2006–07 Melbourne Victory FC season

Season summary

Melbourne began the 2006–07 Hyundai A-League season hoping to vastly improve on their 7th place in the inaugural season. Coach Ernie Merrick had made a number of off-season signings to bolster the squad with skill and experience including 3 Brazilians Alessandro, Claudinho, Fred along with Scottish Premier League player Grant Brebner. After a hugely successful Round 2 fixture against Sydney FC at the Telstra Dome (now the Etihad Stadium) in front of a crowd of 39,730, Melbourne Victory announced that they would move all but one match from Olympic Park to Telstra Dome. Melbourne became the first team to complete the A-League double in the history of the competition; clinching the premiership against the New Zealand Knights 4–0 at Olympic Park with 4 rounds of the A-League season remaining, then beating Adelaide United 6–0 in the Grand Final at a sold out Telstra Dome to take the championship. Melbourne also qualified for the 2008 AFC Champions League as A-League Champions.

Players

First team squad

Transfers

In

Out

Matches

Pre-season friendlies

Melbourne started their 2006-07 pre-season with a number of practise matches against Victorian Premier League clubs. These included a laboured 1–0 win over Richmond SC, a 2–2 draw against Bulleen Zebras, a 4–0 victory against Green Gully, a 7–0 victory of Kingston City FC and 3-0 victories over Altona Magic and Oakleigh Cannons.

Victory also won the QNI North Queensland Trophy by beating leading Chinese Super League team Changchun Yatai 6–1 in the final. Michael Ferrante scored twice early on and then-trialist Grant Brebner added a spectacular thirty-yard free-kick to make it 3–0 at half-time, while Danny Allsopp scored three times in the second half to seal the win. The competition featured fellow A-League side Central Coast Mariners (Victory won 4–2 on penalties), the Young Socceroos (Victory lost 5–6 on penalties), and Changchun Yatai (Victory won 3–1 in the first meeting).

Melbourne kicked off their A-League Pre-Season Cup campaign with a disappointing 1–0 loss to Adelaide United at Launceston's Aurora Stadium in front of 6,834 spectators. The second match saw them play out a 1–1 draw away to Perth Glory, with Daniel Allsopp scoring Melbourne's only goal. Back at Olympic Park for the final group match, they were soundly beaten 3-1 by the Central Coast Mariners, ending the club's hopes of progressing to the next round of the competition. A "bonus round" match finished off the group stage, with the Melbourne defeating Newcastle Jets 3–2.

In the first match of a rather meaningless playoff section involving the lower placed teams of the group stage, Victory defeated the Queensland Roar 4–2 on penalties, having been locked at 0-0 after 120 minutes of play. The match was held at Epping Stadium in the outer north of Melbourne. The final match of the pre-season cup saw the Victory defeat Perth Glory 1–0 at Olympic Park in front of 2,215 loyal fans, and finish the competition in 5th place.

2006-07 Hyundai A-League fixtures

Claudinho

Muscat
Allsopp Vargas
Rudan

Thompson
Muscat

Muscat

Muscat
Muscat
Allsopp

Allsopp

Thompson

Thompson
Caceres
Allsopp
Caceres

Thompson
Allsopp
Vargas
Muscat Petrie
Kwasnik

Thompson

Bajic Allsopp
Fred
Brebner

Caceres
Allsopp
Thompson

Thompson

Byrnes Sarkies
Ferrante

Vidosic

Bridge
Coveny
Griffiths

2006–07 Finals series

Robinson

Sarkies

Ladder

2006–07 awards

• Victory Medal
  • Kevin Muscat and Danny Allsopp
• Players' Player of the Year
  • Danny Allsopp
• Clubman of the Year
  • Fred
• Golden Boot
  • Archie Thompson

References

References

1. Watt, Stuart. (2 September 2006). "Record crowd sees Victory down 10-man Sydney". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] ([[ABC News (Australia).
2. Desira, Peter. (21 September 2006). "Victory makes move to Docklands". [[Premier Media Group]].
3. (17 December 2006). "Victory hammer Knights to take minor premiership". ABC News.
4. Paine, Chris. (18 February 2007). "Thompson haul guides Victory to A-League crown". ABC News.