Western Sydney Wanderers have their sights firmly set on a run to the Isuzu UTE A-League Championship in 2024-25 as they hurtle towards the Finals Series on the back of an 11-game unbeaten run.
The last time Western Sydney strung more games together without defeat was in 2013, as Tony Popovic’s Wanderers went 13 games without defeat in the club’s inaugural campaign.
Western Sydney won the Premiership that season – a feat capped off with the 12th of 13 games along that unbeaten run in the final game of the regular season, away to Newcastle Jets.
Thousands of travelling Wanderers fans travelled to McDonald Jones Stadium on that day to watch their side clinch the Premiers Plate and, although they didn’t travel in as many numbers for Saturday night’s road win over the Jets, the sight of Wanderers fans packing out the away bay in Newcastle made former A-Leagues striker Daniel McBreen reminisce as he called the action.
“The scenes tonight with the Western Sydney fans over there, they do take you back to 2013 when the Wanderers came here and won the Premiership here at Newcastle, and almost half the stadium was full of Wanderers supporters,” said McBreen on the Network 10 broadcast.
On Saturday night, the Wanderers fans weren’t there to witness their side clinch a trophy – but what the thousands of travelling supporters did witness was an 11th-straight game without defeat as their side sealed finals football in head coach Alen Stajcic’s first season at the club.
Should the Wanderers win their final game of the regular season, a victory in their first Finals Series appearance would equal the club’s all-time unbeaten streak of 13 games notched in the club’s iconic inaugural campaign.
The Wanderers are on a roll, and their fans are responding in kind.
It’s a sight head coach Stajcic defined as the tip of the iceberg as he hopes to continue to recapture the adoration of the Wanderers faithful with a deep run into the Finals Series.
“It’s good to see it (the support) come alive again,” he told Network 10, as his players celebrated Saturday’s 1-0 win with the packed away bay in the background of the interview.
“We all know that there is so much potential in our area and in our club, Just to see that come to life – just a tiny bit of it, I still think it’s the tip of the iceberg and hopefully more and more come to Macarthur next week, it’s almost a home game for us so they have no excuse for not coming out next week.
“I’m really proud of the group; they’ve come together so well, it’s such a unified group. The leadership within the group, the coaching staff and all the staff in and around the team, I couldn’t be any prouder of the group and how we’ve evolved and grown throughout the year.
“For us, it’s just the starting point, there is so much more to go and so much more to learn and get better at.
“It’s the tip of the iceberg for the fans, but it’s the tip of the iceberg for this team as well. They’re just starting to really believe in themselves now, and when they get that under their belt, we’re going to go to another level.”
Western Sydney Wanderers boss Alen Stajcic spoke to Paramount+ after his side’s win over Newcastle Jets.
Before Stajcic spoke to Network 10, Wanderers star Nicolas Milanovic joined the broadcast to reflect on the 1-0 win that sealed finals football for his side.
With the travelling support providing the backdrop to his interview, Milanovic labelled the Western Sydney fans as the best in the competition, while laying down a confident assessment of what his side can achieve in the Finals Series.
“They’re the best fans in the league, and you can’t deny it,” Milanovic said.
“You can see they brought, I don’t know, three or four thousand people here. It’s unbelievable.”
As for the Wanderers’ Finals Series ambitions, Milanovic said: “We’re coming. We’re coming for that Grand Final, that’s for sure.”
