Emerton, Skoko..forget it!

Brett Emerton, 29, has signed for Blackburn for four more years. And Josip Skoko, 32, has gone back to play in Croatia for Hadjuk Split.
Fair enough. But don't come back to the A-League Emo and Josip after these contracts run out. You'll be too old, too slow.


Emo has talked about playing in Sydney while he still has something left.

Forget it guys, at 33 and 34 I don't want to watch you taking a relatively big A-League pay packet, pull up injured and miss the half a season. And when you do play you ain't any better, at that age, than those on the park.

Former Socceroos Danny Tiatto, Stan Lazaridis, Paul Agostino, David Zdrillic, John Aloisi, Tony Popovic and you can add Brazilian superstars Juninho, Romario and Jardel to the list; all played in bits and pieces but few set the world on fire, certainly Aloisi and Juninho showed patches but injuries to both have frustrated me if not the fans.

So if Brett Emerton thinks we want him at 33, I say forget it. He ain't Paolo Maldini, and definitely not Dwight Yorke.

If you're coming back Aussies and many "talk" about it, how about 31 or 32 at the latest, assuming you can still run.

We'd love to see you, but don't do a Tony Popovic, who took that year in Qatar, showed how much he valued us down under, and how desperate he was to get back.

If you're coming, come early. Kevin Muscat did right by Australians, so did Craig Moore, but a few others have left me wondering if they made any money in Europe at all such is the desire to stay for one more very long contract.