The A-League Expansion Thread

Expansion is great and all but we need the full pyramid. Time to move away from this NRL/AFL/American sports model and follow a proper football model.

 

Need to stabilize the first tier before we can even focus on pro/rel

 

Define stable in a football context.

 

Make sure every team is on sound economic footing, insure fan bases are instilled and loyal to the point that relegation wouldn't kill the franchise.

Its going to take at least another 20 or so years to get the A-League there (if not more).

 

And why is that the problem of other ambitious clubs?

Attendances are down in the A-league for a reason. Attendances are starting to hit the thousands in the NPL (look at the start of the Queensland NPL).

I was all for the A-league when it started and was a member of Sydney FC for years, I even travelled interstate to watch games, but I've grown to understand why people who support clubs outside the A-league are unhappy. I'd be unhappy as well if my club was denied a chance to play top flight football.

I'd be even more annoyed if my club was well run and better organised than A-league clubs who receive more income just for being in the top flight. Central Coast Mariners have been an embarrassment to the A-league for the last few years and should have been punished.

I'm not sure how allowing that sort of mediocrity is good for our game. The players, coaches and administrators were far too comfortable with the situation at CCM.

I will never support the A-league again until we have a pyramid. I would rather support my local club in NPL 3 than give my money to the dictatorship running our game.

 

What you saying isn't wrong but its not how pro/rel will come about.

Unfortunately for Australia (and the US) its top down vice bottom up since soccer started late in both countries.

The only way that the current A-League teams will agree to pre/rel is when they can be assured that going down will not kill their team. This means that supporters have to be loyal, there has to be good balloon payments from the A-League media contract AND 2nd tier media contracts need to be half way decent.

 

It’s no ones problem if these clubs don’t survive. They have to manage themselves to be sustainable like every other club in the world, including NPL clubs who have been developing players but only get a maximum payment of $6000 for the transfer of a player to an A-league club.

Football is about survival of the fittest. The best clubs in terms of finance and organisation should be in our top flight instead of the situation we have now.

 

That's true to a point. If that was truly the case then said clubs would already be there but they are not.

 

They can’t really be there if they are no allowed in.

 

They aren't allowed in because they don't meet all the requisites for the A-League.

 

You can’t seriously believe that.

 

I do, its why they aren't there. You seem a bit naive in thinking that these teams that are in the state leagues all have the resources to pay their players and sustain operations in the top tier.

Even if they did get in and got the better media payments associated with being in teh A-League I doubt more than 2-4 from ALL the states leagues would be able to survive.

 

Resources? No club in the A-League had their own resources at the start of the league. They were using the income from being in the A-League to pay rent and slowly buy resources.

There are clubs in the NPL who own their own stadium and training grounds. If they had the A-League income, they’d be able to fix everything and most importantly own it.

Are you American or Australian?

 

I'm American but lived in Melbourne for 3 years and my wife is a Melbournian.

I am not saying you are wrong about those clubs but one thing they are lacking is the ownership group who bootstrapped the money to start the teams.

 

I’m no expert but I coach at NPL level so I see a lot more than what you might see unless you have also done something at this level? Good and bad.

You could also say having one billionaire/millionaire owner has its disadvantages. Look at the Roar, Gold Coast United, Newcastle Jets under Tinkler and clubs all over Europe who have gone into administration after an owner ran the club into the ground.

 

Of course but you have to agree its easier to make it work with a rich ownership group than without one.

 

If potential investors see that there is a chance of a club playing in the top flight, there will be more invest in football. Just need to give clubs the pathway.

 

Ah yes..The mythical “potential investor” that is afraid to join a low risk closed system, but will magically appear to invest in the high risk pro/rel system..

 

The pro/rel system that successfully exists in all but a handful of football leagues from around the world.

 

That doesn’t mean it is the only mechanism by which soccer can survive and thrive in a country. Pro/rel isn’t magic fairy dust.. If it were, it would be providing benefits to the leagues for other sports that use it and you wouldn’t see examples of closed leagues succeeding in ither sports..

 

Is there a fairer system than pro/rel?

Even rugby union in France has pro/rel.

 

MLS incapable of implementing pro/rel? They are more than capable. There are clubs in the second tier in the USA that get better crowds than A-league clubs. Don't get incapable and the people in charge not wanting it mixed up.

Stability? Half the clubs in the A-league aren't stable so should we just have 5 teams in the competition. Give me a break.

Whether an "ethnic" club is in the A-league or not is none of your business. If you don't want to support them, you don't have to. Someone else will.

 

What’s fair about pro/rel? Nowadays whether a team stays up or goes down is based on the size of their payroll...