TeleChoice Premier League launches in style

Representatives from each of the 12 TeleChoice NSW Premier League sides were present alongside NSW?s prestigious media partners in rejoicing the top tier competition of NSW.
MC on the day was Football NSW Executive Manager, Commercial Services Tony Peters who had the task of interviewing players and officials during the course of the conference.
Cumberland, Fairfax, FourFourTwo Australia, The Australian and British Soccer Weekly and various Ethnic newspapers as well as radio stations were present on the day.
TeleChoice?s Managing Director Paul Reeves was pleased to have officially announced its two-year sponsorship by becoming the naming rights sponsors of the Premier League.
TeleChoice, the No.1 Optus Premium Dealer in Australia, became major sponsors of the NSW Premier League in 2007, which involved naming rights sponsorship of the Finals Series, known as ?The TeleChoice Championship Series?.
The extension to naming rights for the entire 2008 and 2009 seasons will see the competition renamed the ?TeleChoice Premier League?.
?The NSW Premier League provides an excellent opportunity for TeleChoice to personally reach over 220,000 Football NSW members and build long term relationships with clubs and associations.
?By becoming naming rights sponsors, TeleChoice lives up to the slogan of the ?People?s Choice?, by involving themselves and supporting initiatives that are relevant and of high interest to the people of New South Wales and across Australia,? Reeves stated.
The event was marked even more special by guest appearances from Central Coast Mariners? charismatic coach Lawrie McKinna and Sydney FC?s Socceroo and Olyroo star Mark Milligan.
McKinna, whose team is one win away from being crowned A-League champions, was pro-active with his involvement with the TeleChoice Premier League and stated that once his duties in the A-League concluded, that he?d focus on monitoring talent from NSW?s top tier competition.
?I?ve already had a massive input from plucking players from the TeleChoice Premier League and the new season won?t be any more different for me in this department.
?I?ll be definitely watching as many matches as I can along with my assistant Ian Ferguson and Alex Tobin in identifying players for our Mariners squad for the new season.?
One such player that McKinna spoke highly of was former Sydney United midfielder Mile Jedinak.
?Mile has come through leaps and bounds since joining us and I believe he has been one of our best performers this year.
?He narrowly missed out on a spot in the Socceroos? training squad but has done ever so well for us and has a huge future ahead of him.?
Meanwhile, Milligan was equally as receptive as McKinna in echoing the importance of the TeleChoice Premier League.
?The TeleChoice Premier League is certainly a breeding ground for many up and coming players hoping to make a name for themselves with a respective A-League club.
?Having been involved with the competition, I believe that the standard has risen and can only get better as the years roll on.?
With his future still undecided, the possibility of playing in the TeleChoice Premier League was certainly in the pipeline.
?Depending on what outcome I choose for my future I can?t really comment on anything concrete but if I can play a few games then I will defiantly look at playing in the TeleChoice Premier League for a few matches.?
Each TeleChoice Premier League club was well represented by key personnel in getting their synopsis across on how 2008 may unfold for their teams.
The Media Launch also saw the debut of the highlights reel package for season 2008 that showcased the Potbellez?s hit song ?Don?t Hold Back? as the main theme which was creatively put together by AVE.
Overall it was an outstanding launch to the new season with many believing that Sydney Olympic were the team to beat in 2008.
After recruiting well over ten players for the up and coming season, Milan Blagojevic?s men have been placed high on the charts as the favorites for 2008 alongside staunch rivals the Marconi Stallions, Sydney United, Sutherland Shire Sharks and Bankstown City Lions.
Sydney Olympic technical director Manny Spanoudakis stated during the media conference that it was still early days on setting out any clear favourties.
?I?m flattered that many clubs here have highlighted that we are the team to beat.
?It?s been 18 months in the making but we are glad that we are in a position to do more things in achieving greater success.
?It is still early days though but I am quietly confident that Milan and the boys will do our supporters and the league proud in playing attractive football and getting positive results.?
It was a different tune all together by last season?s Premiers and Champions Blacktown City Demons who lost a number of its stars for 2008 to rival TeleChoice Premier League sides.
?This season you will see the Demons give more youngsters the chance to prove their worth amongst the best of the TeleChoice Premier League.
?I strongly believe that we have the talent to push us to the limit this year but we will quietly go on with our business,? stated Demons? media officer Barry Davis.
Bankstown City Lions President Alex Subevski was very pleased that the majority of the squad from 2007 were re-signed for 2008 but believes that the inclusions of strikers James Monie and Paul Harries along with midfielder Tayfun Devrimol could spearhead the club?s aim in winning the Championship this year.
?I believe strongly that these new boys can do a great job for us this season and I firmly believe that we will be up there challenging for the title.?
Marconi Stallions coach David Barrett was quite content with the way his side has gone about their work for the start of the 2008 TeleChoice Premier League competition.
?It?s still early stages but I am pretty happy with how things have gone for us thus far.
?I?m pleased to say that the side has gelled together pretty well which will certainly put us in good stead for the new season.?
New kids on the block the Macarthur Rams and West Sydney Berries were also pretty confident that both clubs would certainly be no pushovers when the competition commences next weekend.
?We?ve tried a number of things so far in the Johnny Warren Cup to see where we are at and even though we haven?t had the best of results, I really believe that the squad will be in full force when we take to that pitch next Friday against Sydney Olympic,? West Sydney Berries assistant coach Ramsin Shamon stated.
Rams? club secretary Bill Kostandas pushed the notion that the Rams will also be a tough outfit to crack and stated that things were looking on the up for the side.
?The club is pretty pleased with having the ?under-dog? tag and I?m sure Paul Carter and the boys will do the Macarthur area proud in achieving the best possible results.?
Tigers skipper Michael Galluzzo enforced the fact that his side would hopefully go one step better in making the finals series this year after narrowly missing out on goal difference in 2007 to Manly United.
?It?s obvious that the club would love nothing more than to cement a top five spot this season and that is what we all hope to intend to do for 2008.?
Manly United assistant coach Les Macedo believed that the re-signing of many of his 2007 players was possibly a good recipe for success this year.
?We haven?t really picked up many players as Phil Moss and I were pretty happy with how the squad performed last year.
?We did prove to many last season that we were a team to watch out for and 2008 won?t be any different.?
Wollongong FC?s new recruit Alfredo Esteves, a Portuguese born defender who captained the East Timor National Team, stated that he has settled in rather well with the South Coast club.
?I?ve been welcomed with open arms by Wollongong and I hope to achieve many great things this season in the hope of winning the Championship.?
Penrith-Nepean United?s sterling defender Ryan O?Shea typified the importance of the club?s fight to do much better than their 2007 performance which saw the side plummet in last position.
?Things are way better this season in terms of organising and so forth and I believe Abbas Saad has bought really well in the off-season in helping the side out.
?He highlighted the importance of strengthening various positions on the field, one being in defence and with the likes of players such as Ante Juric joining the club, you can tell that there?s a different type of feeling amongst many at the club that we won?t be repeating the efforts of 2007.?
Sydney United?s ?Mr Consistency? Todd Brodie voiced his view that he was glad the media hadn?t harped too much on the Reds? pre-season campaign so far.
?I know Ivan Petkovic and the boys are fine with us not getting that much exposure about how things have gone for us in pre-season but I?m confident that with the squad we have pulled together for 2008, we will certainly be looking at a top five finish.?
While finally for the Sutherland Shire Sharks, tenacious midfielder Nick Stavroulakis was impressed with how the side has gone about its business under new coach Brian Brown.
?Bomber has brought together a very good squad and the boys have really gelled in pre-season in achieving a finals series finish.
?We?ve brought in some really good players too so the club and our supporters are hoping that we can turn some heads in 2008.?
TeleChoice Premier League Representatives
A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt Tigers – Michael Galluzzo (Captain) and Emanuel Ziino (Team Manager)
Bankstown City Lions ? Grant Lee (General Manager) and Alex Subevski (President)
Blacktown City Demons ? Barry Davis (Media Officer)
Macarthur Rams ? Bill Kostandas (Club Secretary)
Manly United ? Les Macedo (Assistant Coach)
Marconi Stallions ? Luke Casserly (Captain) and David Barrett (Coach)
Penrith Nepean United ? Ryan O?Shea (Player) and Bruce Smith (President)
Sutherland Shire Sharks ? Nick Stavroulakis (Player) and Paul Smith (President)
Sydney Olympic ? Mirko Jurilj (Player) and Manny Spanoudakis (Technical Director)
Sydney United ? Todd Brodie (Player)
West Sydney Berries ? Aheleas Kotsopoulos (Captain) and Ramsin Shamon (Assistant Coach)
Wollongong F.C. ? Alfredo Esteves (Player) and Tony Pace (Assistant Coach)
-By Mark Stavroulakis