IT’S common knowledge that Brisbane Roar is the only team to win back to back Championships in the A-League era.

Yet even in their pomp, Ange Postecoglou’s Roar couldn’t quite manage consecutive Premierships.

Sydney FC therefore, stand on the brink of a little piece of history. Four wins from their last seven matches will secure the league leadership for the second year running.

But who was the last team to achieve the feat?

The answer is Melbourne Knights, who finished first in both 1993-94 and 1994-95.

Despite the fact the NSL and A-League stats were officially merged a couple of years ago, the Knights achievements are barely acknowledged in the modern game.

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But those who were involved remember only too well – players such as Danny Tiatto, who starred in the second Premiership-winning season, and then went on to forge a successful career in England with Manchester City and Leicester City.

“We had a few experienced players, and a group of young Aussie boys coming through - we trained in the mornings because we weren’t full time,” Tiatto, who is now team manager for Brisbane Roar, told foxsports.com.au.

“It was a great bunch. The coach (Mirko Bazic) had a very good eye for young talent, and he gave a lot of us a chance. He had been coaching the youth teams at Hajduk Split, so he was very knowledgeable.

“He gave us free rein to play entertaining football.”

In the 1993-94 season, Bazic didn’t only mix youth and experience, but silk and steel.

Andrew Marth and David Cervinski were among those who provided the steel – Josip Biskic and Oliver Pondeljak the silk.

But it was a young Mark Viduka who was the team’s real superstar. Not that the current Knights president, and then young fan, Pave Jusup, saw him that way.

Mark Viduka (left) celebrates one of his three goals in 1995. Source: News Limited

“Viduka’s sister and my aunt were good friends, so being only young, I saw him as a guy, not a footballer,” Jusup said.

“He was a good player, a quiet guy - he just did his thing. He didn’t want the limelight, he just wanted to play.”

“But Viduka was so good that the Croatian President himself, (Franjo Tudjman), visited the club and convinced him to go over.

“It was a vindication of the club’s politics back then, contributing to the homeland. It meant we were respected back home which we weren’t before.”

Tiatto added on Viduka: “For a young player to have such control of the ball, to be able to turn senior pros inside out, we knew he was gifted, and a great striker.

“There weren’t many 18 or 19 year olds that could do that.”

Ante Kovacevic after Knights won 2-0 in the Grand Final. Source: News Corp Australia

Viduka’s 17 goals were enough to win him the NSL Golden Boot in 93-94, along with the Johnny Warren Medal, and the Sam Papasavas Medal for Young Player of the Year.

But the Knights fell short at the final hurdle, losing 1-0 to Adelaide City in the Grand Final.

A year later, they went one better, reversing the 93-94 result against Adelaide City, and edging out the same opponents by a single point to record those back-to-back Premierships.

By then, another batch of the next generation had forced their way in, including Tiatto, goalkeeper Frank Juric, and defender Josip Simunic – who went on play 105 times for Croatia – while Steve Horvat played in his second Grand Final at the age of 23.

Mark Viduka of Australia vs Josip Simunic of Croatia during the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006. Source: Getty Images

Viduka was just 20, and that second final against Adelaide City proved to be his last game with the Knights, before he launched a hugely successful overseas career with Dinamo Zagreb, Celtic, Leeds United, Middlesbrough and Newcastle United.

“You could go through the whole squad, the amount of talent was incredible - it was just one of those periods when they all came through at the same time,” said Tiatto.

“We won two on the bounce, and other trophies too, like the Johnnie Walker Cup.

“If that side had stayed together, it would have been the best NSL outfit ever.

“It gets forgotten – the diehards with ethnic backgrounds still talk about it – but it is like it has been wiped from the memory of the general football supporter.”

For Jusup however, the team’s stars, and even coach, are still as vivid in the mind today as they were in their heyday, 23 years ago.

“I don’t think Bazic ever took training while he was here,” he said.

“The day to day stuff was done by Wally Borovnjak and Svepo Rastocic. Bazic was a tactician. He used to sit in the grandstand and play chess.

“He was also a horticulturalist – he loved Australia because he could go and pick these different plants and study them!

Jusup added: “Andrew Marth was a cult hero – all my mates wanted a photo with ‘Stabba’, who looked like he was someone out of Bon Jovi.

Mark Viduka gets in a shot despite attention from the West Adelaide defence. Source: News Corp Australia

“He had an offer from Borussia Dortmund, but declined it, and Kresimir Marusic was a particular favourite. He was a different type of player, a typical Croatian, a ball playing No.10.

“He didn’t necessarily work hard, but he did dictate the tempo – it’s something that is still missing in Australia today.”

All of which brings us back to the modern era, and how Sydney FC’s current team stacks up.

“There are echoes of the Knights in the Sydney FC team when they are going well - they are a very tight unit,” said Tiatto, who keeps a close eye on the A-League in his role as team manager for Brisbane Roar.

“They’re a strong side, and their squad has gelled with the foreigners. Maybe there’s not as many youthful players coming through like we had at the Knights, but the core is very good.”

Jusup added: “(Milos) Ninkovic is a great player. He has a bit of what I would call German discipline, allied to South American flair.

“Arnie (Graham Arnold) has them very well drilled and disciplined.”

It is always difficult to compare eras, particularly when one was part-time, and the other is full-time professional.

But the least we can do is remember some of the game’s rich history – after all, the good times don’t necessarily last. Just ask the Knights; now reduced in status to an NPL outfit in Victoria.

“When you’re a kid, you assume this is going to be forever,” said Jusup.

“I was playing in the juniors and there was a real good buzz around the place. The stand had just been finished and we dominated with ease.

“The club was in a good spot financially – I suppose we were a bit naive.”