The Roar
The Roar

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Looking up: The A-League's fortunes are turning around

Roar Guru
19th July, 2016
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David Gallop (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)
Roar Guru
19th July, 2016
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1798 Reads

If the last one was the off-season of discontent, then this offseason is the off-season of hope.

The following points each by themselves are good news for those connected to them. However, as a whole it’s a far better winter than the previous one for our A-League. It’s almost as if the FFA planned it that way – have a terrible offseason and get all the big calls agreed, leaving this year as it runs into the media deal looking good.

• The Under 16s national team have done quite well in their recent tournament.
• The Jets seem to have a decent owner and excellent CEO.
• The Roar seem to be building a decent administration team and in Craig Moore and John Aloisi they have a tremendous Football department.
• The Mariners seem to be getting their act together again.
• A Socceroos match has been scheduled for Perth.
• Perth Glory seem to have recovered their NSL mojo and things look good in the west.
• Timmy looks like he is coming to City.
• The PFA appointed from the Melbourne City management a decent CEO.
• The new A-League head on paper is an excellent choice.
• Optus and BeIn sport, showing they are bidders in the next media deal.
• Steven Lowy to date seems to be making all the right calls.
• Socceroo’s doing well.
• Matilda’s making the Olympics and their recent growth.
• The moving of Sydney FC V WSW to Homebush as a block buster.
• The Nix look the strongest they have ever looked on paper anyway. Plus their new academy.
• FFA’s marquee fund.

My reading of the tea leaves is we hit a plateau after Alessandro Del Piero and his fellow marquees left. Money, or lack thereof, was the root cause for most of the issues that have presented themselves. Today we have a number of high-quality signing being made by a number of clubs. Perth Glory, Sydney FC and Melbourne City seem to have extremely strong run on sides. Aside from Wanderers and the Roar who are still building, all squads look stronger than last year.

Hats off to Perth Glory, the manner in which the club is turning itself around is a huge credit to all those involved. Special mention for the way in which Kenny Lowe has selected so many local WA players to form a very clever and a very strong squad.

The noises coming out of the Roar with the new admin appointments are good. Let’s hope there is some substance to the noise and just not a lot of hot air. The new owners have earned enough respect for us to sit back and see if they can pull off what they want to do and give them help if they need it.

The Jets actually have a three-year plan and it looks achievable. To have a strong Newcastle/Hunter and Perth market again would be brilliant, as they are both not only foundation clubs but have a strong history in the NSL. Both have deep-rooted support and structures and it would be excellent for the league and their supporters if they could again become not only competitive, but have real swagger about them.

Again growth in the modern world is often limited to revenue. Revenue or lack of it has to an extent held the league back and we have been on a plateau for two to three years. The new A-League head has identified the two major issues in football and he plans to do all he can to unlock them. If he is successful in starting the processes this will be a stellar year and he has had a great lead in.

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If he can solve the issue of the player base, and connecting to the player base, football will explode. He has rightly identified all marketing of the A-League by clubs or the FFA should be directed to align with fan wants.

A great season awaits us. Things are looking up for the A-League.

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