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A-League Expansion


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Countdown to December 12 is on for the FFA to make a decision. In a perfect world they add 2 clubs in 19/20 and another 2 in 20/21 to get us to 14 and a 26 game home and away season. Then a few years down the track they can move to 16 if there is still interest.

 

Unfortunately I think Southern Expansion are nearly a shoe-in for one of the places, despite no one other than the bid team wanting them. Culling Wollongong from the list seems like a ploy to strengthen their "catchment area".

Of the others I'd love Team11 to get in as it has the potential to be huge, with all the club and council support. Canberra have gone quiet and don't seem to have any financial backers, South look like a basket case in the NPL, so I doubt it'll be either of those and West Melbourne seems pretty ridiculous trying to tap into Victory heartland as well as Geelong. So it only leaves MacArthur South West Sydney, who's bid looks like the best of the lot but I can't see them adding 2 Sydney clubs in one hit.

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Rumour floating around that the license price is $13M. Absolutely shambolic that the FFA charges a license fee for clubs to continually lose money in a regulated competition. It would make more sense if they broke that down over 5 years and the club had to spend it on marketing/facilities/community programs. Instead off FFA banking it to make their bottom line look better.

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47 minutes ago, mus-28 said:

Rumour floating around that the license price is $13M. Absolutely shambolic that the FFA charges a license fee for clubs to continually lose money in a regulated competition. It would make more sense if they broke that down over 5 years and the club had to spend it on marketing/facilities/community programs. Instead off FFA banking it to make their bottom line look better.

And that $13m is only going to grow with the latest articles.

Either FFA are looking for a good payday.... or their preferred bids are not offering as much money as the others

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26 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Interested to see our crowd numbers once the winning bids have been announced. I would assume if one was to jump ship they would go it straight away

Why would people stop going immediately?- any new clubs won't be playing until at least next season.

I'm hoping Team11 gets up and their plans come to fruition. If they get the nod I'll become a foundation member - it will mean I'll be able to watch more football. However I won't abandon City, even though they probably deserve it. Some people will, of course, especially those coming from wherever the new club is based, but who can blame them? I won't - City have treated us with scant respect.

Que sera, sera.

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1 minute ago, jw1739 said:

Why would people stop going immediately?- any new clubs won't be playing until at least next season.

I'm hoping Team11 gets up and their plans come to fruition. If they get the nod I'll become a foundation member - it will mean I'll be able to watch more football. However I won't abandon City, even though they probably deserve it. Some people will, of course, especially those coming from wherever the new club is based, but who can blame them? I won't - City have treated us with scant respect.

Que sera, sera.

Well just to be involved in the inevitable consultation for the name colours and the like. Id say they would probably be less inclined to spend money to go to city games

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23 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Well just to be involved in the inevitable consultation for the name colours and the like. Id say they would probably be less inclined to spend money to go to city games

There is that to it, yes.

If Team11 gets up I'd say it will incorporate one of Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia - something like "Casey City Football Club" - and the colours will be black, green and white. https://www.weareteam11.com/

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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Why would people stop going immediately?- any new clubs won't be playing until at least next season.

I'm hoping Team11 gets up and their plans come to fruition. If they get the nod I'll become a foundation member - it will mean I'll be able to watch more football. However I won't abandon City, even though they probably deserve it. Some people will, of course, especially those coming from wherever the new club is based, but who can blame them? I won't - City have treated us with scant respect.

Que sera, sera.

Whats the point JW?
I don't see how someone can support two teams in a 12 team league?

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D-Day on Wednesday. I'm hoping they decide to add 4 teams to the mix so we get a 26 round home and away season, even if it's a 2-3 year process. Rumour doing the rounds that Southern Expansion offered to merge with South West Sydney, good news if true as it must mean Southern Expansion aren't confident and it's easily the worst bid of the lot for actually having any community support.

With any luck Team 11 and South West Sydney get up and I'd prefer Canberra and Wollongong to West Melb and Southern Expansion.

 

Edited by mus-28
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4 hours ago, KSK_47 said:

While I do get what they are trying to do here, I don't think this angle will work as well as they are hoping for. Unlike what you see in Sydney, there isn't really the same strong sense of separation in Melbourne

Screenshot_20181210-123938.jpg

That looks a little like they are a bit nervous about the outcome...

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51 minutes ago, Dylan said:

I reckon the best we will get is an announcement of the teams but they start the season after next. Which is fine by me, more time for them the better

For me I'm leaning towards a 2 by 2 team announcement beginning the season after next. 

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39 minutes ago, Jovan said:

For me I'm leaning towards a 2 by 2 team announcement beginning the season after next. 

No, for me FFA and the HAL need to make a bold statement of belief in their product. If they can't make that statement, then who else will?

Name the four clubs to start in the 2020/2021 season, and to make a statement of intent for two more to start two seasons after that, together with an independent A-League to coincide with the 16-club league.

And they need to get the right people in on the admin side. There's plenty of work to do on issues such as the number of visa players allowed, number of substitutes, salary cap, marquee players etc. stadiums, broadcasting, KO times, length of season etc. etc. We need dynamic people with vision, who are going to create an excitement around their product, what ever part of it is looked at.

And they can kick City up the arse on the way through and tell them that they need to do a lot more to engage with their fans and present themselves as something other than a clone of Manchester. (Wishful thinking there jw.)

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9 hours ago, jw1739 said:

No, for me FFA and the HAL need to make a bold statement of belief in their product. If they can't make that statement, then who else will?

Name the four clubs to start in the 2020/2021 season, and to make a statement of intent for two more to start two seasons after that, together with an independent A-League to coincide with the 16-club league.

And they need to get the right people in on the admin side. There's plenty of work to do on issues such as the number of visa players allowed, number of substitutes, salary cap, marquee players etc. stadiums, broadcasting, KO times, length of season etc. etc. We need dynamic people with vision, who are going to create an excitement around their product, what ever part of it is looked at.

And they can kick City up the arse on the way through and tell them that they need to do a lot more to engage with their fans and present themselves as something other than a clone of Manchester. (Wishful thinking there jw.)

My point was 2 teams 20/21 and 2 more 21/22. If 2 are to come in next season that's too much of a rapid build and high risk of failure.

4 new teams in the one season is also a huge risk and would put the limited playing stocks even thinner and has potential of dropping the standard to npl level.

They only have 1 crack at this expansion and cockup could put the game in a worse position than it is now.

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If anything the FFA Cup has shown the NPL standard is closing in on the A-League every season. There's more than enough talent out there to form 2 teams tomorrow with some overseas Aussies also likely to head home for guaranteed game time and decent money. Just have a look at CCM, bought in some reasonable names in the off season and their star player has been Matt Millar, fresh off a season in the NPLV.

 

I think that WSW showed that a good coach is the most critical signing for any expansion team. Popovic had very little time to assemble a squad and on paper everyone thought they'd be one of the spoon favourites. If you get the coach right you're halfway to a decent season.

 

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Well, it's E-Day. Two big question marks for me - number one, will FFA have the balls to actually make a decision? I've just read that if not, two of the bids will be withdrawn anyway, leaving only 5 on the shortlist. Number two, stadiums. This seems to me to be the big stumbling block. It's my view that FFA and all clubs - including a number of the existing clubs - need to be looking at how clubs can play at venues more suitable for the game as it is in Australia.

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Perhaps they should delay expansion and instead focus on creating an independent league and other issues like the broadcasting deal, salary cap, squad rules etc. 

Then bring in four new teams for 2020/21. 

People are pretending like the issue of an independent league is rocket science. It really isn't. Pick a model from overseas (PL, J/K-league, MLS), follow and adapt it slightly to the environment here. 

The PL model would work fine. Each Club is a shareholder in the league with one vote as well as the FFA with a special veto vote on specific matters. A 2/3 majority is required for any big contracts or rule changes. They get to decide how to share and spend the revenues that the league makes. 

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Assuming Davutovic is correct...as I thought stadiums are a key factor. Much as I would have liked to see Team11 enter soonest, IMO it's the right decision.

11 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Id like to see the funds needed for a new stadium. Would at least give something for us to aim for.

Lol that wont happen. 

A great pity that we can't see it in the foreseeable future, because IMO every club needs a focal point to call "home."

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12 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Id like to see the funds needed for a new stadium. Would at least give something for us to aim for.

 

Lol that wont happen. 

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/expansion-hopeful-team-11-unveil-a-league-stadium-plan-for-dandenong-20180430-p4zcgy.html

About $170m. It’s all about partnering with government, a developer or both. 

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5 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Assuming Davutovic is correct...as I thought stadiums are a key factor. Much as I would have liked to see Team11 enter soonest, IMO it's the right decision.

A great pity that we can't see it in the foreseeable future, because IMO every club needs a focal point to call "home."

You live in the south east? So say if we had a stadium in Bundoora, would that stop you travelling? 

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7 minutes ago, Dylan said:

You live in the south east? So say if we had a stadium in Bundoora, would that stop you travelling? 

It wouldn't be ideal because I don't think much of the PT links to get to Bundoora. IMO a stadium needs good PT links and adequate car parking - it's not one or the other. A strong point of the Team11 bid is the location of their proposed stadium, the weak point being that they haven't secured the money to build it.

AAMI is ideal for me from a PT point of view, but IMO is far too big for City's routine matches - empty seats just contribute to the feeling that the club isn't successful, whereas 6,000 still looks like a good crowd in a 12,000 capacity stadium.

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