Familiar face extra incentive for Adam

ADAM Le Fondre knows better than most that professional football can be harsh.

So when he sees his former Wigan Athletic manager in Melbourne City’s dugout tonight there will be no grudge-bearing glances, just an acknowledgment of a “brilliant” and plain-spoken coach who happened to have no room for him in his team.

Le Fondre was in the midst of his career’s most frustrating period when Warren Joyce took over at the Championship outfit.

Having experienced the highs of the Premier League with Reading, he had been stuck in a rut since signing with Cardiff and loaned out to various other clubs, including a miserable spell at Wolves.

He went on loan with Wigan in August 2016 and Joyce was appointed that November.

“I played the first game and then I didn’t play after that,” Le Fondre said yesterday. “I went to speak to Warren. He said he couldn’t get me in his team, which was fair enough — he was the manager at the time.

“So I just said to him ‘I need to play. I want to play week-in, weekout football’. And in the end I moved to [League One side] Bolton and we got promoted and Wigan got relegated.”

After a handful of cameos off the bench at Wigan the club allowed Le Fondre to leave for the Wanderers, with whom he eventually signed a permanent two-year deal but sought an early release to join Sydney.

In a strange twist of fate 18 months later, the ex-Manchester United youth coach’s priority will be to stop Le Fondre maintaining his perfect Sky Blues scoring record.

And in doing so, prevent their AAMI Park visitors beating them a sixth consecutive time.

“He’s a talented player, a jack in the box, two good feet, can finish,” Joyce said. “There’s plenty of good players in the league, everybody’s got players you’ve got to respect but not respect too much, and it’s no different with Adam.”