It's hard to say exactly where things are with Melbourne. Their membership figures are up to 8,000, already higher than their previous best ever total of 7,300ish and about 60% higher than the figure this time last year. Due to non-full stadia and short-term season ticket deals A-League clubs continue to clock up membership totals all the way through to the very end of each season, and their fans are debating whether they can reach 10k or not. Incidentally, compared to other clubs this puts them about in the middle, although the benchmark is set every year by bitter rivals Melbourne Victory, who usually get around 20,000-odd.
Their fans are for the most part content. The vast numbers of boycotts threatened never really materialised, and many are coming to admit that they actually quite like their new kit, although support for the red and white remains strong, and they regularly debate whether or not the rebranding means City is a new club or just Heart under new auspices - whether or not you claim it is a new club is affected by how connected you feel to Melbourne City so obviously we want as many to claim it feels the use as possible but numbers seem around 50-50. Still, most seem to have gotten over the widespread suspicion of CFG that was quite strong for a while.
The real anomaly is their playing performances. They've had some good results against lower-league sides but have lived up yet again to their record of never, at any point in their (five year) history, managing to beat another A-League side in a friendly, despite having three attempts this summer. Their press are tipping them for the title but the fans themselves are predicting anywhere between making the playoffs and finishing near last again. You'd like to say they have the potential to be one of the best teams on the league, because they do, but they really need to start showing it against other A-League sides.
Their fans are for the most part content. The vast numbers of boycotts threatened never really materialised, and many are coming to admit that they actually quite like their new kit, although support for the red and white remains strong, and they regularly debate whether or not the rebranding means City is a new club or just Heart under new auspices - whether or not you claim it is a new club is affected by how connected you feel to Melbourne City so obviously we want as many to claim it feels the use as possible but numbers seem around 50-50. Still, most seem to have gotten over the widespread suspicion of CFG that was quite strong for a while.
The real anomaly is their playing performances. They've had some good results against lower-league sides but have lived up yet again to their record of never, at any point in their (five year) history, managing to beat another A-League side in a friendly, despite having three attempts this summer. Their press are tipping them for the title but the fans themselves are predicting anywhere between making the playoffs and finishing near last again. You'd like to say they have the potential to be one of the best teams on the league, because they do, but they really need to start showing it against other A-League sides.
