chums proved themselves in the recent world cup and did just as well as England. Likewise Luke proved himself on a world stage, he can certainly do the job...." When he puts his mind to it ".

To say Aussies don't know who Bristol City are, is equally as ignorant. How many City fans know about the Aussie football league set up, or its status in the Asian cup.

For a country with a relatively small population, around 23million, they consistantly outperform England in the Olympics, Cricket, Rugby League and now are breathing down our necks in football.

My son works in a large production company and he and his co workers regularly stay up to watch the English football live and direct on saturday nights. They have their favorite teams, and I was pleasantly surprised as to how many of them knew about Bristol City. The main Sydney papers print all top four league results and tables with highlight match commentaries. That goes for the major euro matches/tables as well.

There is now a huge football infrastructure for the kids from under 6's at a,b,c,d,e,f and g grade as required, in all city suburbs and most country centers. Harry Kewell, Liverpool, Cahill, Everton, even the Championship league are on Foxtel every week

Its all about perspective, and football is alive and well downunder.

totally agree, since the A-League has been setup and the qualification finally for the world cup, football is a booming sport down under without a doubt, prior to that when I was in oz, nearly 3years ago, they regularly showed Uk and Champions League football, more often than most uk pubs to be honest as they are subject to different broadcasting regs, at the time they treated the uk league as if it was their own in their coverage of it, and did the normal round ups and highlights as quick as Uk, although the time difference was no doubt an issue,

never forget being in the middle of sydney and watching the highlights of City v Everton in the league cup and seeing the pens, the next day, probably quicker than ITV.

for a the judgments of Dutch football and Wilkshires' career since leaving City, he is still going to be performing at a better standard of football next season than City, his team have qualified for European football, and for someone to judge it as 3rd rate football and equal to Scottish football is plain insulting and ignorant,

You just have to compare the amount of succesful imports from scotland and holland to see the difference, the dutch leagues is technically one of the best leagues in europe though obviously not as big as England/Italy/Spain still equals the equivelent of France/Portugal/Germany

Luke feels his time at City was a waste, but that's his choice, he didn't have any complaints when he was here, it's his decision he's moved onto better times, so have we..........everyone is a winner

[Stephen Lewis]

NEWS FROM MELBOURNE

Rampaging Melbourne Victory is hoping to break the all-time attendance record for an Australian club football match on Friday night to further cement its status as the A-League's new benchmark team.

The Victory believes it will better the A-League home-and-away season record of 39,730 set in its round two clash with Sydney FC when the two teams meet again in Friday's top of the table battle at Telstra Dome.

But also in its sights is the 41,689 A-League record from last season's grand final in Sydney, and perhaps the biggest ever attendance for an Australian club game of 43,242 at the 2000 National Soccer League grand final in Perth.

So far, the Victory is ahead of its pre-sales figures for the round two clash.

The club says 23,000 tickets have already been snapped up for the 54,000-capacity stadium, including members' seats, Medallion Club and corporate boxes, and pre-sold tickets.

"We're certainly gearing up to break the record," said Victory spokesman Tony Ising.

"At this point we're ahead of when we got the record for round two, and certainly we think we could be on track for the all-time record if we can keep going the way we're going."

The Victory's emphatic 3-1 win over Adelaide United last weekend has given it a 13-point buffer atop the A-League.

A win over Sydney FC would virtually ensure Melbourne the league title and a spot in the 2008 Asian Champions League.

The club is attracting average home crowds of more than 26,000, and has drawn more than 210,000 fans through the turnstiles in its eight home games this season - easily the league's best.

From the A league World game website

I would still rather be at Ashton Gate though because I was born in Bedminster when soccer was the working mans game

[bemmie red]

come on he doesn't really slag of fthe club as such i i still think personally he was a top bloke and had more vision and skil lthan most players we have seen at our level.

i watched him in Estonia last summer in the UEFA cup for twente vs a Tallinn side - although they lost (they were robbed and he was their best player) he was one of the few players who bothered to come over and clap the away fans where we were - and when i told the slight exageration that we had come over all the way from bristol to see how he was getting on he gave me his shirt. So he'll always be a top bloke to me.

[LSR]

seems to me they all have a go because GJ didnt want them and now look where we are with out them??tell ya anything..championship is about as good as there l;eague lets be honest...geeze luke..but hey what ever floats yur boat and if yur enjoying it then great good luck...

[Red Wardy]

totally agree, since the A-League has been setup and the qualification finally for the world cup, football is a booming sport down under without a doubt, prior to that when I was in oz, nearly 3years ago, they regularly showed Uk and Champions League football, more often than most uk pubs to be honest as they are subject to different broadcasting regs, at the time they treated the uk league as if it was their own in their coverage of it, and did the normal round ups and highlights as quick as Uk, although the time difference was no doubt an issue,

never forget being in the middle of sydney and watching the highlights of City v Everton in the league cup and seeing the pens, the next day, probably quicker than ITV.

for a the judgments of Dutch football and Wilkshires' career since leaving City, he is still going to be performing at a better standard of football next season than City, his team have qualified for European football, and for someone to judge it as 3rd rate football and equal to Scottish football is plain insulting and ignorant,

You just have to compare the amount of succesful imports from scotland and holland to see the difference, the dutch leagues is technically one of the best leagues in europe though obviously not as big as England/Italy/Spain still equals the equivelent of France/Portugal/Germany

Luke feels his time at City was a waste, but that's his choice, he didn't have any complaints when he was here, it's his decision he's moved onto better times, so have we..........everyone is a winner

Sorry, I totally disagree. The whole argument that the Dutch league (I think you actually meant Dutch players) is technically brilliant is at least ten years out of date. Luke Wilkshire moving to FC Twente and being a star player is proof of that. Not only do the Dutch sides struggle massively in Europe, believe it or not, there are only a handful of Clubs that are as big as some of England's Championship teams. It's just like the Scottish Premier League and Bristol City would be a force in Holland. Would you all stop patronising the Aussies and the Dutch and have a Shmoke and a pancake.

[Avonmouth Docker]

Wilkshire...........

Stewart.............

Phillips.

giles_23_bcfc....

You see the link here..

People who are not only ugly....

But they have a grudge to bare to!!........

[bucksred]

Wilkshires career was shot before Johnson came here. The ####### Wilson and clueless Tinnion destroyed an awful lot of players confidence and careers. wilkshire was never going to perform properly after the Wilson/Tinnion years.

We don't need him now, hes got into an international side regularly, and nice to see predudice alive and well here. innit.

[brisbanecity]

Hey, I was Aussie bashing a bit, but no more than they deserve

I have to disagree with you though. Australia punched way above their weight at the World Cup with the World's greatest International coach, an aging team and Luke Wilkshire (where are the future stars?). The fact that your Son and his friends stay up late to watch "their favourite teams" is also telling. Armchair supporters are no good for the game anywhere.

i agree with this, in a couple of years time when there current stars retire they will be in some bother. i don't see players of the same calibre coming through for Australia and have been around football in oz for many years.

They overachieved in the world cup, many over here thought they deserved to win it, they only won what 1 game against Japan?

You and your sons group are not a majority over here as football still has a long way to go to get accepted by the major public.

It is still a poor relation to Rugby league and Cricket at senior level in terms of interest yet is the most widely played junior sport in the country. A massive percentage of these junior players seem to drop out of the game before senior level.

It is improving slowly.

[leedsred]

Sorry, I totally disagree. The whole argument that the Dutch league (I think you actually meant Dutch players) is technically brilliant is at least ten years out of date. Luke Wilkshire moving to FC Twente and being a star player is proof of that. Not only do the Dutch sides struggle massively in Europe, believe it or not, there are only a handful of Clubs that are as big as some of England's Championship teams. It's just like the Scottish Premier League and Bristol City would be a force in Holland. Would you all stop patronising the Aussies and the Dutch and have a Shmoke and a pancake.

WHAT???? You are having a laugh aren't you??? PSV - Ajax et al..... Championship standard??? I think what you'd find is if we played Dutch sides is we'd very rarely touch the ball in 90 minutes. It's a totally different style of football. There's no way our current side would be a force in Holland that's the craziest suggestion I've heard.

Yes the crowds aren't as big as the Championship, maybe some of the top flight teams don't have the money the top Championship clubs do.... but to suggest it's a better quality league is just ridiculous and laughable.

It's a completely different style of football - better techincally - better quality players on average. If you put Championship teams into the UEFA cup we'd out before any Dutch top flight teams. What about that team which took Newcastle to the cleaners? Or PSV? God i could go on but I'm getting off my soap box..... and breath.....

[Redbarn]

I bet you he is gutted now though.

Waited all that time for City to get promoted, and now we are finally up !

Brilliant, i liked him, but after those comments s'lagging us off. I'm glad hes gone and glad we are up to rub it in!!

People only slag others off generally, when they think they are on the way UP....bad policy!....you might meet those same people again, when YOU are on the way DOWN.

[bh_red]

Sorry, I totally disagree. The whole argument that the Dutch league (I think you actually meant Dutch players) is technically brilliant is at least ten years out of date. Luke Wilkshire moving to FC Twente and being a star player is proof of that. Not only do the Dutch sides struggle massively in Europe, believe it or not, there are only a handful of Clubs that are as big as some of England's Championship teams. It's just like the Scottish Premier League and Bristol City would be a force in Holland. Would you all stop patronising the Aussies and the Dutch and have a Shmoke and a pancake.

ARE YOU MAD?

Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV, some of the richest and biggest clubs in world football, followed FC Utrecht, FC Groningen, Heerenveen and Vitesse all of which have large fan bases which are equal to the bottom end prem/top end championship clubs and all higher than City by a mile.

Dutch Sides in European and their national team have both competed excelletly in European football, Ajax themselves winning 9 european trophies!

Bristol City in the Dutch league would be a relegation threatened team

[i_am_red]

rumour has it luke nearly signed our contratc when he found out that his hero toady was living in bristol