An era will soon end at Melbourne City, with the announcement that captain Scott Jamieson will retire from professional football and move into the club's coaching ranks following next Saturday's A-League Men's Grand Final.
Jamieson calls time on his career as City's all-time appearances record holder with 161 games played in City blue. The 34-year-old is the club's most decorated captain, winning three Premierships and one A-League Championship, with his defining moment arriving in that 2021 Grand Final when, in the absence of Jamie Maclaren, Jamieson stood up to score the penalty that would set City on the path to glory.
However, to reduce Jamieson's legacy at this club to sheer numbers or a single on-pitch moment, as many football media outlets will do, would be to ignore the qualities that have defined the most influential player in club history.
Scott Jamieson is the first legend in Melbourne City history.
He arrived at the club in 2017, a time when City fans could cling only to a single FFA Cup success and the exploits of a small handful of memorable two-season* wonders like Aaron Mooy, Bruno Fornaroli*, and Bart Schenkeveld, or the nostalgic fondness of players who toiled away in the Heart days like David Williams.
Before Jamieson, that was our identity.
Becoming skipper in the 2018/19 season, he is emblematic of the shift in identity and culture at City from underperforming also-rans who retained the ability to 'Heart it', to the dominant, infallible powerhouse that the squad has become.
The motto that came to define City's run to the 2021 Grand Final, 'Anyone, anywhere, anytime', was the realisation of this shift in culture, and the resulting silverware was the completion of the club's transformation.
Beyond his influence on the internal culture, Jamieson was also totally unprecedented in his role as a captain in affecting the fan culture.
Joining and then skippering the club through the low point of many fan's City-era peak of disenfranchisement - the Warren Joyce years of 2017-19 - Jamieson's empathy and determination for improvement was crucial in the uptick of optimism that accompanied the arrival of Erick Mombaerts, alongside on-field results.
Jamieson's early captaincy - prior to City's on-field transformation - was defined by an unprecedented approachability and relatability. He shared the pain and jubilation of fans.
A personal example: I have no problem with mentioning for the first time that Talking City has regularly received messages from Jamieson over the years when he felt that the team was unfairly or excessively criticised in articles, or when we've made a genuine misstep. Whilst every one of these DMs inevitably sent us into crisis management mode, it was always with the full understanding that he wouldn't have taken the time to raise the issue if he didn't have a genuine love for the club and his teammates.
Every City fan will have their own anecdote of a time that 'Jamo' went above and beyond what any player, let alone captain, who has worn our colours has done before.
It is now fitting, one week out from the 2023 ALM Grand Final and his opportunity to go out as the league's most successful captain ever, that Jamieson should have such a chance to cement his on-field legacy, for those outside of the Melbourne City membership will hardly remember his off-field influence in the years from now.
A fifth trophy under his reign would be reward for his largely unrecognised role in cultivating the environment that has made such an achievement possible in the first place.
Scott Jamieson is the first legend in Melbourne City history... as a person first, and then as a player.
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