Viduka, Mark

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Fullname: Mark Anthony Viduka
aka: Mark Viduka, FLB (fat lazy b*****d), V-Bomber, Big Dukes
Born: 9 Oct 1975
Birthplace: Melbourne, Australia
Signed: 20 Nov 1998
Left: 21 July 2000
Position: Central Striker, Forward
Debut:
Celtic 2-1 Dundee Utd, League, 27 Feb 1999
Internationals: Australia
International Caps: 43
International Goals: 11

Biog

“With me it’s 100 per cent every time and I don’t want anyone thinking differently.”
Mark Viduka refuting comments he only gave 70% effort at Celtic

Mark Viduka was one of the most difficult and frustrating characters to have ever graced the stage at Celtic Park in the 1990s (and there were more than a few during that era).

An undoubtedly talented forward, the Australian international signed for the Bhoys in November 1998 for a reputed fee of £3.5 million. He had been snapped up after impressing for Croatia Zagreb in a Champions League qualifier against the Hoops earlier that season.

But just four days after arriving in Glasgow, Viduka shocked the Celtic support by fleeing home to Australia, claiming he was too “stressed” to focus on football. With Dr Jo Venglos’ side already playing catch-up with Rangers in the title race this was the last thing the Hoops fans wanted to hear from their big money new signing.

Viduka eventually returned to make his debut as a substitute in a 2-1 home league win over Dundee United in February 1999. In truth his belated arrival was never likely to help Celtic retain their championship but the striker certainly displayed enough quality during the remainder of the season to build up hope for the future.

The big Aussie was not the fastest of players but he had an excellent touch. This combined with considerable strength, good vision and an eye for goal made him a more than useful all round striker. A strike-force of Viduka and Henrik Larsson had the potential for greatness and it was with some excitement that the Parkhead faithful looked forward to the new campaign under the new management team of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish who had promised an attacking and entertaining side.

However, disaster was just around the corner. Hoops talisman Larsson broke his leg in a UEFA Cup tie in Lyon, and as the Celts began to stutter in the title race, the new rookie coach Barnes and his expensively constructed team began to crack under the pressure. Viduka though continued to bang in the goals, and with Larsson out for the season it was the Aussie who had emerged as the first team’s star performer.

His goals could not however prevent Celtic’s season unravelling, and matters would come to a head in the now infamous Scottish Cup defeat to First Division Inverness Caledonian Thistle. With Celtic trailing the minnows at half-time, Viduka was involved in a dressing room bust-up with the coaching staff and fellow players which saw him allegedly toss his boots in the bin and refuse to take to the field for the second half.

Barnes would be sacked hours later, and with Dalglish temporarily in charge for the remainder of the season Celtic and Viduka would claim some small consolation by taking the League Cup. But such a small time prize couldn’t disguise the club’s pathetic league form.

Viduka for his part continued to find the net on a regular basis and his performances were such that he would be voted Player of the Year by his fellow professionals. That was no mean feat considering the turmoil which had surrounded Celtic’s season, but despite his goals and this accolade from his peers the Bhoys fans could not take the forward to their hearts.

The Aussie was clearly a top draw forward but there remained serious doubts over his attitude and commitment. The disappearing act on his arrival at the club had sown seeds of doubt into the minds of the support and his role in the shameful Inverness debacle could not easily be forgiven. A sending off for spitting at an opponent did little to endear him while newspaper reports suggested Viduka was actively looking for a move to England or Spain.

The arrival of Martin O’Neill in the summer of 2000 could not prevent the forward getting his wish and leaving Parkhead. O’Neill stated he tried to persuade Viduka to stay but it was a fruitless task and the Australian striker moved to Leeds in a £6 million deal.

O’Neill used that the cash to tempt Chris Sutton from Chelsea and the former Norwich man would soon ensure that Viduka was soon forgotten, and very quickly Martin O’Neill was proved to have made a smart move.

His career continued to be marked by vast underachievement in the winning of honours. A pathetic waste of good talent. He stated in later interviews that at some point he would like to come back to Celtic, but taking in the success of Larsson since his return from injury, Viduka was not really required. However, you cannot ignore the return from Vidika, scoring an exceptional 35 goals in 48 games (30 in 37 league games).

He did help to carry the team for goals when Larsson was out in the 1999-2000 season, and anyone denying his worth should remember that he did win the SPFA Player of the Season award. The pejorative remarks on him by various sections of the support (borne out of frustration) were mostly unnecessary and little merited.

It was said (after he left) that Viduka had claimed that he had not played at his full potential whilst at Celtic, but Viduka has publicly repeatedly denied having said anything of the sort. The original quote was actually from his then Leeds’ manager (the arrogant and much disliked David O’Leary), a remark that heavily backfired on both. Sadly for Viduka, taking in all the events that surrounded his time at Celtic, this just added to the deteriorating relationship between himself and the Celtic support.

“The 70 per cent thing was just ridiculous, I’m sure the Scottish press would love to believe that I just gave 70 per cent.” Mark Viduka

It’s disappointing to focus so much on the negative side on someone who actually achieved such an incredible goalscoring rate. Yet that was the outcome. So much good yet to many there was relatively so little in terms of results to what could have been possible.

His stated wish to return at one point never materialised with one Celtic manager, Tony Mowbray, dismissing reports during his reign that Mark Viduka was to re-sign for Celtic in the twilight of Mark Viduka’s career.

*For further details on his signing and subsequent disappearance back to Australia, and the saga over his transfer fee see the ‘Trivia’ comments in Match pages for the early part of 1999.

Post-Celtic

He went on to have a fine career with Leeds and in his maiden campaign scored 22 goals and helped Leeds to a Champions League semifinal. However, he never went on to win anything of note, and Leeds went into financial collapse due to severe mismanagement. He was to then have spells with Middlesborough and Newcastle. He captained Australia to the World Cup in 2006, their first qualification for 32 years.

His career at the end saw him end up with little silverware to match all his true talent and ability. He could have achieved so much more (in silverware at least), and that loss is the real travesty when reflecting on his career. He could have left a great legacy, he was a great talent and recognised as such by many without any blinkers on. In his post-career interviews, he was reminiscing claiming that the top dogs of the era like Manchester Utd & AC Milan were making efforts to sign him when he was at his peak, but the fact is that they didn’t.

After football, he was running a cafe with his wife, twenty minutes outside of Croatia’s capital, nestled upon a hill called Sestine, a cafe called Non Plus Ultra, or “No Higher Point“.

We wish him the best.

Playing Career

Club From To Fee League Scottish Cup League cup Other
Newcastle 07/06/2007 (TBC)
Free
Middlesbro 08/07/2004 07/06/2007 £4,500,000 56 (16) 26 9 (3) 7 4 (0) 1 11 (3) 8
Leeds 21/07/2000 08/07/2004 £6,000,000 126 (4) 59 8 (0) 5 3 (0) 1 25 (0) 7
Celtic 20/11/1998 21/07/2000 £3,000,000 36 (1) 30 3 (0) 3 4 (0) 1 4 (0) 1
Dyn. Zagreb 01/08/1995 20/11/1998 Signed 76 (6) 40 0 (0) 0 0 (0) 0 2 (0) 0
Totals £13,500,000 319 (40) 162 22 (3) 15 11 (0) 3 42 (3) 16
  goals / game 0.45 0.6 0.27 0.35
  Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League Cup

Scottish Professional Footballer Association

Pictures

Forums

Quotes

“Some people I know say he’s a very nice man once you get to know him. Everyone is entitled to their opinion I suppose.”
Mark Viduka on Fergus McCann 1999

“The results I had last season at Celtic prove that I wasn’t going at it 70 per cent. It’s just stupid for people to say these things. I never had a conversation remotely like this with David O’Leary, not at all. I don’t know where these comments are supposed to have come from. I don’t know if they are David’s thoughts or what, but I certainly didn’t say anything like that. I would have been stupid to. And it’s not the way I felt. I gave 150 per cent in every game I played for Celtic. If I hadn’t I don’t think I would have been top scorer and player of the year. The Scottish people aren’t that stupid, are they?”
Mark Viduka (2000)

“Sadly, in Scotland, coming second is like coming last. No one cares unless you win the league. Who knows what would have happened if Henrik didn’t get injured. I think we would have won it.”
Mark Viduka (2020)

“Viduka thought I was going to get down on my knees and say, ‘Please stay with us’.”
Martin O’Neill on Viduka (2020)

Come 1998, Viduka was escaping Zagreb for different reasons, caught in the vicious crossfire of domestic politics given his association with Tudjman. He signed for Celtic but, infamously, fled to Melbourne just days after arriving in Glasgow.
‘A lot of people labelled me, and maybe that’s where the perception comes from. But I went through hell here in Zagreb. I told Celtic, “I’m mentally f*****. I need a break. I don’t want to come and hide and take the money”. I was honest with myself and with them. But it backfires.’ Viduka returned a couple of months later.
‘I worked my a**e off at Celtic. The club was in turmoil but I was top scorer and player of the year. I really left my heart there. I refuse to accept it when someone says otherwise.’
Mark Viduka in interview with Daily Mail (2021)

Viduka refutes the “70%” comment by David O’Leary:

Angry Viduka hits back at boss O’Leary –

Viduka, Mark - Pic

Football
Sun, The (London, England)
August 26, 2000
Author: John Shields

MARK VIDUKA has hit back at Leeds boss David O’Leary and insisted: I gave Celtic 150 per cent every time.
Elland Road boss O’Leary prompted fury last week when he claimed his Pounds 6million buy from Celtic told him he only ever had to play at 70 per cent to be a smash hit in Scotland.

But Aussie striker Viduka – who is hoping to head for Parkhead to take in tomorrow’s Old Firm showdown – reckons his gaffer is talking rubbish.

He rapped: “The results I had last season at Celtic prove that I wasn’t going at it 70 per cent.

“It’s just stupid for people to say these things. I never had a conversation remotely like this with David O’Leary, not at all.

“I don’t know where these comments are supposed to have come from. I don’t know if they are David’s thoughts or what, but I certainly didn’t say

anything like that. I would have been stupid to. And it’s not the way I felt.

“I gave 150 per cent in every game I played for Celtic. If I hadn’t I don’t think I would have been top scorer and player of the year. The Scottish people aren’t that stupid, are they?

“It wasn’t just the fans. The players voted me player of the year and they are the best people to judge whether I was giving 100 per cent or not.”

Viduka will lead the Leeds line against Middlesbrough today and then hopes to fly north to take in a game which he insists proved his commitment to Celtic.

He added: “If I had gone into an Old Firm game playing at 70 per cent I would have come off on a stretcher.

“You can’t go into any game like that, never mind a Glasgow derby. It just doesn’t happen.

“It’s not only about getting injured. I’m just not the sort of bloke who would do that.

“With me it’s 100 per cent every time and I don’t want anyone thinking differently.”

Section: Sport
Page: Scotland 80
(c) News Group Newspapers Limited 2000, 2003
Record Number: 946768312

Ex-striker comments on Celtic mystery after £3.5m transfer

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/04/06/ex-striker-comments-on-celtic-mystery-after-35m-transfer/page/1/
Mark Viduka spent two years at Celtic, despite an ominous start.

Empty seats at Parkhead Stadium during the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League match between Celtic and Dundee on September 22, 2012 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Mark Viduka has opened up on his bizarre early days as a Celtic player.

The Leeds United legend joined the Hoops in a £3.5 million deal back in 1998 but his spell in Glasgow got off to a terrible start.
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Despite Celtic spending a decent chunk of money on signing him, the former Australia international jetted home only four days later.

BBC Sport reported at the time that the Premiership side were considering legal action, though Viduka eventually returned and wound up scoring 30 league goals across 37 games.
YOUR Player Who Has RUINED Their Career

There were always elements of mystery behind the AWOL incident, and the 44-year-old former hitman has revealed to ESPN that he was simply ‘burned out’ and that his family and friends encouraged him to fly back to Scotland.

He said: “I was burned out. Burned out mentally. I just needed a break, and getting back to see my family and friends is what I needed. Thank God I did. They were understanding but urged me back. I have a lot to thank them for.”

A League Cup during the 1999-00 season was the only thing that Viduka won during his two-year spell with Celtic.

They could have won an SPL title in his last year, but Henrik Larsson suffered a career-threatening leg back in a UEFA Cup clash against Lyon in October of that season and Viduka wound up being their best centre-forward and the team seemed to suffer as a whole, with Rangers comfortably winning the title.

EXCLUSIVE: Mark Viduka breaks his silence on Leeds, the Socceroos and Lucas Neill

5 Apr, 2020

Michael CainSpecial to ESPN

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/australia-aus/story/4080510/exclusive-mark-viduka-breaks-his-silence-on-leedsthe-socceroos-and-lucas-neill
ZAGREB, Croatia — Twenty minutes out of Croatia’s capital, nestled upon a hill called Sestine, sits a cafe called Non Plus Ultra, or “No Higher Point.”

It’s a busy establishment. The smell of coffee fills the air as businessmen, politicians and mother’s groups sit rugged up, chatting inside, underneath the heaters or braving it in the frosty conditions.

– WATCH: Mark Viduka Uncovered on YouTube

Behind the counter, a barista has a familiar look. Former Premier League star and Australian captain Mark Viduka spent his whole career in the spotlight, front and centre. Now, he seems worlds away. As his wife, Ivana, waits tables, Mark goes at a slower pace, which suits him down to the ground.

“It’s great to do something different,” Viduka tells ESPN in an exclusive interview. “You make a bad coffee, you throw it in the bin. I try and make the best coffee as I can, though. I think I’ve become pretty good at it.”

The man many Australians affectionately know as the V-Bomber now calls Croatia home, and the cafe is his focus. It’s a busy life, but surely there isn’t as much pressure to pour a good latte as there is to score a winner for the Socceroos?

“Well, actually, you’d be surprised. Lots of people take their coffee seriously these days!” he says with a laugh.

Viduka is somewhat of an enigma to football fans. Perhaps the most talented Australian striker in history, Viduka stepped away from the game as a 33-year-old without so much as a goodbye. Relegation from the Premier League with Newcastle United in 2009 was the closing chapter of his career.

More than a decade on, the former Socceroo seems genuinely interested in what is happening in the country he once called home, but his prickly relationship with some journalists in the past suggests that he is not one who seeks out the limelight. The word “reclusive” is often associated with the big man.

“I’m not really a guy that needs to constantly be in the press,” Viduka says. “It’s not that I’m not comfortable doing an interview. I just don’t have the need to be constantly in the press, constantly on Instagram.

“I don’t even have an Instagram account or whatever … social media … I don’t think it’s relevant at all.”

Why speak now?

“Let’s just say I have a lot to get off my chest,” he says.
Mark Viduka has spoken little since he quietly exited the football scene in 2009. Mark Thompson /Allsport/Getty Images

VIDUKA’S CONNECTION TO CROATIA runs deep. After he was born in Melbourne to a Ukrainian-Croat mother and a Croatian father, it didn’t take long before football became his sporting epicentre.

Melbourne Croatia — now the Melbourne Knights — are the only Australian team Viduka ever represented. He joined the club at age 6.

“My only goal in life was to play for them one day, if that was possible. Play for Melbourne Croatia,” he says. “My dad took me to a game when I was about 3, and from there I was just crazy about it. That was the club to me which meant the most.”

Given Viduka’s pride in his heritage, the club founded by immigrants symbolised much more than football to him. It was also a window to the rest of the world.

“The club was a symbol of the struggle of free Croatia — free from communism, free from Yugoslavia — and that, for me, meant everything,” he says. “It was a torch to the rest of the world to say: ‘Look, there’s a place in Europe called Croatia. It’s not called Yugoslavia, and one day we’d like to be a free country.'”

If Croatia meant so much to Viduka, then why didn’t he feel the need to represent the national team? Was there a temptation to go down the path of fellow Melbourne-born star Josip Simunic, who went on to become Croatia’s third-most capped player of all time?

“It might have crossed my mind … but when I first visited here, I realised I didn’t belong to their football family in that sense. I belonged to Australia,” Viduka says. “I grew up in that footballing family in Australia.

“The president of Croatia, Franjo Tudman, he was trying to get me to play for Croatia, but how do you tell the president no? I had to politely say, ‘I’m OK where I am.'”

Viduka’s stint in Australia’s National Soccer League as a teenager was short, but it was the perfect stepping stone to his professional career.

After Viduka helped Melbourne Croatia to its first title, it was a visit from Tudman that facilitated Viduka’s European move.

Croatia’s first democratically elected president was on a state visit to Australia in 1995, and convinced of Viduka’s ability, he put the hard word on the 19-year-old to play for Dinamo Croatia, now Dinamo Zagreb.

After some deliberation, Viduka agreed and arrived in a city still in the grips of war some four years after Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia.

“There were MiGs flying above the stadium,” Viduka says. “My teammates used to give me stick when I heard all these sonic booms … they were used to it.

“I remember walking down one of the main streets one day, and there was an air raid siren, and everyone just disappeared. It was scary.”

Despite the distraction, Viduka’s form on the pitch was just as fruitful as it was during his time in Australia. The striker helped Zagreb to three consecutive league and cup doubles, but as his president’s popularity waned, so did the fans’ love affair with Viduka, as they knew he was Tudman’s pride and joy.

“It became a burden. Croatian people are extreme people. They have extreme highs and extreme lows, while in Australia they don’t get too over-excited about one thing or too overly down on things,” Viduka says.

“Here, it’s different. One day, you are god. The next day, they want to burn you at the stake. In the end, it was a very difficult time to stay here. I was happy at the end of the day that I left.”

Leave he did, but the experience left him on the verge of a mental break down, which very nearly saw him give up football for good.

Joining Scottish giants Celtic for a reputed fee of £3.5 million would have been the highlight of a career to some, but just four days after arriving in Glasgow in 1998, Viduka shocked the Hoops faithful by fleeing home to Australia, claiming that he was too stressed to focus on football.

“I was burned out. Burned out mentally. I just needed a break, and getting back to see my family and friends is what I needed,” he says.

“Thank God I did. They were understanding but urged me back. I have a lot to thank them for.”

Under the new management of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish, Celtic’s strike-force of Viduka and Sweden legend Henrik Larsson had the potential for greatness, and all was going well until disaster struck in October: Larsson broke his leg in a UEFA Cup tie in Lyon, and Celtic began to stutter in the title race, eventually ending the season runners-up to fierce rivals Rangers.

“Sadly, in Scotland, coming second is like coming last. No one cares unless you win the league,” Viduka says. “Who knows what would have happened if Henrik didn’t get injured. I think we would have won it.”
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1:03
What got between Viduka & Kewell’s relationship?

Mark Viduka believes Bernie Mandic played a detrimental role in his relationship with former Leeds and Socceroos teammate Harry Kewell.

VIDUKA’S STUNNING RECORD OF 25 goals in 28 games in Scotland had Premier League side Leeds United calling for the then-25-year-old.

Signed by David O’Leary for £6 million in July 2000, Viduka joined one of England’s most exciting sides and soon forged a potent attacking force with the likes Alan Smith, Robbie Keane, Michael Bridges and fellow Socceroo Harry Kewell.

Fans back home rejoiced: Australia’s two premier talents were playing side-by-side, in great form, and playing in the Champions League. However, all was not well between the two Aussies behind the scenes.

“At Leeds, it got to the point, if Harry and I were in the sheds by ourselves, we wouldn’t even look at each other,” Viduka says. “It was that bad.

“I had a problem with [Kewell’s agent] Bernie Mandic. Bernie was my agent when he took me from Celtic to Leeds, but … I severed ties with Bernie.

“I think maybe our relationship at Leeds wasn’t that good because — and I can’t say for sure — I think that affected the way [Harry] viewed me. [The relationship is better now.] We last spoke in 2013.”

Despite the unease in the dressing room, Viduka was at the peak of his powers at Leeds — never more so than on Nov. 4, 2000.

High-flying Liverpool travelled to Elland Road on the back of five wins, and O’Leary’s side — who had Champions League ambitions — were languishing in 10th place and had just lost midweek to Tranmere Rovers in the League Cup.

“The night before the game was cracker night [Guy Fawkes Day] in England, and although it was a home game for us, we were put hotel to stay focused,” Viduka says.

“My wife was calling up in tears every 10 minutes, as she could hear the noise going on outside, which reminded her of bombs going off in Croatia. I didn’t get a wink of sleep all night.

“I was a wreck by the time I got to the team breakfast. I had every reason to have a shocker that day.”

Instead, Viduka turned in one of the most memorable performances of his career, scoring all four goals in a thrilling, come-from-behind, 4-3 win.

The striker took the game by the scruff of the neck with his quartet of finishes. This was “peak Viduka,” a threat in the air and just as majestic with the ball on the ground as he produced a devastating showcase of his talents.
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3:35
V-Bomber looks back on electric Leeds team, slams Reid

The former Elland Road-favourite looks back fondly on the talented Leeds side of the early 2000s, and their rapid fall from European heights.

VIDUKA WAS FAST BECOMING one of the most lethal strikers in the Premier League. His maiden campaign delivered 22 goals, a top-four finish and a Champions League semifinal for Leeds, sending scouts across Europe scrambling for the in-form Australian.

“I had the chance to join AC Milan at the end of the 2001 season, after we made the Champions League semifinal,” Viduka says.

“[Leeds United] were negotiating with Milan and wanted £38 million. I was friends with [Milan star] Zvonimir Boban at the time, and we were negotiating terms through him. In the end, [Milan] offer the £38 million, and Leeds didn’t want to sell. And that was that.

“I was a huge AC Milan fan. As a kid, I grew up watching [Marco] van Basten, [Frank] Rijkaard and [Ruud] Gullit … They were my favourite team. It just wasn’t to be.”

The interest in Viduka wasn’t just from abroad, either. The striker held talks with then-Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, with Elton John of all people one of the first to know of the possible deal.

“I was in Manchester, and my agent at the time also had a lot to do with Elton John,” Viduka says. “He said stay for the night and come to the show. He had backstage passes, and I’d get the chance to meet the man for myself. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

“So I’m there with Jacob Burns, my Leeds teammate and fellow Aussie, as we got ushered into his dressing room. As we enter, Elton swings around on a swivel chair and says, ‘Mark Viduka, you’re from Melbourne. I love that place!’

“I was nervous, so I babbled on about my meeting with the Red Devils that day and a possible move. Instead of going to our seats to watch the concert, Elton gets us to watch it at the side of the stage. About three songs in, he says, ‘I want to dedicate this next one to my good friend Mark, who is in Manchester today to make a big decision.’

“I’m thinking: ‘S—, please don’t say any more!’ Thank God he didn’t. I didn’t sign for Man United. I think I loved living in Leeds too much at the time.”
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2:36
Elton John & how Viduka nearly joined Man Utd

Former Leeds front-man Mark Viduka recalls backstage drinks with Elton John, and how close he came to joining the Red Devils.

AWAY FROM CLUB LAND, Viduka was establishing himself at international level, but his holy grail was to play in the World Cup for Australia.

After enduring the heartbreak of losing a 1997 World Cup qualifying playoff to Iran in Melbourne and being knocked out by Uruguay four years later in a hostile Montevideo, Viduka knew that Australia’s best chance to reach the big dance as Oceania’s representative was in 2005 — with Uruguay again in the Socceroos’ way.

With Dutch mastermind Guus Hiddink in the dugout, Viduka was the focal point of Australia’s attack. It was Viduka’s flick that set up the Socceroos’ crucial lone goal in front of a packed second-leg crowd at the Sydney Olympic Stadium (now known as ANZ Stadium). After that, only penalties separated Australia and qualifying for their first World Cup in 32 years.

With Viduka captain in the absence of an injured Craig Moore, the script seemed written when he stepped up to the penalty spot with the Socceroos 3-2 up in the shootout. Australia’s cult hero had the chance to all but guarantee the Socceroos’ World Cup place … but he pushed his shot wide.

Fortunately for Viduka, keeper Mark Schwarzer made his second save of the shootout, and fellow striker John Aloisi put the icing on what will long be remembered as one of Australia’s greatest triumphs in any sport.

“I can’t describe it,” Viduka says. “It was like a buildup within us that was suddenly released.

“A lot of us had been through the heartbreak before. Losing at the final hurdle was like going through trauma together. We all felt the same thing.”

For someone who struggles with being in the limelight, Viduka’s anointment as Socceroos captain came with its own burden.

“Guus came to me, and he said, ‘Look, I’d like you to be captain [permanently],'” Viduka says. “It’s a huge honour, and I’m not one of the guys whose dream is about being captain of anything, really.
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“[Moore] would have been the better person to do it, playing at the back and all that. But Guus had to make the call because he didn’t know if [Moore’s] injury would come good. I felt bad because he’s a good mate.

“It was actually a bit of a burden to me, but I’d never knock it back.”

Germany 2006 had Australia united as one. Even non-football fans across the country seemed to be willing Hiddink’s men on. After the team made it through a group stage that contained Japan, Brazil and Viduka’s beloved Croatia, Italy were the Socceroos’ next hurdle in the round of 16.

In a David vs. Goliath-type matchup, with the score still 0-0, Marco Materazzi’s 50th-minute red card gave Australia real hope of an upset. It saw the weight of possession switch to the Socceroos’ favour, but that was not converted into goals. Marcello Lippi’s team, stretched and exhausted, delved for a sucker punch — and got just that.

An injury-time penalty converted by Azzuri legend Francesco Totti ended the Socceroos’ fairytale World Cup run. The penalty came courtesy of a mistimed challenge on Fabio Grosso by (until then) one of the Socceroos’ breakout stars of the tournament, Lucas Neill. Or was it a penalty?

“It definitely wasn’t a penalty,” Viduka says. “Lucas went for the ball, and [Grosso] played the leg.

“It happens, and there’s nothing we could do. Had we got to extra time, maybe we could have won. Or the luck of penalties? Football is full of drama, and that was another chapter.”
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Former Socceroos captain Mark Viduka opens up about leading the Australian football family back to the World Cup after a playoff victory over Uruguay.

ONE THING VIDUKA WISHES he could shut out of his mind is the Socceroos’ disastrous 2007 Asian Cup campaign. After the incredible World Cup ride 12 months earlier, Australia — now with Graham Arnold, Hiddink’s assistant in Germany, in charge — had every reason to head into their first continental championships as part of the AFC as favourites. While the squad looked similar on paper to Germany, a sense of unison within the team was notably lacking.

Australia’s bowing out in the quarterfinals at the hands of Japan summed up the limp campaign as the hot and humid conditions in Southeast Asia took their toll. Even Arnold famously said mid-tournament that there were players within the side who didn’t want to be there.

Viduka, whose captainship was still up for debate at the time, is frank in his view of the situation.

“I think some people came to that Asian Cup thinking more about themselves more than the national team,” he says.

“I think Lucas Neill came to that Asian Cup at that stage not in a good state of mind because of the fact that Graham Arnold had offered him the captaincy because he wasn’t sure I was coming to the Asian Cup or not.

“Once I was at the Asian Cup, either [Arnold] wasn’t brave enough to tell me that I wasn’t captain anymore, and I felt Lucas Neill was sulking the whole Asian Cup through the preparations for it and through the Asian Cup, and it affected other players.

“I think Lucas tried to undermine me. His priority was to be captain — more because of his other activities off the pitch rather than on the pitch stuff. That’s my opinion. That was the main reason I stopped playing for the national team.

“Do I regret stopping? No. Because my problem was that my generation of players that I grew up with were a different breed to the new generation, and to be the honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the new generation of players.

“A lot of them were more interested in how many deals they were doing on the side, through sponsorship and getting their heads on the television, than actually playing for the national team.”

Arnold was dumped as Australian coach after the 2007 Asian Cup, but he has worked his way back to the helm after successful stints in the A-League with the Central Coast Mariners and Sydney FC. Viduka wishes nothing but the best for the current Socceroos boss.

“Hopefully he’s learned a lot from the days of when he coached the national team at the Asian Cup, especially man management,” Viduka says. “I think he has.”
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Viduka: People running Australian football don’t have a clue about the game

Now living in Croatia, the former talismanic striker claims football’s leadership in Australia has overseen a grave decline in talent development.

VIDUKA’S CURRENT DEDICATION TO running a coffee shop could well have happened in his old stomping ground in Melbourne.

After finishing with Newcastle United, Viduka returned to Melbourne with his wife and three sons, Joseph, Lucas and Oliver. His boots had been hung up, but he didn’t want to be far removed from the game to which he had given much of his life.

“When I came back to Australia, I wasn’t looking at getting out of football,” he says.

“I was looking to have a rest from football, but nobody contacted me at all to be involved in football. The only thing Football Federation Australia contacted me for was so I could be a special guest at their dinners.”

As with his relationship with the media, Viduka is uneasy with those who have been running the game back home.

“You have people running football in Australia that don’t have a clue about football,” he says. “They don’t want to get older players involved who actually have that experience, who have been in those situations in front of 100,000 people. When the s— hits the fan, what are they going to do?”

That does not mean that Viduka doesn’t want to be involved with the game in the future.

“I did my badges in the U.K., and the first thing that [course] said is you need to have your own philosophy, the way you want to play. We’ve lost our identity as a football nation,” he says.

“I may come back to the A-League to coach, but … it all depends if I’m prepared to give everything again because you can’t do things half-heartedly. It has to be full-on or nothing.

“It’s like when I had the chance to keep playing. I had an agreed deal to leave Newcastle and play with Fulham for two years. I met up with Roy Hodgson, and he was telling me how he wanted me to hold up the ball, bring players in.

“I said, ‘Roy, I want to be that player, but I’m not anymore.’ I could have gone there and took the money, but physically and mentally, I couldn’t do it.”

For now, Viduka is content to work behind a coffee machine with a very different daily grind. Sitting at tables outside the cafe, amongst the picturesque view of the cascading mountains nearby, it’s there that he often ponders a career that was more than just a game. It was his life.

And although he’s happy being out of the glaring spotlight, he misses it at the same time.

“There are so many moments. Everyone assumes scoring four goals against Liverpool would be my highlight or captaining Australia at a World Cup,” he says.

“But I’d have to say kicking the ball in the family backyard with my dad will always be my greatest football memory.”