BALLARAT Red Devils coach James Robinson has played at the top level of soccer in Australia. He played 41 A-League games at three clubs – Melbourne Victory, Perth Glory and North Queensland.
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Robinson, who was born in Liverpool, also played 15 games in the English Championship, the second tier of English soccer.
Today, The Courier launches a weekly column by Robinson, providing an insight into the A-League.
In his first column, Robinson focuses on the highly anticipated derby between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City on Saturday night.
MELBOURNE Victory, a club entrenched with a history of winning championships and fans that are second-to-none will come up against the reinvigorated Melbourne City, who have gone about their business in a way never seen before in the A-league.
It is already shaping up as arguably the biggest A-League home and away game in history.
Enter David Villa, Damien Duff and Robert Koren (injured). Big players love the big games and that’s what this game is about.
A world cup winner and a pivotal cog in the City line-up, Villa will attract all the attention but City has many different avenues that can punish Victory, if the focus is just on Villa.
Knowing Musky (coach Kevin Muscat) and his work ethic, every detail will be covered to aplomb.
He has got them playing some great football with some big names of their own – namely Delpierre, Milligan, Finkler and Berisha.
But the big one for me, is my mate Archie (Thompson). He loves these games and will look to deliver.
For me, this is the biggest game in the A-League domestic season. The players will thrive on playing in front of a sell-out crowd, anticipated to be around 47,000.
I remember playing at Etihad Stadium in front of the same amount of fans and the only word to describe it is unbelievable.
The hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
The noise from the crowd reverberates constantly before, during and after the game.
As an ex-player and a coach now, every game is just as important as each other but these games go a bit deeper. You all want success but this gives your fans a bit of bragging rights against your rival.
Also, don’t forget to record Western Sydney Wanderers v Al Hilal in the first leg of the Asian Champions League final at Parramatta on Saturday night.
Poppa (Tony Popovic) will have the boys primed for victory and hopefully the first Australian team to win the coveted ACL trophy.